Marjorie Morningstar

Marjorie Morningstar (1958)

Would this glamorous girl choose love...or a star-spangled Career?

While working as a counselor at a summer camp, college-student Marjorie Morgenstern falls for 32-year-old Noel Airman, a would-be dramatist working at a nearby summer theater. Like Marjorie, he is an upper-middle-class New York Jew, but has fallen away from his roots, and Marjorie's parents object among other things to his lack of a suitable profession. Noel himself warns Marjorie repeatedly that she's much too naive and conventional for him, but they nonetheless fall in love.

Date of release
1958-04-24
TMDB
6.3 / 10 (21)
Runtime
2h 3m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Irving Rapper

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: Marjorie Morningstar

Marjorie Morningstar is a 1958 American drama film directed by Irving Rapper from a screenplay by Everett Freeman, based on the 1955 novel of the same name by Herman Wouk. The film tells a fictional coming-of-age story about a Jewish girl named Marjorie Morgenstern in New York City in the 1950s, chronicling her attempts to become an artist—exemplified through her relationship with the actor and playwright Noel Airman. The film stars Gene Kelly and Natalie Wood, with Claire Trevor, Ed Wynn, Everett Sloane, Martin Milner, and Carolyn Jones.

Production

The film was mainly shot at Scaroon Manor in upstate New York. The footage of fictitious Camp Tamarack was filmed at Camp Cayuga, Schroon Lake, N.Y. in Essex County, N.Y. Part of the film was filmed in Glens Falls, N.Y. and Warren County, N.Y. Despite the central themes of Judaism highlighted, less than half of the actors—and none of the women—in the headlined cast were brought up In Jewish families (Jones having converted upon marriage).

Until Marjorie Morningstar, Natalie Wood had played mostly child-like roles, including that of Judy in Rebel Without a Cause. A New York Times reviewer wrote "Natalie Wood, who only yesterday was playing with dolls in films, has blossomed into a vivacious pretty brunette who very likely is as close to a personification of Marjorie as one could wish.

Gene Kelly was near the end of his film acting career when he appeared in Marjorie Morningstar. His 15-year association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had ended the previous year. Born in 1912, he was age 46 when he took the role of Noel Airman. By contrast, his love interest Wood was only age 20. The Times noted: "Although Mr. Kelly appears a mite uncomfortable in his assignment, he plays it with understanding.

Times critiques of the other performances: "Carolyn Jones, as Miss Wood's best friend, makes it an outspoken performance marked by one truly poignant scene in which she reveals her essential loneliness. Ed Wynn, in the comparatively short role of an impecunious but understanding relative, adds some glint of humor and compassion.

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