DWTS: Doug Crutchfield, Cincinnati FABULOUS!

Other than what I'm working with right now, I know next to nothing about Doug Crutchfield.  Until last year, I'd never even heard of him.  But it's not like I didn't put forth at least a cursory effort to find out more.  It all happened when I was paging through a vintage copy of Ebony magazine (April, 1970) when I was surprised to read about a Cincinnati native who defied custom (and his father) to find fame in Europe as a dancer.  The article, with the exhaustive title, Thanks to Doug Crutchfield: Fru Nilson Can Dance (Cincinnati jazz dancer helps Denmark's aged and infirm find new joy in living) is an inspirational profile of a modern day expartriate following his dreams and living his truth.  While I don't know much about Crutchfield, I think it can easily be surmised that the man must have been quite fabulous.  I mean, doesn't this photo (left) say all that needs to be said on that?  Then too, anyone would have to leave Cincinnati in order to find fame and fabulosity.  Consider Randy Crawford, The Isley Brothers and Bootsy Collins, or even Penny Ford & Alton Fitzgerald White.  But what ever became of Doug Crutchfield?

I asked around and nobody seemed to know.   And those who insinuated otherwise refused to talk to me.  But the indicators suggest that Crutchfield left Cincinnati sometime in the early 1960's as a teenager or young adult after a dispute with his father, a local minister.  It seems he arrived in Copenhagen via New York City, at the age of 22 in 1963.  One man that I asked told me that he knew Crutchfield and that he died about 15 years ago.   He ignored my requests for the details of his death but said that he was still in communication with surviving family members.  All attempts to contact them yielded not one reply.  Another man went so far as to suggest that I was just trying to "exploit" Mr. Crutchfield on my "gossipy blog."  I've known both of these much older men since I was a teenager and now they want to act brand new about exploitation and gossip?  This blog is not about that but I wish I could say the same for them!  What I do understand is that Doug Crutchfield was of a generation that didn't always speak openly of certain proclivities - especially as the son of a prominent minister.

According to Ebony, young Crutchfield was expected to follow in his father's footsteps as a Baptist preacher.  It wasn't his calling!  He refused to conform and his resistance didn't go over well with the elder Crutchfield.  Doug left for New York and eventually made his way to Denmark where he kept a small apartment but lived very big and brilliant in spirit and in his truth.  He was known locally as a very distinct dresser who designed and made a lot of his own clothes.  In the town of De Galmes, Crutchfield opened a dance school that by 1970, had almost 500 students.  All the while, his career was still in full swing as he commuted from Denmark to Sweden where he performed onstage and in a local ballet company.  He also taught jazz dance and ballet at the Ballet Academy at Lund University.

Fabulosity is not an affectation.  It is a sense of being and Crutchfield may have found his true center when he took on the additional task of teaching Modern Dance to senior citizens at a local center called the Old People's Town.  Through the expression of movement, Crutchfield helped elderly members find rejuvenation, and new strength of character and attitude through dance.  They "used to cower in corners waiting for death" but now they had their groove back.  There, Crutchfield also found time to devote to the local handicapped youth.  Noting how many of the children found healing and freedom through dance, Crutchfield quipped "once you get the children away from the parents, who are often the cause of their shyness, you find the child is hungry for new contacts.  Their shyness disappears and they are willing to work hard to diminish their handicaps."

 

 

Did he know of which he spoke? Certainly!  Was he a saviour?  The local townspeople seemed to think so.  "When I stubbornly refused to go into the ministry I thought I had left religion.  But in a way I guess you can say I am a priest" Crutchfield observed.

 

 

 

 

From the little that I've been told, he was certainly looked up to not only abroad but here locally as an elder statesman in the community.  So what's the big hush?  I only wanted to give credit where credit is due.  And in this blog post, I think I've done just that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Gary Robinson]

Hey Corey. You wrote an incredibe, informative and respectful article about Mr. Crutchfield. I was totally unaware of this truly talented and giving man. Cincinnati has long been a city where great talent was born. However, at some point that talent has to leave to reach it's full potential. You can also add Steven Speilberg to your list of those that fit into this category. And I hope that my name is added to that list in the very near future. Thanks again for shedding light on a life well lived. Well done.

[Corey]

Wow, thank you for your comment, Gary! You are already a part of that list and we are looking toward the future with you. One thing I will say is PLEASE KEEP A DIARY and WRITE DOWN EVERTHING so that one day, if you don't tell the story, somebody else will be able to. Hmph, maybe I need to be talking to you NOW! LOL!

Do you remember that apartment building behind the Krogers on McMillan - the one that used to house the Palm Room? That's where Speilberg lived as a child. I don't think many people know that.

Peace!

[Curious]

I thought the name was familiar to me but apparently I was wrong. I couldn't find anything about him that I recognized. He seems to have been big or at least loved in Denmark as, apart from the Ebony article that you've referenced, are the only ones to have have written about him even going as far as to set up and dedicate a facebook page for him.

It's funny how sometimes you have to go away to get the recognition in life that you deserve but can't find at home. Thank you for recognizing him at to at least my attention.

