Rebekah Semple West married William (Bill) Hale Harkness in 1948. Bill was 46 and his new wife Rebekah was 31 years old. Rebekah had two children from her prior marriage and Bill and Rebekah had one child together - a daughter, Edith, born on October 24, 1948.
Everyone, including their children, adored Bill. He spent time with the kids and the kids always looked forward to their fun times with him. Rebekah always seemed to have other things on her mind and the children were a bit of an annoyance to her.
Bill traveled the world and he documented some of those travels through self-published books titled Temples and Topees(1936), Ho Hum the Fisherman(1939), and Hold that Lion(1953).
Bill self-published these books to preserve a personal aspect of himself for his family.
Temples and Topees documented Bill's trip to Egypt in 1936. This was the height of the Egypt craze in America after King Tut's tomb was discovered. His cousin Ned Harkness was there when King Tut's sarcophagus was opened. Also, when Bill was at Harvard, he was a member of the infamous Pi Eta Club and he participated in the presentation of Peter Called Prince in 1925 and First Down, Egypt musical comedy in 1923 as a lyricist.
Here is the PDF of the score of First Down Egypt with some lyrics by Bill Harkness
Ho Hum the Fisherman was an engaging account of a marlin-fishing expedition out of Bimini and Cat Cay. Harkness records using bonefish for bait (pp. 9, 42-43), and seeing young tarpon, but being told by their guide that the tarpon would not rise to bait in that season (March).
Hold that Lion was a compendium of letters to his 5-year-old daughter Edith documenting his trip to Africa. Given the age of his audience, one wonders if he used the fun title from The Three Stooges 1947 short of the same name:
Bill also loved playing squash despite his ongoing heart condition. Ignoring the doctor's warnings and his family's objections, he continued to play the sport.
Unfortunately, 7 years after marrying Rebekah, Bill passed away at the age of 54. He suddenly collapsed at Holiday House due to a fatal heart attack, while Rebekah was sculpting. This left Rebekah with $30 million ($380 Million in today's dollars) and, unfortunately, it also left the children, especially 6-year-old Edith, with an inattentive mother.
Without Bill around to distract her and temper her whims, Rebekah embarked on a mission to realize all her dreams. She loved the ballet and dreamt of being a svelte ballerina and a world-renowned doyenne.
Since she did not have prima-ballerina-level skills, she decided to create and own her own ballet company. That way she could become part of the ballet world. She spent a large portion of the Standard Oil inheritance she received from her late husband, Bill, to fund her own ballet ensemble. Her support extended to financing entire ballet troupes, acquiring properties for them, and organizing global tours. In 1962, she transformed her Rhode Island property, Holiday House, into a summer retreat for the Joffrey Ballet company, ensuring the dancers were well-provided for and more.
Rebekah helped The Joffrey gain worldwide fame, a status she also desired. She didn't just fund the arts; she danced and composed music. Being the main sponsor, she took on these roles. Yet, her actions upset many, including her family, and faced criticism. Many found her ballets and music lacking. Her struggles with alcohol and pills dimmed her artistic aspirations. Rumors spread about her odd behavior, like serving drinks in disguise at her party or using expensive champagne to clean her pool. There were also tales of her dying her "spiritual advisor" hanger on's cat green and filling her fish tank with scotch.
Sixty years later, Taylor Swift, a wealthy and famous singer, bought Holiday House. In 2020, she wrote a song about Rebekah Harkness titled "The Last Great American Dynasty." The music video showcased the house's beach and waves, just as Rebekah once saw them.
As described by her biographer, Craig Unger, Rebekah Harkness's life was marked by profound and dramatic tragedies. Though she began life as a privileged heiress, by its conclusion, her wealth had significantly diminished.
Rebekah was born on April 17, 1915, to a wealthy St. Louis stockbroker Allen Tarwater West, and his trophy wife Rebekah Semple. West co-founded G.H. Walker & Co. with George Herbert Walker, grandfather, and great-grandfather of the Bush presidents. Rebekah Semple's parents were "midwest wealthy". Her grandfather Frank was a partner and vice president of Janney, Semple, and Co., a wholesale hardware firm. He was known as the “Hardware King of Minneapolis.” Her grandfather and grandmother passed away before she was born.
