rebekah harkness husband

. Once again, its great distance from us is meant to represent the copious amounts of love Swift has for the subject of “Seven.”. Rebekah was a philanthropist who was passionate about ballet, a composer who was married four times and part of a group she christened the "Bitch Pack". Born in 1915 in St Louis, Missouri, Harkness was the second daughter of prominent stockbroker Allen Tarwater and his wife, also named Rebekah. But will Folklore live on in folklore? Bill was 15 years older than Rebekah and the marriage was said to be a happy one. Although a friend of the couple had said, "Bill looked on Betty as a naughty child and set about to reform her". • Pennsylvania: A large state with many cities and towns in it that is most notable for being the U.S. state where Swift grew up—specifically at a Christmas tree farm in its southeastern region. We’re not sure, based on available info, who was in the Bitch Pack or how many members it had, so we’re going to make some assumptions out of quantitative necessity. Here, we … • New York: Taylor’s home base for a few years and the city she sings about on 1989’s “Welcome to New York.” She continues to keep a residence there. A year later, she married William Hale Harkness, a wealthy investor and a co-founder of Time magazine. Swift’s song, "The Last Great American Dynasty" is actually a tale about Harkness. But Rebekah's story is intricately more complex that the one set out in Swift's lyrics. After her husband died, Harkness renovated the house she owned in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. Read on for a breakdown. Readers like you make our work possible. Suddenly, Rebekah was a rich widow—one of the wealthiest women in America, in fact. The Return of Concorde: Is this the most glamorous Christmas present for 2020? That 'town' is Watch Hill, Rhode Island - an affluent coastal village where Swift purchased a cliff side mansion in 2013 that was once owned by Rebekah and her husband William Harkness, a … 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. Harkness became wealthy after her marriage to her second husband, William Hale Harkness. ... Harkness was a divorcée who married Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness in 1947. And just how folkloric is this thing, anyway? Rebekah said, "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.". The couple was married just seven years before William passed away of a heart attack, leaving the Harkness fortune and Holiday House to Rebekah. Ballet was always a passion of Rebekah's and, in the early 1960s, she created the Rebekah Harkness Foundation, sponsoring the Robert Joffrey Ballet. Unger wrote that Rebekah had felt humiliated by the collapse of her "dance empire" and that much of her money had disappeared. Harkness completely renovated Holiday House, their Rhode Island mansion. Taylor Swift bought Holiday House for US$17 million in 2013. Holiday House was owned by Rebekah Harkness, an eccentric patron of the arts and founder of the Harkness Ballet. Taylor Swift’s new album, Folklore, was released today, and we’re obsessing over one song in particular that tells the story of the former owners of her … You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. HOW SHE BECAME RICH. Rebekah Harkness Rebekah Harkness (1915-1982) Rebekah Harkness, born Rebekah Semple West, was one of the foremost American patrons of dance. Clearly, Rebekah's parents wanted to make sure the nanny was tough enough for the job. By joining Slate Plus you support our work and get exclusive content. After her divorce from W. Dickson Pierce, an upper-class advertising photographer, she chose for her second husband the Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness, … Planets? Being a patron of the ballet was Rebekah’s passion. The subject of “Folklore” song “The Last Great American Dynasty,” Harkness — née Rebekah Semple West — was born in 1915 to “a rich, emotionally frigid … Watch the Stan Original film A Sunburnt Christmas now on Stan. She'd inherited Bill's enormous fortune and, without Bill or her father (who had died just the year before) to keep an eye on her, friends feared she'd land herself in trouble. As to whether she’s a real person, there’s not a whole lot to go on—and yet that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating that she’s named after everyone from Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ third daughter (the other two are named James and Inez, which, see below) to Karlie Elizabeth Kloss to Rebekah Harkness, nickname Betty. Her second husband died nine years later, leaving her a $27 million fortune (worth more than $250 million today), which … The couple had two children, Allen