The Last Great American Heiress
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- Опубликовано: 23 ноя 2024
- For a time in the 1950s, socialite Rebekah Harkness was true American royalty. Wealthy, elegant, and beautiful, Harkness seemed to have it all-from her oil baron husband to her notoriously raucous parties. But behind her perfect façade lies a chilling history.
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I used to clean for several wealthy couples.What I saw was extreme pressure put on the kids. I saw a 4 yr old cry because all he wanted to do was watch cartoons after his half day of school. His mother wouldn't have it. He HAD to go to swim classes and violin lessons before picking up his sibling from school. A teenage girl of one of the families had to make her own clothes to prove to her parents she was serious about wanting to go to design school. She had a book of about 1,500 pages on EVERYTHING about manners and the proper way to do things. Boys were expected to be #1 in all sports....I'm glad I grew up poor. I had a real family.
People too posh to parent shouldn't have kids. It is a privilege.
I know all about it. Before truth, the right fork.
Poverty was a plus 😅
I put my 3 kids into swimming so that I could feel confident that they could go to the beach as teens and I didn't have to worry. As it happens they were pretty good. We are in Australia with a history of swimming champions. They all made it into squad. My son first. We were at the pool daily for training and lessons. My daughter then made it into squad. She was a bit more hard headed and said "I am never doing that again." I let her stop. Immediately my son asked if he could quit too. I realised it had become my dream. The only one who stuck at swim training and made any success (until covid meant training stopped) was my youngest who was always trying to catch up with the older two. You have to be hungry to push through the difficulties. I think that girl could have been very successful in fashion.
Sounds like they raised their kids with very high standards. Meanwhile the rest of us are in the RUclips comments talking about them. 😂
Coming from a very wealthy family, I can attest to the fact that “money can’t buy happiness.” Money can buy luxury, material comforts and many, many options, but happiness…no way! My parents, particularly my mother, were very miserable even though they had so much money, and could do pretty much anything they wanted to. Watching them and the way they lived made me really take stock of my own life, and strive to not repeat their patterns. I’m now 60 years of age, and for all intents and purposes, have lived a very happy life. If I could give a bit of advice, it would simply be to always be grateful for the things you do have, and never compare your life to anyone else’s life….comparison is the thief of joy.
There's absolutely a limit to where money can buy happiness. A limit beyond which yes has diminishing returns. But a roof over your head, good food in your stomach, a lovely place to live, the money and time to pursue hobbies instead of (or for) work, the ability to indulge in culture and comfort, and distance oneself from crime, cannot be understated as problems that money can in fact solve. And the fact of the matter is everyone deserves that much. In my honest opinion.
❤
Money doesn't buy happiness but it does buy freedom and if one has his or her priorities in place, that's everything!
@joeldejonge2986 everyone "deserves" that much? Who is going to give it to them? Take it from the rich? We already tried that with COMMUNISM and it creates ABJECT POVERTY FIR EVERYONE excretion the bloody elites in the government like chairman Mao and Kim jong un. NEVER say "everyone deserves this or that" and vote fir government to take things by force from those who have more than you because it results in grotesque tyranny EVERY SINGLE TIME
I concur. Wealth also gives peace of mind. Some of my old friends from school would just lose it if a car broke down or a bill late.
Money does not make a happy life. A lot of wealthy children are completely ignored and nannies are hired and fired. There is no love or intimacy for a little kid. Children are often trophies as well.
too true !!!
That happens with, or without money. 💰
@@michignamymichigan: Yep, a lot of poor children are neglected
Free money can be a curse…..
Personality-Disordered Parents….
I am continually baffled by rich people who have so much money that they end up doing ridiculous things and making themselves look like the biggest idiots on the planet. 🤡
The most intelligent people are not the richest people. There is a chasm as wide as a universe.
They are psychopaths.
I know a lot of poor people that do too…
I totally agree 💯
I'm baffled by their greed.
