Rosemary's Baby
Polanski, Roman
Films, Movie makers
Even influential horror movies exploring a powerful Satan in a Christian
context (particularly Rosemary's Baby [1968; directed by Roman Polansky, novel
by Ira Levin: both Jewish], where the Devil inseminates the lead character, and
William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1974), where the lead character, possessed by
the devil, stabs herself in the crotch with a crucifix) were Jewish creations.
The National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures condemned Rosemary's Baby,
noting, "the perverted use which the film mde of fundamental Christian beliefs,
especially surrounding the birth of Christ, and its mockery of religious persons
and practices."----Barbara Leaming,
Roman Polanski: A Biography, Simon and
Schuster, NY, p. 88
As most people know, the star of Roman Polanski's 1968 horror classic
Rosemary's Baby, Mia Farrow, is the ex-Mrs. Woody Allen (and the ex-Mrs.
Frank Sinatra). There's a connection to her and the 1967 film
Valley
of the Dolls, starring Sharon Tate (who had also been in Polanski's vampire
spoof Dance of the Vampires the same year) -- one of Tate's co-stars in the
film, Barbara Parkins, was best known from TV's soap opera Peyton Place, which
had made Mia Farrow famous. (At some point, Farrow allegedly feared she would be
the next victim of the murder spree.)
So, if we look closely, we'll find a connection
between Peyton Place, Valley of the Dolls, Rosemary's Baby and Charles Manson!
Then to The Beatles: 'Helter Skelter' and 'Piggies' were some songs off The
Beatles' White Album (1968), which inspired the murder spree of the Manson
Family, who slaughtered Sharon Tate, who was the wife of Roman Polanski, who
directed Rosemary's Baby. (Manson and his followers believed the songs held in
them some hidden messages, specifically meant for the Family.) Furthermore, as
peculiar coincidences go, The Beatles had Mia Farrow as one of their companions
on their famous 1968 excursion to India, and John Lennon of The Beatles wrote
'Dear Prudence' (also a song on White Album) for Mia Farrow's younger sister
Prudence Farrow (on a lighter note, "Prudence" was also the name of puppy
Polanski gave to Sharon Tate). Sadie Mae Glutz was the alias given to the Family
member Susan Atkins by Manson even before the appearance of the White Album song
'Sexy Sadie' -- which was directed toward The Beatles' one-time guru Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi, with whom they felt disappointed. Ironically, also Sadie/Susan
would let Manson down by carelessly talking about the murders to her cellmates,
which was eventually used as a proof in the trial.
It is claimed that at a party in
California in 1973, Lennon went berserk, hurling a chair out the window,
smashing mirrors, heaving a TV against the wall, and screaming nonsense about
Roman Polanski being to blame. And to give a sinister end to the story filled
with synchronities (allegedly Lennon and Ono had their own interest in the
occult), John Lennon was shot in 1980 in front of the Dakota Building (picture
on the right) in New York -- which was used when filming Rosemary's Baby. Also,
Rosemary LaBianca was another victim of Manson's murder spree, which in press
would later be called the Tate-LaBianca murders. Mark Chapman was the name of
Lennon's killer -- Winifred Chapman was the maid who had first found the bodies
at 10050 Cielo Drive.
The Beatles members had frequented
London's Indica Books and Gallery (this is where Lennon met Yoko Ono), which
opened in 1966, where also Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate visited as regular
guests -- the film-maker then directing in England Dance of the Vampires (a.k.a.
The
Fearless Vampire Killers, 1967), with his future wife starring.
Thematically, there are some
similarities between Dance of the Vampires and Rosemary's Baby, which seem all
the more significant in the aftermath of what happened. In the former film, the
suckers of blood are triumphant in the end, spreading evil to the whole world
after heroes have failed to stop them; in the latter, the ultimate purpose of
all diabolic rites is achived -- the Devil is come among us. In the former film,
Polanski's character Alfred is -- even more chillingly in the light of history
-- late to save Sharon Tate's Sarah from the vampires; in the latter, Guy
Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) is willing to sacrifice his wife, Mia Farrow's
Rosemary, to give birth to the Devil, and in the process gain worldly success
himself. In Dance of the Vampires, the community of vampires gains victory; in
Rosemary's Baby, the coven of witches and Satanists celebrate their Year One by
the birth of Devil's offspring.
Furthermore, it should be noted
that Krzysztof Komeda, who composed music for Rosemary's Baby, died soon
afterwards in curious circumstances because of the head injuries received during
a drinking binge, adding to all notoriety gained by Polanski's 1968 film.
...As is fitting, Anton Szandor LaVey, who founded The Church of Satan
(which ideology was somehow Nietzschean with all its elitist "superman"
overtones) in that same year 1966, appears uncredited as an actor and a
"technical adviser" on Rosemary's Baby -- a film which theme is connected
closely with Satanism. r o s e
m a r y - the connection between mia farrow, sharon tate, charlie manson and the
beatles