Reportedly, the baby Angel innocently pulled a ribbon from Harknesss perfectly coifed hair. I knew of two other Harkness children and supposed that they belonged to the first marriage but now I know they were Rebekah's children by Allen . Her daughter Edith jumped off roofs, swallowed pills and managed not to kill herself. She also bought them an old firehouse in Westerly to practice in, calling it the Harkness Center for the Arts. She used much of her inheritance to become a patron of the ballet, as well as to compose music. ''Costumes, sets, musical scores,'' Mr. Unger writes, ''many of the best dancers, the entire repertory - even the works choreographed by Joffrey himself - were owned by her foundation.''. ''You see,'' she said. In 1961, Harkness gave love another shot, marrying the prominent celebrity doctor Benjamin Harrison Kean. Oh, but they had more tricks up their perfectly-tailored sleeves. But the common message was that Rebekah Harkness was a mean, jealous widow with too much money and time for her own good, and she laughed about it bad attention was still attention, and her vengeful, hurting heart nursed itself with it, and a pint of ice cream of course. In other words, these pieces didnt exactly do justice to their surroundings. Rebekah Vardy has five children in total. Factinate is a fact website that is dedicated to finding and sharing fun facts about science, history, animals, films, people, and much more. I just hit the ceiling. Though the Harkness Ballet was floundering, there was one brilliant choreographer, Larry Rhodes, who received good press. Nine servants and three cooks kept the place running. In 1957, Harkness keeled over at Holiday House while sitting for a sculpture Rebekah was working on, dead from a heart attack. Historys most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily. [9][14] Following the divorce, Harkness gained custody of both children. Culture Taylor Swift Folk Albums Oil. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. From the outside, Rebekah and William Harknesss marriage looked immaculate. In October 1948, Harkness gave birth to her first child with her second husband, a daughter Edith. People called it the Taylor Swift Tax, though it never became law. Sadly, the socialites seemingly bottomless cruelty would soon hit even greater lows. However, a 1988 biography of Harkness titled Blue Blood, written by former New York Magazine editor and Vanity Fair contributor Craig Unger, reveals a much sadder, tragic story. Rebekah West Harkness (April 17, 1915 June 17, 1982) also known as Betty Harkness, was an American composer, sculptor, dance patron, and philanthropist who founded the Harkness Ballet. While at school, Harkness fell in with a fast crowd of like-minded womenthat is, emotionally damaged drama queens looking to get revenge on their parents. $19.95. She was also a composer. Her grandfather founded the St. Louis Union Trust Company. I want to look away, but I just cant. With that, Rebekahs unconditional love evaporated. As she aged, Rebekah started to live off of champagne and injections, including testosterone and an assortment of pain medications. P.O. Allen Pierce, was convicted of murder after shooting a man in a brawl, her daughter Terry's child was born with brain damage and died at the age of ten and her other daughter Edith died of suicide, following numerous stays at mental health institutions. Rebekah Harkness was born on 17 April 1915 in St Louis, Missouri, USA. Thomson Asks States to Sue the U.S.", "Out of Prison, Doctor Hopes to Regenerate His Lost Fame", "Taylor Swift is buying into a rich Watch Hill tradition", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rebekah_Harkness&oldid=1121521087, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 November 2022, at 18:59. Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train / It was sunny, Taylor Swift croons in her new song The Last Great American Dynasty. In 3 minutes 51 seconds, Swift tells the story of Harknesss legacy through lyrics. For one, her emotionally frigid parents wanted absolutely nothing to do with raising her. Instead, she was reared by a series of nanniesand thats not even the worst part. She attended the Rossman School and John Burroughs School in St. Louis, and then the Fermata School for Girls in Aiken, South Carolina, which she graduated from in 1932. Her parties, always extravagant, now grew bizarre, with Harkness trying out new things like dyeing her chocolate mousse blue before serving it to guests or, in yet another notorious act, dyeing a cat green. An artist (a descriptor she bestowed upon herself). An awning saved her life. He appears to have been an embarrassing sort of man; he wrote and privately published a book called ''Totem and Topees,'' which he described as a ''conglomeration of uninteresting misinformation,'' and followed that with a book called ''Ho hum, the Fisherman,'' which, he said, did not ''have the excuse even of literary merit.'' The Harkness Ballet would eventually have two touring companies, a youth ballet (which taught Patrick Swayze) and its own theater. A patron of dance and medicine. And she was just getting started. There she delighted, as she wrote in her scrapbook, in setting out to ''do everything bad. 314-918-3000. A philanthropist. BOX 191606 Swift bought Harknesss Rhode Island Holiday House in 2013 and used the near-palatial estate to throw her own lavish parties, notably her Taymerica July 4th bashes. She was born April 17, 1915 to a wealthy St. Louis stockbroker Allen Tarwater West and his trophy wife Rebekah. The most tragic detail? . Though her children Edith and Terry rushed to her bedside along with her lover Bobby Scevers, the scene was anything but heart-warming. Wade, teaches a dance school for children and directs 2 dance companies, one providing performing opportunities for children and one for adults. Following the death of her second husband, William Hale Harkness, she inherited his fortune. He was not convinced. Rebekah West Harkness also known as Betty Harkness, was an American composer, sculptor, dance patron, and philanthropist who founded the Harkness Ballet. She was the second daughter of three children to Allen Tarwater West, a stockbroker and co-founder of G. H. Walker & Co., and Rebekah Cook (ne Semple) West. As it turned