Dewey 'Pigmeat' Markham
Acting
Biography
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.
Born: April 18, 1904
Place of Birth: Durham, North Carolina, USA
Known For
Black Woodstock
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.
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
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.
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
An American sketch comedy television program hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin.
ABC Stage 67
ABC Stage 67 is the umbrella title for a series of 26 weekly shows that included dramas, variety shows, documentaries, and original musicals. It premiered on American Broadcasting Company on September 14, 1966 with Murray Schisgal's The Love Song of Barney Kempinksi, directed by Stanley Prager and starring Alan Arkin as a man enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City in his last remaining hours of bachelorhood. Arkin was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance By An Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama and the program was nominated as Outstanding Dramatic Program. Future programs included appearances by Petula Clark, Bobby Darin, Sir Laurence Olivier, Albert Finney, Peter Sellers, David Frost, and Jack Paar. ABC's effort to bring culture to the masses was a noble but unsuccessful experiment. Scheduled first against I Spy on Wednesdays and then The Dean Martin Show on Thursdays, the show consistently received low ratings. Its last production, an adaptation of Jean Cocteau's one-woman play The Human Voice starring Ingrid Bergman, aired on May 4, 1967. "Stage 67" was not actually a part of the primary ABC facilities in Los Angeles. It was produced at the old Monogram Studios backlot that was later sold to KCET.
That's My Baby!
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.
Junction 88
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.
Burlesque in Harlem
A filming of a burlesque act in 1954 Harlem, complete with singers, baggy-pants comics and "exotic" dancers.
Fight That Ghost
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.
Filmography
as Self (archive footage)
as Self
as Regular Performer
as Self - Comedian
as Self
as Self
as Piggy
as Pigmeat Markham
as Pigmeat
as Mr. Smith