A fun flyby of the interior of this mansion can be seen at https://semplemansion.com/
Rebekah's appearance was of utmost importance to her parents, as Unger noted. When they commented on her gaining weight, she passionately embraced skating and dance, dedicating herself with intense commitment. During summers, the family retreated to Watch Hill, a prestigious haven frequented by the old wealth and Hollywood legends, with the likes of Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks, and Andrew Mellon owning residences there.
Rebekah's parents sent her to Fermata School in Aiken, SC. Aiken, SC is a small, old-money winter retreat renowned for its equestrian, golf, and court-tennis/real tennis activities. Rebekah and her circle, self-dubbed the "Bitch Pack," were known for their rebellious antics. They caused a stir in high society events, notably performing a strip tease at one gathering and adding mineral oil to the punch at a debutante celebration.
In 1939 she married Dickson Pierce because, she said, "she did not have anything better to do". They had a son, Allen, and a daughter, Terry. Pierce claimed to be a descendant of President Franklin Pierce, though that would have been quite a feat. Franklin Pierce’s three children died before reaching adulthood. The couple divorced in 1946.
Then in 1948, she married Bill Harkness, who brought her into the serious money class. Bill's significant wealth was ultimately inherited from his grandfather, Danel M. Harkness by way of Bill's father William L. Harkness. Daniel was half-brother to Henry Flagler and Stephen V. Harkness who were 2 of the original 5 founders of Standard Oil with JD Rockefeller.
The Harkness family as a whole had a reputation for its philanthropy. Bill's extended family had donated Harkness Tower at Yale, Harkness Commons at Harvard, and Harkness Pavilion at New York Hospital among many others. Bill's father donated Harkness Hall at Yale.
He left her $30 million (about $380 million in today’s money) of the family fortune. She blew through it with a vengeance. As was outlined above, she spent a small fortune buying her way into the dance world, surrounding herself with dancers, musicians, and choreographers. At the same time, she studied music composition and dance.
Rebekah also loaded up on art and real estate. She bought a mansion in Palisades, N.Y., a Manhattan penthouse, and getaways in Nassau and Gstaad. She also expanded Holiday House to include eight kitchens, 42 rooms, and 21 baths. Nine servants and three cooks kept the place running.
“This arrangement effectively kept her from having to see her three children on anything like a regular basis,” The New York Times commented.
Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol
Rebekah struggled to recognize those who were after her influence and wealth, including famous figures like Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol. Every budding artist needs supporters.
Dali created some beautiful jewelry and art for Rebekah. She could be seen regularly wearing ÉTOILE DE MER brooch and he also created the Urn of Life that she planned to use to contain her ashes upon her death.
Holiday House
During Bill Harkness's lifetime, he and Rebekah were known for their lively weekend gatherings at Holiday House. On one occasion, Rebekah disguised herself as a waitress to discreetly listen in on her guests. However, these boisterous events often led to disputes with the neighbors. Bill passed away in 1954. The parties only got wilder after Rebekah started with the ballet projects.
The sight of ballet dancers rehearsing on her lawn added to the tensions with the neighbors. The situation escalated when she installed a massive blue geodesic dome on her property, leading to legal complaints for zoning infractions. In a bold act of defiance, she responded by dyeing a neighbor's cat green.
The festivities persisted when she hosted the entire Joffrey Ballet at Watch Hill in 1962 and 1963. At the time, they were a relatively obscure ballet troupe, but they utilized the summers for practice and innovative exploration. Rebekah ensured they had leisurely weekends and even provided them with accounts at local stores. In a grand gesture, she once presented them with a cake containing baked-in $10 bills. If any dancer required dental procedures or cosmetic surgery, she generously covered the costs. Upon realizing a Joffrey dancer lacked formal attire, she treated all the male dancers to shopping at Saks and the females to Bergdorf’s. Additionally, she purchased an old firehouse in Westerly for their rehearsals, dubbing it the Harkness Center for the Arts.
