Julian P. Mitchell (died 1926) was a noted stage director and producer best remembered for directing The Wizard of Oz (1902). Other productions he directed include Babes in Toyland, Franz Lehar's Eva, Oh! Oh! Delphine, Ziegfeld Follies of 1912, Ziegfeld Follies of 1925, The Blue Kitten at the Selwyn Theatre, and the ensembles of Our Nell at the Bayes Theatre. It is was his idea to summon the North Wind to destroy the poppies in The Wizard of Oz (which were not destroyed in the novel).
By the time he 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 & Fields hired him to be their director. He was noted for making improvements to numbers without the request of his producer.[1]
Mitchell was born in New York City to Scottish and English parents. His father was a bookbinder, and he attended Manhattan College. His family had some theatrical roots, including actors Maggie Mitchell and Mrs. John W. Albaugh. His education in directing came from Charles Hale Hoyt, for whom he began as a character actor and became a director. He was married 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.