Dewey 'Pigmeat' Markham

Acting

Dewey 'Pigmeat' Markham

Born 1904-04-18 · Durham, North Carolina, USA

Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham was an African American entertainer. Though best known as a comedian, Markham was also a singer, dancer, and actor. His nickname came from a stage routine, in which he declared himself to be "Sweet Poppa Pigmeat". He was sometimes credited in films as Pigmeat "Alamo" Markham. He is also known for his 1968 single "Here Comes the Judge", which is often considered to be the earliest hip hop record.

Acting credits

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) poster
7.6

During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America's history lost — until now.

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

2021

Black Woodstock poster
8.0

The Harlem Cultural Festival, also known as "Black Woodstock", was a series of music concerts held in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City during the summer of 1969 to celebrate African American music and culture and to promote the continued politics of black pride. The concerts took place in Harlem's Mount Morris Park on Sundays at 3PM from June 29, 1969 to August 24, 1969. The manifestation came soon after the Watts Riots, and the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

Black Woodstock

1969

Junction 88 poster
7.0

In Junction 88, a small all-black community, pretty Lolly Simpkins loves gentle songwriter Buster Jenkins, who makes too little money to marry. Her father favors rival suitor Onnie, crude but with a better income. Buster's best chance comes when impresario Bob Howard, to whom he's sent songs, comes to town looking for him. But Bob is looking for a pseudonym, 'Hewlett Green', that nobody's ever heard of. Will Buster reveal himself? Meanwhile, a very jazzy church concert.

Junction 88

1947

House-Rent Party poster
8.0

Summaries Shorty's wife throws him out of the house for lying around reading detective thrillers and letting his boss Pigmeat get away with not paying him for the work he does at Pigmeat's barber shop in Harlem. He runs into Pigmeat on the street and asks for the money he's owed, but Pigmeat winds up convincing him that not only does he not owe Shorty any salary, but he actually overpays Shorty $1.25 a week. Later, Shorty reads about a jewel thief on the loose in Harlem and that there's a reward of $1,000 for his capture. He convinces Pigmeat that the two of them can catch this guy, collect the reward and then become famous detectives. Complications ensue.

House-Rent Party

1946

Fight That Ghost poster
8.0

Pigmeat and Shorty, who own "Pigmeat and Shorty's Bootery", are told by their landlord to either pay up or get out. They get caught trying to short-count him, and he threatens to have them arrested. After a series of disasters--they ruin a customer's suit, their store blows up--they get a telegram notifying them that a man they once did a kindness for has left them quite a bit of money and a house, but in order to get the inheritance, they have to spend a night in the bedroom of the man's house. When they arrive there, they notice two things--the place is kind of creepy and a series of spooky incidents leaves them to believe the house is haunted.

Fight That Ghost

1946

One Big Mistake poster
8.0

A straight man comes over to three comedians and tells them how the only way to handle a woman is to treat her rough and make her like it.

One Big Mistake

1940

That's My Baby! poster
5.6

A love triangle occurs between the publisher's daughter Betty Moody. comic book artist Tim Jones, and the company's wily manipulative manager Hilton Payne. In addition, Betty's dad, Phineas Moody suffers from severe melancholy; and an emergency cure of laughter is required to save his health.

That's My Baby!

1944

Burlesque in Harlem poster
4.0

A filming of a burlesque act in 1954 Harlem, complete with singers, baggy-pants comics and "exotic" dancers.

Burlesque in Harlem

1949

Mr. Smith Goes Ghost poster
7.0

Mr. Smith Goes Ghost

Mr. Smith Goes Ghost

1940

No artwork available
NR

Soundie of Dewey 'Pigmeat' Markham and Mable Lee performing "Pigmeat Throws the Bull."

Pigmeat Throws the Bull

1945

Pigmeat's Laugh Hepcats poster
NR

Pigmeat's Laugh Hepcats

Pigmeat's Laugh Hepcats

1947

Swanee Showboat poster
7.0

A Bevy of Beauties and a Boatload of Fun

Swanee Showboat

1947

Behind the camera