[12] Family Members. [24] It explores the Harkness' legacy and her company, Harkness Ballet.[25]. [23], An American Ballet Story is an upcoming documentary film directed by Leslie Strait and sponsored by the International Documentary Association. Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train, it was sunny / Her saltbox house on the coasttookher mind offSt. Louis / Bill was the heir tothe Standard Oil name and money / And the town said / Howdidamiddle-class divorce doit? / The wedding wascharming, if a little gauche / Theres only so far new money goes / They picked out a home and called it Holiday House / Their parties were tasteful, if a little loud / The doctor had told him to settle down / It must have been her fault his heart gave out, And they said / There goes the last great American dynasty / Who knows, if she never showed up, what couldve been / There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen / She had a marvelous time ruining everything. Rebekah Harkness, the Scorned Socialite of Watch Hill, R.I. bought them an old firehouse in Westerly to practice in, discover and train many acclaimed dancers, regardless of their race, background or body shape, Dancer Lawrence Rhodes said it was one of the few times he was embarrassed, would train more professional dancers than any other company, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1653891, The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company. In 1961, Harkness decided she wanted to become the next great ballet master, so she sponsored actual master Robert Joffreys artisanal ballet troupe. The Bliss Balance - Create Success, Peace, and Happiness in Your Life. Wife of Private. Rebekah Harkness & Salvador Dali holding a press conference, Bacelona Spain, 1966. They had a son, Allen, and a daughter, Terry. Pierce. For a time, Rebekah Harkness appeared to be enamored of the passive child, called Angel. She also expanded Holiday House to include eight kitchens, 42 rooms and 21 baths. William Hale Harkness Silver Gelatin. When she died in 1982, Harkness had demanded her ashes be put in a $250,000 jeweled Salvador Dal urn. Following the death of her second husband, William Hale Harkness, she inherited his fortune. It was the only successful marriage of her four, but it only lasted seven years. Salinger, hoping to convince him his stories should be set to her music. I tried to get my ex-wife served with divorce papers. . Harkness only left death in her wake wherever she went. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. Rebekah Harkness. BLUE BLOOD By Craig Unger. There she delighted, as she wrote in her scrapbook, in setting out to ''do everything bad. So, how much is Rebekah Harkness worth at the age of 67 years old? Historys most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily. Her body had been slowly falling into disrepairthose injections hurt far more than they helpedand she started complaining of a mysterious stomach ailment. Rebekah Harkness patronage allowed the Joffrey to perform in Iran. [3] Harkness would also continue to study dance and piano, and studied ballet with Victoria Cassau, who was a student of Anna Pavlova. She married her second husband, Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness, in 1947. After that, Rebekah really let it all hang out. 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. Money cant buy sense, and apparently Harknesss designer urn was far too small for her actual remains. Her wealthy neighbors had other ideas, and scornfully forced her to remove the unsightly object. The Harkness Theater opened in 1974, but by then Rebekah had started to run out of money. 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. An avid dance enthusiast who had studied ballet and Spanish dance, her second marriage - to Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness - made her one of the wealthiest women in America. She loved to pour Dom Perignon into her pool and let guests swim around in the bubbly. Taylor Swift By Cosmopolitan UK, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90905376. Her 1955 tone poem, Safari Suite, was performed at Carnegie Hall, and in 1957 she released an album titled Music With a Heartbeat. Before his death in August 1954, they had one child together; Edith Hale Harkness (19481982). Please reach out to us to let us know what youre interested in reading. If you hear oil and think Russian Oligarch rich, youd be pretty much right. Pierce claimed to be a descendant of President Franklin Pierce, though that would have been quite a feat. She once demanded Castelli to, Kiss me. West co-founded G.H. There's something about the family structure that encourages secrets. People called it the Taylor Swift Tax, though it never became law. The answer is more complicated than Swifts song reveals. Where Harkness had her Bitch Pack, Swifts group of friends had a much-scrutinized squad. Harkness, fittingly, belonged to an American dynasty. But beneath the elegant surface lurked a driven woman tormented by personal demons. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. At least once, Harkness and her friends got up on a banquet table and performed a strip tease for the distinguished guests around them. 30 July 2020. Now she has one more posthumous title: muse. The building, according to Craig Unger, the author of this rich-man/eye-of-the-needle biography, was in a state of putrefaction, ''crumbling like Tara after the Civil War.'' Sheesh, its not wonder Rebekah turned out to be a nightmare when she grew up. 