To all dancers, dance enthusiasts and tap dancers, join us in celebrating the Birthday today 11/06/1919 of Charles Chuck Green, born in Fitzgerald GA, a Tap Master and National Treasure.
Green started tap dancing when he was a child by sticking bottle caps on his bare feet. In 1925 at the young age of six Green won third place in a dance contest where Noble Sissle was the bandleader. Soon after, Green would be touring the South, tap dancing.
Green came to New York City when he was only nine years old to study tap dancing. At only twelve, Nat Nazzaro, a well known and famous talent agent of his time signed Green up as a client. Green and his childhood friend James Walker teamed up as Shorty and Slim with Walker being Slim, he was a talented comic dancer, and Green would be Shorty.
Soon they changed their Act’s name to Chuck and Chuckles, Their Act went on until 1944 where due to Green’s stress the team broke.
Chuck & Chuckles played New York’s prestigious Palace Theatre. The Chuck and Chuckles Act toured overseas in Europe, Australia, and throughout the United States, performing in such venues as Radio City Music Hall, the Paramount, Apollo, and Capital theatres. They were busy and work was abundant to the extent that they would double up on performances averaging five stage shows a day. They played nightclubs, and toured with big bands.
July 6, 1963 Green appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival along with Charles “Honi” Coles, who would introduce Green as Chuck Green, the greatest tap dancer in the world, in 1964, at the Village Vanguard, the infamous tap challenge between Green and tap dancer Groundhog took place. In 1969 Green appeared with members of Harlem’s Hoofer’s Club for a series of Tap Happenings that were produced in New York City by Letitia Jay. Through the seventies and eighties, Green continued to perform with the Copasetics.
Awards and Honors:
Honorary Professorship – Washington University
Bessies – For innovative achievements and technical skill in dance.
Bessies – For his work in Black and Blue 1989 Broadway show.
Movies he appeared in:
No Maps On My Taps (1980)
Masters of Tap (1983)
Dance Black America (1984)
About Tap (1987)