STEPHEN Schwarzman, CEO of private-equity powerhouse Blackstone, knows how to throw a lavish party – and his son Teddy’s wedding in Jamaica last weekend was no exception.
Young Teddy Schwarzman likes a fireworks display, so his pa splashed out $8,500 for four hours worth on the grounds of the posh Round Hill Resort in Montego Bay. And just to make sure none of the riff-raff got to enjoy the explosive show for free, Schwarzman bought up the entire hotel for a $50,000 flat fee, plus thousands more for rooms to accommodate 130 guests.
One guest said: “I have never seen so many fireworks, it just went on and on. It was magical.”
The tab for the two-day affair, which included sumptuous feasts, limitless champagne and an open top-shelf liquor bar, ran to more than $150,000 as friends of Teddy and his beautiful bride, Ellen Zajac, lived it up for a weekend in the sun.
They gathered on a private beach on Friday night for an exclusive $20,000 barbecue supper.
Flaming torches lit up the night sky while lobster tails and grilled chicken were passed on silver trays. And who could forget the $1,000 worth of Round Hill Specials – a potent cocktail served in a hollowed-out pineapple, a special request of the Schwarzmans.
The drink flowed until the wee small hours as the kids and their friends made s’mores around a campfire while fire dancers and a steel band played for them. This informal pre-wedding gathering cost in excess of $30,000.
The $40,000 wedding banquet was even more opulent. The wine flowed freely as the 130 guests enjoyed champagne risotto, tenderloin of beef in a pinot reduction and a $1,000 four-tier wedding cake. The bar tab for pre-dinner drinks was close to $7,000, with thousands extra for bottles of vintage champagne and fine wines.
The do was but a small affair, however, alongside the $3 million bash old man Schwarzman threw himself at the Park Avenue Armory when he turned 60 – when Rod Stewart serenaded him for $1 million fee.
Few saw Schwarzman the elder dancing on the wedding night though, which is no great surprise. He was just 48 hours away from telling Wall Street that the firm had a $113.2 million third-quarter loss. And the band played on. James Doran
Bet on it
Foes of Internet gambling might be running out of luck.
A campaign by poker players to convince Congress to legalize playing the game over the Web for money appears to be gaining momentum on Capitol Hill.
“This is something where thousands of people are writing into their [elected representatives],” said poker-playing champion Annie Duke, who made a trip to Washington last week to meet with lawmakers.
Duke, who supports herself and her four kids by playing poker, said one congressman told her that it’s become the No. 3 issue prompting letters and e-mail from his constituents, trumped only by Iraq and immigration.
“I’ve heard that from other people too,” she said. “It’s something people feel very passionately about.”
A growing number of poker players have started trying their hand at lobbying after anti-online gambling legislation was passed a year ago – tucked into a port security bill voted on in the middle of the night.
“Nobody really thought it would pass,” Duke told The Post.
In a bid to overthrow that legislation and build support for pro-online gambling bills, hundreds of poker players – members of lobbying group Poker Players Alliance – descended on Capitol Hill a couple weeks ago and met with more than 50 lawmakers.
The effort helped the group secure a hearing last week with the House Judiciary Committee, which has key jurisdiction over Internet gaming matters.
Duke, who learned the game from her professional-poker playing older brother after she dropped out of grad school where she was getting a Ph.D. in psychology, was among those testifying.
“It’s not just because I’m a poker player,” she said. In fact, she doesn’t gamble much online.
“For me it’s an issue of civil liberties,” she said. “What did Madison and Jefferson want for our country going forward? . . . Obviously, they couldn’t conceive of Internet poker.”
With interest in the cause escalating, industry observers expect lawmakers to approve a congressional study on Internet gambling. Janet Whitman
Silence
John Thain’s coming out to the media two years ago also was a debut of how smoothly his quiet and brainy style could neutralize even his most loudmouthed critics.
A virtual unknown to the public then, Thain corralled two dozen of the cranky and curious Wall Street press corps into the NYSE’s hallowed sixth-floor boardroom on Feb. 8, 2005, for the first open roundtable ever held for the press to grill a Big Board boss.
Pouncing first were the usual obnoxious scribes. Thain would answer in his calculated calmness.
Thain initially was surprised by the clumsy attacks, but only briefly, because he began to grin slightly. One by one, the loudmouths wore themselves down.
Thain’s key executives and spin doctors stood flabbergasted on the sidelines, never having to intervene at all.
To many in the press seated at antique mahogany tables, the media circus was amusing and impressive.
business@nypost.com