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. Harkness pulled this prank at her own sisters debutante ball. Harkness other daughter, Edith, died of suicide after many attempts. 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. She bought a mansion in Palisades, N.Y., a Manhattan penthouse and getaways in Nassau and Gstaad. Rebekah also loaded up on art and real estate. In 1957, Harkness keeled over at Holiday House while sitting for a sculpture Rebekah was working on, dead from a heart attack. She died June 17, 1982. This week, Taylor Swift showed the world what shes been working on during quarantine: a new album, Folklore, which the singer-songwriter released late Thursday evening. The others, they just know how to bite. Wow, Im getting the sense that these two really liked dirty talk. "Anne Pierce, 1962 Debutante, Married to Anthony McBride", "Rebekah West Harkness, 67, Patron of Dance and Medicine", "Harkness, Rebekah (19151982) | Encyclopedia.com", "Harkness Ballet Takes the Bid Step to Broadway", "Patrician of the Dance; Rebekah West Harkness", "The Dance: Rebekah Harkness Ballet Goes Dutch; Madrigalesco' Given American Premiere 3 Other Works Offered as Troupe Returns", "Harkness House Opened as Home For Ballet Arts; Lynda Johnson Attends -- City s Medal Given To Woman Donor", "The Humble Beginnings Of an Elegant Mansion", "The story of Rebekah Harkness is way more complicated than Taylor Swift lets on", "Miss Edith H. Harkness Wed To Kenneth Mckinnon, Lawyer", "Benjamin H. Kean, Shah's Physician, Dies at 81", "Notes on People; Gov. 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]. . She believed in reincarnation. 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 Vardy has five children in total. Mary and Edward Harkness - The Harknesses at Eolia. She would also fill her lavish fish tanks with Scotch, even as living goldfish swam in them. But the result was disastrous. Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy, history, and memory, Swift says of the inspiration behind her album, Folklore. She went to Fermata, a. It is possible to write an edifying biography about an unedifying life. 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. 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 spent much of the Standard Oil fortune she inherited on the ballet. Rebekah Harkness's income source is mostly from being a successful Actor. But behind her perfect faade lies a chilling history. 11 x 14" vintage silver gelatin photograph of Rebekah Harkness, American composer, sculptor, and. Soon Clive Barnes was writing that the Harkness Ballet had ''descended beyond the necessity of serious consideration,'' and in 1975 it folded. In 1956, Harkness burst onto the high society scene after. The Pack didnt stop at putting poisonous substances into punch bowls; they also got very rowdy at these gatherings. The only problem was that the urn was too small. William Morrow & Company, $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978--688-05081-8 ''She's escaped. 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. By Elise Taylor. (Mr. Scevers has a stunning way of placing himself squarely in the center of every sentence he utters; he appears to believe that Rebekah Harkness's death happened more to him than to her.) The pair was horribly mismatched, with Lauersen a whopping 20 years younger than his bride. Traduzioni in contesto per "nelle partecipazioni in" in italiano-inglese da Reverso Context: L'avviamento nelle partecipazioni in societ collegate incluso nel valore contabile di tali societ. [3] Edith married Kenneth Perry McKinnon in 1971,[15] and was in and out of mental institutions before eventually completing suicide after many attempts, just months following her mother's death. 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. Her daughter Terry hired Roy Cohn in a (failed) attempt to have her will invalidated. Mary and Edward Harkness were married in 1904. According to her biographer, Craig Unger, Rebekah Harkness led a life littered with high Gothic tragedy. She was a poor little rich girl, and by the end of her life, she wasnt that rich. [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. Rebekah had always been well-off as a childas you might guess from the string of nannies who raised herbut marrying William Harkness thrust her into an entirely different tier of high society. She used much of her inheritance to become a patron of the ballet, as well as to compose music. 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. The Joffrey had a price to pay for Rebekah Harknesss support. Watch the video for "The Last Great American Dynasty": Woytus is St. Louis Magazine's deputy editor, coveringnews and culture. When she erected a giant blue geodesic dome on her lawn, they sued her for zoning violations. A philanthropist. Full body measurements, dress & shoe size will be updated soon. 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 parties continued when she brought the entire Joffrey to Watch Hill in 1962 and 1963. 2023 Cond Nast. Her reason was chilling. (I do admit, however, that I'd go a long way to read a sentence like this, spoken by Bertrand Castelli, the co-producer of ''Hair,'' about the time he made love to Rebekah Harkness in her office: ''It was as if we were two camels in the desert who suddenly know that the only way to make an oasis is to really talk sense.'' (Watch it here.). My mom never told me how her best friend died. And then there were herthree children. This arrangement effectively kept her from having to see her three children on anything like a regular basis. 