OUR HISTORY
KROKS TURN SEVENTY
In March of 2016, the Harvard Krokodiloes celebrated 70 years of harmony and brotherhood.
During a weekend extravaganza, Kroks from every era and all around the world gathered in Cambridge, MA to sing, dine, and toast to 70 years of song.
The Kroks are rooted in the Hasty Pudding Club, founded in 1770 and recognized as the oldest collegiate social organization in the United States. The club was built upon traditions of brotherhood, wine, and verse, a combination which led four of the more musically minded members, in 1946, to carry those traditions into the world of close harmony. Inspired by the stuffed crocodiles mounted upon the wall of the Pudding’s Upstairs Bar, these pioneering songsters adopted the Greek word for crocodile, and the Krokodiloes were born.
Since then, this group of twelve undergraduate men has been bringing the popular music of the the Great American Songbook, as well as more traditional aires, to audiences across the country and around the globe. The Krokodiloes pride themselves on their musical excellence and professional approach to their performance. Their fine musicianship and youthful energy, combined with their unique blend of snappy choreography and witty humor, have made them instant crowd-pleasers wherever they roam.
Among the luminaries the Kroks have entertained are Ella Fitzgerald, Yo-Yo Ma, Princess Grace and Princess Caroline of Monaco, King Bhumibol of Thailand, Elizabeth Taylor, Julia Roberts, and Leonard Bernstein, ’39 (who composed music for the group). They have performed on National Public Radio, “Good Morning America,” “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,” and on television internationally.
The Krokodiloes also have a long library of recordings dating back to the inception of the group. Their musical repertoire has varied somewhat in the group’s seventy-year history, and today, the Kroks proudly pursue a repertoire loosely defined by “the Great American Songbook and beyond.”
Our motto, known to Kroks and their alums worldwide, was established by alum and once-time Music Director Stuart Patterson ’79: Nunc Est Cantandum! (Now is the time to sing!)
SCREWED ON WRONG
If they hadn’t been discovered in a rare office cleanup by Steve Dostart ’86, the posters, photos, notes, and souvenirs of the Kroks might today be entertaining only the dust bunnies and rodentia of the 12 Holyoke basement. Due to Steve’s vision and astonishingly tireless efforts, the Krok Archive is now a permanent part of the Pusey Library — and is festooning the pages of this website. See a list of the Pusey holdings here.