Marjorie Morningstar, 1955 - You Can't Always Get What You Want

Lately, I've been taking a look at Natalie Wood. I first saw her in Sex and the Single Girl, which ends awesomely in a way that I wish I could end a movie, but I had only known her name, mostly as some chick that drowned. That remains a mystery, but I decided to take a look at some of Wood's earlier work. She started her career as a child actor under the control of a tyrannical and mysterious mother, eventually coming into her own as an actress in her adulthood.

The movie I would like to discuss today is Marjorie Morningstar, which is about a young woman trying to come into her own. It's based on a novel by Herman Wouk of the same name. The story centers around Marjorie Morgenstern, a Jewish girl living in Central Park West with her family. Marjorie's parents want her to go to college and marry the son of the local retail impresario. There are worse fates in life, but Marjorie is looking for more in life. Her friend Marsha Zelenko gets her a job a girls' summer camp. One night, Marjorie and Marsha sneak over to the resort across the lake where Marjorie meets Noel Airman, played by Gene Kelly. On the one hand, this part kind of works for Gene Kelly. Noel helps her get a job at a resort, Wothwind and gives her the name Marjorie Morningstar. She also meets Wally, another Jewish kid and under Noel's tutelage. He also seems a little sleazy but that could just be me. Marjorie becomes a star at the camp and her mom dispatches her Uncle Sampson to keep an eye on her. Here we have the two poles pulling her back and forth: Uncle Sampson being family and tradition. Noel being the potential of her own ambition. Or rather it would have worked for Gene Kelly five or ten years before this. Seriously, too old for this movie. What we're saying is that I guess we couldn't get Paul Newman because he didn't dance? Just an FYI, I think most films could have been improved by the presence of Paul Newman. Except The Robe. That thing was just bad. Uncle Sampson dies and Marjorie flips out at Noel which means we will not be seeing him for a while.

We move forward in time. Marjorie has graduated from college, is looking for work as an actress and dating a doctor. This is interrupted when she's met by Noel, who's been trying to make himself into a respectable person by getting a job at an advertising agency. Because from watching Mad Men I know everyone who works at an ad agency is respectable. Marjorie ditches the doctor for Noel and her mother makes her invite Noel to Passover dinner. Now, this is revolutionary for the time. Jewish characters and events were rare if not entirely absent from films at this time, mostly because Hollywood studio chiefs- though largely Jewish themselves- wanted to sell their product to the widest market possible and they did not think that market would accept Jewish characters and themes. See, Noel Airman is really Noel Ehrman. Yeah, I know, I didn't buy that Airman was a real last name either. Noel is one side of the choice that Marjorie can make if she chooses to abandon her own Jewishness and pursue an acting career. Noel slips back into his bohemian lifestyle and writes a musical. The play gets invested in by some rich people and gets produced, then turns out to be a total failure. And here is where I always have a hard time with movies like this: Gene Kelly wrote and choreographed a musical and it was a flop? What? It's like when I'm watching a movie where Frank Sinatra is a loser and I think, hasn't this guy noticed he can sing? Okay, so this tears the relationship apart because it was so stable to begin with. Noel runs away and Marjorie goes to Europe to find him because I guess she just has the time to go to Europe to look for her boyfriend. Wally meets up with her in Europe and actually Noel is back at Southwind. Marjorie goes back to try to help Noel and when she sees him there, he's happy. She realizes this is all he's ever going to be. She gets back on the bus (she can go to Europe but she can't get to the Catskills outside of a bus?) and there is Wally. So, we're led to believe that Marjorie will end up somewhere in the middle of abandoning and keeping tradition. With Wally. Super. I know obviously Gene Kelly is not going to work out, but is that doctor still available?

Okay, so this film is impressive for its time. It confronts the then widely accepted notion that in order to pursue success in America you had to abandon your roots and also depicts the struggles of women albeit in an upper middle class kind of way. Marjorie has choices, a lot of women didn't. Still, not my favorite movie. Also, it's sad to see Gene Kelly in a role that was so wrong for him. It seems as if his career peaked at a certain point and he never quite found his footing again. As for Natalie Wood, this role is just right for her but she's been better. Something about the performance is too restrained, but maybe that's right because Marhorie is sort of life's doormat.