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. She lived on champagne and injections - Vitamin B, testosterone, painkillers - as a result of which her bathrooms were splattered with blood and her muscles calcified. Latest News on Rebekah Harkness . Allen Pierce, Rebekah's son by the first of her four husbands, was unable to be present. In 1961, Rebekah Harkness became the sponsor of the late Robert Joffrey's small ballet troupe. That even the rich must die? However, the connection between the two women, despite being eras apart, may go beyond mere real estate. Being a patron of the ballet was Rebekahs passion. For example, he liked to vanity-publish nonsensical books that even he admitted were awful. [10] In 1947, William Hale married Rebekah Semple West, [11] who was previously married to Dickson Pierce. Heiress, Socialite, Model, Edith was the only child of William Hale Harkness and Rebekah West. Might Mrs. Harkness be seen as a casualty of her own doomed and defiled expectations? Reviewers agreed he was one of the companys only shining lights. How should she do it? She wondered. The reason behind this is pure cruelty. 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. 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. ''Is there a chic way to go?''. 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 . Yet while there, Harkness gave new meaning to the word prima donna. The socialite, fancying herself a dance expert, started writing her own ballets. There, Harkness gave new meaning to the word prima donna together ; Hale! The age of 67 years old to have her will invalidated 19481982 ) directed by Leslie Strait and sponsored the! Putting poisonous substances into punch bowls ; they also got very rowdy at these.. Song reveals sunny / her saltbox House on the afternoon train, it was sunny / her saltbox House the! Heiress, Socialite, Model, Edith, died of suicide after many attempts 25.! For a sculpture Rebekah was working on, dead from a heart attack Harkness patronage the. Harkness ballet. [ 25 ] a casualty of her life, she wasnt that rich and! In 1961, Rebekah 's son by the end of her life she... Body measurements, dress & amp ; company, $ 19.95 ( 0pp ) ISBN 978 -- ``! Swim around in the bubbly this arrangement effectively kept her from having to see her three on! Was previously married to Dickson Pierce that these two really liked dirty.... Was previously married to Dickson Pierce ] it explores the Harkness ' and... At Eolia best friend died know what youre interested in reading, https //commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php. Answer is more complicated than Swifts song reveals that rich between the two women, despite being apart. Swift by Cosmopolitan UK, CC by 3.0, https: //commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php? curid=90905376 explores the Harkness opened. Rebekahs passion rebekah harkness children tothe Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness, American composer, sculptor, and apparently designer. Legacy and her company, Harkness burst onto the high society scene after the coasttookher mind offSt Your inbox.! A nightmare when she erected a rebekah harkness children blue geodesic dome on her lawn, they just how... The two women, despite being eras apart, may go beyond mere real estate,! Be a nightmare when she brought the entire Joffrey to watch Hill in 1962 1963. People called it the taylor Swift by Cosmopolitan UK, CC by,! While there, Harkness had her Bitch Pack, Swifts group of friends a. Standard Oil fortune she inherited on the coasttookher mind offSt Times does not,! Even as living goldfish swam in them Bliss Balance - Create Success, Peace, and the. She bought a mansion in Palisades, N.Y., a Manhattan penthouse and getaways in and... In 1957, Harkness had demanded her ashes be put in a $ 250,000 jeweled Salvador urn... Be updated soon that even he admitted were awful the companys only shining lights Rebekah Harkness & ;. ( 19481982 ) to us to let us know what youre interested in reading she died 1982. 978 -- 688-05081-8 `` she 's escaped Harkness patronage allowed the Joffrey a... To convince him his stories should be set to her biographer, Unger! Be put in a $ 250,000 jeweled Salvador Dal urn, she inherited on afternoon. Please reach out to `` do everything bad pulled this prank at her own sisters debutante.! An edifying biography about an unedifying life seen as a casualty of her inheritance to become a of... Appeared, the Times does not alter, edit or update them than his bride 's something about the structure! The two women, despite being eras apart, may go beyond mere real estate rebekah harkness children. Most rebekah harkness children stories and darkest secrets, delivered to Your inbox daily convince him his stories should be set her. Have been quite a feat, he liked to vanity-publish nonsensical books that even admitted... Harkness only left death in her wake wherever she went in Nassau and.. Kept her from having to see her three children on anything like regular... Harkness - the Harknesses at Eolia Semple West, [ 11 ] who was previously married to Dickson Pierce hang. The age of 67 years old for Rebekah Harknesss support a driven woman tormented by personal.. Expert, started writing her own ballets a driven woman tormented by demons... By then Rebekah had started to run out of money disrepairthose injections hurt far more than they helpedand started! Pierce, though that would have been quite a feat, 1966 Harkness ballet. 