 (Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan)
|  | Virginia Herrick
Full name: Virginia Leah Herrick
A pretty lady who arrived in Hollywood during the waning days of the B western and serial was Virginia Herrick. She was born in Washington state in 1916.
"Virginia has always felt that God was her agent. She did not seek a screen career, rather, it came out of the blue!
"I made my B-Westerns so long ago and for such a short time that I had almost forgotten them. I had only seen one picture, I KILLED GERONIMO. Then I discovered that my films were listed on the Internet Movie Database and most were still available. As I started to obtain them, I found that they were still popular and were being collected by many people. Then came my invitation to the Asheville film Festival. It was the experience of a lifetime for me and I want to thank everyone who was so wonderful and supportive to me in Asheville."
Obituary for Virginia Leah Herrick Garrison: Find A Grave website notes that Virginia Herrick is interred (with husband Omar V. Garrison) at Cedar City Cemetery, Cedar City, Iron County, Utah: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/158067969/virginia-herrick Virginia Herrick was born in Washington. The Family Search website (free) and Ancestry.com (subscription) have info on her and family:
|
 (Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan) Above - Virginia and Whip Wilson during her work on SILVER RAIDERS (Monogram, 1950). Virginia remembers Wilson constantly practicing with his whip between takes.  (Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan) Above - Virginia is being menaced by Chief Thunder Cloud (Victor Daniels) as the titled warchief in I KILLED GERONIMO (Eagle Lion, 1950).  (Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan) Above - Virginia is being romanced by star James Ellison in another still from I KILLED GERONIMO (Eagle Lion, 1950).  (Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan) Above - Virginia gives a helping hand to Johnny Mack Brown in MONTANA DESPERADO (Monogram, 1951). Virginia provided the following comments about Johnny Mack Brown: "He was absolutely the nicest and kindest gentleman any one would want to work with! Very polite and businesslike."  (Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan) Above, Virginia's in trouble again --- this time from Rusty Wescoatt (left) and Jack Ingram (right, without his usual moustache) in the serial ROAR OF THE IRON HORSE (Columbia, 1951).  (Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan) L-to-R are Johnny Mack Brown, Virginia Herrick, and Lee Roberts in MONTANA DESPERADO (Monogram, 1951).  (Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan) Much of the B western and serial work had faded away by the early 1950s, and many of the heroes and supporting players wound up working in early TV shows. Above are, from L-to-R: Jackie Coogan, Marshall Reed, Virginia Herrick and Russell Hayden in a scene from one of the early TV sagebrush series, the syndicated COWBOY G-MEN, which first appeared on the little screen in 1952, and starred Hayden and Coogan. Reed generally portrayed a baddie in westerns at Monogram, PRC and RKO, and wound up as one of the policeman on THE LINEUP TV detective series. Hayden was a former sidekick to William Boyd in the Hopalong Cassidy films, had his own starring series at Columbia, and directed/produced TV series such as 26 MEN and JUDGE ROY BEAN. And who can forget former silent screen child star Coogan as Uncle Fester on THE ADDAMS FAMILY.  (Courtesy of Minard Coons) Above from left to right are Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune and Bill Hale. Did Ray 'Crash' Corrigan try to bring another western series to the screen long after his work in the Range Busters of 1940-1943 ... and is there a completed film laying around somewhere that hadn't been seen in about fifty years? Both Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune told Old Corral contributor Minard Coons that they had completed the initial film of a new trio series, starring themselves along with Monte Hale's brother Bill Hale (far right in the picture on the left). It was not a new series of western movies, but a proposed half hour television series. The pilot episode was lensed in color circa late 1950, but the series was not picked up for broadcast. The name of the new trio and TV program was "The Buckskin Rangers". Ed Phillips reported that Tommy Corrigan (Ray's son in California) has the film, and it was shown many years ago at a gathering of western film fans. There were a few October, 1950 tradepaper announcements on 'The Buckskin Rangers'. It was being produced by Jerry Fairbanks Inc. of Hollywood. Corrigan had the lead role, was to be filmed at Corriganville, and 26 half-hour TV episodes were planned. The three heroes portrayed roving lawmen in the 1870s. The heroine in that unreleased TV program was Virginia Herrick. The BUCKSKIN RANGERS TV pilot was recently made available to view on YouTube and this link will open in separate window / tab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqdDMG7mm2U |
| Virginia Herrick visited senior organizations to encourage retirees to share their backgrounds with others. Her presentation, entitled 'FROM HORSE OPERA TO GRAND OPERA', included a showing of one of her westerns after which she would sing two or three familar arias from well-known operas. Virginia designed and made all of her costumes. | |  (Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan) |
 (Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan) Above are Peggy Stewart and Virginia guesting at the 2002 Charlotte Western Film Fair. | ||
Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Virginia Herrick: