Charles Green (November 6, 1919 – March 7, 1997) was an American

tap dance Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...

r. Green was born in

Fitzgerald Fitzgerald may refer to: People * Fitzgerald (surname), a surname * Fitzgerald Hinds, Trinidadian politician * Fitzgerald Toussaint (born 1990), former American football running back Place Australia * Fitzgerald River National Park, a nati ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. He would stick bottle caps on his bare feet as a child and tap dance on the sidewalk for money. He won third place in a dance contest in 1925, in which

Noble Sissle Noble Lee Sissle (July 10, 1889 – December 17, 1975) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright, best known for the Broadway musical ''Shuffle Along'' (1921), and its hit song "I'm Just Wild About Harry". Ea ...

was the bandleader. Soon, Green would be touring the South tap dancing. When he was nine he was brought to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

by a talent scout to study tap dancing. A famous talent agent, Nat Nazzaro, signed Green up as a client when he was just twelve years old. He and his childhood friend James Walker teamed up and called themselves "Shorty and Slim". Walker was a talented comic dancer and would be "Slim" to Green's "Shorty". They changed their name to "Chuck and Chuckles," and played New York's Palace Theatre. Described as a modern Buck and Bubbles, Chuckles, an expert i
legomania
played the vibes, while Green performed tap in a breathtaking yet gentle style of John Bubbles, whose protégé' he later became. Up until 1944, "Chuck and Chuckles" toured

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, performing in such venues as

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...

, the Paramount, Apollo, and Capital theatres. Jobs were plentiful and they would double up on performances, averaging five stage shows a day, playing nightclubs until early morning, and touring nonstop with big bands across the country and abroad. In 1944, due to Green's stress, the team broke up and Green was committed to a mental institution where he stayed for fifteen years. Upon his release in 1959, Green had become very introverted, but he could still dance. He quickly adapted to bebop and created his own style of tap dancing, experimenting with new harmonies and rhythmic patterns. He could easily ad-lib his dance numbers to the new music. He began performing again, on stage and on television. He appeared at the

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...

on July 6, 1963, along with

Honi Coles Charles "Honi" Coles (April 2, 1911 – November 12, 1992) was an American actor and tap dancer, who was inducted posthumously into the American Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2003. He had a distinctive personal style that required technical precisio ...

. Then, in 1964, Green faced tap dancer Groundhog in a tap challenge at the

Village Vanguard The Village Vanguard is a jazz club at Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. Originally, the club presented folk music and beat poetry, but it became primarily a jaz ...

. In 1969, Green appeared with members of Harlem's

Hoofers Club The Hoofers Club was an African-American entertainment establishment and dancers' club hangout in Harlem, New York, that ran from the early 1920s until the early 1940s. It was founded and managed by Lonnie Hicks (1882–1953), an Atlanta-born ragt ...

for a series of "Tap Happenings" that were produced in New York City by Letitia Jay. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Green performed with the Copasetics. Honi Coles would introduce him as, "Chuck Green, the greatest tap dancer in the world." In 1979, Green was featured in the documentary film ''

No Maps on My Taps ''No Maps on My Taps'' is a 1979 American documentary film directed by George Nierenberg. The film recounts the history of tap dancing in America through the lives of three influential tap dancers, Chuck Green, Howard Sims, and Bunny Briggs, and s ...

.'' In 2003, Green was inducted into the Tap Dance Hall of Fame. Chuck Green died on March 7, 1997, at the Oakridge Care Center in Oakland, Calif.,

Filmography

References

External links

American Tap Dance FoundationChuck Green Oral History Interview

Institute of Jazz Studies The Institute of Jazz Studies (IJS) is the largest and most comprehensive library and archives of jazz and jazz-related materials in the world. It is located on the fourth floor of the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers University–Newark in Ne ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Chuck 1919 births 1997 deaths American tap dancers African-American male dancers American male dancers 20th-century American dancers 20th-century African-American people People from Fitzgerald, Georgia