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. 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. She got thrown off a cruise for swimming nude in the pool and swearing at the crew. One work, Dreams of Glory, had an insipid story about a little boy who dreams of becoming John F. Kennedy. In a matter of years, her life would go from classy to just plain messy. Being a patron of the ballet was Rebekahs passion. 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. 44 Rebekah Harkness Pictures Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO 44 Rebekah Harkness Pictures Premium High Res Photos Browse 44 rebekah harkness pictures stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. They bought Eolia from Mary's sister and her brother-in-law, Jessie Stillman and William Taylor in 1907. Rebekah Harkness & Salvador Dali holding a press conference, Bacelona Spain, 1966. By 1982, the end was near for Harkness, yet tragically her son Allen wasnt there. After his brief interlude in the oasis, Mr. Castelli was made the artistic director of the Harkness Ballet. Sheesh, its not wonder Rebekah turned out to be a nightmare when she grew up. "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. And that wasnt the only ill-advised thing she did. Now she has one more posthumous title: muse. He was in prison. 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. She and her friends called themselves the Bitch Pack and disrupted debutante parties. Press photo of Rebekah Harkness in 1966 with two o her Harkness dancers. The 1988 novel was published about Rebekah . Who Is Rebekah Harkness? As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. $ 18.79. ''Money can buy anything.'' Rebekah Harkness was born in 1915 to a rich, emotionally frigid St. Louis family. Her passion, such as it was, burned itself out quickly, coincidentally with the baby's pulling a ribbon out of her hair. Ironically nicknamed The Chalice of Life, the morbid monument stood right at the intersection between tacky and lavish, just like Rebekah herself. Mary and Edward Harkness were married in 1904. In the eyes of many, she had betrayed him. Rebekah was born in 1915 to Allen and Rebekah West in St. Louis, Missouri. Then a little-known ballet company, they spent the summers practicing and experimenting with new ideas. 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." Not only did her ballet collapse, her whole family did as well. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. In 1954, something curious happened to Rebekah Harkness: Her oil tycoon husband passed. People called it the Taylor Swift Tax, though it never became law. Her ego, however, overrode common sense and proportion. ''We were the favorites,'' says a dancer. William fathered two children with Edith Hale: [9] Louise Hale Harkness (1898-1978) who married David Sinton Ingalls, and William Hale Harkness. [1] Her grandfather founded the St. Louis Union Trust Company. When she was still just a young girl, the Harknesses noticed that their Betty was putting on weight, so they signed the pudgy girl up for dance and figure skating lessons to help her shed those unsightly pounds. Her 1955 tone poem, Safari Suite, was performed at Carnegie Hall, and in 1957 she released an album titled Music With a Heartbeat. 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. At least once, Harkness and her friends got up on a banquet table and performed a strip tease for the distinguished guests around them. Perhaps most tragically, Rebekahs little granddaughter Angel had passed just before Rebekah herself; she was just 10 years old. After she was widowed, Mrs. Harkness renovated her Rhode Island house; she installed 8 kitchens and 21 baths. In addition to the three kids she has with Jamie, Rebekah has two children, Megan and Taylor, from previous relationships. William Hale died of a heart attack in 1954. Her wealthy neighbors had other ideas, and scornfully forced her to remove the unsightly object. With that, Rebekahs unconditional love evaporated. He left her $75 million (about $720 million in todays money), and she blew through it with a vengeance. [22] In 2020, Swift wrote the song "The Last Great American Dynasty" for her eighth studio album Folklore (2020), in which she tells Harkness' life story and draws parallels between Harkness highly publicized life and her own. She filled a pool with Champagne. Before joining the team, she worked as a course lecturer while completing her Ph.D. in English Literature. 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.'' Harkness had quite the life according to The New York Times (opens in new tab) . And she gave Alvin Ailey his first commission. The lovely pair only made it four years before divorcing. Rebekah Harkness was born on 17 April 1915 in St Louis, Missouri, USA. But behind her perfect faade lies a chilling history. The two purchased a mansion in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, which they nicknamed Holiday House. Send Woytus anemail at awoytus@stlmag.com. So what did she do? For all her money, Harkness did not have good taste. 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. With thanks to Blue Blood by Craig Unger and The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company by Sasha Anawalt. Watch the video for "The Last Great American Dynasty": Woytus is St. Louis Magazine's deputy editor, coveringnews and culture. 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. But the loud parties caused problems with the neighbors. Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train / It was sunny, Taylor Swift croons in her new song The Last Great American Dynasty. In 3 minutes 51 seconds, Swift tells the story of Harknesss legacy through lyrics. In 1973, at 36 and with his grad-student days not far behind him, Lauersen married 58-year-old Rebekah Harkness, widow to William Hale Harkness, of the Harkness philanthropic dynasty. So did the ballet dancers practicing on her lawn. However, a 1988 biography of Harkness titled Blue Blood, written by former New York Magazine editor and Vanity Fair contributor Craig Unger, reveals a much sadder, tragic story. $19.95. [20], Harkness died of stomach cancer in her Manhattan home on June 17, 1982 at the age of 67. Rebekah Harkness, as seen in the December 1956 issue of. (Allegedly, it was a cat if it matters.). 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. She developed an addiction to injections of B-vitamins, painkillers and testosterone. [2] Neither parent was involved in the upbringing of the children, leaving them to be raised primarily by nannies. A week after her death on June 17, 1982, the mortal remains of Rebekah Harkness were toted home by her older daughter Terry in a Gristede's shopping bag. Rebekah died on 17 June 1982 in Manhattan, New York, USA. 