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Marjorie Morningstar is a 1958 melodrama film based on the 1955 novel
of the same name. The film,
released by Warner Bros.
Pictures and directed by Irving Rapper tells a
fictional coming of age story about a young Jewish girl in New York City
in the
1950s. The film's trajectory traces Marjorie Morgenstern's attempts to
become an
artist - exemplified through her relationship with the actor and
playwright Noel
Airman.
The central conflict in the film revolves around the traditional
models of
social behavior and religious behavior expected by New York Jewish
families in
the 1950s, and Marjorie's desire to follow an unconventional path.
The film is notable for its inclusion of Jewish religious scenes -
including
a Passover meal, a synagogue
sequence and Jewish icons in the Morgenstern house. These depictions
were one of
the first times Jewish religion was portrayed overtly in film since The
Jazz Singer in 1927. Marjorie Morningstar is also notable
for its
role in propagating the stereotype of the Jewish
American Princess as well as the Jewish
mother stereotype.
[edit] Synopsis
Marjorie Morgenstern begins the film as a student at Hunter College
and the
girlfriend of an eligible young man who attends her family's synagogue.
Her
parents are happy with her choice of mate, and one evening while they
flirt in
front of the Morgenstern condominium, her mother Rose Morgenstern (Claire
Trevor) tells her
father, Arnold (Everett
Sloane), that she hopes the two kids marry.
Marjorie breaks up with the boy, though, and that summer attends a
summer
camp in the Adirondacks as a
camp counselor. One night,
Marjorie and her friend Marsha Zelenko (Carolyn Jones)
sneak across to a Borscht Belt resort
for
adults called South Wind. There she is caught by resort owner Maxwell
Greech (George Tobias) who
is going
to get her in trouble when the resort social director Noel Airman (Gene
Kelly) vouches for her as a
guest. She begins to work at the resort and begin a relationship with
Airman and
a friendship with screenplay writer Wally Wronkin (Martin Milner).
The latter wants a relationship
with Marjorie, but she's tempted by the tragic Airman, who meets the
disapproval
of her parents. According to them, as demonstrated in a lunch scene with
Airman,
he lacks the prospects that a true professional should aspire to.
Airman, whose
original name was the more Jewish Ehrman, renames Marjorie as well from
Morgenstern to Morningstar - thus giving us the name of the film.
When Marjorie's Uncle Sampson (Ed
Wynn) dies of a heart attack at the camp, the brief affair is
interrupted
and Marjorie goes back to the city. There she meets a doctor, with whom
she
quickly breaks up when Airman returns to find her. He declares that his
love for
her has convinced him to attempt to become respectable. Marjorie tells
her
mother, and Rose insists that Marjorie bring him to a Passover meal.
"Not
Passover, mother. He’s not very religious. He doesn’t believe in those
things,"
Marjorie says. Rose answers, "He doesn’t believe in those things...
you’re going
to get married. How are you going to raise your children?" Airman
attends the
Passover meal, when a dramatic eruption occurs. In the midst of the
meal, he
leaves and Marjorie follows him. She is concerned he's bored, and he
says, "I
wasn’t bored. I was disturbed, deeply. I couldn’t help thinking of all
the
things I’ve missed in life. Family, your kind of family. Faith,
tradition. All
the things I’ve been ridiculing all the time. That’s why I couldn’t take
it
anymore. I love you very much, Marjorie Morgenstern."
Airman gets a job at an advertising firm and seems to be doing well
for
himself. But one week he disappears, doesn't show up to work, and
refuses to
take Marjorie's phone calls. She goes to his apartment to check up on
him and
finds him drunk with a strange women in his apartment. He's decided he
can't
stand the professional lifestyle and wants to be an artist. The impetus
is the
success of Wally Wronkin on Broadway - the screenplay writer has
launched on a
series of hits and Airman is consumed with jealousy. Airman and Marjorie
fight,
but soon reconcile as Wronkin investors meet with Airman to invest in
his play.
Despite the investment, Airman's play is panned by critics. "We were
crucified,"
someone explains to Marjorie, and their relationship is unable to
survive
Airman's incredible failure.
In the final scene, Marjorie is back at South Wind. Greech notes of
her that
she's done some growing up. In the final shot, we see her board a bus
and sit
down. It is unclear where she is heading, but when we see her look in
the
rearview mirror, we see Wronkin in the back of the bus. He smiles.
Though the
film ends there, the suggestion is that they will embark on the
relationship
Wronkin had been hoping for from the beginning.
 | |
| Directed by | Irving Rapper |
| Produced by | Milton Sperling |
| Written by | Herman Wouk Everett Freeman |
| Starring | Natalie Wood Gene Kelly Claire Trevor |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Editing by | Folmar Blangsted |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1958 |
| Running time | 128 min. |
| Language | English |