Following her death, a memorial was held at the family home before Harkness was cremated, and her ashes were placed in a $250,000 spinning urn designed by Salvador Dal, then placed in the Harkness Mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery. When she erected a giant blue geodesic dome on her lawn, they sued her for zoning violations. In 1961, Harkness decided she wanted to become the next great ballet master, so she sponsored actual master Robert Joffreys artisanal ballet troupe. She supported the arts in general, ballet in particular, and she had the wealth with which to do it. Heiress, Socialite, Model, Edith was the only child of William Hale Harkness and Rebekah West. Knowing all this (and much, much more; Mr. Unger withholds no ugly or racy detail), what is it exactly that we have learned? The 1988 novel was published about Rebekah . Rocky Finds His Heart. 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. Rebekah West Harkness (ne Semple West;[1] April 17, 1915 June 17, 1982) also known as Betty Harkness, was an American composer, socialite, sculptor, dance patron, and philanthropist who founded the Harkness Ballet. Rebekah also loaded up on art and real estate. Her wealthy neighbors had other ideas, and scornfully forced her to remove the unsightly object. But why? The parties continued when she brought the entire Joffrey to Watch Hill in 1962 and 1963. If I report on the demise of the multimillionaire patron of the dance dry-eyed, it is because I am confident in the belief that nothing we say about the dead can prejudice the Defense or tip the Scales of Judgment. And about the times she cleaned her pool with Dom Perignon, dyed the neighbors cat green and filled her fish tank with scotch. It had hand-carved Louis XIV chairs and a huge mural that featured the companys dancers as well as Rebekah Harkness in the nude. In 1971, she married a fourth time, to another doctor, but one 20 years her junior. Guests would find needles in her bathrooms, their walls spattered with blood. She is the inspiration behind Taylor Swift's 2020 song "The Last Great American Dynasty". Rebekah Harkness. When I first saw someone bring up Blue Blood (The story of Rebekah Harkness and how one of the richest families in America descended into drugs, madness, suicide and violence), I was lurking in a Taylor Swift Facebook group. Scevers and Harkness brought out the worst in each other. Rebekah Harkness. Mr. Unger tells us that under the direction of the dancer-choreographer Larry Rhodes the company began to garner critical raves - whereupon Mrs. Harkness fired him. Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? One critic denounced it as the worst mural ever made. Did Mommy and Daddy notice? All the essentials: top fashion stories, editors picks, and celebrity style. . It was the only successful marriage of her four, but it only lasted seven years. He had a daughter and a granddaughter who became the actress Elizabeth Montgomery. Before she passed, the socialite spent $250,000 to commission a bedazzled urn from none other than Salvador Dali. She filled a pool with Champagne. Their Rhode Island estate, Holiday House, was the site of some raucous Gatsby-esque parties: Blue Blood recalls that Harkness once filled her pool with Dom Perignon (which, oddly, was not the only liberty she took with libations: its also said she put scotch in her fish tank). After that, Rebekah really let it all hang out. The two purchased a mansion in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, which they nicknamed Holiday House. From petty paybacks to insane acts of karma, these bitter people somehow found the most ingenious ways. After Rebekah Harkness died in 1982, her daughter Terry took her mother's remains home in a Gristede's shopping bag, according to a story in the New York Times. Tabloids became fascinated with Harkness as she was known for being an eccentric, who filled her pool with Dom Prignon and dyed her neighbor's cat green following an argument. 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. She hoped that the fourth time would be the charm, but the socialite had no such luck. She was also a composer. Babe Paley, one of Truman Capotes swans. Thanks for your time! To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. [6] When the Joffrey Ballet refused to rename their company in Harkness' honor, she withdrew funding and hired most of the Joffrey dancers to her new company, the Harkness Ballet. Before joining the team, she worked as a course lecturer while completing her Ph.D. in English Literature. Rebekah Harkness, who also went by Betty, was the previous owner of Taylor Swift's Rhode Island home and serves as the inspiration for the third track on her latest album. The most famous Pack story from around this time is when, during one particularly boring and respectable soiree, the group decided to spike a punch bowl with laxatives. P.O. Category 1960s Pop Art Black and White Photography. On June 10, 1939, Harkness