The 1988 novel was published about Rebekah . Nine servants and three cooks kept the place running. Taylor Swift tells the story of "The Last Great American Dynasty" in her Folklore track about one of the wealthiest women in America, Rebekah West Harkness. He was not convinced. . Their marriage produced one child: Edith Harkness and their marriage lasted harmoniously for 7 years when William Hale Harkness died 1 October 1954 leaving his entire fortune, that included a major share of Standard Oil, to Rebekah to do with as she pleased. Well, Harkness couldnt bear to be upstaged, so she unceremoniously fired Rhodes and doomed her own precious ballet company in the process. Craig Unger, a former editor at New York magazine, appears to be dazzled by all this, although it is sometimes hard to tell whether his breathlessness arises from approval, disapproval, sadness, awe or simple bewilderment. 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. In addition to . People already thought she had betrayed Joffrey, but they now watched in horror as she ran her ballet into the ground. Lets start from the beginning. Themes of sexual repression, homoerotic love, tribalism and even the aftermath of rape were explored by some of the most famous choreographers of the time. The caption read: A young woman with a surprising range of interests, Mrs. Harkness is a sculptor, a musician of professional standing (shes a member of ASCAP), a skier (shell soon off to her chalet in Gstaad with her three children for a holiday), and an active supporter of many charities. Below her in the spread? Rebekah Harkness was born in 1915 to a rich, emotionally frigid St. Louis family. 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. She believed in reincarnation. BOX 191606
She was brought up by a nanny who was chosen because she had worked in an insane asylum. The answer is more complicated than Swifts song reveals. Watch the video for "The Last Great American Dynasty": Woytus is St. Louis Magazine's deputy editor, coveringnews and culture. And she was just getting started. In 1962 she turned her Rhode Island estate, Holiday House, into a summer dance camp for the entire Joffrey Ballet company. ''So absurd,'' Mr. Scevers pronounced. The critics, especially the New York Times Clive Barnes, savaged Rebekah. The two purchased a mansion in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, which they nicknamed Holiday House. While a kinder critic likened it to a lavish ladies powder room, less-generous experts compared it to a Staten Island beauty parlor. Ouch. Just after 1966, Harkness became a grandmother when her daughter Terry gave birth to a little girl. Harkness later donated $2 million to the William Hale Harkness Medical Research Building at the New York Hospital and supported medical research on Parkinson's disease. (Allegedly, it was a cat if it matters.). [24] It explores the Harkness' legacy and her company, Harkness Ballet.[25]. The caption read: "A young woman with a surprising range of interests, Mrs. Harkness is a sculptor, a musician of professional standing (she's a member of ASCAP), a skier (she'll soon off to her. I am beginning to think that biography, especially the biography of such a chaotic personality as Rebekah Harkness, needs to be molded and informed by a novelist's ordering imagination. Although William Harkness came from a well-respected family that was supposed to give Rebekah even more of the status she craved, William himself wasa total fool. . William, 15 years her senior, saw Rebekah as a naughty child in need of a spanking. 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 dancers, choreographers, composers and designers were pioneers and experimenters. I don't want this screaming baby over my room! [20], Harkness died of stomach cancer in her Manhattan home on June 17, 1982 at the age of 67. Taylor Swift and Rebekah Harkness may have been born decades apart, but it seems they shared a talent for dominating the headlines. She once dressed as a waitress at one of them so she could eavesdrop on the guests. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/22/books/is-there-a-chic-way-to-go.html. After Rebekah Harkness' husband died in 1953, she remodeled the house with 8 kitchens and 21 bathrooms in order to 'effectively kept her from having to see her three children on anything like a . Harkness started acting out early in her adolescence, and her antics would put any other mean girl to shame. Rebekahs parents hired one nanny specifically because the woman had worked in an insane asylum before. Ugh. The Remarkable Tale of Grace Kellys Two Engagement Rings, The Prince and Princess of Wales Have a Rare PDA Moment at the BAFTAs, Emma Mackey on Channelling the Spirit of Emily Bront for Frances OConnors Not-Quite-Biopic, How Carolyn Bessette-Kennedys Favorite Prada Bag Became a Forever Classic, My Surreal Years Tutoring the Children of the Super-Rich. [4] Harkness also surrounded herself with other well-known creatives, like yogi B.K.S. 