Children learn what they live. ... she had no parenting, no guidance, no love.
My late husband was raised in a boarding school. He said that school was one of the best things that ever happened to him. My husband was a great man, so that must have been a wonderful school. Judging by the way his sisters came out, sending him to a boarding school was the right thing to do for him.
Yup 🤗. And then go on to live what they learned.
No public school, (say what you will about that) no guidance, no "real" friends, no monetary limit (?!), no knowledge of the way ANYTHING works. But a sense of entitlement...
🤔🫡
@@lisabaltzer4190it was better than being completely neglected, but children are meant to have the love and care and protection of their parents.
@@ultravioletpisces3666 True, but in my husband’s case, he was better off at that boarding school. He was an unplanned inconvenience and was treated as such. I knew him since I was 8 and he was 10.
Trust me when I say my first husband was from a very wealthy family. After two months in the family I left and had the marriage desolved. They way they lived was a nightmare. I think being ultra wealthy causes brain damage.
Like the DuPonts and the Gettys.
....Or Mental Illness.
Yup
@@sarahalbers5555 And the Johnson & Johnson family of ne'er-do well trust fund babies.
Being manipulated and dismissed as a nuisance causes brain damage. 💔
If Her Son's Life In PRISON Were The 'Happiest' In His Life...I Would Hate To Think What The WORST Looked Like. She Clearly Failed As A Mother.
She failed as a human being!
She failed herself as much as she failed everyone else, and I'd bet you she knew it. She ran too fast for it to settle in, but it was always right behind her.
Her own parents set the tone for that, I should think. A very sad life.
She reminds me of Lee Remick ,but without the class/empathy 😊
What she needed was therapy 😅
Her behavior is very narcissistic. I pity her poor children and grandchildren.
…and pets!
This is incorrect facts. This person is always wrong with her facts. Total bs and the stock footage is not correct either.
Ridiculous. Most of the film is generic footage with nothing to do with Harkness. Even when narration is about Harkness as a young woman, the same picture of her as an older woman is continually shown. I think there are 3 actual photos of her in this whole video. The rest is stock footage. And despite the tease about "transforming into a disturbing Frankenstein. there are no pictures to back this up. Try harder. Much harder.
And no historic perspective as to how few rights women had.
You’re right,,,,…stop the stock photos….bump up your visuals…
@@jinka6171 easy job this person has, just google, copy and paste
I appreciate the work that was put into this as I’ve never heard of Rebecca. It’s easy to criticize. Thank you for the information and time .
The script was ok but why even add visual id they are mostly unrelated? Very disappointing.
In what possible sense can Rebekah Harkness be called the "The Last Great American Heiress"? She died in 1982 so it would mean there were no "Great American Heiresses" left after that. What about Gloria Vanderbilt who only died in 2019? What about Doris Duke who died in 1993? What about Patty Hearst who is still alive and kicking? Ariana Rockefeller or Alice Walton or any of the children of the Bezos, Musk or Gates families?
She wasn’t the greatest, so there were many great American heiresses
The indeed at the end was absurd. These clips are interesting. The information within can be deceiving.
What about...
@@ethanreaves8429 Couldn't quite squeeze out a complete thought eh? Maybe some ex-lax would help.
You forgot Eileen Gillespie Slocum. 1915-2008. The Grande Dame of Newport society.
This was an interesting story I’ve never heard of her before now. Thankyou for your presentation- I didn’t leave this story thinking much of this woman / she seems like a narcissistic sociopath
Yea me too! What a wasted life!
Here, here!
Proof that miserable stupid people with money are just the same as miserable stupid people who have hardly any money. Life is about finding your own way, getting to grips with what fulfilment you can get personally save the whale, children, build something,write something,paint something sail around the world single handedly or die trying.
That’s exactly what she did
Why does young Rebecca look every minute of 40 years old?
Hormones.