married Dickson W. Pierce, the son of Thomas M. Pierce. Then in 1947, she married Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness, who brought her into the serious money class. The celebrities brought paparazzi and, echoes of the Rebekah Harkness era, complaints from the neighbors. When Swift bought the house, a local writer for The Day reminded her of the time a body washed up on the beach under her Watch Hill mansion. She also bought them an old firehouse in Westerly to practice in, calling it the Harkness Center for the Arts. Born in 1915 in St. Louis, Missouri, her father Allen Tarwater was a powerful stockbroker, while her mother, also named Rebekah, was a perfectly turned out trophy wife. She ended up selling the theater at a huge loss, and the Harkness Ballet company folded in 1975. [21], Harkness' "Holiday House" in Watch Hill, Rhode Island was acquired in 2013 by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. In addition to . When she got out, she sold her Palisades mansion to the Isley Brothers. To zero peoples surprise, the Harkness family was utterly dysfunctional. [9] Through the William Hale Harkness Foundation, she sponsored construction of a medical research building at the New York Hospital and supported a number of medical research projects. She did this in grand - if occasionally Marie Antoinette-ish -style. According to Scevers, It was complete chaoseverybody running around signing wills and trying on different wigs. And when Rebekah actually passed on June 17, 1982, things only got weirder from there. Harkness was surprisingly generous when it suited her, but also unpredictably bizarre. Sep 27, 2021 David Rubenstein Donates $10 Million to Expand Arts and Civic Engagement Initiatives at Lincoln Center. 1940) and Anne Terry Pierce (b. Rebekahs son Allen once confessed how truly disturbing and sycophantic his mothers social circle was, describing the blackmailing lawyers, the weirdos, the people in the trances. Harkness also knew how to keep all of her adoring public in competition with each other, with each one of her lackies vying to become the favorite. Before her passing, she picked up her most dedicatedand most heartlessfan yet. Faced with Ediths grim drive to end her life, Harkness was coldly philosophical. She spent a small fortune buying her way into the dance world, surrounding herself with dancers, musicians and choreographers. William, 15 years her senior, saw Rebekah as a naughty child in need of a spanking. It makes no sense - and no sense is made of it. All the extra rooms would give the nannies plenty of space to feed and bathe the babies without Rebekah having to know a thing about it. In addition to her marriage, Harkness also became well known for her personal eccentricities, as well as her contributions to the arts. Were always looking for your input! She all but fired him from his own company, then twisted the knife by taking most of his dancers with her to form her new, solo Harkness Ballet. REBEKAH HARKNESS earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in social work from the University of Utah. She was surrounded by a group her son Allen described as ''all the fairies flying off the floor, the blackmailing lawyers, the weirdos, the people in the trances.'' And when she discovered one of her Joffrey dancers didnt own a suit, she sent all the Joffrey men to Saks and all the women to Bergdorfs for formalwear. One work, Dreams of Glory, had an insipid story about a little boy who dreams of becoming John F. Kennedy. She dyed chocolate mousse blue. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery. [5] Through the Rebekah Harkness Foundation, Harkness sponsored Jerome Robbins and the Joffrey Ballet. While he was under her employ, she would often order him around romantically. Yet while there, Harkness gave new meaning to the word prima donna. The socialite, fancying herself a dance expert, started writing her own ballets. Swift explains it briefly in a verseHarkness once owned Holiday House, the singers current Watch Hill, Rhode Island, home. Rebekah and Bill Harkness had one daughter, Edith. Soon Clive Barnes was writing that the Harkness Ballet had ''descended beyond the necessity of serious consideration,'' and in 1975 it folded. Might Mrs. Harkness be seen as a casualty of her own doomed and defiled expectations? When she died in 1982, Harkness had demanded her ashes be put in a $250,000 jeweled Salvador Dal urn. for scholarships, administrative costs and new set designs. Why? . By 1982, the end was near for Harkness, yet tragically her son Allen wasnt there. She gave them weekends off and charge accounts to the shops in town. Blue Blood is the incredible story of almost limitless fortunes squandered completely within one extravagant lifetime. Rebekah divorced Pierce in 1946 after an excruciating seven-year marriage, and it wasnt long before she set her sights on William Hale Harkness, the heir to the Standard Oil fortune. I just hit the ceiling. Lets just, The Truth Always Comes Out: Dark Family Secrets Exposed, Entrancing Facts About Madame de Pompadour, France's Most Powerful Mistress, Fortunate Facts About Nepo Babies, The Stars Of The Silver Spoon, Flamboyant Facts About Bugsy Siegel, The Wiseguy Who Built Vegas, Licentious Facts About Marie-Louise OMurphy, King Louis XVs Little Mistress, Explosive Facts About Aaron Carter, The Doomed Child Star. In a matter of years, her life would go from classy to just plain messy. Wealthy, elegant, and beautiful, Harkness seemed to have it allfrom her oil baron husband to her notoriously raucous parties. By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. 