Marilyn Erskine Movies
American actress Marilyn Erskine portrayed co-leads in a few Hollywood features from the early 1950s, but her best-known role was that of Ida Cantor in The Eddie Cantor Story (1953). Erskine started her performing career on a radio show in Buffalo, New York when she was only three. As an adolescent she appeared in Broadway musicals and plays. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1972
Raymond Burr tackles what amounts to a triple role in this episode, in which Chief Ironside investigates a series of murders that share a common bond. Each of four victims had in his possession a numbered disk: the current holder of Disk Number Five is none other than the police commissioner (Gene Lyons), while Number Six is held by an eccentric, bearded artist named Carlton Duffy (billed as "himself" in the closing credits but actually played by Raymond Burr). Bearing a startling resemblance to Duffy, Ironside takes the man's place in hopes of luring the murderer into a trap. Veteran Hollywood makeup artist Jim McCoy was handed the daunting task of transforming star Burr into ( a ) Chief Ironside, ( b ) Carlton Duffy, and ( c ) Ironside posing as Duffy! Featured in a supporting role is a young William Katt, the son of Burr's onetime Perry Mason costar Barbara Hale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
This episode is a virtual dry-run for the 1970s series Dallas, except that the question posed is not "Who Shot J.R.?" but instead "Who Killed J.K.?" There is no shortage of suspects when nasty oil tycoon Jerome Klee (Wendell Corey) is murdered, but the police finally settle upon Klee's foreman Allen Winford (James Best), who had been trying to prevent Klee from cheating an impoverished farmer named Jason Rohan (Paul Brinegar). Of course, Winford is innocent--else why would Perry Mason (Raymond Burr agree to take his case? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Dr. Gregory Pelham (Peter Hobbs) specializes in discreetly treating high-profile alcoholics. This business reaps quite a profit, so much so that someone decides to cash in on it by kidnapping Pelham's son David (Tom Lowell) and holding him for ransom. As it turns out, the kidnapping is a hoax--but the murder of Joe Velvet (Ron Kennedy), for which Dr. Pelham is charged, is all too real. If ever there was a case for Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), this is it! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
One last duel is expected of a retired gunfighter as brash, young gunfighters tempt him back onto the streets. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1957
It is hard to believe that at one time an entire hour-long TV drama could have been fashioned out of an example of artistic ignorance, but such was the case of this 1957 presentation of the NBC anthology Lux Video Theater. Marilyn Erskine heads the cast as Alice Davis, the wife of ambitious young executive Larry Davis (Steve Dunne). Basically a simple, old-fashioned girl, Alice has trouble adjusting to the fast-lane life preferred by Larry and his friends. Larry tolerates Alice's social clumsiness until the fatal night when, at a party at the home of Larry's boss, Alice admits that she has never heard of modernist painter Pablo Picasso--a confession that nearly destroys both the Davis' marriage and Larry's career. "Who Is Picasso?" originally aired live and in color. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marilyn Erskine, Steve Dunne, (more)
- 1953
"Slight" is right: this harmless comedy programmer is as inconsequential as it is enjoyable. It's the tale of two Army buddies: go-getter Geechy Cheevers (Mickey Rooney) and sedate family man Freddie Clopp (Eddie Bracken). Inveigling his way into Freddie's household, Geechy drives everyone bonkers with his get-rich-quick schemes. After convincing Freddie to quit his job and mortgage his home in order to set up a gas station, Geechy cooks up an underhanded scheme to tap the gas pipe of a rival station. Standing on the sidelines is Geechy's long-suffering girlfriend Beverly (Elaine Stewart) and Freddy's far-from-understanding wife Emily (Marilyn Erskine). An obligatory slapstick chase finale caps this exercise in lunacy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Eddie Bracken, (more)
- 1953
Confidentially Connie is an MGM factory product starring Janet Leigh and Van Johnson. Upon learning she is pregnant, Leigh tries to convince her husband Johnson, a humble teacher, to find a better-paying job. But Johnson is a proud man, so much so that he refuses to request money from his wealthy father (Louis Calhern). Somehow this plotline was related to the dilemma of rising meat prices in the postwar era. In the 1930s, MGM would have stretched Confidentially Connie well past its welcome, say for about 100 minutes; but 1953 was a year of austerity, thus this harmless little comedy breezed along at 74 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Van Johnson, Janet Leigh, (more)
- 1953