The gay boyfriend looks older than her!😣
Drinking, smoking, cruises! 🌞 $$$
I enjoy the interesting narratives in your uploads, but please do us a favor and don't use stock videos. As for the photos, please caption them. Sometimes I couldn't tell if an image was of Rebekah or her mother, or what was going on. Also, why no images of such a vain woman in her youth?
I like the stock videos
Cheap production.
This comment is so patronizing. She owes you nothing and can use whatever footage she wants.
@@ultravioletpisces3666 Well of course he does. But the commentator would like his/her viewing experience improved. Taking a suggestion such as this is helpful to the producer as well as the audience.
Yes, wouldn't you think a wealthy fashionista would have many many pictures taken of her throughout her life? Would love to have seen more of them.
Rebecca did what her mother did to her because this was learned behavior.
After J D Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye was published, a huge swarm of oddballs and misfits, like Mark David Chapman, descended on him. So he became an extreme recluse for the rest of his life.
Her form actually looks pretty good in her ballet posed pictures
Not to me....she was never good enough to get a scholarship to her own ballet company. Trust me, I grew up in this world...she had mediocre training at best.
I agree. She looks graceful, in the still photographs presented. Head carriage is correct and she had the lines of classical ballet. Would need to see a video with movement,.to form an opinion. Would be interested to know more about her connection to m
Barishnikov
Did she support his career?
@@ceceliaclarke8427 she was instrumental in creating the Harkness Ballet which lead to Joffrey Ballet. Robert Joffrey owes her a lot
Not really. I was a ballet dancer and danced at Harkness School.
She was a lousy ballet dancer, but looked like she might have worked at it.
She was not a good dancer.
I was a ballet dancer and she took ballet but never danced well.
She didn’t really stand a chance right from the beginning. She was shown no love so could show no love. The testosterone comments were interesting. Before you mentioned them, I thought she was looking a bit mannish, masculine. Money was at the root of her problems intertwined with a lack of love and friendship. I don’t feel sorry for her, at many points in her life she could have changed. She chose not to. That’s the tragedy.
Interesting story but a sick, “poor” woman in spirit.
I believe it's important to understand how few rights women had during her life. Women couldn't get a credit card without a man's signature, or buy a car, or well, so many things. Women were extensions of the men they were attached to. She bucked that system because she had money & married money. I can kind of understand her Rebellion. And Salvador Dali is nothing to sneeze at. Her parents weren't really parents so she never learned how. Just put in historic perspective- her story might make more sense. It's important to understand these stories as they relate to the time & circumstances in which they happen.
Yeah they didn't have credit cards back then...
@mkat4271 yes they did. They were called "charge plates."
@@MFiction60 credit cards were not used until diners club card in 1950. It was the first multi use card. Anything before that was just store credits for specific stores.
@mkat4271 Store credit cards or charge plates are the same things. It's not about the language- it's the fact that women did not have the right to get credit without a man vouching for her. You're clearly trying to miss the forest for the trees.🙄🙄🙄
SHE WOULD HAVE MADE A GOOD WIFE FOR CALIGULA
I really appreciate that they are real people narrating and nof robots 🤖
Amanda Plummer could play her in a biopic.
She lived in never never land.
She tried to make herself happy sporadicly. It had to be awful for her, just as it appeared.
I knew that name was familiar after I saw the picture of Baryshnikov.
I see Mikal Baryshnikov, a bunch of these pictures ❤❤❤❤
She might have inherited some genes that led to her behavior
Yep. The genes mentioned in Genesis 3:15 and Psalm 58:3-5
She had everything handed to her on a plate and had nothing to live for. She had no purpose, was lost and depressed. Most of her weird actions came out of boredom. This woman was the victim of too much money.
Her first husband looks like the first incarnation of a young Tommy Lee Jones.
