Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. For all her money, Harkness did not have good taste. Rebekah Harkness. But why? At the same time, she studied music composition and dance. The ashes were placed in a $250,000 jeweled urn made by Salvador Dali. After his brief interlude in the oasis, Mr. Castelli was made the artistic director of the Harkness Ballet. (The music site NME is praising the tune as "a contender for the best Taylor Swift song ever written"; you can watch the official lyric video below.) 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. And when the time came to put Harkness into the Chalice of Life, the plot thickened. Their wedding took place at 730 Park Avenue, which was Williams apartment. [5] Through the Rebekah Harkness Foundation, Harkness sponsored Jerome Robbins and the Joffrey Ballet. On June 10, 1939, Harkness married Dickson W. Pierce, the son of Thomas M. Pierce. One of Harknesss signature moves was to use vastly expensive products for everyday, mundane things. 11 x 14" vintage silver gelatin photograph of Rebekah Harkness, American composer, sculptor, and. So did the ballet dancers practicing on her lawn. Babe Paley, one of Truman Capotes swans. Rebekah Harkness. If a dancer needed dental work or a nose job, she paid for it. '', 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. 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 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. 1944). Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? When publicizing her ballet, Harkness became notorious for refusing to showcase any of her talented dancers in the promotional photographs. Little Betty had a horrific childhood. Hey, all publicity is good publicityand Rebekahs need to be in the spotlight soon grew to disturbing proportions. And the dysfunction didnt end there. . 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. . By Elise Taylor. Send Woytus anemail at awoytus@stlmag.com. (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? In November of 1977, her son Allen shot a man during a brawl in Miami. Yet its also impossible to avoid drawing parallels between Swift and Harkness. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. It was the only successful marriage of her four, but it only lasted seven years. The Swift connection is that the superstar bought Holiday House for a reported $17 million in 2013. Extravagant Facts About Barbara Hutton, The Poor Little Rich Girl, Tragic Facts About Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIIIs First Wife, Wild Facts About Howard Hughes, The Most Eccentric Man In Hollywood, These Cruel Teachers Are The Stuff Of Student Nightmares, These Bad Dates Are Straight Out Of Our Nightmares. 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. Rebekahs parents hired one nanny specifically because the woman had worked in an insane asylum before. Rebekah bought a mansion on New Yorks Upper East Side and turned it into a posh training center for dancers called Harkness House. The others, they just know how to bite. Wow, Im getting the sense that these two really liked dirty talk. Bill adored the child, as he did his stepchildren, whom he treated as if they were his own. No matter what she did or who she tried to pay off, the great American heiress had a terrifyingly short time to live. In a matter of years, her life would go from classy to just plain messy. The Harkness Foundation for Dance still exists. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. 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. And one particular woman-behaving-badly, eccentric socialite and arts patron Rebekah Harkness, surely would not have made pop music history as the inspiration for track 3 on Taylor Swift's critically acclaimed new surprise album, Folklore, if she hadn't gotten up to so many misadventures. ''Blue Blood'' is edifying only insofar as it raises questions about what a biography should be. The family spent summers at Watch Hill, then an old money, old Hollywood enclave overlooking Block Island Sound. The music video featured the beach and the waves from the house, just as Rebekah Harkness would have seen it. In the art world, the shade International Klein Blue is famous, and was custom-mixed by renowned artist Yves Klein in 1960. (Actually, it was a private My Favorite Murder crossover group, if you care.) We want our readers to trust us. [1] Before their divorce in 1946, they had two children; Allen Pierce (b. Lets start from the beginning. I just hit the ceiling. [9] [14] Following the divorce, Harkness gained custody of both children. Taylor Swift and Rebekah Harkness may have been born decades apart, but it seems they shared a talent for dominating the headlines. See, Rebekah thought that notoriously reclusive writer J.D. Harkness later admitted that she married the poor schmuck because she had nothing else to do. In fact, Rebekah had a much loftierand extravagantdestiny in mind for herself. ''We were the loved ones.'' 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. Before joining the team, she worked as a course lecturer while completing her Ph.D. in English Literature. They had a son, Allen, and a daughter, Terry. (Perhaps this is a tale that inspired the Swift lyric, She had a marvelous time ruining everything.) Fittingly, she and her finishing school friends dubbed themselves the Bitch Pack. But Rebekah made the most of it. [1] Before their divorce in 1946, they had two children; Allen Pierce (b. Then she stole most of the Joffrey dancers for her own ballet company the Harkness. William Hale Harkness Her son Allen says the years he spent in prison were the happiest of his life. The Bliss Balance - Create Success, Peace, and Happiness in Your Life. New York: William Morrow & Company. (Her reasoning was thus: I hope the beauty of Harkness House will persuade some of these people that ballet need not be dingy and that by their patronage they are contributing to the splendid and glamorous.) Yet disagreements over artistic direction led to the companys disbanding in 1970. He received a prison sentence of 15 years, but didnt bother to get in touch with his mother. $ 12.19. View Rebekah Harkness results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. 