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.

Marjorie Morgenstern is a student at Hunter College and the girlfriend of an eligible young man, Sandy Lamm, who attends her family's synagogue.

Her parents are happy with her choice of mate (department store heir), and her mother Rose Morgenstern (Claire Trevor) tells her father, Arnold (Everett Sloane), that she hopes the two children marry.

One night, Marjorie and friend Marsha Zelenko (Carolyn Jones) sneak to a Borscht Belt resort for adults called South Wind.

Marjorie stumbles into a rehearsal for a dance routine, and she is noticed hiding in the back by the social director Noel Airman.

After watching, and trying to return to camp, she is caught by resort owner Maxwell Greech (George Tobias), but Noel Airman (Gene Kelly) vouches for Marjorie as a person looking for a job, which he then offers to her.

Airman, a law school dropout whose original name was the more Jewish Ehrman, renames Marjorie as well from Morgenstern to Morningstar.

When her uncle dies of a heart attack unattended, Marjorie blames herself, and Noel and leaves to go back to the city.

She ends up dating a steady but bland doctor named Harris (Martin Balsam), with whom she quickly breaks up when Airman returns to find her showing up in a limousine.

The impetus to change careers is the success of Wally Wronkin on Broadway; the playwright has launched a series of hits, and Airman is consumed with jealousy.

He admits he hates his conventional job and his anger toward himself, and Marjorie convinces her girlfriend's new husband to invest in his play.

Wally and the investors critique the play's ending as being depressing and not viable, but in a fit of rage, Noel refuses to make the changes required to appease them.

[citation needed] 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.

[citation needed] The Times noted: "Although Mr. Kelly appears a mite uncomfortable in his assignment, he plays it with understanding.

And, as a professional song-and-dance man, he both hoofs with polish and pleasingly warbles 'A Very Precious Love,' the film's theme number.

Ed Wynn, in the comparatively short role of an impecunious but understanding relative, adds some glint of humor and compassion.