and Terry, but the marriage ended in divorce. She even hosted a ballet workshop there for 20 dancers from the Robert Joffrey Company (now known as the Joffrey Ballet) in 1965. At this stage, Rebekah was well known as a philanthropist, sponsoring a new medical research building at the New York Hospital, as well as giving financial support to several medical research projects. At Fermata, Rebekah wrote in her diary that she wanted to ''do everything bad". • The High Line: A park in New York City built on out-of-service railway tracks, but also a backdrop for romantic moments in ballads. There's only so far new money goes.". • The Bitch Pack: This is the name for Rebekah West Harkness’ group of friends (you might say, squad), who helped Harkness gain her reputation for being outrageous. • Inez: Someone who passed gossip concerning James onto Betty. The two purchased a mansion in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, which they nicknamed Holiday House. (Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images), Bill's daughter Elizabeth later married actor Robert Montgomery, the mother of actress Elizabeth Montgomery who found fame as Samantha in the classic TV series, Rebekah Harkness, composer, sculptor, dance patron, and philanthropist, photographed in her office in 1964. • Centennial Park: There are several parks with this name, but “Invisible String” is probably referring to the one in Nashville, where Taylor Swift lived for years and still keeps a home. After her husband passed away in 1954, Harkness poured more money into her Watch Hill compound, installing eight kitchens and 21 baths. It seems fair that the life of Rebekah Harkness is now celebrated through Swift's song and that a new generation can sing along and know her name. Harkness also allowed her passions for dance and music to follow her into adulthood, using much of her inheritance to become a patron of the ballet, as well as to compose music. At the time, she claimed to have married him because she had "nothing else to do". Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. • The Moon: A rock that’s orbiting our planet, and Swift compares its distance from Earth to how much she loves someone in “Seven.” May not technically qualify as rural or pastoral, but it definitely ain’t urban. She had a newfound freedom to do whatever she wanted with the piles of money in her bank account. Join Slate Plus to continue reading, and you’ll get unlimited access to all our work—and support Slate’s independent journalism. I had a marvellous time ruining everything. Her parents Allen and Rebekah were incredibly wealthy, her father was a stockbroker and the co-founder of the G. H. Walker Company. She was also a very colourful woman with a tendency to self-destruct. • Rebekah West Harkness: A 20th-century socialite (she died in 1982) who used to own Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island mansion. Rebekah Harkness and her Harkness Ballet in 1966. It’s unclear if she’s the other woman in a love triangle with Betty and James or just a generally loose-lipped person. She was briefly married to a photographer before marrying philanthropist William Hale Harkness, half-brother of Henry Flagler, in 1945. In 1939, at the age of 24, Rebekah married her first husband Charles Dickson Pierce. According to Unger, Rebekah's wild side didn't diminish with age. 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. Young Rebekah, who was known as "Betty," was the second of three children, mostly raised by a nanny who was hired because she'd previously worked at an insane asylum. • Levi’s: A brand of jeans worn by someone who is an object of the affection of the narrator of the song “Cardigan.”. At the Harkness' Rhode Island mansion, Holiday House, Rebekah hosted wild parties almost every weekend, with famous guests including Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali and J.D Salinger. The mansion was once owned by Rebekah Harkness, a high profile socialite who famously married into the Standard Oil fortune. So who exactly is Rebekah Harkness and why did she inspire Swift's latest track? • August: Many people’s least favorite month, making it a thematically appropriate time in which to set songs about failed love affairs, such as the Folklore song of the same name, “August.”