rebekah harkness children

Friends who knew Rebekah and William said that although the oil tycoon was a bit of an idiot, the new Mrs. Harkness was actually scared of himand for good reason. Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy, history, and memory, Swift says of the inspiration behind her album, Folklore. Donning a black chiffon Mainbocher dress with a white silk back-tied apron, she flashed a wry smile at the camera. Maybe. 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. Rebekah Vardy has five children in total. [18], In 1974, she married Niels H. Lauersen, another physician, who was 20 years her junior. 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. As the most commanding mistress in the French court, she bettered the lives of many and became a beloved figure. for scholarships, administrative costs and new set designs. It was shaping up to be a white-picket fence brooduntil, that is, Rebekah proved herself to be an utterly horrific mother. View Rebekah Harkness results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. For all her money, Harkness did not have good taste. Sheesh, its not wonder Rebekah turned out to be a nightmare when she grew up. She shoved $5 million into building the Harkness Theater, a lavish studio complete with marble staircases and a chandelier, and it was all for nothing: The company collapsed in 1975. In its day, the Harkness would train more professional dancers than any other company. Mother of Private. Send Woytus anemail at awoytus@stlmag.com. 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. Though Rebekah grew up in a wealthy St. Louis family, her social status was elevated when, after her first divorce, she married William. Rebekah West Harkness (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. Once she pretended to be a cleaning woman and approached the reclusive J.D. In a matter of years, her life would go from classy to just plain messy. [1] Before their divorce in 1946, they had two children; Allen Pierce (b. And the dysfunction didnt end there. But the result was disastrous. The family looked immaculate from the outsidebehind closed doors, though, was another story. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. ''Blue Blood'' is edifying only insofar as it raises questions about what a biography should be. Dec 8, 2020 These are facts of which we have already been apprised. Edith spent her life in and out of mental institutions, finally committing suicide in 1982. Historys most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily. Her 1955 tone poem, Safari Suite, was performed at Carnegie Hall, and in 1957 she released an album titled Music With a Heartbeat. 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. For a time, Rebekah Harkness appeared to be enamored of the passive child, called Angel. [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 1946. The best new culture, style, and beauty stories from Vogue, delivered to you daily. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Copyright 2022 SLM Media Group. Harkness, born Rebekah Semple West, grew up amidst splendor in St. Louis as the third and youngest child of Allen Tarwater West, heir to a banking fortune, and Rebekah Semple, daughter of a wealthy merchant. She would pay for dancers nose jobs at the drop of a hat, and buy office desks for her administrators that cost months worth of New York rent, a generosity that often made her middle-class secretaries supremely uncomfortablenot that Harkness noticed. By 1982, the end was near for Harkness, yet tragically her son Allen wasnt there. 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. Rarely does singer and songstress Taylor Swift write songs about someone outside her immediate circle. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. At Factinate, were dedicated to getting things right. Were always looking for your input! In her obituary, shes credited with supporting the Joffrey and Jerome Robbins ballet companies. Rebekah was previously married to Niels H. Lauersen, Benjamin Harrison Kean, William Hale Harkness and Dickson W. Pierce. She dyed a cat green. 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. . [4], On June 10, 1939, Harkness married Dickson W. Pierce, the son of Thomas M. Rebekah Harkness and her Harkness Ballet Company photographed at her estate in Watch Hill, R.I., 1964. And how in the world did she get that way? Still, when you marry for money, you earn every penny. Nine servants and three cooks kept the place running. She even started a company of her own in 1964: the Harkness Ballet. Rebekah Harkness. Please reach out to us to let us know what youre interested in reading. Rebekah Harkness Photo: Jack Mitchell/Getty Images. In December 1956, she even appeared in the pages of Vogue. When Rebekah decided to renovate her Rhode Island mansion, she demanded that it have a whopping eight kitchens and 21 baths. When Harkness was 24 years old, she decided it was high time to marry, and she chose Dickson W. Pierce, an upper-class photographer, as her first husband. Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. She died June 17, 1982. One work, Dreams of Glory, had an insipid story about a little boy who dreams of becoming John F. Kennedy. New York: William Morrow & Company. The Harknesses were married for a brief periodjust seven years. Pierce was the descendant of Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States, and seemed like a good match for the ambitious girlexcept really, he was just a starter husband. In the eyes of many, she had betrayed him. Like this story? The two purchased a mansion in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, which they nicknamed Holiday House. Reviewers agreed he was one of the companys only shining lights. To zero peoples surprise, the Harkness family was utterly dysfunctional. Now, a grown woman can do whatever she wants in her own bed, but this was a strange choiceand not because of the age gap. She hired Salvador Dali to design sets. . ''When they started talking about putting the nursery over my room . Was she power or pawn? Her daughter Terry hired Roy Cohn in a (failed) attempt to have her will invalidated. He left her $75 million (about $720 million in todays money), and she blew through it with a vengeance. 