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. In addition to her marriage, Harkness also became well known for her personal eccentricities, as well as her contributions to the arts. No matter what she did or who she tried to pay off, the great American heiress had a terrifyingly short time to live. In December 1956, she even appeared in the pages of Vogue. The Holiday House property was divided into three lots, according to Watch Hill Through Time. Convicted of murder in the second degree, he was behind the bars of a Florida jail. . Madame de Pompadour didn't just share King Louis XV's bed, she also shared his power. She ended up selling the theater at a huge loss, and the Harkness Ballet company folded in 1975. She gave the dancers everything they needed and then some. A patron of dance and medicine. She was brought up by a nanny who was chosen because she had worked in an insane asylum. She spent a small fortune buying her way into the dance world, surrounding herself with dancers, musicians and choreographers. As it turned out, this was the beginning of her ignominious end. After two years, Rebekah Harkness suddenly cut her ties to the Joffrey when Robert Joffrey, its founder and choreographer, wouldnt rename his company for her. She would also fill her lavish fish tanks with Scotch, even as living goldfish swam in them. One of her conquests, producer Bertrand Castelli, described one rendezvous they had in her office as like two camels in the desert who suddenly know that the only way to make an oasis is to really talk sense. Thisactually doesnt make sense, which probably means it was a really wild night. ''Money can buy anything.'' She hoped that the fourth time would be the charm, but the socialite had no such luck. This story was updated in 2022. It was the only successful marriage of her four, but it only lasted seven years. The last great American dynasty, indeed. In 1939 she married Dickson Pierce because, she said, she didnt have anything better to do. Putting mineral oil in the punch at her sisters debutante ball. Silver Gelatin. ''I can't believe it took her this long to succeed.'') Much of their marriage dynamic was about his domineering presence setting her on the straight and narrow. In a matter of years, her life would go from classy to just plain messy. Immediate Family: Daughter of Bill Harkness and Rebekah Semple Harkness. 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.'' 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. But the result was disastrous. Her daughter Terry hired Roy Cohn in a (failed) attempt to have her will invalidated. Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? Apparently, Harkness liked to reward her boy-toys, because she soon made Castelli the artistic director of her ballet company. The book is available for purchase on Amazon for $195, but a May 1988 New York Times review by the late journalist Barbara Grizzuti Harrison clues us into the reported inner world of Harkness as published in the book. Her ego, however, overrode common sense and proportion. Everyone advised her to get her affairs in order, but as well soon see, things didnt work out so neatly for Rebekah Harkness in the end. The pair was horribly mismatched, with Lauersen a whopping 20 years younger than his bride. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Swift Identifies with Harkness in her last line, There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen/ I had a marvelous time ruining everything., The music video that accompanies the song features the beach below Holiday House as Rebekah Harkness would have seen it. Rebekah Harkness Net Worth. She and her friends called themselves the Bitch Pack and disrupted debutante parties. ''Oh, my God,'' said a witness. The New York Times described him as an embarrassing sort of man, and his hobbies completely back this up. Instead, she put herself front and center, natch, and the pictures were often just of her doing lift after lift and living out her Dirty Dancing dreams. Mary took a portion of the estate to start Camp Harkness in 1920 for children with polio. Before she passed, the socialite spent $250,000 to commission a bedazzled urn from none other than Salvador Dali. Knowing all this (and much, much more; Mr. Unger withholds no ugly or racy detail), what is it exactly that we have learned? If that sounds like a recipe for disaster, it really was. Save money. Harkness had quite the life according to The New York Times (opens in new tab) . Culture Taylor Swift Folk Albums Oil. From the outside, Rebekah and William Harknesss marriage looked immaculate. Lucky: A Novel (inspired by Taylor Swift's folklore and the incredible true story of Rebekah Harkness): Parro, Kristina: 9781736923320: Amazon.com: Books Books Literature & Fiction Genre Fiction Buy new: $18.01 Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns FREE delivery Saturday, February 4 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon She traveled a lot. In 1961, Rebekah Harkness became the sponsor of the late Robert Joffrey's small ballet troupe. $ 18.79. William Hale Harkness (Getty) When Taylor Swift released her latest album Folklore, fans were left wondering about the subject of her song 'The Last Great American Dynasty' - Rebekah Harkness.. Was she a fictional character drawn from the depths of Taylor's imagination, or had she once been a living woman with a tale to tell? She rang J. D. Salinger's bell dressed as a cleaning lady, having conceived the harebrained scheme that the reclusive writer's short stories be put to music. Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark historyor the chilling secret shared by her and Louis. Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks and Andrew Mellon owned homes there. Rebekahs daughter Edith was clinically depressed and suicidal for much of her life (wonder why), and spent scores of years in and out of mental institutions following near fatal attempts at self-harm. Though the Harkness Ballet was floundering, there was one brilliant choreographer, Larry Rhodes, who received good press. Though Rebekah grew up in a wealthy St. Louis family, her social status was elevated when, after her first divorce, she married William. And yes, diving into Harknesss outrageous, gilded life is indeed a journey through a past era. We were in heaven, said Danish ballerina Lone Isaksen. Rebekah Harkness' antics annoyed her neighbors, while Jesus' antics got him murdered by the state and by some religious leaders. Immediate Needs: $1,500. When Joffrey refused to perform the schlock, Rebekahs revenge was brutal. 