Family Members. While he was under her employ, she would often order him around romantically. She had a newfound freedom to do whatever she wanted with the piles of money in her bank account. BOX 191606 A New York Times article described Harkness's unusual upbringing. 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. Her ego, however, overrode common sense and proportion. I want to look away, but I just cant. "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. Swift explains it briefly in a verseHarkness once owned Holiday House, the singers current Watch Hill, Rhode Island, home. No clan is left untouched, and even families that seem happy and normal on. By 1982, the end was near for Harkness, yet tragically her son Allen wasnt there. (No such record could be found, but the famous Surrealist artist did design the $250,000 jewel-studded urn that held herashes. But the loud parties caused problems with the neighbors. 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. August 22, 1982 (33) Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland, United States (Suicide ) Place of Burial: New York, Bronx, NY, United States. It donated Harkness Tower at Yale, Harkness Commons at Harvard and Harkness Pavilion at New York Hospital. Shutterstock Advertisement 17. Rebekah struggled with drugs and alcohol. The best new culture, style, and beauty stories from Vogue, delivered to you daily. Her voice grew husky and her muscles calcified. 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. [2] Neither parent was involved in the upbringing of the children, leaving them to be raised primarily by nannies. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. She said she married her first, photographer Dickson Pierce, because she had nothing else to do. No surprise, that union ended in divorce. She had a marvelous time ruining everything, Swift crooned. In 1915, Rebekah West was born in St. Louis to Mr. and Mrs. Allen Tarwater West. She was notorious along the eastern seaboard for her tacky, campy, new money sensibilities, and her Harkness Theater was the epitome of her gaudy aesthetic. Harkness had no problem dropping Joffrey like a hot potato when he wouldnt support her dismal vanity projects. ''Kiss me,'' she commanded. Its here where Rebekah catapulted into high society. 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). Harkness was jealous to an absolute fault, and even to her own detriment. The gargantuan house itself was partially demolished, then sold to a family that remodeled it and renamed it High Watch. Reportedly, the baby Angel innocently pulled a ribbon from Harknesss perfectly coifed hair. After his brief interlude in the oasis, Mr. Castelli was made the artistic director of the Harkness Ballet. Eager to please her emotionally unavailable parents, young Rebekah worked incredibly hard at her dance and ice skating lessons. Not really. In 1957, Harkness keeled over at Holiday House while sitting for a sculpture Rebekah was working on, dead from a heart attack. She hired Salvador Dali to design sets. One day, Harknesss antics were so extreme that they got her kicked off a cruise ship. Watch Hill Harbor By Stephg82988 Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23370833. She brought in top choreographers, Jerome Robbins and Brian Macdonald to teach 16 and 17 year olds. The resulting damages to herself, her companies and her children were heartbreaking. 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. 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. Little Betty had a horrific childhood. The 16-track album, Swifts eighth, features a song titled The Last Great American Dynasty, about the late St. Louisbornsocialite Rebekah West Harkness, whom Swift paints as an eccentric. Only his other flaws were far darker than this silly hobby. Her daughter Edith killed herself. 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? (Harkness reportedly cleaned her pool with Dom Prignon.) 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. Where Harkness had her Bitch Pack, Swifts group of friends had a much-scrutinized squad. In 2020, Swift then penned the song the last great american dynasty, which tells Harknesss twisted story for the world. She thirsted for acclaim as a composer, a dancer and an arts patron, but her thirst for booze and pills undid her. The question Swift would have you ask is how much of this reputation was deserved and how much was the result of gossip or judgmental peers. They didn't fit: ''Just a leg is in there, or maybe half of her head, and an arm,'' said one of Rebekah's friends. She had a salon of sorts. 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. Save money. 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 To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Ad Choices, Phil Ohs Best Street Style Photos From the Fall 2023 Shows in Paris, 5 Key Signs That Indicate Youre Going Through Menopause, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Have Been Asked to Leave Their U.K. Home. Her reason was chilling. 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.'' There's something about the family structure that encourages secrets. Harkness, fittingly, belonged to an American dynasty. Then a little-known ballet company, they spent the summers practicing and experimenting with new ideas. Her son, Allen Pierce, was convicted of murder. 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 gave the dancers everything they needed and then some. Harkness pulled this prank at her own sisters debutante ball. $19.95. Well, Rebekah Harkness was not to be outdone by anyone, and she commissioned her own Harkness Blue, which she used to upholster the velvet Louis XIV-style chairs she had placed in her dance studio. Salinger, hoping to convince him his stories should be set to her music. 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. Ugh. 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. Rebekah Harkness was born in 1915 to a rich, emotionally frigid St. Louis family. All rights reserved. Culture Taylor Swift Folk Albums Oil. 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. [7] In addition to founding the Harkness Ballet, Harkness launched a ballet school and home for the company called Harkness House,[8] as well as a refurbished 1,250-seat theater, which presented the Harkness Ballet and other dance companies to New York audiences. But it is clear that as a spoiled young woman growing up in St. Louis between the wars,. She stole a neighbors dog and dyed it key lime green. 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 Harkness Ballet would eventually have two touring companies, a youth ballet (which taught Patrick Swayze) and its own theater. All the essentials: top fashion stories, editors picks, and celebrity style. Her children, not so much. Her passion, such as it was, burned itself out quickly, coincidentally with the baby's pulling a ribbon out of her hair. [14] They divorced in 1965. 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 De . She filled a pool with Champagne. Rebekah Harkness's Net Worth: $1-5 Million Age, Height & Body Measurements Rebekah Harkness has been died on 17 June 1982. She dyed a cat green. 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