While Rebekah's extravagance mirrored that of Marie Antoinette, her support for the Joffrey Ballet propelled them to global recognition. She played a pivotal role in identifying and nurturing numerous celebrated dancers, irrespective of their ethnicity, origin, or physique. For the Joffrey dancers who summered at Holiday House, it was a dream come true. As Danish ballerina Lone Isaksen put it, “We were in heaven.” However, her children felt differently, expressing that she seemed to prioritize the dancers over them.
Support from Rebekah Harkness came with certain conditions for The Joffrey. She demanded that they perform ballets set to her own musical compositions. One such piece, "Dreams of Glory," told a lackluster tale of a young boy aspiring to be John F. Kennedy. Dancer Lawrence Rhodes remarked that it was one of the rare moments he felt ashamed to participate in a ballet. Prominent figures like Jerome Robbins and George Balanchine outright declined to choreograph her scores. Her attempts to gain traction for her popular music compositions met similar resistance. Even when Harkness proposed to finance Ella Fitzgerald to perform some of her pop songs, the legendary singer declined the offer.
Rebekah Harkness’s Ballet
After a two-year association, Rebekah Harkness abruptly severed her relationship with the Joffrey when its founder, Robert Joffrey, declined to rename the company in her honor. In response, she enticed many of The Joffrey's dancers to join her newly established ballet company, the Harkness Ballet. Initially, she hosted the company in Watch Hill during the summer for training, rehearsals, and choreography, much to the chagrin of the local residents. Over time, the Harkness Ballet expanded to include two touring groups, a youth ballet (which trained the likes of Patrick Swayze), and its own dedicated theater. The Harkness Ballet would go on to train more professional dancers than any other company of its era.
In New York's upscale Upper East Side, Rebekah acquired a mansion and transformed it into a luxurious dance training facility. She enlisted renowned choreographers, including Jerome Robbins and Brian Macdonald, to instruct young dancers. Salvador Dali was commissioned to design stage sets, and she granted Alvin Ailey his inaugural commission.
Harkness House for Ballet Arts, located at 4 East 75th Street in Manhattan, was the rehearsal and training center for the Harkness Ballet and housed the Harkness Ballet School. Built-in 1896 as the home of Thomas J. Watson, founder of International Business Machines (IBM), the mansion was acquired by the Harkness Ballet Foundation, Inc. in 1965. Oddly enough, this was literally across the street from the other "Harkness House", Edward S. Harkness's home that he donated to The Commonwealth Fund.
In 1972, she purchased and renovated an old theater near Lincoln Center, making it the first dedicated ballet theater. It had ornate Louis XIV chairs and a large mural showcasing the company's dancers, including a nude Rebekah Harkness. A critic labeled the mural as the worst ever.
Critics
Critics, especially Clive Barnes from The New York Times, were very critical of Rebekah. She was a wealthy socialite known for making questionable choices, which made her an easy target for criticism. Her unpredictable behavior didn't help her reputation either. For example, she was once kicked off a cruise for swimming naked and yelling at the staff. In a bold move, she even pretended to be a cleaner to approach the elusive writer J.D. Salinger, hoping to convince him to adapt his stories for her music.
The Harkness Theater was introduced in 1974, but Rebekah's money was running out. She started cutting costs and looked for public funds. Eventually, she had to sell the theater at a big loss, which resulted in the closure of the Harkness Ballet Company in 1975. Despite her huge investment, the company has now been mostly forgotten.
The Sad End
Rebekah struggled with substance abuse, becoming addicted to a mix of B vitamins, painkillers, and testosterone that she injected. Her bathrooms often showed signs of her drug use, with used needles and bloodstains. These addictions had a negative impact on her voice and muscles.