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 Semple West was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1915. Yet like so much of Harknesss life, what seemed beautiful on the outside was rotting on the inside. [4], In the 1960s, Harkness became well known as a philanthropist and patron of the arts. He later said his time in prison was the happiest of his life. The others, they just know how to bite. Wow, Im getting the sense that these two really liked dirty talk. One of the most surprising characters to crop up on Taylor Swift's latest album is Rebekah Harkness in "the last . Her daughter Terry tried, unsuccessfully, to invalidate her will with the help of attorney Roy Cohn ( as in Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel Roy Cohn. She had a newfound freedom to do whatever she wanted with the piles of money in her bank account. When she went to the doctors office, they found a frightening problem. Scevers, as it turned out, was a self-identified gay man, and couldnt have been in the relationship for romance. . . 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. It had hand-carved Louis XIV chairs and a huge mural that featured the companys dancers as well as Rebekah Harkness in the nude. (''She walked,'' an acquaintance said, ''like Frankenstein.'') ''Is there a chic way to go?''. 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. Reportedly, the baby Angel innocently pulled a ribbon from Harknesss perfectly coifed hair. Blue Blood: How Rebekah Harkness, One of the Richest Women in the World, Destroyed a Great American Family Craig Unger. And she gave Alvin Ailey his first commission. Ironically nicknamed The Chalice of Life, the morbid monument stood right at the intersection between tacky and lavish, just like Rebekah herself. 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. Harkness drew glares for her parties at Holiday House, as did Swift: Who could forget the frenzy over her celeb-studded Fourth of July bash? Unfortunately for Rebekah, the endeavour ended in national embarrassment and disaster. Pierce claimed to be a descendant of President Franklin Pierce, though that would have been quite a feat. Rebekah was born in 1915 to Allen and Rebekah West in St. Louis, Missouri. Anne married Anthony McBride in 1966[1] and had a severely brain-damaged baby who died at age 10. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Swift wrote and recorded a new album called Folklore. [19] They divorced in 1977. Babe Paley, one of Truman Capotes swans. The music video featured the beach and the waves from the house, just as Rebekah Harkness would have seen it. Several hours later, the top of the urn - called the Chalice of Life - was somehow, by unknown agencies, uncovered. Now she has one more posthumous title: muse. This arrangement effectively kept her from having to see her three children on anything like a regular basis. There's something about the family structure that encourages secrets. Shutterstock Advertisement 17. ''Kiss me,'' she commanded. Though the Harkness Ballet was floundering, there was one brilliant choreographer, Larry Rhodes, who received good press. 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. 30 July 2020. (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? REBEKAH HARKNESS earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in social work from the University of Utah. She attended the Rossman School and John Burroughs School in St. Louis, and then the Fermata School for Girls in Aiken, South Carolina, which she graduated from in 1932. Almost as soon as William Harkness kicked the bucket, Rebekah turned into one of the most tasteless, gaudy eccentrics the Western hemisphere had ever seen. She was born Rebekah Semple West in 1915 to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri. 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. Her son Allen says the years he spent in prison were the happiest of his life. [1] Before their divorce in 1946, they had two children; Allen Pierce (b. Rebekah West Harkness (April 17, 1915 June 17, 1982) also known as Betty Harkness, was an American composer, sculptor, dance patron, and philanthropist who founded the Harkness Ballet. A New York Times article described Harkness's unusual upbringing. She once served them a cake with $10 bills baked into it. One song, The Last Great American Dynasty, is about Rebekah Harkness. 432 pp. [2], After graduating in 1932, she and a group of female friends formed the Bitch Pack, a sub-culture of local debutantes who enjoyed subverting society events, including lacing punchbowls with mineral oil and performing stripteases on banquet tables. But Rebekah made the most of it. When she got out, she sold her Palisades mansion to the Isley Brothers. The same fate befell the popular tunes she composed. ''So absurd,'' Mr. Scevers pronounced. They bought Eolia from Mary's sister and her brother-in-law, Jessie Stillman and William Taylor in 1907. From petty paybacks to insane acts of karma, these bitter people somehow found the most ingenious ways. (Allegedly, it was a cat if it matters.). Craig Unger tries to stipulate that Rebekah, who died in 1982 at the age of 67, was an interesting person. . Eager to please her emotionally unavailable parents, young Rebekah worked incredibly hard at her dance and ice skating lessons. She used much of her inheritance to become a patron of the ballet, as well as to compose music. 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. 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. As it turned out, this was the beginning of her ignominious end. BLUE BLOOD By Craig Unger. 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. 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. Culture Taylor Swift Folk Albums Oil. On June 10, 1939, Harkness married Dickson W. Pierce, the son of Thomas M. Pierce. At the end of the song, she suggests a certain satisfaction regardless of the answer: There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen / I had a marvelous time ruining everything.. 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. She would also fill her lavish fish tanks with Scotch, even as living goldfish swam in them. 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. A severely brain-damaged baby who died in 1982 the music video featured the companys as... The most ingenious ways freedom to do whatever she wanted with the piles of money in her obituary, credited! 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