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Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? is a 1969 British musical film directed by and starring Anthony Newley.
Newley played the autobiographical title role of Merkin, 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 (played by Newley's actual children Tara and Alexander) and aged mother. Merkin focuses on his promiscuous relationships with women, particularly Polyester Poontang (played by Newley's wife Joan Collins) and the adolescent Mercy Humppe (Playboy centerfold Connie Kreski).
Merkin is constantly surrounded by a Satan-like procurer, Goodtime Eddie Filth (Milton Berle), and an angelic 'Presence' (George Jessel) 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 (voiced by Newley), 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.
Original Release
01/01/1968
US Release
01/01/1968
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Joan Collins | Polyester Poontang |
Alexander Newley | Thaxted |
Tara Newley Arkle | Thumbelina |
Milton Berle | Goodtime Eddie Filth |
Connie Kreski | Mercy Humppe |
George Jessel | The Presence |
Bruce Forsyth | Uncle Limelight |
Patricia Hayes | Grandma |
Stubby Kaye | Fat Writer |
Ronald Rubin | Skinny Writer |
Directors
Richard Williams, Anthony Newley
Writers
Anthony Newley, Herman Raucher
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Joan Collins | Polyester Poontang |
Alexander Newley | Thaxted |
Tara Newley Arkle | Thumbelina |
Milton Berle | Goodtime Eddie Filth |
Connie Kreski | Mercy Humppe |
George Jessel | The Presence |
Bruce Forsyth | Uncle Limelight |
Patricia Hayes | Grandma |
Stubby Kaye | Fat Writer |
Ronald Rubin | Skinny Writer |
Louis Negin | Producer Peter |
Tom Stern | Producer Ron |
Ronald Radd | Critic Bentley |
Rosalind Knight | Critic Penelope |
Victor Spinetti | Critic Sharpnose |
Julian Orchard | Red Cardinal |
Judy Cornwell | Filigree Fondle |
Desmond Walter-Ellis | Philip Bluster |
Bernard Stone | Icicle Ike |
Margaret Nolan | Little Assistance |
Producers
Name | Role |
---|
Anthony Newley | Producer |
George Fowler | Producer |