. On June 10, 1939, Harkness married Dickson W. Pierce, the son of Thomas M. Pierce and a descendant of Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States. • Bill: His full name is William Hale Harkness, and he was Rebekah West Harkness’ second husband (of four). When Taylor Swift released her latest album. In 1954, something curious happened to Rebekah Harkness: Her oil tycoon husband passed. Rebekah was also passionate about sculpting and she became a patron of the French sculptor Guitou Knoop. In her day, Harkness was as much of a media darling as Swift is now, and often the target of unfavorable headlines and press coverage. Things! You’ve run out of free articles. Rebekah Harkness didn’t tuck herself away either. Rebekah and Bill had one child; a daughter named Edith. As Swift writes, "Who knows, if I never showed up, what could've been. Places! But despite their immense wealth, home life was anything but rosy. That married only lasted four years. 'Is there a chic way to go?'" This money was eventually passed on to heirs, and in the case of Standard Oil, much of it went to William Hale Harkness, Rebekah West Harkness’s second husband. Rebekah married William Hale Harkness, the heir to the Standard Oil fortune. Following the death of her second husband, William Hale Harkness, Rebekah inherited his fortune. Pastoral tales of the American countryside?). Swift herself, who was named after James Taylor. According to author of Blue Blood, Craig Unger, an example of Rebekah's early misbehaving was when she put mineral oil in the punch at her sister's debutante ball. Please try again. There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen. Rebekah died in June 1982 after a battle with cancer, her ashes placed in an urn designed by Salvador Dalí. The couple had a private ceremony attended by Rebekah's parents, her children Allen and Terry, along with William's daughter with his ex-wife Elizabeth. The truth is Rebekah Harkness was once one of the wealthiest women in America. Due to her family's wealth, she was raised by a series of nannies, and attended a finishing school after High School. • The Lakes: Probably referring to the Lake District in England, a historic national park that’s home to many lakes, although we’ll know better once we’ve heard Folklore’s bonus track of the same name. In the spirit of treating this album as an important historical artifact, here is an analysis of the subjects Taylor Swift sings about on it. Harknes… By the rules of My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas, there are three planets between it and us. People! The Harknesses were married for a brief period—just seven years. She also founded Harkness Ballet and built a ballet studio, trying to create her own version of the luxurious European ballet schools, with a marble staircase and a crystal chandeliers. Slate relies on advertising to support our journalism. • Sunday: Either the seventh or first day of the week, depending on who you ask, and if you’re Taylor Swift, a good day to take in a matinée—while contemplating loves lost. Bill's daughter Elizabeth later married actor Robert Montgomery, the mother of actress Elizabeth Montgomery who found fame as Samantha in the classic TV series Bewitched. Read next. • Peter: As in Pan, the title character in J.M. "As soon as I walked down the aisle. If Rebekah Harkness was playing card games with him, it means she kept some pretty wild company. She said she married her first, photographer Dickson Pierce, because she “had nothing else to do.” No surprise, that union ended in divorce. And you'll never see this message again. It seems more likely to be those lakes than the U.S.’s Great Lakes or another group of lakes because Taylor Swift is dating an Englishman, actor Joe Alwyn, and as you might have heard, she has spent time with him in England. On “The Last Great American Dynasty,” a song about his wife, Rebekah (about whom there is more below), Swift does a good job telling listeners what the other important thing to know about him is: He “was the heir to the Standard Oil name and money.”. But music was her biggest love and in 1955 she gained recognition as a composer when her 20-minute tone poem "Safari Suite" was performed at Carnegie Hall. , Craig Unger, an example of Rebekah's early misbehaving was when she put mineral oil in the punch at her sister's debutante ball. Life was exceedingly grand and Rebekah loved being married to Bill as she was thrown right into the spotlight of the upper class. The character named Bill is in reference to Rebekah Harkness’s second husband, William Hale Harkness, who was in fact the heir to Standard Oil. Rebekka Harkness in New York, 1965. I don’t know, it could; maybe someone will think to save it because it literally says “folklore” on it? Myths handed down through the decades? Will we pass it on, generation to generation, around a campfire? Period—Just seven years: is this the most glamorous Christmas present for 2020 `` the Last Great American '. In June 1982 after a battle with cancer, her ashes placed an... 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