In the early 1960s, she briefly married a doctor, and later in 1971, she married another doctor who was much younger than her. However, this second marriage only lasted three years. Her substance addictions continued to worsen, leading her to seek help at the Silver Hill rehab center in Connecticut in 1977. After completing treatment, she sold her mansion to the Isley Brothers.
In the same year, her son Allen was involved in a violent incident in Miami where he shot a man, resulting in a 15-year prison sentence. Surprisingly, he didn't maintain contact with his mother and even claimed that his prison years were some of the happiest.
Rebekah's youngest daughter, Edith, tried to take her own life at the age of 15 by jumping from a tall building while her mother was present. Thankfully, she was saved by an awning.
In 1982, Rebekah died at the age of 67 after a long battle with cancer. Sadly, her daughter Edith also faced mental health struggles throughout her life and tragically ended her own life in the same year.
Craig Unger documents the chaos that ensued in his excellent book "Blue Blood". Her hangers-on pillaged what they could. The mortal remains of Rebekah Harkness were toted home by her older daughter Terry in a Gristede's shopping bag. The ashes were placed in the $250,000 jeweled urn made by Salvador Dali. 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. Several hours later, the top of the urn was somehow, by unknown agencies, uncovered. ''Oh, my God,'' said a witness. ''She's escaped.''
Her final resting place is in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx on a shelf at the Willam L. Harkness family mausoleum along with Bill Harkness and his family. Edith is also interred here.
The Aftermath
The Holiday House was divided into three parts, with the main house being partially demolished and later renovated by a new family, renaming it High Watch. In 2013, Taylor Swift purchased the property for around $17.75 million in cash. She hosted Fourth of July 'Taymerica' parties with her celebrity friends, complete with fireworks, boat rides, and a large water slide. All guests wore matching patriotic onesies.
However, the influx of celebrities attracted paparazzi, leading to complaints from neighbors reminiscent of the Rebekah Harkness days. Swift's response was to put up "No Trespassing" signs, which also drew criticism. Rhode Island's governor, Gina Raimondo, even suggested a tax on homes valued over a million dollars, unofficially dubbed the "Taylor Swift Tax," though it wasn't enacted.
The Legend Lives On
After Taylor Swift bought Holiday House and then followed on by writing a song about Rebekah the media frenzy around Rebekah restarted with a fury. Articles about Rebekah appeared everywhere including Vogue, People Magazine, Billboard, The New York Times, Rolling Stone Magazine, and many more. Rebekah would have loved it.
This post just scratches the surface of the complicated life of Rebekah Harkness. I recommend that you read "Blue Blood" by Craig Unger if you want to dig deeper into the details.
An American Ballet Story
There is a recent documentary An American Ballet Story available through some streaming outlets about Rebekah and the Harkness Ballet.
The Story - 1964 – A time of major shifts in civil rights, women’s and gay rights. New York City was alive – you could feel it on the streets. The young Joffrey Ballet splits in two over a power struggle for artistic control and the HARKNESS BALLET bursts onto the New York City arts scene. Bold, brash and controversial, the Harkness revolutionizes the way dance is performed forever. And then it disappeared...
What happened to the Harkness Ballet? It produced 2 international touring companies, a youth ballet and its very own theater. Its training program sent more dancers into the world of professional dance than any other company school of its time.
The company was invited to perform at the White House and was seen on national TV. It became an international sensation wherever it toured.
The dancers, choreographers, composers and designers were pioneers. All of the pieces and much of the music was original.
Founder REBEKAH HARKNESS put her money where her heart was. She gave opportunities to emerging American artists no matter their race, heritage or background. Her goal was to create a truly American dance company. Yet she was hated by powerful New York critics, particularly CLIVE BARNES. Barnes had a personal agenda and never let up. Was it because Rebekah was rich and powerful as well as a woman? Was he attacking her personal taste and lifestyle or the fact that she withdrew funding from the Joffrey Ballet which he loved? Was his influence so great that audiences were led to take sides?
Finally, the bottom dropped out of Rebekah’s fortune. Cutbacks, economizing, and even the attempt to solicit public funding failed. The company was done. But like Camelot, its legend was just about to begin.