Go to Table of Contents of the analysis (which has also a statement on purpose and manner of analysis and a disclaimer as to caveat emptor and my knowing anything authoritatively, which I do not, but I do try to not know earnestly, with some discretion, and considerable thought).
You know Kubrick would have been following this March 19, 1951 "Life" magazine story on Rosemary Williams, who he had photographed in 1949.
Note that Rosemary's kitchen shown in this article is different from the kitchen decorated with old theater bills in which Kubrick photographed her in 1949.
Rosemary Williams is quite a doll. She has long black hair, dark brown eyes and a face and body which adorned the Broadway stage and the covers of magazines (next page). It is hardly her fault that men keep trying to give her presents--usually with strings attached. But one day last spring, when she was starting a job in "Peep Show" (right and below), Rosemary met a man who was different. He was Sid Levy, who said he was a wealthy textile executive, and he wanted to give Rosemary presents without any strings at all. He took her to the Latin Quarter and the Copa. He gave her a $1000 wrist watch. Then he gave her a $2500 mink coat and some stone martens. Then he gave her a diamond ring ($5200) and a $5000 Cadillac. And he asked for nothing in return. Then Rosemary started getting a little sick of Sid. Her coat was stolen, and she hocked the diamond ring and sold the car. Finally the D.A.'s office picked up Sid, charging that he had collected $40,000 on a phony promise to invest in nylon and had splurged most of it on Rosemary. Told she would have to give the presents back, Rosemary took the news calmly. Anyway, she said, Sidney was just a "creep."
Back in the days when they were closer friends, Sid once confided to Rosemary that he had a psychological urge to get rid of money. "He was, I guess," she says, "sort of psychopathic about the whole thing. He didn't want to buy me--all he wanted was the glamour attached to going with an actress." And as these pictures from her scrapbook show, Rosemary has plenty of glamour. She decorated the stage in both "Peep Show" and "As the Girls Go", graced the air waves in both radio and television, and her picture has been seen by tens of millions of Americans on magazine covers (above), in ads, publicity pictures and fashion photographs. On top of all this she has...(next page).
Trampling on Grapes: Rosemary poses for a publicity picture to celebrate 1949 National Wine Week.
Lounging on Swans, rightside up and upside down, a pair of Rosemarys appears in this glamour shot which ran as an advertisement for Blue Swan lingerie.
Clad in Towel: Rosemary sprays herself with a deodorant for a how-to-stay beautiful article in a top fashion magazine. She likes fashion work best.
Her father and her son were snapped by Rosemary in Texas, where father and mother operate a tourist camp. Her son Michael is now 6.
...won many honors, having been elected "Miss Photography" in 1949 and been voted the "Best Piece of Upholstery" in the furniture show in 1950. But it has all been a long pull for a girl of 23. Rosemary was born in Dayton, Ohio, graduated from night school, acted in a Florida night spot and even changed tires in a gas station. She was married at 16, had a baby boy and was divorced. So she was impressed by Sid's affluence even though dubious about his generosity. He practically had to force the Cadillac on her, she said. When reporters asked her how someone like Sidney went about forcing a Cadillac on a girl like her, she had a matter-of-fact answer: "That's easy."
The Creep and her Ma: ...went out nightclubbing with Rosemary and were photographed in the Copacabana in New York. Sid was then dating Rosemary regularly and wherever they went he got a ringside table.
Thinking it over: Rosemary sips a cup of coffee in the walk-up apartment she shares with two other showgirls, and in which one room serves as bathroom-dining-room-kitchen. She had received a commiserating letter from her mother in Texas and a wire from a former boyfriend, a script writer, who took her troubles lightly. "The script," he said, "was funnier and better-paced than the best comedy show in television, and I wish I'd written it."
On the Radio: Rosemary tells the world her story on Bill Leonard's CBS program. "Sid said, 'It's a cold day--you need a mink coat,' and I said to myself, 'Uh-oh, here's another character,' except this one really gave it to me.'"
Meeting the Press: Rosemary tells them, "It was just horrible. He practically forced the convertible on me. This creep gave me these big, mad things and then months later he tells me that he had stolen the money for them."
Ring's Resting Place: ...is a vault in the Provident Loan Security in New York. To get the six-carat diamond solitaire that Sidney gave her, Rosemary must have $450 as well as a pawn ticket. But the police have the ticket and they plan to hold onto it until Sidney's case is settled in court. Rosemary's only other remaining gift from the creep, a diamond-studded wristwatch, is in her safe deposit box along with the pedigree papers of her two Yorkshire terriers.
The Creep and the Doll, Life Magazine
March 2016 posted on website, but earlier posted on Tumblr. Approx 871 words or about 1 and 1/2 single-spaced pages. A 7 minute read at 130 wpm.
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Go to Table of Contents of the Killer's Kiss analysis
Go to Day of the Fight analysis
The Showgirl as Walter Cartier's Counterpart and Her Relationship to Killer's Kiss. Before the Black Swan and The Fight Kubrick had the boxer Walter Cartier and the showgirl Rosemary Williams.
Conclusion of the Sid Levy Trial, Benefactor of Showgirl Rosemary Williams Who Kubrick Had Photographed in 1949
Rosemary Williams, who Kubrick photographed for a prospective LOOK piece, on What's My Line in 1966, her name then being Maria Kastner
Link to the film TOC page for all the analyses
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