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. Rocky Finds His Heart. Harkness was surprisingly generous when it suited her, but also unpredictably bizarre. 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. Their wedding took place at 730 Park Avenue, which was Williams apartment. And yes, diving into Harknesss outrageous, gilded life is indeed a journey through a past era. As it turned out, this was the beginning of her ignominious end. Live better Although William Harkness came from a well-respected family that was supposed to give Rebekah even more of the status she craved, William himself wasa total fool. In its day, the Harkness would train more professional dancers than any other company. Harkness was friends with a young Potter Stewart, whom she affectionately called "Potsie," and their relationship was written about by her biographer Craig Unger. The Harknesses were married for a brief periodjust seven years. Hey, all publicity is good publicityand Rebekahs need to be in the spotlight soon grew to disturbing proportions. 432 pp. Harkness pulled this prank at her own sisters debutante ball. [24] It explores the Harkness' legacy and her company, Harkness Ballet.[25]. [21], Harkness' "Holiday House" in Watch Hill, Rhode Island was acquired in 2013 by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. A New York Times article described Harkness's unusual upbringing. 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. We are told by Mr. Unger - who is an uncomfortable stranger in the world of the rich, unused to deciphering nuances of caste - that the Harknesses' seven-year marriage was a happy one. West co-founded G.H. She brought in top choreographers, Jerome Robbins and Brian Macdonald to teach 16 and 17 year olds. 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. Dancy Mason is the Editor-in-Chief at Factinate. While at her fancy finishing school, Harkness didnt seem to care that her classmates were people with last names like Roosevelt. Instead, she scrawled in her scrapbook that she wanted to do everything bad. Well, she certainly achieved her goal. Harkness definitely wasnt the most fiscally-responsible business woman, but she does have the distinction of being the strangest girl-boss in history. Following the death of her second husband, William Hale Harkness, she inherited his fortune. The Joffrey dancers who spent the summer at Holiday House loved it. The Harknesses were married for a brief periodjust seven years. The family spent summers at Watch Hill, then an old money, old Hollywood enclave overlooking Block Island Sound. [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. 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? . 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. She hoped that the fourth time would be the charm, but the socialite had no such luck. Or, at least, a leg, half of . [4], In the 1960s, Harkness became well known as a philanthropist and patron of the arts. Image courtesy Holiday House, Courtesy Google, Maxar Technologies. He was not convinced. The couple divorced in 1946. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Swift wrote and recorded a new album called Folklore. An awning saved her life. Shutterstock Advertisement 17. Meanwhile, the booze and the pills caught up with her. 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. She gave the dancers everything they needed and then some. September 30, 2013 by knelson. ''I can't believe it took her this long to succeed.'') ''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. It was so wonderful - everybody running around signing wills and trying on different wigs.''. By Elise Taylor. Equipped with a ludicrous amount of self-confidence, she did something supremely stupid. Eager to please her emotionally unavailable parents, young Rebekah worked incredibly hard at her dance and ice skating lessons. 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. Were always looking for your input! Rebekah Harkness spent much of the Standard Oil fortune she inherited on the ballet. William was rolling in money, which made him the perfect candidate for Rebekahs expensive tastes. Harkness was jealous to an absolute fault, and even to her own detriment. She once demanded Castelli to, Kiss me. From petty paybacks to insane acts of karma, these bitter people somehow found the most ingenious ways. It bought her the services of George Skibine, Marjorie Tallchief, Alvin Ailey, Erik Bruhn and Andy Warhol, but it did not guarantee her success. Edith often used her mothers many, many pills to perform these attemptsand Rebekah was anything but empathetic. The Remarkable Tale of Grace Kellys Two Engagement Rings, The Prince and Princess of Wales Have a Rare PDA Moment at the BAFTAs, Emma Mackey on Channelling the Spirit of Emily Bront for Frances OConnors Not-Quite-Biopic, How Carolyn Bessette-Kennedys Favorite Prada Bag Became a Forever Classic, My Surreal Years Tutoring the Children of the Super-Rich. So in 1977 she checked into Silver Hill, a rehab clinic in New Canaan, Conn. Her reason was chilling. As a sad footnote to the story of Rebekah Harkness is the tragedy of her three children. When she was 10 years old, she did. In addition to her dancing career, Harkness also fancied herself something of a composer, and would often perform her original songs to polite reception at famed places like Carnegie Hall in New York. Blue Blood: How Rebekah Harkness, One of the Richest Women in the World, Destroyed a Great American Family Craig Unger. Reportedly, the baby Angel innocently pulled a ribbon from Harknesss perfectly coifed hair. After that, Rebekah really let it all hang out. Because of her misused muscles and her extravagant dependence on testosterone, Harkness began to lose her dancers elegance. Rebekah Harkness keeps his personal and love life private. In addition to her marriage, Harkness also became well known for her personal eccentricities, as well as her contributions to the arts. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. The Robert Joffrey Company summer workshop at Rebekah Harkness' Watch Hill estate in Rhode Island, July 1962. Was she power or pawn? Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. Bobby Scevers, Mr. Unger writes, ''had no sympathy'' for the child. Would train more professional dancers than any other company song the Last Great American Dynasty pills. Trying on different wigs. '' photo of Rebekah Harkness, she did and Mrs. Allen Tarwater West opens... 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