Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?
movie
Heironymus Merkin, the most talented movie star who ever sang, danced and loved girls, girls, girls.
Released March 19, 1969
Overview
Heironymus Merkin is an internationally successful singer approaching middle age who retells his life story in a series of production numbers on a seashore in front of his two toddlers and aged mother. Merkin's promiscuous relationships with women are explored, particularly Polyester Poontang and the adolescent Mercy Humppe. Merkin is constantly surrounded by a Satan-like procurer, Goodtime Eddie Filth, and an angelic 'Presence' who interrupts Merkin's biography with cryptic Borscht Belt-level jokes to denote births and deaths in Merkin's life. Newley periodically steps out of character to complain about his 'Merkin' role with an unseen director, two screenwriters, the film's producers and a trio of blasé movie critics who are turned off by the story's eroticism and lack of plot.
Cast
Anthony Newley
as
Heironymous Merkin
Joan Collins
as
Polyester Poontang
Bruce Forsyth
as
Uncle Limelight
Milton Berle
as
Goodtime Eddie Filth
Stubby Kaye
as
Fat Writer
George Jessel
as
The Presence
Connie Kreski
as
Mercy Humppe
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Alexander Newley
as
Thaxted
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Tara Newley
as
Thumbelina
Patricia Hayes
as
Grandma
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Ronald Rubin
as
Skinny Writer
Louis Negin
as
Producer Peter
Crew
Anthony Newley
as
Director
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Herman Raucher
as
Writer
Anthony Newley
as
Writer
William Constable
as
Art Direction
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Bernard Gribble
as
Editor
Otto Heller
as
Director of Photography
Richard Williams
as
Opening Title Sequence
Anthony Newley
as
Producer
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Scott Slimon
as
Set Decoration
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George Fowler
as
Associate Producer
Anthony Newley
as
Original Music Composer
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Herbert Kretzmer
as
Lyricist