Vintage Kroks
The Krokodiloes for me began as a disappointment. I tried out and didn’t get in. To make matters worse (or so it seemed at the time), my close friend and fellow Glee Clubber, Glen Howard ‘71, did! Happily, my Krok experience improved from there. Persevering, I did get in on the next tryout and, as I wrote (long ago) in my 25th Harvard Reunion report: “One of the happiest memories at Harvard for me was walking down Holyoke Street to the Hasty Pudding every day at 5 to sing and hang out with the Kroks.” That daily infusion of joy and light-heartedness was, for me, the antidote for the angst many Harvard students feel (especially so in the late 1960s), and I felt incredibly lucky to have such a bedrock of joy in singing that anchored my daily life as an undergrad.
My journey in the Kroks from 1968 (the year I didn’t get in!!) – 53 years – has been truly awesome in both the original and current senses of that word. And I’m among the most junior of the Vintage Kroks, many of whom can add yet another decade! When I was an undergrad Krok, I had no idea it was a young institution, relatively speaking; the 40s had been a generation ago, WWII felt like ancient history as compared with Viet Nam. Now, of course, we are truly Vintage Kroks and happily now ready to celebrate 75-76 years of continuous joy in brotherhood and making music together.
But allow me to share some of the fun the Vintage Kroks have had putting together our songs for this Year to Remember. The email exchanges among us have been lively and as witty as our verbal exchanges when we were undergrads. Back and forth’ing just exactly how to sing various versions of our songs invited no less banter than when we gathered at the second-floor Hasty Pudding bar at 12 Holyoke. After much ado, our fearless cohort leader Glen exercised his age-old MD role and, after a close vote (vote?!!), announced (politely, of course), “This is the way we’re doing it!”
All the banter also invited a treasure trove of memories and talk of the joy in that instant of getting in the group, awakened in the night back then by “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” at one’s dorm room door.
- Jack Kennedy ’67 recalls, “I will never forget a knock on my door of Matthews North 6 with ‘Now did you ever hear of …?’ It was such a joy and relief to know I would be part of this fabulous group.”
- Bob Croog ’66 says: “I can still remember I was reading Hum 2 or something … then ‘bum-bum-bum’ … one of those unforgettable moments when all the Kroks crammed into Lionel B entry and Jim Paul was the first to grab my hand and welcome me into the group.”
- Jim Kitendaugh ’70 remembers very well “the night I was ‘inducted;’ I remember being out of my mind excited, as Jack, Peter and the others sang out ….” And “I can still hear Lars’ celestial solo in ‘Wee Small Hours’ in my head all these years later: absolutely gorgeous!”
- John Danner recalls, “My smile must have lit up the night; I was just so happy after years of growing up listening to brother Bill Danner talk about his experience in the Kroks and listening to the LP Warm But Cool in high school.”
- David Wilson ’65 says: “My roommate and I got up to all the pounding on the door not expecting a serenade! I was BLOWN AWAY by that acceptance! I never got over how special it was to be a Krok!”
- Rick Pepin ’62 reports: “My ‘knock on the door’ was Fred Ford’s invitation to a Krok rehearsal in ’59 and I had not heard of the Kroks …. First there were the whiskey sours in the bar, then the door opened, and Dick Dozier led the Four Freshmen arrangement of ‘Blue World’ … and I was all in!” Allen Burns ’63 adds, “’Blue World’ was a favorite of mine since I heard Sinatra sing it when I was in 9th grade!”
All of these sentiments and more rang out loud and clear in the Vintage Kroks’ emails this year, just as they have come alive in all of the Reunions we’ve held every five years, as if our Krok experiences were just yesterday. And here we are, indeed Vintage, so grateful for this lifetime that began so very long ago but lives on in us today.
My time in the Kroks did not include a Big Tour but we did manage to go to St. Croix over Christmas, largely because I became “Tour Manager” when my then girlfriend and classmate and now wife, Irene, planned to go there with her parents on holiday. We all squeezed into two rooms of their hotel, with mattresses on the floor, and, in exchange for this luxurious lodging, tried to get enough sleep to do our job of singing around the pool twice a day. Food and open bar helped.
Of course, in 1972, the Kroks sang at Irene’s and my wedding, just as they have at so many other “Krok weddings” over the years.
The arc of my life in the Kroks had a renaissance after the Kroks’ 50th Reunion when David Orenstein K’96 had the idea of creating a Krok Board to help preserve the Kroks, especially mindful of the few times when the group had had only one returning Krok. (I recall that Peter Lerangis had to keep the group going when he was the lone Krok returning!)
The Board was formed with Jeff Korn as president, Peter Miller, Arnie Servais, Peter Mansfield, David Orenstein (in Shanghai), and me. We struggled to create an entity that would support and serve the undergrad Kroks as needed over time, but still carefully avoid depriving them of their autonomy and creativity. We began over round table dinners at Upstairs at the Pudding (in the former Hasty Pudding dining room) and eventually found our way to 2 Garden Street when Steve Dostart and others joined and solidified our efforts. The highly creative “Eliah Seton Decade+” followed, during which the Board’s mission was established and broadened. Larry Wasserman then accepted the baton from Eliah and has continued the tradition of hardworking presidents, working on behalf of the undergrads, all in an efficient and spirited way.