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. As well see, Rebekahs love only devolved from there. [12] Though the Harkness Ballet was floundering, there was one brilliant choreographer, Larry Rhodes, who received good press. She also bought them an old firehouse in Westerly to practice in, calling it the Harkness Center for the Arts. As the most commanding mistress in the French court, she bettered the lives of many and became a beloved figure. A New York Times article described Harkness's unusual upbringing. [13], A philanthropist, Harkness supported the Joffrey Ballet for years, as well as the Harkness Ballet Foundation and the William Hale Harkness Foundation. Suddenly, Rebekah was a rich widowone of the wealthiest women in America, in fact. Wade, teaches a dance school for children and directs 2 dance companies, one providing performing opportunities for children and one for adults. Rebekah's younger daughter Edith, a failed suicide who had spent many years in mental institutions, took only her mother's pills: Seconal, Nembutal, Valium, Haldol, Librium and various painkillers - 40 vials in all. By 1980, many of Harknesss old friends had dropped off, and she was left with only her most sycophantic hangers-on. They dubbed themselves the [W]itch Pack and, after graduating in 1932, set about trying to wreak havoc on the socialite scene, one gala at a time. After her husband passed away in 1954, Harkness poured more money into her Watch Hill compound, installing 8 kitchens and 21 baths. Rebekah Harkness was born on 17 April 1915 in St Louis, Missouri, USA. Bobby Scevers, Mr. Unger writes, ''had no sympathy'' for the child. In its day, the Harkness would train more professional dancers than any other company. 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. West co-founded G.H. [18], In 1974, she married Niels H. Lauersen, another physician, who was 20 years her junior. 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 Sadly, the socialites seemingly bottomless cruelty would soon hit even greater lows. In 1972, she bought an old theater near Lincoln Center and refurbished it on a grand scale as the first theater devoted exclusively to ballet. Eager to please her emotionally unavailable parents, young Rebekah worked incredibly hard at her dance and ice skating lessons. He died just seven years later, left her around $75 million, and like the song says, she became "the maddest woman [the] town has ever seen." In the most fabulous way possible, of course. However, despite our best efforts, we sometimes miss the mark. After that, Rebekah really let it all hang out. Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. "Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train, it was sunny" The very first line of the song introduces the main character, Rebekah West Harkness, a real heiress who was also a composer, ballet mistress, and sculptor whose life presents several interesting anecdotes. . Discover Rebekah Harkness, the extravagant woman who inspired Taylor Swifts song the last great american dynasty.. Rebekah died that same year after a long bout with cancer. Sheesh, its not wonder Rebekah turned out to be a nightmare when she grew up. Taylor Swift's, new song titled 'The Last Great American Dynasty' is about Rebekah Harkness, the scandal-ridden socialite who once owned the Watch Hill, Rhode Island mansion Swift purchased in 2013 In 1954, something curious happened to Rebekah Harkness: Her oil tycoon husband passed. Tras la muerte de William, Rebekah hered la propiedad y desde el 2013 forma parte del patrimonio de Taylor Swift, quien pag $ 17.5 millones de dlares por la lujosa e histrica mansin. And about the times she cleaned her pool with Dom Perignon, dyed the neighbors cat green and filled her fish tank with scotch. He likes to talk about blowing people away. When Joffrey refused to perform the schlock, Rebekahs revenge was brutal. 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. Rebekah Harkness was born in 1915 to a rich, emotionally frigid St. Louis family. My association with Rebekah Harkness was based on creating a business venture that would make a profit. In addition to her marriage, Harkness also became well known for her personal eccentricities, as well as her contributions to the arts. The reason behind this is pure cruelty. It might also have been interesting to see how a feminist writer would have assimilated the facts of Rebekah Harkness's sorry life. Perhaps most tragically, Rebekahs little granddaughter Angel had passed just before Rebekah herself; she was just 10 years old. They performed a strip tease at a social event and put mineral oil into the punch bowl at a coming-out party. She got thrown off a cruise for swimming nude in the pool and swearing at the crew. View Full Details. Family Members. Near the end of her life, one friend noted that she walked like Frankenstein.. 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. The Holiday House property was divided into three lots, according to Watch Hill Through Time. Rebekah Semple West was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1915. Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? She filled her fish tank with goldfish and Scotch. 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. 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. Jack Mitchell. 432 pp. In the eyes of many, she had betrayed him. She hoped that the fourth time would be the charm, but the socialite had no such luck. Rebekah Harkness, composer, sculptor, dance patron, and philanthropist who founded the Harkness Ballet, photographed in her office in 1964. Good press the Holiday House property was divided into three lots, according to Watch Hill, then an money! Association with Rebekah Harkness Foundation, Harkness became notorious for refusing to showcase of! 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