Eddie Cantor, beloved "banjo eyed" entertainer who conquered stage, films, radio and television, is given the Hollywood biopic treatment in this largely uninvolving film. Cantor is portrayed by Keefe Brasselle, a minor nightclub performer of the 1950s who couldn't hope to come within shouting distance of Cantor's appeal. The storyline charts Cantor's professional progress, from the lower East Side boyhood to his ascendancy as star of The Ziegfeld Follies. It also chronicles his enduring marriage to wife Ida (Marilyn Erskine). Surprisingly shortchanged in the film was Cantor's humanitarian work (primarily on behalf of the March of Dimes and various Jewish causes); instead, screen time is wasted on Aline MacMahon, as lachrymose as possible in the role of Eddie's grandmother, and Jackie Barnett, giving a gosh-awful performance as Jimmy Durante. At the beginning and end of the film, the real Eddie and Ida Cantor appear, ostensibly to watch the unspooling of The Eddie Cantor Story in a Warner Bros. screening room. At the fade-out, Eddie turns to Ida and says "I've never been so happy in my life." Now that was great acting! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keefe Brasselle, Marilyn Erskine, (more)
- 1952
- NR
Above and Beyond is the story of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as told from the perspective of the man who flew the mission. Robert Taylor stars as Col. Paul Tibbetts, commander of the Enola Gay. Once selected for this extremely dangerous mission, Tibbetts must hand-pick a crew worthy of the task. He is also forced to keep his mission a closely guarded secret, even unto withholding all information from his loving and patient wife Lucey (Eleanor Parker). The film concentrates on the strain placed upon Tibbetts, his crew and their families in the crucial days before the "big drop". The bombing itself is handled with taste and decorum, though the horror and mixed emotions of the moment are brilliantly conveyed on the faces of Tibbetts and his men. Above and Beyond represents a rare noncomedy endeavor from the writer-director team of Melvin Frank and Norman Panama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, (more)
- 1952
Peter Lawford goes through his standard "rich, spoiled young playboy" paces in the MGM comedy Just This Once. In danger of squandering his entire fortune, the wastrelly Mark MacLene (Peter Lawford) is put on a strict allowance by an old family friend, Judge Samuel Coulter (Lewis Stone). To make certain that Mark stays within his weekly budget, Coulter hires pretty lawyer Lucy Duncan (Janet Leigh) to monitor the boy's spending. One of the provisions of Coulter's ruling dictates that Mark and Lucy live under the same roof--platonically, of course. Lucy agrees to this set-up; after all, she couldn't possibly fall in love with anyone as irresponsible as Mark, especially since she's already engaged to the scrupulously frugal Tom Winters (Richard Anderson). Anyone who can't figure out how this winds up should be drummed out of the theater in disgrace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Leigh, Peter Lawford, (more)
- 1952
June Allyson portrays real-life doctor Emily Dunning in this respectful biopic. Emily chooses a medical career despite turn-of-the-century prejudice against female physicians. The only job open to her is in a slum hospital in the Bowery, where she performs with courage and perseverance, exposing herself to the many deadly diseases which afflicted the poor in those pre-Penicillin days. Dr. Dunning's work brings her to the attention of the public, ultimately leading to an appointment on the staff at Bellevue Hospital--the first woman to hold such a job. Based on Emily Dunning's autobiography, This drama is slightly weakened by the fluctuating performance of June Allyson, though she wins over the audience in the very first scene by grimly slapping the face of a flirtatious intern. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Allyson, Arthur Kennedy, (more)
- 1951
- NR
Though Frank Capra wrote the original story treatment for MGM's Westward the Women, he was too busy to direct the film, and handed the reigns instead to his former Liberty Films partner William A. Wellman. This stark, no-nonsense outdoor drama stars Robert Taylor as a trail guide named Buck, who in 1851 is hired by California settler Roy Whitman (John McIntyre) to head a wagon train full of mail-order brides from Chicago to the West Coast. Though Buck spares the brides nothing in describing the hardships they're about to face, most of the ladies agree to undertake the journey. Starting out with 104 women, Buck leads the expedition through some of the most treacherous territory in the West. Several of the women die en route, killed off by the elements, Indian attacks, and sundry unexpected mishaps. Most of the male travellers likewise fall victim to disaster, save for Buck and his courageous Japanese cook Ito (Henry Nakamura). Even when the wagon train reaches its destination, the story is far, far from over. Though second-billed Denise Darcel is the most prominent of the women, the large cast generally works as an ensemble, with everyone pitching together for the common good, just as their real-life counterparts had done back in the 1850s. Throughout, the film abruptly (and effectively) switches moods, veering precipitously from raucous comedy to profound tragedy (some of the deaths occur so suddenly that they can still elicit gasps from the audience). An expertly assembled and reasonably realistic saga, Westward the Women is one story that needs to be told in black-and-white; the currently available colorized version should be avoided like the plague. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Denise Darcel, (more)
