ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS: Where was the apartment block used in the film Rosemary's Baby?

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS: Where was the apartment block used in the film Rosemary's Baby? Is there a question to which you want to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question here? Write to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY; or email [email protected].

uk By Charles Legge Published: 19:20 EDT, 20 October 2024 | Updated: 19:22 EDT, 20 October 2024 e-mail View comments QUESTION: Where was the apartment block used in the film Rosemary’s Baby? Why did Ira Levin call it Bramford? In his 1967 novel, Ira Levin described the building in which he set his story as ‘old, black and elephantine, a warren of high-ceilinged apartments prized for their fireplaces and Victorian detail’. Any New Yorker would recognise this, the place where newlyweds Rosemary and Guy become embroiled with satanists, as a thinly disguised description of the Dakota building at 1 West 72nd Street on the Upper West Side. Built in the German Gothic style, the Dakota was the perfect eerie backdrop for Roman Polanski ’s 1968 film version, starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes.



Sadly, it was also the site of a real-life horror in 1980, when John Lennon was shot dead outside its doors. Built in the German Gothic style, the Dakota was the perfect eerie backdrop for Roman Polanski’s 1968 film version Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby Levin named it Bramford in honour of Bram Stoker. In Time magazine’s review of the film, they accidentally misnamed it, prompting the following response from Levin: ‘I am.

.. aghast at your reference to its apartment-house setting as the “Branford”, rather than the “Bramford”.

I chose the name in memory of writer Bram Stoker, and I shudder to think that you may have offended his baby, who is still alive — you know he is — and whose name is Dracula.’ Tomorrow's questions Q: I have a collection of old penknives, one of which has ‘Dirty Dicks, 1975’ inscribed on it. Was this a London tavern? Mr R.

T. Allingham, Christchurch, Dorset Q: What’s the most inappropriate piece of product placement spotted in a film? Tim Avery, Braintree, Essex Q: Does the druidic Church of the Universal Bond still exist? Janice Clay, Inverness Advertisement Ray Lewis, Robin Hood’s Bay, Yorks QUESTION: What is a fantasia and why is it such a popular form in classical music? A fantasia is a musical composition characterised by its free form and improvisational style, allowing for deviation from strict musical structures. Originating in the Baroque period (c.

1600-1750) — a time in Western Europe when an ornate style of art, architecture and music was in vogue — the fantasia’s lack of a fixed format makes it more expressive than forms like sonatas or fugues. It often blends contrasting styles, rhythms and harmonies, letting composers explore their ideas without constraints. S.

K. Ringrose, Wallingford, Oxon QUESTION: Apart from Mark Lester and Jack Wild, did any of the other child stars in Oliver! achieve later fame? Further to the earlier answer, Steve Marriott of Small Faces and Humble Pie fame also played the Artful Dodger in the stage production of the musical. Danny Darcy, Aldbourne, Wiltshire Share or comment on this article: ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS: Where was the apartment block used in the film Rosemary's Baby? e-mail Add comment.