", Rebekah Harkness reading music on January 28, 1969. His grandfather was Daniel M. Harkness, a half … Swift herself, who was named after James Taylor. , fans were left wondering about the subject of her song 'The Last Great American Dynasty' - Rebekah Harkness. Places! 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. Photo illustration by Slate. Although a friend of the couple had said, "Bill looked on Betty as a naughty child and set about to reform her". • India: A country in South Asia that’s home to more than 1.3 billion people, and also, for the purposes of this song, a place that the young protagonists in “Seven” hope to escape to avoid a seemingly abusive father. The subject of “Folklore” song “The Last Great American Dynasty,” Harkness — née Rebekah Semple West — was born in 1915 to “a rich, emotionally frigid St. Louis family,” according to the New York Times, and in 1947 married William Hale Harkness, her second husband and heir to the Standard Oil fortune. Myths handed down through the decades? Together, the pair resided in Rhode Island, in a home called "Holiday House" that Swift now owns. She was also a very colourful woman with a tendency to self-destruct. Rebekah and Bill had one child; a daughter named Edith. After her husband died, Harkness renovated the house she owned in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. Slate relies on advertising to support our journalism. What Rebekah Harkness, who, at 56 still has the lean, quick‐moving body of a dancer, has used her studio for is class of one: herself. 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 Standard Oil heir who was one of the wealthiest men in America. The best of movies, TV, books, music, and more, delivered to your inbox three times a week. • Betty: The person who is being addressed in the song “Betty.” James, the narrator, knows he messed up and is asking if she’ll ever grant forgiveness. I knew that I had made a terrible, terrible mistake," Rebekah said. 'Is there a chic way to go?'" If you value our work, please disable your ad blocker. 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. 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. By joining Slate Plus you support our work and get exclusive content. Barrie’s classic story. • Holiday House: The historic name for Swift’s mansion in Rhode Island, which dates back to Rebekah West Harkness’ years there. At Fermata, Rebekah wrote in her diary that she wanted to ''do everything bad". Rebekah Harkness and her Harkness Ballet in 1966. She was briefly married to a photographer before marrying philanthropist William Hale Harkness, half-brother of Henry Flagler, in 1945. But Rebekah's story is intricately more complex that the one set out in Swift's lyrics. Rebekah had full custody of the children and remained living in Manhattan, working in advertising and studying music composition. • Rhode Island: The smallest state, and the one that contains the mansion owned formerly by Rebekah Harkness and currently by Taylor Swift, the site of historically important 4th of July parties. 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. Story: Swift and Aaron Dessner co-wrote The Last Great American Dynasty based on the eccentric life of socialite Rebekah Harkness, who was known to … Meet the previous resident of Swift's stately mansion in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. • 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. Rebekah West was born in 1915 in St Louis, Missouri. 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. The mansion was once owned by Rebekah Harkness, a high profile socialite who famously married into the Standard Oil fortune. • 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. Her parents Allen and Rebekah were incredibly wealthy, her father was a stockbroker and the co-founder of the G. H. Walker Company. Join Slate Plus to continue reading, and you’ll get unlimited access to all our work—and support Slate’s independent journalism. • Rebekah West Harkness: A 20th-century socialite (she died in 1982) who used to own Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island mansion. Harkness completely renovated Holiday House, their Rhode Island mansion. According to Unger, Rebekah's wild side didn't diminish with age. And just how folkloric is this thing, anyway? One of the most surprising characters to crop up on Taylor Swift's latest album is Rebekah Harkness in "the last great american dynasty." • Levi’s: A brand of jeans worn by someone who is an object of the affection of the narrator of the song “Cardigan.”. • Dalí: Salvador Dalí was a painter known not only for his surrealist, Dada work, but also for his eccentricities, particularly his signature pencil mustache. 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. So how did she become Swift's muse? 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. Here, we … 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. At the time, she claimed to have married him because she had "nothing else to do". By the rules of My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas, there are three planets between it and us. You’ve run out of free articles. In Taylor Swift's song, "The Last Great American Dynasty," she sings that the wedding "was charming, if a little gauche. 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. Life was exceedingly grand and Rebekah loved being married to Bill as she was thrown right into the spotlight of the upper class. If Rebekah Harkness was playing card games with him, it means she kept some pretty wild company. Before their divorce in 1946, they had two children: Allen Pierce & Anne Terry Pierce. She also made some rather eccentric decisions when she renovated Holiday House; installing an incredible eight kitchens and 21 baths. 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.". Pastoral tales of the American countryside?). In 1939, at 24, Harkness married the first of her four husbands, Charles Dickson Walsh Pierce, a Yale graduate who worked for an advertising firm and was described by friends as a Walter Mitty-like character with his head in the clouds. 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. • 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. Swift writes that Harkness was blamed for her husband’s early death, and judged for ending one of America’s richest families. First, a brief biography: Born Rebekah Semple West in St. Louis in 1915, Harkness was a divorcée whose second marriage was to Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness. 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