Burlesque in Harlem (1949)

Starring:

• Dewey 'Pigmeat' Markham
• Dick Barrow
• Jo Jo Adams

Storyline
A provocative peek at a typical 1950 Harlem burlesque show, complete with racy slapstick comedy, bawdy blues singers, slick tap dancers, and voluptuous exotic showgirls in minimal attire. Legendary black comic, Pigmeat Markham, makes an appearance in a clever, fast-talking sketch about a sex clinic. Though tame by contemporary standards, these acts were definitely considered to be "adult entertainment" at the time. Burlesque in Harlem is a fascinating look at how society's mores have changed in the last half century.

Souls of Sin (1949)

Starring:

• Savannah Churchill 
• Jimmy Wright 
• Billie Allen
• William Greaves 
• Emory Richardson 
• Louise Jackson 
• Powell Lindsay

Storyline
In Harlem, temptation lurks around every corner. Hard luck gambler "Dollar Bill" Burton hates his squalid existence sharing a run-down basement apartment with a struggling writer and a penniless blues guitarist from Alabama. All three men dream of success in the Big Apple, but only Dollar Bill is desperate enough to stoop to crime to achieve it. Dealing cocaine for gangster Bad Boy George could be Bill's ticket out of Harlem - or it could be a one-way boarding pass to hell.
Souls of Sin (1949) is a poignant and literate portrait of a black man at a moral crossroads. The sobering subject matter is served with an enjoyable side course of music and comedy. This mixture was a tradition in many all-black productions of the 1930s and 40s, and makes for compelling viewing today.
 

Pinky (1949)

Starring:

• Jeanne Crain
• Ethel Waters
• Ethel Barrymore
• William Lundigan
• Frederick O'Neal 
• Nina Mae McKinney

Storyline
Pinky, a young nurse (Jeanne Crain), returns to her small southern hometown, but the trip is a bittersweet one: Educated in the North, Pinky is engaged to a doctor that doesn't know she is part Black. Her grandmother (Ethel Waters) is a proud Black woman who is less than happy to learn that Pinky's fiance is white. Then, Pinky's friendship with a southern aristocrat (Ethel Berrymore), is cause for more scandal-and a lawsuit-when she dies and leaves her house to Pinky. Shunned by both Blacks and Whites, Pinky's choices make her the unfortunate target of bigotry in this compelling classic.