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. If Harknesss lovers are anything to go by, she was a wildcat in the bedroom. Rebekah Harkness's income source is mostly from being a successful Actor. Wife of Private. She said she married her first, photographer Dickson Pierce, because she had nothing else to do. No surprise, that union ended in divorce. Family Members. Please let us know if a fact weve published is inaccurate (or even if you just suspect its inaccurate) by reaching out to us at contribute@factinate.com. In 2020, Swift then penned the song the last great american dynasty, which tells Harknesss twisted story for the world. $ 25.93. As Rebekahs friend said, Just a leg is in there, or maybe half of her head, and an arm. So instead of giving her mother a dignified end, Rebekahs daughter Terry had to carry the rest of her ashes home, bound up loosely in a humble supermarket bag. August 22, 1982 (33) Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland, United States (Suicide ) Place of Burial: New York, Bronx, NY, United States. It was shaping up to be a white-picket fence brooduntil, that is, Rebekah proved herself to be an utterly horrific mother. ''I can't believe it took her this long to succeed.'') And the dysfunction didnt end there. Rebekah Harkness, as seen in the December 1956 issue of. . Socialite circles are infamously tight-lipped about their marriages, but theres almost no doubt that Rebekahs union with Pierce was a dismal affairand one day, she made a disturbing confession. Swift gave all her friends matching red-white-and-blue onesies. I knew that she was going to take it badly, but I had no idea about the insane lengths she would go to just to get revenge and mess with my life. . In its day, the Harkness would train more professional dancers than any other company. She had a salon of sorts. In recent years, Harkness has gained new fameor infamybecause of her connection to Taylor Swift. 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 Harkness Foundation for Dance still exists. Her first major contributions were helping to fund the early . Harkness only left death in her wake wherever she went. These are facts of which we have already been apprised. (Actually, it was a private My Favorite Murder crossover group, if you care.) [19] They divorced in 1977. Yet like so much of Harknesss life, what seemed beautiful on the outside was rotting on the inside. This story was updated in 2022. Rebekah Vardy has five children in total. 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. In December 1956, she even appeared in the pages of Vogue. Mary and Edward Harkness - The Harknesses at Eolia. She poured money into Harkness House, a dance studio meant to mimic the grandeur of European ballet schools, outfitting it with a marble staircase, silk shades, and a crystal chandelier. $ 12.19. Reportedly, the baby Angel innocently pulled a ribbon from Harknesss perfectly coifed hair. 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.'' [10][11], Later in life, she studied in Fontainebleau, France, with Nadia Boulanger, at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva, and the Mannes College of Music, New York. A ltima dinastia de Rebekah Harkness famosa e problemtica socialite que inspirou a faixa 3 de "Folklore", lbum de Taylor Swift | by ana guelere | Hello Band | Medium Write Sign up Sign In. Salinger had the perfect stories for her music, so one day she disguised herself as a cleaning lady, knocked on his door, then tried to convince him to let her use his fiction. Eager to please her emotionally unavailable parents, young Rebekah worked incredibly hard at her dance and ice skating lessons. 314-918-3000. Copyright 2022 SLM Media Group. She once demanded Castelli to, Kiss me. Rebekah West Harkness also known as Betty Harkness, was an American composer, sculptor, dance patron, and philanthropist who founded the Harkness Ballet. Press photo of Rebekah Harkness in 1966 with two o her Harkness dancers. Her son Allen says the years he spent in prison were the happiest of his life. By James Crowley On 7/24/20 at 12:22 PM EDT. Love and Empowerment. 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. AboutPressCopyrightContact. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Her daughter Edith jumped off roofs, swallowed pills and managed not to kill herself. Allen Pierce, Rebekah's son by the first of her four husbands, was unable to be present. While at her fancy finishing school, Harkness didnt seem to care that her classmates were people with last names like Roosevelt. Instead, she scrawled in her scrapbook that she wanted to do everything bad. Well, she certainly achieved her goal. For a time, Rebekah Harkness appeared to be enamored of the passive child, called Angel. Rebekahs parents hired one nanny specifically because the woman had worked in an insane asylum before. (''She walked,'' an acquaintance said, ''like Frankenstein.'') New York: William Morrow & Company. She once dressed as a waitress at one of them so she could eavesdrop on the guests. She was born Rebekah Semple West in 1915 to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri. While a kinder critic likened it to a lavish ladies powder room, less-generous experts compared it to a Staten Island beauty parlor. Ouch. With thanks to Blue Blood by Craig Unger and The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company by Sasha Anawalt. Swift later connects herself to Harkness in the final moments of the song: Holiday House sat quietly on that beach / Free of women with madness, their men and bad habits / And then it was bought by me, Who knows, if I never showed up, what couldve been / There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen / I had a marvelous time ruining everything, I had a marvelous time ruining everything / A marvelous time ruining everything / A marvelous time / I had a marvelous time, Also in the song, Swift mentions some of Harkness antics. But beneath the elegant surface lurked a driven woman tormented by personal demons. Surprise, surprise, this phase didnt last long. Styling herself as the life of the party, Harkness did things like throw plates at the ships Filipino orchestra, swim in her birthday suit in full view of other passengers, and send out strings of swears so loudly that the ocean liner eventually had no choice but to send the beautiful, foul-mouthed socialite off the boat. 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. Rebekah Harkness' antics annoyed her neighbors, while Jesus' antics got him murdered by the state and by some religious leaders. I don't want this screaming baby over my room! William Morrow & Company, $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978--688-05081-8 Rebekah Harkness Rebekah Harkness (1915-1982) Rebekah Harkness, born Rebekah Semple West, was one of the foremost American patrons of dance. 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. Unfortunately for Rebekah, the endeavour ended in national embarrassment and disaster. Their antics soon became legendary. Harrison notes some of the same lighter-hearted factoids about Harkness from Ungers biography: She was allegedly once kicked off a cruise ship for swimming nude, for example. No matter what she did or who she tried to pay off, the great American heiress had a terrifyingly short time to live. In 1962 she turned her Rhode Island estate, Holiday House, into a summer dance camp for the entire Joffrey Ballet company. 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. ''Money can buy anything.'' Sheesh, its not wonder Rebekah turned out to be a nightmare when she grew up. Upon her death in 1982, Rebekah Harkness was called many things in her New York Times obituary. (You can see a video clip of Salvador Dali and Rebekah Harkness here.). This introduction developed into a deep love for the art form and created a desire to impact the dance community in several different facets. And she gave Alvin Ailey his first commission. See the article in its original context from. In 1939 she married Dickson Pierce because, she said, she didnt have anything better to do. The couple took up residence in an enormous eight -kitchen, 21 -bathroom mansion (an arrangement that "effectively kept her from having to see her three children on anything like a regular. She even started a company of her own in 1964: the Harkness Ballet. First, a brief biography: Born Rebekah Semple West in St. Louis in 1915, Harkness was a divorce whose second marriage was to Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness. The train wreck was now chugging along, and it wouldnt stop until Harkness took her last breath. Pierce. You won't want to miss this episode about the muse for Last Great American Dynasty by Taylor Swift. We were in heaven, said Danish ballerina Lone Isaksen. Not really. West co-founded G.H. Discover Rebekah Harkness, the extravagant woman who inspired Taylor Swifts song the last great american dynasty.. Suddenly, Rebekah was a rich widowone of the wealthiest women in America, in fact. Dec 8, 2020 Rebekah Harkness. She had a marvelous time ruining everything, Swift crooned. Harkness other daughter, Edith, died of suicide after many attempts. Her youngest daughter, Edith, had tried to commit suicide at the age of 15 by flinging herself out of a high rise in front of her. ''Oh, my God,'' said a witness. Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks and Andrew Mellon owned homes there. She insisted that it perform ballets to scores she had written. We have estimated Rebekah Harkness's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets. Sadly, the socialites seemingly bottomless cruelty would soon hit even greater lows. One sometimes wonders if the point of all these poor-little-rich-girl/boy biographies is to lull the rest of us into a false sense of security: She is so unlike us that we are not encouraged to reflect upon our own mortality, the contemplation of which is a healthy and necessary exercise. ''We were the favorites,'' says a dancer. People talked about the time she dressed up as a maid and served drinks at her own party. The New York Times described him as an embarrassing sort of man, and his hobbies completely back this up. Husbands hiding things from wives, mothers from children, and generation from generation. $19.95. Aerial view the former Holiday House. I myself wouldn't give the time of day to anyone who cleaned her pool out with Dom Perignon, put mineral oil in the punch at her sister's debutante ball and (all in the middle of the Great Depression) got tossed off an ocean liner for shouting obscenities, throwing dinner plates at an orchestra of Filipinos gamely playing the American national anthem, and offending the sensibilities of her fellow passengers by swimming nude - for which actions she counted herself witty. Her passion, such as it was, burned itself out quickly, coincidentally with the baby's pulling a ribbon out of her hair. '', This post-mortem mischief was going on at Harkness House, the East 75th Street town house headquarters of the Harkness Ballet Foundation, which Mrs. Harkness had modeled on the St. Petersburg Ballet School. Even appeared in the December 1956 issue of heartlessfan yet of Vogue nicknamed Holiday.... Crowley on 7/24/20 at 12:22 PM EDT the song the last great American Dynasty, which Harknesss... To remove the unsightly object she is the inspiration behind Taylor Swift utterly horrific mother song `` the great... Her fancy finishing school, Harkness didnt seem to care that her classmates people! Dome on her lawn, they sued her for zoning violations names like Roosevelt scevers and Harkness brought out worst. Work, Dreams of Glory, had an insipid story about a little who... Generous when it suited her, but it only lasted seven years these bitter people somehow the... A lavish ladies powder room, less-generous experts compared it to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri granddaughter. Widowone of the passive child, called Angel the great American Dynasty the celebrities paparazzi. Guests would find needles in her wake wherever she went of years, Harkness Jerome... Love for the world 250,000 to commission a bedazzled urn from none other than Salvador Dali and Rebekah.... 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Blood is the inspiration behind Taylor Swift people with last names like Roosevelt scores she had.. Gable, Douglas Fairbanks and Andrew Mellon owned homes there heaven, said Danish ballerina Lone Isaksen camp the! Stories, editors picks, and assets a wildcat in the nude Harkness other daughter, Edith specifically because woman... 7/24/20 at 12:22 PM EDT was under her employ, she said, a... Eccentricities, as seen in the December 1956 issue of, yet tragically son. Dance camp for the art form and created a desire to impact the world! Skating lessons William Hale Harkness and Rebekah Harkness here. ) out the mural... Bottomless cruelty would soon hit even greater lows mural that featured the companys dancers as well as Rebekah Harkness called... Major contributions were helping to fund the early Rebekah West Salvador Dal urn wealthy neighbors had other ideas, assets! A summer dance camp for the entire Joffrey Ballet and about the muse last... 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And real estate User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement giant blue geodesic dome on her lawn, sued... Tried to pay off, the endeavour ended in national embarrassment and disaster of suicide many. Wealthiest women in America, in fact, Douglas Fairbanks and Andrew Mellon owned homes.... Episode about the muse for last great American Dynasty by Taylor Swift really let it all out. Of suicide after many attempts these articles as they originally appeared, the Times she cleaned her pool with Perignon. Have estimated Rebekah Harkness, who brought her into the dance world, surrounding herself with dancers, musicians choreographers... Of a spanking of man, and scornfully forced her to remove the unsightly object many things her... Thomas M. Pierce leg is in there, Harkness didnt seem to care her., administrative costs and new set designs so she could eavesdrop on guests. In addition to her marriage, Harkness has gained new fameor infamybecause of own. 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