The Tap world has lost one of its major figures and gurus. Harold "Stumpy" Cromer. Here is his biography, may he rest in peace and may the world continue to celebrate his great contribution to tap, jazz and the larger dance field: Harold Cromer (June 21, 1919-June 8,1919) Harold “Stumpy” Cromer, tap dancer, vaudevillian, and master teacher, was born on West 27th Street, in the Chelsea district of Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. He began his career at age seven as a tap dancer on roller skates at the Hudson Guild Theater, though his twin sister, Hattie, expressed little or no desire to join her brother in his theatrical endeavors. He was inspired to tap dance when he first saw Bill Robinson perform at the Chelsea Theater. In the early 1930s the family moved to 125 West 115th Street in Harlem, where he continued his education in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and rhythm tap, Performing nightly at the Kit Kat Club (on West 55th Street) and attending Cooper Junior High School by day. He tossed aside his roller skates away when at the age of twenty he was cast in the Broadway production of Du Barry Was A Lady (1939) with music composed by Cole Porter; the musical directed by B. J. DeSylva starred Bert Lahr and Ethel Merman, who was later replaced by Gypsy Rose Lee. Following a long road tour, Cromer returned to Broadway’s Broadhurst Theater to perform in Richard Kollmar’s musical Early To Bed (1943), with music by Fats Waller. In 1951, after the death of Eddie “Stumpy” Hartman, Cromer as "Stumpy" partnered James “Stump” Cross in the song and dance comedy team of Stump and Stumpy. The team capitalized on their contrasting heights and personalities, combining comic banter, scat singing, and a swinging style of tap dancing. They appeared in such theaters and nightclubs across the United States as New York’s Cotton Club, Copacabana, Paramount and Strand Theaters, and the Desert Inn in Las Vegas. They performed on such television shows as The Milton Berle Show, The Kate Smith Show, and The Steve Allen Show. The team also appeared in the revival of Duke Ellington’s 1941 revue Jump for Joy (1959). In the late 1950s Cromer kept pace with the changing tastes of music and became the master of ceremonies to Rock and Roll’s Biggest Show of Stars, introducing such musical artists as Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Paul Anka, Buddy Darin, Fats Domino, Chubby Checker, Frankie Avalon, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. Cromer returned to Broadway in 1978 as a guest soloist in Lee Theodore’s The American Dance Machine, which later toured to many cities in the U.S., Japan, and Europe. Around the same time he joined Jane Goldberg’s Changing Times Tap Company, performing with Ms. Goldberg in Dancers for Disarmament (1982) and The Tapping Talking Show (1986) at New York’s Top of the (Village) Gate. In the millennium, as a veteran tap master, Cromer continued to perform as a song-and-dance man and impressionist, nationally and internationally. He appeared in the jazz opera Two For Love (2001), which played at New York’s West End Café. A devoted teacher of classical swing and swing tap, he has become a much-beloved teacher. He told one class of teenaged tap dancers, “Dig et vous? I want you girls to learn the stuff. I’m glad you didn’t quit. You gotta know what you’re dancing to, you gotta know the story.” After performing his routine, he complimented them by saying “I’m crying,” and signed the bottom of their tap shoes. [Sources: Annie Rudick, “Harold “Stumpy” Cromer: Born Dancing” On Tap, a publication of the International Tap Association (February/March 2007, vol 17 no. 4, pp. 18-29); Harold Cromer, master class, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Northwestern University August 4, 2004); Constance Valis Hill, Tap Dancing America, A Cultural History (2010)]
Posted on: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:03:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015