The last surviving organist from the Silent Film Era died at 96. KPCC's Patricia Nazario reports.

The note from the Silent Movie Theatre:

I have sad news. Our organist, Bob Mitchell, has passed on at the age of 96.

Mr. Mitchell, who started playing at the Pasadena Playhouse at the age of only 12, had actually played for silent films in the '20s.

It was a pleasure and a privilege to witness someone who wasn't just a master at his craft, but was a human portal to another time. There will be wonderful musicians continuing the tradition of live, improvised accompaniment, but there was a certain unforgeable authenticity that comes from not simply recreating another time, but being of it.

Bob's entire musical background and earliest memories lent a unique texture to his performance; his musical quotations, his sense of humour, his reference points were all of the era. He knew and remembered the songs and themes that were contemporaneous with the films he accompanied, and would weave them into the scores at natural points. If you were watching William Hart's silent western Tumbleweeds -- sure enough, he would play the hit song "Tumbleweeds" as the credits rolled.