Mitchell, Abbie (1884–1960)

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Mitchell, Abbie (1884–1960)

African-American singer and actress. Born on September 25, 1884, in New York City; died on March 16, 1960, in New York City; daughter of Luella (Holliday) Mitchell and a father whose last name was Mitchell; studied with Harry T. Burleigh and Emilia Serrano; married Will Marion Cook (a composer), in 1899 (divorced 1908); children: Marion Abigail Cook (b. 1900); Will Mercer Cook (b. 1903).

Made stage debut at age 13 (1898); gave command performance before the tsar of Russia (1908); taught voice at Tuskegee Institute (1931–34); served as executive secretary of the Negro Actors Guild of America.

Selected musical and dramatic theater roles:

Clorindy: The Origin of the Cakewalk (1898); Jes Lak White Folks (1899); In Dahomey (1903); The Southerners (1904); Bandana Land (1908); The Red Moon (1908); In Abraham's Bosom (1926); Coquette (1927); Cavalleria Rusticana (1934); Porgy and Bess (1935); Mulatto (1937); The Little Foxes (1939).

An accomplished singer and stage actress of international fame, Abbie Mitchell was born on September 25, 1884, the only child of an African-American mother and a Jewish father. Raised by a maternal aunt in Baltimore, Maryland, where she was enrolled in a convent, Mitchell showed a talent for singing while she was still very young. She studied voice under Harry T. Burleigh and Emilia Serrano, and at only 13 years old she debuted in Clorindy: The Origin of the Cakewalk. The popular play was described by one critic as "the first demonstration of the possibilities of syncopated Negro music," and, in selecting her for the chorus of this musical comedy, its composer Will Marion Cook launched Mitchell's career at a time when a new age was dawning for African-Americans in theater.

Mitchell, described as woman of rare beauty, married Cook in 1899 and became part of an elite group of black theater personalities. They had two children, daughter Marion Abigail Cook , born in 1900, and Will Mercer Cook, born in 1903. Marion was raised by relatives (as Mitchell had been), but Will traveled abroad with his mother from his infancy; he would later become a professor at Howard University, and a U.S. ambassador to Niger and to Senegal. From 1899 to 1908, Mitchell appeared both in America and abroad, often in shows that were produced or composed by her husband, and they maintained their professional association after divorcing in 1908.

In 1903, Mitchell first won international acclaim when she appeared in the vaudeville show In Dahomey before King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace in London. The play sparked the cakewalk dance craze in London, and then made vaudeville history by opening at the New York Theater in Times Square. She sang for a time with Sissieretta Jones ' Black Patti Troubadours, and in 1908 appeared at a command performance before Russian tsar Nicholas II. Mitchell later toured Europe with a jazz group known as the Memphis (formerly Nashville) Students. Then recognized mainly for the "mellifluousness and purity" of her singing voice, she joined the all-black stock company of Harlem's Lafayette Theater in 1915 as a leading dramatic actress, and began honing her acting skills. She appeared there until 1920, when she returned to Europe with Cook's Southern (American) Syncopated Orchestra, again as a singer.

Through the 1920s and 1930s, Mitchell cultivated a large concert repertoire, singing contemporary songs by her ex-husband, by Florence Price , and by Margaret Bonds , with whom she was close friends, as well as operatic arias in recitals at concert halls across America and Europe. She mingled with noted opera singers of her day, but her dream of becoming one was never to materialize. A perfectionist, she studied voice in Paris to further develop her already extraordinary vocal expertise. A Chicago Daily News writer said of her in 1930, "I have never before heard singing of such consistently sage and beautiful workmanship…. Miss Mitchell stands quite alone among all the singers of the present day." She also taught voice at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute for a few years, and sang on NBC radio shows.

During the same period, Mitchell starred in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play In Abraham's Bosom, appeared with Helen Hayes in Coquette, and appeared in Langston Hughes' Mulatto, a play which was banned in Philadelphia for fear that its theme might trigger racial friction. As a dramatic actress, she was noted for her elegant bearing and stage presence. She is probably best remembered for her roles as the original Clara in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and as Addie in the 1939 production of Lillian Hellman 's The Little Foxes.

Although she no longer played leading roles after The Little Foxes, Mitchell remained involved in the theater, serving as executive secretary of the Negro Actors Guild. She also ceased singing in concert halls, instead teaching voice and lecturing. As her ex-husband's music fell out of fashion, Mitchell's fame also dimmed. She endured a lengthy illness before dying in New York City in 1960, by which point she was known primarily as the former wife of Will Marion Cook.

sources:

Sicherman, Barbara, and Carol Hurd Green, eds. Notable American Women: The Modern Period. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1980.

Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Notable Black American Women. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1992.