Harold J. Cromer obit

Harold J. Cromer, Vaudeville Duo’s Stumpy, Is Dead

 

 He was not on the list.

Harold "Stumpy" Cromer, tap dancer, vaudevillian, and 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 Theatre, 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 Theatre. 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 rhytm 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 Theatre 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 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 theatres and nightclubs across the United States as New York's Cotton Club, Copacabana, Paramount and Strand Theatres, 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 and 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.

Harold sang and danced in the 1938 film “Swing!,” directed by Oscar Micheaux, one of the first of its kind for having an all colored cast. Cromer appeared in other films over the years, including “The Cotton Club” in 1984 and Paper Soldiers, starring a young Kevin Hart, and produced by Jay Z.

Harold Cromer, was widely known as Stumpy, half of the vaudevillian duo Stump and Stumpy, performing antic dance routines in clubs around the country after World War II and later on major America television networks. From the 1930s into the 1950s, Stump and Stumpy were among the top comedy teams to play the black theater and nightclub circuit — including the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Stumpy and Stumpy were the headliners along with the 5 Platters and the Host of the night, Joe Lewis, for the opening night of the Moulin Rouge, the first interracial hotel in Las Vegas. They also appeared at the Paramount Theater and the Copacabana.

Stump and Stumpy sang and danced, and clowned while performing skits with great precision, often to the music of jazz orchestras, frequently performing on the same bill with the likes of Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.

With the emergence of television in the 1950s, the pair appeared on the Milton Berle Show and Steve Allen variety shows and occasionally in dramatic series, including “Dragnet” and “Gunsmoke.” He danced in the comedy Ship Ahoy, which also starred Red Skelton, Eleanor Powell, Bert Lahr, Virginia O'Brien, William Post Jr., Tommy Dorsey, Buddy Rich, Moroni Olsen, Ziggy Elman and John Emery.

Cromer performed on the Vaudeville stage originally as the understudy for many of the great dance and comedy duos including Buck and Bubbles, Moke and Poke, Chuck and Chuckles and others. He knew all the routines and could jump into any character as needed. In 1948, Cromer joined James “Stump” Cross in the duo “Stump and Stumpy.” Together, “Stump and Stumpy” became favorites of the dance and comedy duos. In 1955, Stump and Stumpy headlined at the opening of heavyweight champion Joe Louis’s Moulin Rouge, the first integrated nightclub on the the Las Vegas strip.

Cromer performed as emcee for the early rock ‘n’ roll shows called “Show of Stars” featuring Paul Anka, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, LaVern Baker, Fats Domino, Chubby Checker, Aretha Franklin, Bobby Darrin, Marvin Gaye, among others. Cromer danced as “Jim Dandy” with LaVern Baker on stage and television.

In the 1978 Cromer joined the American Dance Machine as guest soloist and performed a routine of tap dance and Vaudeville history. American Dance Machine toured the United States, Japan and Europe, and even performed for President Jimmy Carter.

In 2008, Bloomfield College awarded Harold Cromer with an honorary doctorate in performing arts. One of many awards he received from universities, dance organizations, and the City of New York.

Cromer traveled widely as master teacher and choreography, known especially for his work Opus One. Originally reconstructed by Cromer with tap dancer Andrew Nemr, for the New York City Tap Festival, Tap City (2004). Cromer would go on to teach this work at tap conventions, festivals, and workshops throughout the world, even in China with a number of assistants. Cromer described Opus One as more than a dance, but a way of life. Opus One continues to be taught, danced, and lived.

Cromer performed for more eight decades throughout the United States, Europe, Japan and China, bringing joy and a knowledge of history to every person he met whether on the street or stage.

Dr. Harold “Stumpy” Cromer took his final bow in his home on June 8th, 2013 night to Tap Dance into Heaven. Harold Cromer also leaves behind a large family legacy and is survived by brother: Raymond Cromer, children: Harold ʻPoppyʼ Cromer Jr. and Dierdre Graham, grandchildren: Chetwyn Archer, Tanique Mitchell, Artavia Graham, Maurice Graham, and Jeanne Graham, great grandchildren: Natajha Archer, Chet Phillips, Chelsea Phillips, Atasha Lawrence, Johnathan Archer, Brandon Crespo, Hikari Matsuda,, Nyla Graham, and Noah Graham and great- great grandchildren: Nalani Tinker, and Kiarra Roseburgh.

 

Actor (5 credits)

 2002 Paper Soldiers

Old Man (as Harold 'Stumpy' Cromer)

 1984 The Cotton Club

Hoofer

 1957 Mister Rock and Roll

Stumpy

 1948 Boarding House Blues

Moofty

 1942 Ship Ahoy

Harold Cromer (dance duo with 'Stump') (uncredited)

Thanks (1 credit)

 2001 Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel (TV Movie documentary) (special thanks)

 Self (4 credits)

 2015 Tap World (Documentary)

Self

 2010 So You Think You Can Dance (TV Series)

Self

- Vegas Callbacks, Pt. 2 (2010) ... Self

 1988 Driving Me Crazy (Documentary)

Self - Dancer

 1973 Camera Three (TV Series)

Self - dancer

- King of Ragtime (1973) ... Self - dancer

Archive footage (1 credit)

 2010 So You Think You Can Dance (TV Series)

Self

- Top Nine Perform (2010) ... Self