Rosie

* Alive
* Deceased

**Ernst Lohmann**, better known as **Rosie**, was a young prostitute who befriended Detective Sergeant Marcus Isaacson during one of his investigations.

Rosie was a character in ‘The Alienistʼ and was portrayed by Oliver Carter.

## Character Overview

Rosie was a boy with fair skin and a delicate face accentuated by makeup that made his face look like a doll's face, with thick eyelashes and rosy cheeks. Rosie used to wear a reddish wig over his short brown hair, and wore skirts and dresses when he was working at the brothel. During the day, he wore old and battered shirts and trousers; possibly clothes that he has worn for several years while growing up.

Unlike the other boys at the brothel, especially the older ones, Rosie had a friendly disposition and he had the usual childish curiosity to discover the world and its thousand resources. He loved jokes and dirty songs and was not a stranger to drinking alcohol despite his tender age. He easily befriended Detective Sergeant Marcus Isaacson, whom he fancied.

## Biography

Ernst Lohmann was a poor boy who lived in the tenement district of New York City and since childhood, he became involved with prostitution and the squalor of the infamous underbelly of the tenements. Working in brothels such as the Golden Rule, Ernst started to call himself "Rosie," learning the art of seduction in the most sordid rooms with rich and influential men.

New York City, 1968. Following the death of Ali ibn-Ghazi, professionally known as "Fatima", Rosie and his friends Peter, Bernadette and Thomas found themselves forced to play in a squalid room at the Golden Rule after this was shut down by the police. Rosie was playing dice with Peter and Thomas when a handsome man peeked into their room. The three young prostitutes stared back at him before the man and his associate began to question the owner of the brothel, Scotch Ann.

Later that evening, the three boys went to a *gelateria* for an ice cream where a mysterious and seemingly wealthy silver-smiled man approached them and asked them if they were in the mood to have fun.

A few days later, Rosie and his friends were wandering the streets of the tenement district. Rosie noticed the carcass of a white horse on the sidewalk and ran to stroke it. Peter scolded him, saying that it was dead and to step away from it.

In the days around the Feast of the Ascension, Rosie began working on a brothel called "The Slide". There he met a new boy who, in his opinion, was clumsy and did not know how to seduce men. Rosie decided to give him some advice, showing the newcomer how to flutter his eyelashes seductively.

Afterwards, Rosie noticed a handsome young man with curly brown hair and blue eyes and decided to seduce him. Sitting at his table, Rosie asked for champagne. The man smiled and asked him how old he was. Rosie answered, "*how old you like?*". Although the man with the curly hair did not seem to want to have sex with him, he told him a dirty joke that made Rosie laugh.

A sudden bustle set off a brawl and the curly-haired man set off in pursuit of another customer, leaving Rosie alone. Shortly after, Rosie found an untimely death at the hands of a mysterious serial killer, who left his butchered body at the foot the Statue of Liberty.

The following day, Rosie's body was found by the police. At the morgue, Detective Sergeants Lucius and Marcus Isaacson led the autopsy. Marcus, the curly-haired man, provided the name, pointing out that Ernest preferred to call himself "Rosie." Lucius proceeded with the macabre details of the autopsy, describing to Dr. Kreizler, Miss Howard, Mr. Moore and Commissioner Roosevelt what he had discovered.

Detective Sergeant Isaacson explained that the Killer had removed the boy's genitalia, and severed the right hand above the wrist. Both the ulna and radius cleanly cut. Massive damage to the thorax with lateral lacerations to the abdomen. He only cut out one eye. He also took his heart and removed a section of scalp covering the parietal bone.

Rosie's battered body was lying on the operating table when everybody but Dr. Kreizler left. Left alone with the corpse, the alienist apologized to Rosie before penetrating the corpse's abdomen with a surgical scalpel.

## Memorable Quotes

**Rosie:** "*Buy us a bottle of champagne?*"
**Marcus Isaacson:** "*How old are you?*"
**Rosie:** "*How old would you like?*"
— Ascension

## Appearances

The Alienist

* Ep. 4: *These Bloody Thoughts*
* Ep. 6: *Ascension*
* Ep. 7: *Many Sainted Men*

## Notes

* In Caleb Carr's novel “*The Alienist*”, Ernst Lohmann was a German boy who recently arrived in New York City and one of the final victims of John Beecham who worked at the Black and Tan instead of the Golden Rule and later, at The Slide.
* Ernst didn't befriend Detective Sergeant Marcus Isaacson, although he's the one who interrogated Stephenson, the proprietor of the Black and Tan when Ernst Lohmann was killed.
* In the novel, John Moore suspected Paul Kelly facilitated the kidnapping to take place in order to incite a mob of immigrants against the police.

## References

1. ↑ Gina Gionfriddo & Cary Joji Fukunaga (writers) & James Hawes (director); (February 12, 2018); "These Bloody Thoughts". Episode 4.*The Alienist*. TNT
2. ↑  E. Max Frye (writer) & Paco Cabezas (director); (February 26, 2018); "Ascension". Episode 6.*The Alienist*. TNT
3. ↑  John Sayles (writer) & Paco Cabezas (director); (March 5, 2018); "Many Sainted Men". Episode 7.*The Alienist*. TNT
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2  Caleb Carr, The Alienist, Part II, Association: Chapters 25-27. Random House, 1994.