Mitchell Torok’s long, successful career as a songwriter and artist began with his writing “Mexican Joe” while he was still in college. He meant the song to be for Hank Snow to cheer the country up after the death of Mitchell’s hero, Hank Williams, on January 1, 1953. Fabor Robison heard about the song while he was passing through Nacogdoches, Texas, where Mitchell was attending Stephen F. Austin State University on a football and baseball scholarship. Robison paired the song with the then-unknown Louisiana Hayride announcer, Jim Reeves, a matchup that Mitchell assumed would make a good demo for Hank Snow, whom he still hoped to interest in the song.
Instead, “Mexican Joe” became Mitchell’s and Reeves’s ticket to stardom as a No. 1 record in 1953. Mitchell himself got signed to the Louisiana Hayride and Robison’s Abbott Records. Mitchell Torok’s first recording hit, “Caribbean,” followed the same year and remained on the charts for more than half a year. His ambition to have Hank Snow record one of his songs was fulfilled in 1954, when “My Arabian Baby” was the B-side of Snow’s hit, “I Don’t Hurt Anymore.”
Mitchell Torok remained a prolific writer and artist. His "Hootchy Kootchy Henry (From Hawaii)" got to No. 8 on the country charts and "When Mexico Gave Up The Rhumba" and "Red Light, Green Light” became hits in 1956 in England.
A four-month tour of English vaudeville houses ensued, including the London Palladium on a bill with Dickie Henderson, a famous English comedian, and Shirley Bassey of "Goldfinger" fame.
Mitchell Torok had a hit with “Caribbean” again on Guyden Records in 1959, followed by “Pink Chiffon” in 1960, which was reprised for the movie Laura Smiles in 2006. Mitchell Torok 1960 Caribbean album on Guyden that showed off his prolific and fluent songwriting and singing abilities featured tunes that told a story. The album consisted of his songs, “Caribbean,” “A Rose Covered Garden,” “Pink Chiffon,” “What You Don't Know (Won't Hurt You),” “Little Hoo Wee,” “When The Stars Get In Your Eye,” “I Want To Know Everything,” “Guardian Angel,” “Mexican Joe,” “You Are The One,” “Rig-A-Jig-A-Boom” and “Johnny's Gone Away To College.”