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. Rebekah had already had two children with her first husband, Allen and Anne Terry Pierce, and she then had one more child with William, a daughter named Edith. .more Get A Copy All Rights Reserved. Rebekah Harkness Rebekah Harkness (1915-1982) Rebekah Harkness, born Rebekah Semple West, was one of the foremost American patrons of dance. This arrangement effectively kept her from having to see her three children on anything like a regular basis. . Who Is Rebekah Harkness? See, Rebekah thought that notoriously reclusive writer J.D. She maintains an online podcast that is available on iTunes or online at http://playerplaza.podbean.com . Not really. Surprise, surprise, this phase didnt last long. However Jamie has since. . Thanks for your time! Factinate is a fact website that is dedicated to finding and sharing fun facts about science, history, animals, films, people, and much more. Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy, history, and memory, Swift says of the inspiration behind her album, Folklore. It had hand-carved Louis XIV chairs and a huge mural that featured the companys dancers as well as Rebekah Harkness in the nude. [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. The couple divorced in 1977but Rebekahs life was about to take a much darker turn. Rebekah Harkness was a 1900s socialite and it is a crazy story that includes the entire Harkness family from her ancestors to her four husbands to her children. They complained she cared more about the dancers than she cared about them. West co-founded G.H. Fast forward 60 years, and another thin, rich, beautiful white woman bought Holiday House. Might Mrs. Harkness be seen as a casualty of her own doomed and defiled expectations? Swift explains it briefly in a verseHarkness once owned Holiday House, the singers current Watch Hill, Rhode Island, home. Upon her death in 1982, Rebekah Harkness was called many things in her New York Times obituary. She brought in top choreographers, Jerome Robbins and Brian Macdonald to teach 16 and 17 year olds. Little Betty had a horrific childhood. Eager to please her emotionally unavailable parents, young Rebekah worked incredibly hard at her dance and ice skating lessons. Eolia was one of their seven homes and reputed . Maybe. In 1961, Harkness gave love another shot, marrying the prominent celebrity doctor Benjamin Harrison Kean. People reported that Harknesss lavish marble bathrooms were often splattered with blood, and that her muscles had begun to calcify. They called her ballets worthless, her music crap. Before joining the team, she worked as a course lecturer while completing her Ph.D. in English Literature. She had a marvelous time ruining everything, Swift crooned. I want to look away, but I just cant. The St. Louisborn socialite is the subject of the singer-songwriter's "The Last Great American Dynasty.". Rebekah Harkness asked. Rebekah Harkness. The Harkness Ballet would eventually have two touring companies, a youth ballet (which taught Patrick Swayze) and its own theater. In 1961, Harkness decided she wanted to become the next great ballet master, so she sponsored actual master Robert Joffreys artisanal ballet troupe. Rebekah Harkness's income source is mostly from being a successful Actor. Rebekah died on 17 June 1982 in Manhattan, New York, USA. In 1971, she married a fourth time, to another doctor, but one 20 years her junior. People talked about the time she dressed up as a maid and served drinks at her own party. When Rebekah decided to renovate her Rhode Island mansion, she demanded that it have a whopping eight kitchens and 21 baths. She loved to pour Dom Perignon into her pool and let guests swim around in the bubbly. Not long after Rebekahs passing, her daughter Edith finally managed to succeed in her attempts. ''Blue Blood'' is edifying only insofar as it raises questions about what a biography should be. We have estimated Rebekah Harkness's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets. Rebekah Harkness, as seen in the December 1956 issue of. He likes to talk about blowing people away. If you hear oil and think Russian Oligarch rich, youd be pretty much right. [16], In 1961, Harkness married Ben Kean (c.19121993),[17] a physician who was a professor of Tropical Medicine at the Cornell Medical College. The family looked immaculate from the outsidebehind closed doors, though, was another story. The Joffrey had a price to pay for Rebekah Harknesss support. 432 pp. She was 67.) Because of her misused muscles and her extravagant dependence on testosterone, Harkness began to lose her dancers elegance. Discover Rebekah Harkness, the extravagant woman who inspired Taylor Swifts song the last great american dynasty.. The parties continued when she brought the entire Joffrey to Watch Hill in 1962 and 1963. When she was still just a young girl, the Harknesses noticed that their Betty was putting on weight, so they signed the pudgy girl up for dance and figure skating lessons to help her shed those unsightly pounds. Aw, how sweet. Or, at least, a leg, half of . When she was still desperately clinging to her ballet dreams, Harkness decided to install an enormous, blue plastic Geodesic dome right smack dab in the middle of her front lawn as a formal practice space for her failing dancers. (You can see a video clip of Salvador Dali and Rebekah Harkness here.). 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