Reportedly, the baby Angel innocently pulled a ribbon from Harknesss perfectly coifed hair. By 1956, she had even snagged a photo spread in Vogue, appearing in a neat, black Mainbocher dress with a white satin apron at her back. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Rebekah Harkness was born on 17 April 1915 in St Louis, Missouri, USA. [10] In 1947, William Hale married Rebekah Semple West, [11] who was previously married to Dickson Pierce. However, despite our best efforts, we sometimes miss the mark. Silver Gelatin. This had devastating consequences. Taylor Swift has once . 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. ''Money can buy anything.'' There's something about the family structure that encourages secrets. It was shaping up to be a white-picket fence brooduntil, that is, Rebekah proved herself to be an utterly horrific mother. Unfit for mothering, unfit for ordinary love, unfit - untrained - to be the caretaker of a great fortune, was she altogether silly or altogether bad? From petty paybacks to insane acts of karma, these bitter people somehow found the most ingenious ways. Harkness took up dancing and ice skating to lose weight and was highly disciplined in both endeavors. . 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. Once she pretended to be a cleaning woman and approached the reclusive J.D. Please reach out to us to let us know what youre interested in reading. Maybe. A 1955 article from The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that one of her works would be premiering at Carnegie Hall in New York City.) One of her administrators described how Harkness would come to the office in pink and blue leotards, literally stand on her head, and demand to have serious conversations while she performed her acrobatic work. (You can see a video clip of Salvador Dali and Rebekah Harkness here.). In 1971, she married a fourth time, to another doctor, but one 20 years her junior. The celebrities brought paparazzi and, echoes of the Rebekah Harkness era, complaints from the neighbors. Send Woytus anemail at awoytus@stlmag.com. Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter. That money can't buy happiness? Heiress, Socialite, Model, Edith was the only child of William Hale Harkness and Rebekah West. She got thrown off a cruise for swimming nude in the pool and swearing at the crew. Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks and Andrew Mellon owned homes there. 1940) and Anne Terry Pierce (b. Her marriage to William Hale Bill Harkness, an attorney and heir to the Standard Oil fortune of William L. Hark Doctors told Harkness that she had one ailment that no amount of money could cure: She was dying of stomach cancer. Her daughter Terry gave birth to a child who died at age 10. A philanthropist. The best revenge might be living well, but that doesn't mean we can always turn the other cheek. Dancer Lawrence Rhodes said it was one of the few times he was embarrassed to be in a ballet. Not only did her ballet collapse, her whole family did as well. She blew through her fortune on the boys and the ballet. (Harkness was an avid patron of the arts and founded her own company, Harkness Ballet. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. View Rebekah Harkness results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. 30 July 2020. Rebekah Harkness keeps his personal and love life private. 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. 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. [9][14] Following the divorce, Harkness gained custody of both children. [23], An American Ballet Story is an upcoming documentary film directed by Leslie Strait and sponsored by the International Documentary Association. Her reason was chilling. In the 1960s, Harkness took Bobby Scevers, a dancer who was 25 years her junior, as her lover. Rebekah Harkness & Salvador Dali holding a press conference, Bacelona Spain, 1966. Allen Pierce, Rebekah's son by the first of her four husbands, was unable to be present. In 1939 she married Dickson Pierce because, she said, she didnt have anything better to do. [1] Before their divorce in 1946, they had two children; Allen Pierce (b. At the same time, she studied music composition and dance. As the saying goes, well-behaved women seldom make history. But the book also states Harkness was "brought up by a nanny who was chosen because she had worked in an insane asylum." View Full Details. Allen Pierce, was convicted of murder after shooting a man in a brawl, her daughter Terry's child was born with brain damage and died at the age of ten and her other daughter Edith died of suicide, following numerous stays at mental health institutions. She was also a composer. She was born Rebekah Semple West in 1915 to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri. Then a little-known ballet company, they spent the summers practicing and experimenting with new ideas. In 1974, Harkness married again, this time to another doctor named Niels H. Lauersen. Shed had a brief, unhappy marriage to a doctor in the early 1960s. (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? 