"Staten Island beauty parlor" cracked me up! 😆🤣😭
Well at least we got some idea what it looked like as he showed no pictures of it there must be many photographs of it I'm going to look right now to see if I can find some
Frankenstein is the doctor in the story Frankenstein. The monster is called "Frankenstein's Monster". Also, the saying is "left little to desire" not "left some to desire".
And women not woman used earlier 🙄
Taylor Swift Bought the Ballet house she built. She also wrote a song about her and the house
She was an unloved, abused child so she grew up into a unloving, abusive parent and spouse - money does not give you class, empathy, or intelligence. Wealth just pays the bills but it cannot give you happiness if you are NOT mentally well.
Money does not buy: happiness,love,joy,intelligence or class...
...or class. How true. Trumps.....
Why not?
It’s weird seeing that footage that looks like it’s from the Waldorf. That’s where I was a deb in 1985. And yes…the rich are different. They’re bonkers.
She fits the profile of a narcissist
These rich people get so bored and restless and not once does it occur to them to help the less fortunate..
Sad for her children, very sad
More money than she knew what to do with, and not enough life to use all of that money wisely. Rebekah did it Her Way, I suppose.
Too bad her way didn't promote health for herself and those around her.
Very interesting story Thank You
Money can't buy you peace or true happiness'
I disagree with you it can buy peace and happiness if you do the right thing with it
It depends on a person circumstances but it definitely can in many instances
Never heard of her. Excellent video!!👏👏👏
Her first husband was from the pierce family? Their most famous ancestor was George w bush and his mother Barbara pierce bush
An ancestor comes BEFORE posterity so your sentence should read: "....Their most famous DESCENDANTS are George W Bush and his mother Barbara Pierce Bush."
Descendant not ancestor
Very interesting..thanks for that tidbit.
Great story, thanks
Other "emotionally damaged drama queens"? How flippant and dismissive this sounds. Just because they were born to wealthy parents doesn't mean that they didn't suffer from their childhoods.
I did not get that , what is or was wrong with Staten Island beauty salon? I like that saying : when you marry for money you work very hard
The Salon by itself was perfect. It was the gossip that truly did them all in. All they knew was gossip.
They gossiped in the morning, and continued the gossip all the way through sundown. Phrases like, "Could you imagine Petunia Vanderbilt purchasing a new lawnmower?" were commonly heard even on Sundays.
@@RSF-DiscoveryTime .Thanks for the info. I think most people in beauty salon Gossip , most people in this business are use to listen to the peoples problems . Bar tender , beautician , cab driver , Funeral director , they are all Gossipmonger ! And nothing wrong with that!
0:00 there's nothing wrong with Staten Island beauty parlors accept that people live on Staten Island go to them and I can bet there aren't many black people going to the nether if you get my drift
@@RoderickFernandez-ps5ci NO DONT GET YOUR DRIFT
This documentary to the contrary, I've heard nothing but glowing reviews of her life. As the daughter of Frankenstein, she faired rather well.
A life not worth living despite having access to nearly every imaginable choice.
donald trump!
@@deniseedodson1938haha, just like Obama who went into the white house literally worth $500,000 and now is worth 30 plus million. Pretty good for 8 years of presidency. They are all crooks.
@@deniseedodson1938Obama worth 500,000 before elected and is worth 70 million now. 😂🤣🤣 guess the presidency pays a lot under the table. They are all crooks.
Except for ecceptance as a human being, and nurturing.
The narrator in this video has a lovely voice. Good video, thanks.
Ah, Pierce. The minute you said that, I knew it had to be First Lady, Barbara Bush's family. Her maiden name was Barbara Pierce, after all. Pretty sure there is a connection there somewhere, even if it is not later mentioned in the video. Sounds like our Rebekah skipped out on that marriage as soon as she was able. I am a professional genealogist, so I am going to have fun with the Pierce family today! Also the Harkness family. It should be very interesting. Thanks for inadvertently turning me on to a few more interesting families to research! Great video as always, and I learn something new every time.