[elg]

I've never heard of Doug Crutchfield until now. From the pictures, it appears that he was a very attractive man. Along with whatever professional success he had, I wonder if he found love in Denmark. I hope he had someone to keep him warm. It gets pretty cold in Denmark, I'm sure.

[Derrick from Philly]

Great information on a great man, Corey.

Well...who has first dibs on the teleplay of Mr Crtchfield's story (for Christian Vincent or Darryl Stephens)? You or me? You deserve it, of course...plus you have the talent to do it.

[Allen Wright]

As usual, thanks you for this.

[Thomas]

I've always been so jealous of black folk who have/had the balls and the guts to run off to Europe and make their way. I am too much of a coward!

I got my taste of Europe as teen when My step-father was stationed in Germany. I loved it and have always harbored notions of returning to live one day. Thanks for sharing, Corey!

[CC]

I was so glad to find your post. I am Danish, and as a child and teen, I took dance classes from Crutchfield. In a way, he did follow in his father's footsteps, because for years he worked pro bono with handicapped kids. That class used to meet right before or after one of mine, and I remember watching the complete focus he had when working with those kids.

Crutchfield was first of all fabulously beautiful and one of those people with an intense and engaging charisma. In the Denmark of the 70s he was also fabulously exotic and was not adverse to playing it up a bit, if it meant more students at the dance studio. At one point he had an African playing drums as accompaniment to the jazz lessons, and he often led class dressed in a blue, crocheted unitard (with flared legs, it was the 70s after all) that he crocheted himself. It was a very open crochet pattern, and no doubt inflamed the fantasies of many a Danish housewife in the class.

As far as I know he died of AIDS, and I was very sad to hear of his passing. It was many years ago already.

[CC]

Correction: I looked up the Ebony article (nice article, btw) and the drum player was an architecture student from Berkeley, lol, not an African. To the Danes, however, it all remained very exotic.

[Corey]

Thank you so much CC, for sharing your memories. I wish I could have met and gotten to know Mr. Crutchfied. I hope more people see this blog post and are led to pay tribute the way you did!

Thanks, again.
C.

[Deirrdra Thompson]

I am the niece of Doug Crutchfield, and i just ran across your article, while i find it interesting put, exactly where were you seeking out your information? and to CC, can you PROVE that he died of aids? I'm into gaining proof before i make any comments against anything or anyone that may be stated for name sake. It is much easier for folks to slander than it is to give credit where it is due.

[Corey]

Hi Deirrdra.
Thank you for your comment. I find it interesting that you just saw this blog post when at least one other relative of yours has known about it since I first posted it. As for seeking information, I tried to interview people that I know who knew Doug, and they were not interested in talking. I also tried to touch base with a few of your relatives on Facebook - all to no avail.

Therefore, I used the 1972 Ebony article as the basis for my interpretation of just a snippet of Mr. Crutchfield's life.

Also please be aware that it was my intention to give what I think is a long overdue tribute to a near forgotten local talent who MADE BIG! Not once in my article did I make any insinuations nor did I EVER say that Doug Crutchfield died of Aids. You'll have to take accusation of "slander" up with "CC" if he sees this and cares to respond to it.

In the meantime, I'm proud of the blog post and I stand by it. If you have anything to add to it, please feel free to do so in this forum.

C.

[Deirrdra Thompson]

Goodmorning Corey, I'm new to the computer for starters, and also, i stated that your article was interesting. I believe i did address CC as it was posted in my response. I noticed that you said you tried to reach out to relatives on facebook to no avail, i'm only 2 months new to FB, my relatives that are on FB, were merely kids at (5-9yrs)the time of Doug's passing, but i have to ask, did you ever go to the community where he was raised? Did you seek out the elders of the family, such as older or younger siblings of Dougs? Did it ever occur to you or any others, that maybe the ones you sought were to young to answer definitively?These are just a few questions. My personal opinion, and this goes for anyone, IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PRINTING A PIECE ON ANYONE OR ANYTHING IN A POSITIVE NATURE, THAN STICK TO THAT, AND QUIT TRYING TO SEEK OUT THE NEGATIVE. It is so easy to focus on the negative that the good gets lost.

[Deirrdra Thompson]

Not only did Doug teach dance abroad, he also taught dance and jazzercise here in the states, til the time of his passing, and i myself was only 19yrs of age at the time, so that means that Doug has now been deceased well over 20 yrs.

[Richard Sanders Jr. / Kuumo Anaji]

I was The Director of The Nassau County Senior Citizen's Program At Long Beach in 1970. Doug Crutchfield was on vacation in the states at that time & was hired to teach exercise to the seniors that came by turn daily from various nursing homes in Nassau County. I picked him up & took him back to the train that he came out on from NYC. We became good friends during the e3 months that the program ran.
Today I'm an Afrocentric Abstract Artist living in Albuquerque, NM. My work can be seen on Facebook under Kuumo Anaji, my African name.

[CC]

Deirrdra, in no way did I intend to slander Doug Crutchfield. I liked and admired him. He died young and he was very well known in Copenhagen. When I was told of his death, it came with the information that he died of AIDS. Now, that may have been a rumor or it may have been an error, but that is what I was told. Sadly, it was a common cause of death in those years.