What nasty item was Mia Farrow forced to drink during her pregnancy in the movie "Rosemary's Baby"?

reedy

""Snips and snails and puppies dog's tails" says Minnie (Ruth Gordon). Later, she says it's made of raw egg, gelatin, herbs, and tannis root. If she's lying or if there's more in it than she's saying is unknown in the book or in the movie. The tannis root is probably bad enough. It turns out to be a fungus called Devil's Pepper." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063522/faq#.2.1.15 Feb 04 11, 8:19 PM

davejacobs

It's not at all clear whether the story is about what the character Rosemary drank, or what the actress Mia Farrow drank while performing in that scene. The question appears to ask about the actress, although I don't think SHE was pregnant. Feb 07 11, 10:35 AM

Baloo55th

Whatever it was, I don't think you'd be able to force Mia Farrow to drink something really nasty. It definitely wouldn't have contained Rauvolfia (Devil's Pepper but not a fungus). (If Typhoo put the T in Britain, who put the FUN in fungus?) I can find no evidence of a fungus called Devil's Pepper or tannis root - at least outside the context of this film. It's very unlikely for a fungus to be called anything root, as the underground parts of fungi are at most like bootlaces, but more often barely visible threads. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus On the other hand, reserpine is derived from Rauvolfia (otherwise Rauwolfia) and that has some weird effects. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rauvolfia Whatever Rosemary drank, Mia drank something innocuous but possibly with a harmless bitter component if a 'yerrrrkkkkk' reaction was required - and if she agreed to it. Feb 07 11, 12:28 PM