I've known some very wealthy people, indeed. All were as nutty as fruitcake, or mean as yellow jacket's, at the end of Autumn. Sad, really, considering the good that might have been realized, through some of their holdings.
She had an amazing townhouse on East 75th, near 5th Ave. she turned it into a ballet school and company.
There was a blue and white and gold studio with carved woodwork, a pink and gold one, and a red and gold one. There were fool the eye paintings in the dining area, and Faberge' eggs and art all around.
On the top floor was a doctor to give B-12 injections to tired dancers, and he would help keep them rail thin...cough cough.
Couldn’t you say something more positive about your characters? People are basically good and just because she had some weird habits doesn’t make her a villain
🎉🎉🎉😂Love this channel.,. And even more when REAL narrating is given!!! A l is being perfected...but real HUMAN delivery on any given subject can never really be substituted. It will always be detected!! 😮😂😅The content seems to be on track though..Keep as many Real People on as long as you can...OK???!!!😅😅❤
Living your life as you see fit. We are all guilty with or without money. Lets stay positive and learn and not judge.
Thank you for your interesting stories. She seemed a horrible woman.
Who needed 8 kitchen?
I do!!!
@@Nephilimfields Lololol!
@@Nephilimfields😂😂😂😂😂
She was Ok looking but not a great beauty.
When you had it all. What else is left, then going bizarre and evil. Because nobody cares.
What else is left? Helping others, rescuing those in need, animals and this planet.
I think thats why we have Harkness Park in Waterford, Ct is an old mansion & grounds thats beautiful for weddings/photoshoots
I saw Ms. Harkness while on summer scholarship to the ballet company she basically stole from Robert Joffery and renamed it Harkness Ballet. I only saw her once when she watched a class. She looked like a colorful parrot with too much makeup. I'm a Texan and knew she married wealthy oil man from Texas, William Harkness. I have always felt the great Robert Joffrey who founded his wonderful ballet company from hard work and sacrifice. He left for Chicago where he started over again.
Joffrey was a genius innovator and the time his company spent in Los Angeles was pure bliss for every Angelino who saw it, young and old, rich and poor. Great memories, thank you for reminding me of how wonderful it was❤❤❤
She was abused by her parents that caused the ruin of her life and her childrens lives.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle or fill a swimming pool full of expensive champagne than for a rich person to understand humble love and wisdom of others. Wealth without temperance or empathy breeds excess and insanity.
Yes but wealth WITH temperance and empathy can make the world a better place!
This should be a movie
I like the narration ❤ Sounds like the travel tip girl.
I absolutely love your voice and love to know if you do other podcasts or anything like that. Your voice just keeps my attention to the story. Where is some other ones make me fade away a little bit
Whereas
Holy shit. Can you say needs therapy any louder
Excellent story and *SO* well executed! I'm binging on Factinate presentations today and probably tomorrow, as well.
This was a horrible story.
Who are these people? So damaged....as someone once said - "nothing important can be purchased by money". G
Money does not buy class or style!
Trump.
A very sad tale, start to finish 💔
Those were the best days to be alive as her! ❤🎉
What is Baryshnikov doing in there? (3:02)
Peoples inner-selves end up on their faces eventually.
The photos nearly all have nothing to do with the narrative. Hers is actually a very boring story.
Amen to that! Narrator sounded stuck up!
I learned quickly that this has channels video is seldom worth bothering with. But, I'll plug in my earbud and listen while I do something productive away from my phone. Kind of a plus for me.
🎉🎉🎉🎉
Too True. Any college kid could spend an afternoon collecting copyright free images and putting them in order - even mixed with some newspaper photos and headlines as long as they are coherent.
Tough crowd
Good stuff. Subbed.
People ignore or dismiss a person's personality and moral values when they marry for money. Good example of this. Then they either divorce well or lead separate lives during their marriage.
Far from being "the last great heiress". There's TONS of heirs and heiresses to billion dollar fortunes.
