In King of Capital, a new book out this week by David Carey and John Morris, the authors chronicle the deals and personalities that shaped the Blackstone Group, starting with how its founders, Steve Schwarzman and Pete Peterson, met at Lehman Brothers. We’re told many times that Schwarzman had a drive like no other to make money and absolutely “hated to lose it,” which informed the firm’s approach to risk taking and helped it to “avoid the kind of brazen, outsized gambles that caused some high-flying rivals to run aground.” But Steve is not just about the coin; he, too, loves to get his freak on.

Schwarzman was also something of a ladies’ man, which was no small achievement given that Yale was still an all-male school at the time. He struck up a friendship with Davenport’s dean, Horace Taft, a prominent physicist, and his wife, Mary Jane, who loved the ballet. She kindled a facination in Schwarzman for dance. In his junior year, Schwarzman started a club, the Davenport Ballet Society, and arranged for its members to see a dress rehearsal of the Nutcracker Suite, by George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. Later that year, Schwarzman staged a dance festival at which students from nearby women’s colleges performed. Rosen suspected Schwarzman started the club primarily “as an excuse to meet girls.”

Comments (35)

  1. Posted by Bottom Bucket | October 6, 2010 at 4:41 PM

    You can’t love the ladies without loving crabs.

  2. Posted by b2bMD | October 6, 2010 at 4:45 PM

    if he loves the ladies, then he loves Anaconda Malt Liquor. “When the top pops, the panties drop.”

  3. Posted by trojan | October 6, 2010 at 4:48 PM

    -You said you gave Mary Jane a pearl necklace!
    -Obviously you missed the whole point of that story, Brian.

  4. Posted by trojan | October 6, 2010 at 4:48 PM

    -You said you gave Mary Jane a pearl necklace!
    -Obviously you missed the whole point of that story, Brian.

  5. Posted by trojan | October 6, 2010 at 4:48 PM

    -You said you gave Mary Jane a pearl necklace!
    -Obviously you missed the whole point of that story, Brian.

  6. Posted by Searching | October 6, 2010 at 4:50 PM

    Where is the bulk of the commentariat today?

  7. Posted by NakedShort | October 6, 2010 at 4:51 PM

    Bend over and I’ll show you

  8. Posted by Mr. Market | October 6, 2010 at 4:53 PM

    Get your girl in the mood quicker, get your jimmie thicker, with St. Ides malt liquor
    -Ice Cube, proving once again, that Anaconda has nothing on S-T-period-I-D-E-S

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcZ3Fs9758E

  9. Posted by Visitator | October 6, 2010 at 4:54 PM

    Does he love Peter Cetera?

  10. Posted by Anonymous | October 6, 2010 at 4:54 PM

    *work drugs*

  11. Posted by Guest | October 6, 2010 at 4:57 PM

    Ah dancers………

    -guy who loves chicks who are dancers or used to be.

  12. Posted by Richard Cripples | October 6, 2010 at 5:06 PM

    What kind of a “ladies man” has to go to such pathetic lengths to meet chicks? That’s not a ladies man, that’s a “shopping buddy”. The only dudes who open up “modeling agencies” are dudes who cannot meet models any other way. The only dudes who become Obgyns…

  13. Posted by Options Traitor | October 6, 2010 at 5:06 PM

    Bess, who would you rather: Schwarzman or an HIV-positive Jamie Dimon?

  14. Posted by Guest | October 6, 2010 at 5:17 PM

    You gotta lotta nerve talking to me like that, Griswold

  15. Posted by CoveredLong | October 6, 2010 at 5:21 PM

    Modeling Agencies and OB/GYNs need to merge in order to maximize synergies.

    Full disclosure: Long both.

  16. Posted by Anonymous | October 6, 2010 at 5:23 PM

    Just to be fair, we are talking about an all-guys Yale circa 1964 (although to tell the truth you’d still have to go to pretty extreme lengths to meet a hot chick on the Yale campus in 2010)

  17. Posted by Shecky Salk | October 6, 2010 at 5:28 PM

    A rough and tumble hedge fund owner meets a ballerina and has a brief relationship with her. A few days later as he getting ready to leave a lunch with an investor, he goes to the men’s room and suffers from the fiery pain of a certain “discharge”.

