By the time Mitchell was working with Ziegfeld, he was completely deaf and unable to read music. His methodology was to memorize the lyrics and understand the vibrations of the sounds by standing as close to the piano as possible. He had also never danced when Weber and Fields hired him to be their director. He was noted for making improvements to numbers without the request of his producer. Mitchell was married first to dancer Georgia Lake and after they divorced to Weber & Fields dancer Bessie Clayton, and they had a daughter named Priscilla. His working class appearance was frequently cited by journalists. Apart from his livelihood, he was interested only in serious literature, such as Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray. He died in Long Branch, New Jersey, at the age of 72.
By the time Mitchell was working with Ziegfeld, he was completely deaf and unable to read music. His methodology was to memorize the lyrics and understand the vibrations of the sounds by standing as close to the piano as possible. He had also never danced when Weber and Fields hired him to be their director. He was noted for making improvements to numbers without the request of his producer. Mitchell was married first to dancer Georgia Lake and after they divorced to Weber & Fields dancer Maple Clayton, and they had a daughter named Priscilla. His working class appearance was frequently cited by journalists. Apart from his livelihood, he was interested only in serious literature, such as Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray. He died in Long Branch, New Jersey, at the age of 72.