out, this was the beginning of her ignominious end. In addition to the three kids she has with Jamie, Rebekah has two children, Megan and Taylor, from previous relationships. Jean Stein and George Plimpton did that brilliantly in ''Edie,'' the biography of poor Edie Sedgwick. They called her ballets worthless, her music crap. And yes, diving into Harknesss outrageous, gilded life is indeed a journey through a past era. She had spent the 1987 equivalent of $38 million on a failed enterprise. Rebekah Harkness Photo: Jack Mitchell/Getty Images. Reportedly, the rest of her remains were placed in a Gristedes bag. William Morrow & Company, $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978--688-05081-8 At Factinate, were dedicated to getting things right. Want to share other feedback? Little Betty had a horrific childhood. We are meant to take comfort and a measure of relief from our difference - though, as we know but do not frequently wish to remember, the grave awaits us all. The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com. While Bill Harkness was alive, he and Rebekah threw raucous parties every weekend. Although she came from a well-off Midwest family, William and his fortune put Rebekah into a different social stratosphere. She once served them a cake with $10 bills baked into it. She also studied orchestration with Lee Hoiby and received a Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire, in 1968.[12]. Even after her husband's death in 1954 ("It must have been her fault his heart gave out," Swift muses), Harkness threw wild parties that clearly ruffled her neighbors' feathers, with guests her. From . (Yes, the seaside mansion that was the setting for Taymerica.) For a time in the 1950s, socialite Rebekah Harkness was true American royalty. [22] In 2020, Swift wrote the song "The Last Great American Dynasty" for her eighth studio album Folklore (2020), in which she tells Harkness' life story and draws parallels between Harkness highly publicized life and her own. At the end of the song, she suggests a certain satisfaction regardless of the answer: There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen / I had a marvelous time ruining everything.. Craig Unger tries to stipulate that Rebekah, who died in 1982 at the age of 67, was an interesting person. It was the only successful marriage of her four, but it only lasted seven years. Edith spent her life in and out of mental institutions, finally committing suicide in 1982. But beneath the elegant surface lurked a driven woman tormented by personal demons. She maintains an online podcast that is available on iTunes or online at http://playerplaza.podbean.com . The rich socialite whose judgment sometimes lapsed was just too good a target. Knowing all this (and much, much more; Mr. Unger withholds no ugly or racy detail), what is it exactly that we have learned? Rarely does singer and songstress Taylor Swift write songs about someone outside her immediate circle. Eager to please her emotionally unavailable parents, young Rebekah worked incredibly hard at her dance and ice skating lessons. Rebekah Harkness Rebekah Harkness (1915-1982) Rebekah Harkness, born Rebekah Semple West, was one of the foremost American patrons of dance. And then in 2020, the houses owner, Taylor Swift, wrote a song about Rebekah Harkness, called The Last Great American Dynasty. On June 10, 1939, Harkness married Dickson W. Pierce, the son of Thomas M. Pierce. Once she pretended to be a cleaning woman and approached the reclusive J.D. In 1947, she married William Hale "Bill" Harkness, an attorney and heir to the Standard Oil fortune of William L. Harkness, which made her one of the wealthiest women in America. (Allegedly, it was a cat if it matters.). Harkness other daughter, Edith, died of suicide after many attempts. Generous, wasteful, willful, demanding and delusional, she broke with Joffrey to form the Harkness Ballet when he refused to perform the compositions she insisted on writing. The socialite was born in 1915 to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. In 1973, at 36 and with his grad-student days not far behind him, Lauersen married 58-year-old Rebekah Harkness, widow to William Hale Harkness, of the Harkness philanthropic dynasty. A terrible story is told here. Her passion, such as it was, burned itself out quickly, coincidentally with the baby's pulling a ribbon out of her hair. By 1980, many of Harknesss old friends had dropped off, and she was left with only her most sycophantic hangers-on. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The 1988 novel was published about Rebekah . Pierce claimed to be a descendant of President Franklin Pierce, though that would have been quite a feat. Anne married Anthony McBride in 1966[1] and had a severely brain-damaged baby who died at age 10. Was she power or pawn? But most people dont know the most chilling part. That even the rich must die? Based on "The Last Great American Dynasty's" lyrics, it's clear that Swift feels a palpable connection with Harkness, despite the decades between them. And about the times she cleaned her pool with Dom Perignon, dyed the neighbors cat green and filled her fish tank with scotch. Convicted of murder in the second degree, he was behind the bars of a Florida jail. Who Is Rebekah Harkness? Ironically nicknamed The Chalice of Life, the morbid monument stood right at the intersection between tacky and lavish, just like Rebekah herself. This story was updated in 2022. Rebekah Harkness asked. When she got out, she sold her Palisades mansion to the Isley Brothers. An artist (a descriptor she bestowed upon herself). [2], After graduating in 1932, she and a group of female friends formed the Bitch Pack, a sub-culture of local debutantes who enjoyed subverting society events, including lacing punchbowls with mineral oil and performing stripteases on banquet tables. Not to kill herself remains were placed in a Gristedes bag became law, Larry,... She aged, Rebekah and William Harknesss marriage looked immaculate the Harkness ballet was floundering, there one... William Hale Harkness, she was born April 17, 1915 to a wealthy St. Union... Taylor, from previous relationships a descendant of President Franklin Pierce, though it never became.... 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