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. 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. She even hosted a ballet workshop there for 20 dancers from the Robert Joffrey Company (now known as the Joffrey Ballet) in 1965. 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. [4], On October 1, 1947, Harkness married William Hale Harkness (19001954), the son of William Lamon Harkness, both Standard Oil heirs. It was Rebekah Harkness - whose second of four husbands, William H. Harkness, died in August 1954 in The Westerly Hospital after being stricken by a heart attack in the mansion - who patronized . Taylor Swift bought the former Holiday House in 2013 for a reported $17.75 million in cash. An awning saved her life. ''We were the favorites,'' says a dancer. Or, at least, a leg, half of her. 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. 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. $ 18.79. This arrangement effectively kept her from having to see her three children on anything like a regular basis. Little Betty had a horrific childhood. Rebekah divorced Pierce in 1946 after an excruciating seven-year marriage, and it wasnt long before she set her sights on William Hale Harkness, the heir to the Standard Oil fortune. And then in 2020, the houses owner, Taylor Swift, wrote a song about Rebekah Harkness, called The Last Great American Dynasty. Jack Mitchell. 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. Blue Blood is a story of tragic proportions. Still, when you marry for money, you earn every penny. Born April 17, 1915 Died June 17, 1982 (67) Showcase yourself on IMDbPro Add to list Credits ''Is there a chic way to go?''. As well see, Rebekahs love only devolved from there. Thanks for your help! Rebekah Semple West was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1915. However, the connection between the two women, despite being eras apart, may go beyond mere real estate. I want to look away, but I just cant. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Tag Archives: Rebekah Harkness. Lets just, The Truth Always Comes Out: Dark Family Secrets Exposed, Entrancing Facts About Madame de Pompadour, France's Most Powerful Mistress, Fortunate Facts About Nepo Babies, The Stars Of The Silver Spoon, Flamboyant Facts About Bugsy Siegel, The Wiseguy Who Built Vegas, Licentious Facts About Marie-Louise OMurphy, King Louis XVs Little Mistress, Explosive Facts About Aaron Carter, The Doomed Child Star. Materials. 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. Rocky Finds His Heart. 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. Madame de Pompadour didn't just share King Louis XV's bed, she also shared his power. They complained she cared more about the dancers than she cared about them. Though her children Edith and Terry rushed to her bedside along with her lover Bobby Scevers, the scene was anything but heart-warming. So, how much is Rebekah Harkness worth at the age of 67 years old? Rebekah Harkness spent much of the Standard Oil fortune she inherited on the ballet. In addition to . 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. ''We were the loved ones.'' Jean Stein and George Plimpton did that brilliantly in ''Edie,'' the biography of poor Edie Sedgwick. While Bill Harkness was alive, he and Rebekah threw raucous parties every weekend. 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. The only problem was that the urn was too small. Rebekah Harkness was practically destined to become a spoiled little rich girl. The socialite was born in 1915 to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the only successful marriage of her four, but it only lasted seven years. She was brought up by a nanny who was chosen because she had worked in an insane asylum. . How should she do it? She wondered. Its here where Rebekah catapulted into high society. 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. Dec 8, 2020 [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. Harkness, fittingly, belonged to an American dynasty. Her grandfather founded the St. Louis Union Trust Company. But behind her perfect faade lies a chilling history. One of the most surprising characters to crop up on Taylor Swift's latest album is Rebekah Harkness in "the last . She bought a mansion in Palisades, N.Y., a Manhattan penthouse and getaways in Nassau and Gstaad. 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. Rebekah and Bill Harkness had one daughter, Edith. [1] Her grandfather founded the St. Louis Union Trust Company. Eolia was one of their seven homes and reputed . Her parents hired a nanny for Harkness specifically because she "had worked in an insane asylum," and then Harkness went to finishing school, where she decided to "do everything bad." [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. Mary and Edward Harkness were married in 1904. Harkness started acting out early in her adolescence, and her antics would put any other mean girl to shame. 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