Much greater too! Gloria Vanderbilt for one. Great lady. And Anderson Cooper's Mom❤
Too much money isn't good for anyone.
Seems to be as bad for mental health as extreme poverty. I noticed fame can cause major mental health issues too.
I don't like wealthy people because when they look at you, it's a look of. "Ha, Ha I can buy you." Or, "Ha, Ha I own you."
Had a guy say that to me one time,
In the end, he needed major dental work.
Have a good one.
This amazing woman leads me to believe she had Bipolar1 Disorder. Unmedicated. I have an insight into this mental illness as I, and 2 of my children have it.
Maybe she was just an arrogant
A*****e....?
Very interesting
Thank you
At least the narrator is not a $50 Robot live most of these BS videos use.
Thank u / I hate that!!!
Oh I don't know I think I missed that robot it's so awful I've gotten used to it
Opera gloves everywhere. In the bad old days before lasers beams and light pulse machines.
Crazy but....endearingly fabulous 🍸💰
Btw the picture shown at 5:17 is purportedly her Rhode Island mansion.
The bldg shown is not her RI mansion. It's almost certainly a hotel.
My family had lots of money, but they weren’t quite like this.
My mother didn’t raise me, her parents did. She was more damaged by them than I was.
I had better coping mechanisms.
Some people just deserve the riches they’re born into.
All those examples of outrageous behaviours actually seem pretty tame in reality
Tame except for screwing up her own children and other dependents. How is that ever sluffed under the rug? Or excused!
She repeated the behaviors that made her so angry and self-destructive, but why perpetuate that onto the unborn?
Of the 4 kids from my family, 3 of us never had children--- which is very statistically significant!
A full 75% of my parents children did not attempt to have children.
I didn't ask my dibs why not, but for me, I said: "No!!! The cycle ends with me!" I was so very, VERY afraid I might repeat something that had been done to me as a child, in a moment of anger, or frustration.
While it might be understandable to have a rare occurance of poor control dealing with--- anyone, even children, some people make poor or abusive performance their everyday mode of operation. And I said "No! It stops with me!"
In my 60s and 70s I suddenly wanted to become a father! I had gotten the ghosts expunged from my head and had my temper well understood and under control. With plenty of time and money, and love to give, it would be great to have a family to devote my energies and time to. NOW I could be a great father! Longevity is in my family. I would so enjoy having kids--- now!
Maybe there is a child I could foster, that would be willing to give me a shot! Guess I will seriously look into it! It would/could/should be a wonderful thing to do with an older child/young adult. Exciting. Rewarding. Even fun!
Hmmmm...... wish I had thought of this before!
fascinating!
I wonder if sometimes money can be cursed because it was accumulated in wicked ways.
No such thing, don't believe silly superstitions.
Very interesting . God protect me from the extremes of this life on earth .
How is this "the last great American dynasty". I see no greatness whatsoever. What a completely vile sorry excuse of a human being, her last "lover" too. Both revolting. I can't believe Taylor would want that horrid tacky house either. Yuck.
Excellent channel, excellent episode, "A leopard can cover it's spots but can't change them!" Nuf said...🙏✨👌😢🐲❣️
If you call this a good program I can't imagine what you used to listening to this was crap
I had never heard of her 🤷♀️
Being an ultra wealthy socialite seems to be a bit hit and miss. God bless her for living her life her way. She certainly was a great patron of the arts, and find me an artist who isn’t at least partially bonkers.
Her Parents, Warped The Hell, Out Of Her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had never heard of this woman but I watched this because I wondered what she did to cause the deformity and caused her to look strange. But there wasn't s photo of the calcification.
Not for morbid curiosity but I wondered how the calcification was caused and where it settled.
My Mother had a heart valve replacement and the animal valve had to be replaced because it calcified.
I was wondering if she had had surgery on her face and if the calculations setteled in the surgery scars.
Yet no pictures.
the happiness that they seek to attain, sadly, can only be found in death...