One of my personal regrets as a Krok is having graduated before the Peter Mansfield Era. How I would love to know all the great Mansfield arrangements – other than the solos I sing only in the privacy of my car or shower! So many of his arrangements have remained core to the Krok repertoire, not only for the undergrad Kroks, but reprised over and over again at our reunions, retreats, and at the Sayn-Wittgenstein and other worldwide celebrations. To this day, Peter remains available to consult with the undergrad Kroks and provide or assist in new arrangements. We are blessed to have him currently leading his YTR cohort with the same brilliance and lustre as he did back in the 70s.
Before the Mansfield Era was the Golden Age of Gutcheon. Jeff Gutcheon’s arrangements anchored the repertoire of the Vintage Kroks. Speaking at Gutch’s memorial service, Malcolm Mackenzie described him as “an Amherst grad and MIT-trained architect, a real polymath, a remarkably versatile, forward-thinking, unorthodox guy whose musical career after the Kroks included playing the piano and recording with a long list of luminaries.” His Krok arrangements were invariably complex, as exemplified by Lady Is A Tramp (included in the Vintage Kroks’ YTR repertoire), Mountain Greenery, and many others, including his iconic arrangement of The House of Blue Lights. It may come as a surprise to the hundreds of more musically savvy Kroks who came later that, during this period, the Kroks’ learning process was purely via oral tradition — laboriously singing into the new guys’ ears without the benefit of any written music. Sadly, Jeff succumbed after a protracted decline with dementia not long after a transcription process got underway to finally create a written Gutcheon Songbook. As Malcolm said of Gutch’s songs at his memorial service: “In their intricacy, their delightful variety, their rhythmic and melodic inventiveness, their crunchy dissonances and their lush harmonies, our eight indelible Gutcheon arrangements have always been for me the essence of Krokdom.”
Over the past couple of decades, many more individual undergraduate Kroks have been creating more and more inventive and exciting arrangements that the undergrads routinely now premiere and perform.
The greatest claims to fame of my day in K ’70 are, of course, Glen Howard’s starting House as a duet, with other Kroks then rushing in from all sides, but, more importantly, his “borrowing” Loch Lomond from the Glee Club repertoire. As all Kroks now know, Loch became a sacred signature and, when so many alums crowd onto the Sanders stage every five years to sing it together, we all share the overwhelming feeling of being part of something magical.
For me, somewhat surprisingly, many of my closest ties in the Kroks are not just with Board alumni (almost all of whom are younger than I am), but especially with Kroks of the past 15 years who have attended the Krok Retreat that I host in September in New Hampshire for undergrads and alums. That event has evolved into a rite of passage for incoming Kroks to introduce them early on to the heart and soul of the group. We Climb Mount Osceola, feast, and sing late into the night by a bonfire by the Mad River until Arnie Servais has walked on water and everyone has sung their solo. Gratefully, I enjoy these newer friends at least as much as my older and Vintage Krok friends … an astounding gift to me at this moment in life.
So, the Harvard Krokodiloes continue to thrive and have grown even more intense in their commitment to the excellence of musical performance. All of which is reflected in this Year To Remember: the brilliant and unlikely brainstorm of the current undergrads, COVID-grounded all over the world – an idea conceived by K’21 GM Channy Hong, along with his brothers-in-crime, Adam Mombru, Chris Ong, Jonathan D’Souza, Gregory Lipson and many others. It is more ambitious and creative than during any typical Krok year and potentially as poignant as any Krok experience in the group’s history.
Today, the undergrad Kroks re-evaluate the repertoire, diversity, and their commitment to the Harvard and the Cambridge communities while also making a world tour happen each year. In all of these efforts, there is no less passion than during the Vintage Kroks’ years – and possibly even more since the Kroks’ scope has widened and the Krok stage and world have grown bigger. But the joy is exactly the same as in vintage days. New Kroks find the same blessing in being part of this extraordinary brotherhood that we as Vintage Kroks have enjoyed for a lifetime. The young Kroks and alums all understand the tradition of which they’re part and to a man are grateful to be a part of this unique organization based on a passion for song, thriving on the joy of deep friendship for a lifetime.
I close with a heartfelt reflection from Larry Leonard ’52 who recently wrote:
“At age 91, I am among the older members of the Ancient and Honorable Kroks. My graduating class was 1952. I decided to try out for the Kroks somewhat as a personal challenge, was accepted, ended up singing a couple of solos, and looking back now almost 70 years finding that music and my experience with the Kroks had a definite positive impact on my life. I gained confidence, friendships, and the joy of music.
“After college I did little singing as Korea, grad school, actual work and family ate up all the hours. Then I retired, went to Florida, joined a barbershop chorus and started all over again singing currently for almost 20 years. Learning 8-10 new songs each year, rehearsing, performing in a chorus or quartet setting, going to competitions, taking on administrative and musical responsibilities have dominated and enhanced my life in a very large way. Ringing chords and the friendships created through singing and performing are long lasting and have been the basis of my happiness.
“A cappella singing is wonderful; it keeps you young; it makes everyone within earshot happy. The world is a better place because of music. I have to credit the Kroks as the starting point of my joyful journey with singing.”
– Lynn Weigel K’70