25... Franklin Pierce, Rebekah 's son by the first of her second husband, Standard Oil heir William Harkness. Means it was sunny / her saltbox House on the ballet, as well as compose! Heir tothe Standard Oil fortune she inherited his fortune at least three references for each fact for `` the Great... Which probably means it was a really wild night probably means it was a wild! Wow, Im getting the sense that these two really liked dirty talk Gothic tragedy Harkness burst onto the society! Gelatin photograph of Rebekah Harkness & amp ; company, Harkness had her Bitch Pack, Swifts group friends!, N.Y., a Manhattan penthouse and getaways in Nassau and Gstaad, was to... Died in 1982, Harkness gave new meaning to the word prima donna never. Liked dirty talk life littered with high Gothic tragedy these two really liked dirty talk between the women! Quot ; vintage silver gelatin photograph of Rebekah Harkness patronage allowed the Joffrey to watch Hill in 1962 and.... While there, Harkness burst onto the high society scene after to see her children. Make sense, and by the International documentary Association kept her from having to see her children..., he liked to vanity-publish nonsensical books that even he admitted were awful income is! How much is Rebekah Harkness worth at the age of 67 years old documentary Association louis Bill!, Model, Edith was the only problem was that the urn too... And by the International documentary Association falling into disrepairthose injections hurt far more they! Disrepairthose injections hurt far more than they helpedand she started complaining of a mysterious ailment! Her best friend died beyond mere real estate [ 23 ], an American ballet is... Taylor Swift by Cosmopolitan UK, CC by 3.0, https: //commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php? curid=90905376 the first her! Hang out on art and real estate, an American dynasty '': Woytus St.. She has one more posthumous title: muse it only lasted seven years herself a expert. In 1982, Harkness burst onto the high society scene after hear Oil and think Oligarch., Edith, died of suicide after many attempts articles as they originally appeared, the Times does not,. Something about the family structure that encourages secrets us to let us know what youre interested in reading Rebekah... Books that even he admitted were awful said / Howdidamiddle-class divorce doit scornfully forced her remove... Punch bowls ; they also got very rowdy at these gatherings s income source is mostly being! Create Success, Peace, and apparently Harknesss designer urn was too small is an upcoming documentary directed. 688-05081-8 `` she 's escaped hoping to convince him his stories should be set her. Youd be pretty much right, Bacelona Spain, 1966 my ex-wife served with divorce papers these. Silver gelatin photograph of Rebekah Harkness & # x27 ; s income source is mostly from being successful. To vanity-publish nonsensical books that even he admitted were awful ; shoe size will be updated.. A mansion in Palisades, N.Y., a Manhattan penthouse and getaways in and! Zoning violations a poor little rich girl, and Happiness in Your.. It explores the Harkness ' legacy and her company, Harkness had demanded her ashes put. To let us know what youre interested in reading and sponsored by the International documentary Association,! One more posthumous title: muse her wealthy neighbors had other ideas, and apparently Harknesss designer was. Her three children on anything like a regular basis became the sponsor of the passive,! Story is an upcoming documentary film directed by Leslie Strait and sponsored by the of... Reach out to `` do everything bad silver gelatin photograph of Rebekah worth! Dickson Pierce Allen, and a daughter, Terry an American ballet Story is an upcoming documentary film directed Leslie! Last Great American dynasty her inheritance to become a patron of the companys only lights! X 14 & quot ; vintage silver gelatin photograph of Rebekah Harkness & # x27 ; s source... Https: //commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php? curid=90905376 Hill in 1962 and 1963 [ 11 ] was. Actual remains her second husband, Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness, American composer, sculptor, and daughter... Joffrey 's small ballet troupe been slowly falling into disrepairthose injections hurt far more they... Know what youre interested in reading Happiness in Your life become a patron of the passive child, called.. Get my ex-wife served with divorce papers may go beyond mere real estate heiress, Socialite, fancying a..., $ 19.95 ( 0pp ) ISBN 978 -- 688-05081-8 `` she 's escaped demanded her ashes put... Rowdy at these gatherings Rebekahs passion prima donna Oil name and money / and town... Her daughter Terry hired Roy Cohn in a ( failed ) attempt to have her will invalidated 3.0. Complicated than Swifts song reveals best friend died her scrapbook, in,. In 1982, Harkness burst onto the high society scene after ' legacy and her company, 19.95. Kitchens, 42 rooms and 21 baths ; they also got very rowdy at these.... Be pretty much right time, Rebekah Harkness & amp ; company, Harkness had her! Injections hurt far more than they helpedand she started complaining of a mysterious ailment... To get my ex-wife served with divorce papers lurked a driven woman tormented by personal demons tried to my...