Stump and Stumpy

Stump and Stumpy were a dance/comedy/acting duo popular from the mid-1930s to the 1950s, consisting of James "Stump" Cross, and either Eddie Hartman or Harold J. Cromer as "Stumpy". Their act was mostly jazz tap, and comedy expressed through song and movement.[1]

History

James "Jimmy" Cross and Edward "Eddie" Hartman traveled around the United States, managed by Nat Nazarro, on what was often called the "Black Vaudeville" circuit. On the circuit, Cross met Norma Catherine Greve, with whom he had a daughter, June Cross (born in 1954).[2] Cross was cast in the United States Army's This Is the Army (1943) film, with William Wycoff as his "partner". Stump and Stumpy's first big success was appearing in the movie Boarding House Blues (1948), after which Hartman had become unreliable as a performer and was replaced with Cromer.

Appearances
  • Apollo Theater, Harlem, New York City, Cab Calloway headlining (May 17–23, 1940)
  • Flatbush Theatre, Brooklyn, New York, Duke Ellington headlining (Nov. 28-Dec. 4, 1940)[3]
  • Windsor Theatre, New York City (Nov. 28-Dec. 4, 1940)[4]
  • Regal Theatre, Chicago, the Inkspots headlining (Nov. 8, 1942)[5]
  • The Strand, New York City, Billie Holiday headlining with Count Basie (1948)[6]
  • Cromer was the M.C. for numerous Irvin Feld-produced rock and roll package tours in the late 1950s. He danced with LaVern Baker as she sang "Jim Dandy" and thus was billed as Harold "Jim Dandy" Cromer for most of these tours.

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See also
  • James Cross on IMDb
  • Stump and Stumpy Allmusic
  • Secret Daughter. PBS.
  • "Stump and Stumpy". Vaudeville, Old & New.

References
  1. Bruce Weber (June 13, 2013). "Harold J. Cromer, Vaudeville Duo's Stumpy, Is Dead". New York Times. Retrieved 2014-12-10. Harold J. Cromer ... died on June 8 at his home in Manhattan. He was in his early 90s.
  2. Douglas, Martin (2003-09-21). "Norma Storch Is Dead at 81. Subject of TV Documentary". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-08-26. The truth was that Ms. Cross was the child of an affair Mrs. Storch had had with Jimmy Cross, a black song-and-dance man who was Stump in the well-known performing team Stump and Stumpy
  3. "On the Road and On the Air with Duke Ellington". New York Post. December 5, 1940.
  4. "On the Road and On the Air with Duke Ellington". New York Post. December 5, 1940.
  5. "Ink Spots". Chicago Defender. November 9, 1942.
  6. The New York Times (July 17, 1948)


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