    “Dammit…I’ve got the clap!!” Outside in the parking lot he sees an office for a general practioner and rushes to that doctor’s office. Inside he storms past men, women and children on his way to the reception window , bangs on it and says to a perplexed administration assistant, “Hey! I need to see a doctor quick!”

    “What seems to be the problem?” asks the lady at the desk.

    “I think I’ve got the fucking clap!!”, the hedge fund manager says in a loud tone of voice.

    The lady at the desk puts her finger to her lips, shushing the hedge fund owner and whispering tersely, “Calm down and be quiet!!!” There are women and children in here that don’t need to hear that. the doctor will be back in about 30 minutes. You leave here and come back then and when I ask you what the problem is you tell me you have an ear ache and we’ll get you in to see the doctor.”

    The hedge fund owner goes out and makes 20 phone calls, smokes 6 Kools and soon the 30 minutes are up. He casually walks inside and goes to the sliding glass window and taps on it.

    But, a different woman shows up. “Where’s the other lady that was here about 30 minutes ago?” he asks.

    “She had to make a quick trip to the store. How can I help you?”

    “Well, I think I’ve got the…..uh…I think I have an ear ache.” says the hedge fund owner.

    “What are your symptoms?” asks the admin.

    “Well, he whispers..”it hurts like fuck when I piss through it….”

  18. Posted by Bottom Bucket | October 6, 2010 at 5:37 PM

    Please, finish your comment. I’m interested.

    - Mark Klein, MD

  19. Posted by V. VanGough | October 6, 2010 at 5:38 PM

    Was that a joke?

  20. Posted by Ggeraldo | October 6, 2010 at 5:55 PM

    That joke was so bad I may have to come back to roast it.

  21. Posted by Richard Cripples | October 6, 2010 at 6:03 PM

    The gender restrictions of his university have no bearing; starting up a ballet club to meet women is not what I would call a “ladies man”, it’s the 1964 equivalent of trolling around match.com saying you love puppies and long walks. Guys like that couldn’t find a pink part with a roadmap = not a ladies man. Some guys play hard to get, I play hard to like.

  22. Posted by CrazyIvan | October 6, 2010 at 6:11 PM

    FAIL.

  23. Posted by Demographic | October 6, 2010 at 6:22 PM

    real ladies men study pediatric gynecology

  24. Posted by PedoBear | October 6, 2010 at 6:31 PM

    PedoBear likes this comment!

  25. Posted by CobraMcJingleBalls | October 6, 2010 at 6:48 PM

    Cobra McJingleBalls

  26. Posted by Anonymous | October 6, 2010 at 7:04 PM

    Of course after each performance the dancers were expected to sleep with him and his clubmates. After all, they graced them with their presence, right? Setting him up to navigate the social circles of Wall Street just fine.

    http://proposition13.blogspot.com/2010/10/clearwell-systems-chances.html

  27. Posted by Anonymous | October 6, 2010 at 7:08 PM

    I dunno– actually starting a real club seems a lot more labor intensive than just cruising around on the net… Early ’60′s Yale the easy way to go would have been to bang the chicks from Quinnipiac or Albertus Magnus.

  28. Posted by CP3O | October 6, 2010 at 8:06 PM

    A true “ladies man” is not a man who simply loves the ladies, right? That’s most hetero guys. A “ladies man” can pick up chicks in the supermarket, at the bar, in the park, at the library, in class (if coed), on the street, etc. I never had to form a club/group in order to get some stink on my fingers

  29. Posted by right | October 6, 2010 at 11:14 PM

    Jury duty. Interesting fact I learned today. It is literally impossible to walk into a bathroom at a courthouse and not think about the Liar Liar scene. So tomorrow I am wearing a Jose Canseco jersey.

  30. Posted by Anon | October 6, 2010 at 11:30 PM

    Well… isn’t you hot shit….

  31. Posted by Adsf | October 7, 2010 at 3:07 AM

    i’m still waiting…….

  32. Posted by Adsf | October 7, 2010 at 3:08 AM

    Flagging this shit asap.

  33. Posted by cfa_CHARTERHOLDER | October 7, 2010 at 11:34 AM

    Striking up friendships with prominent physicists is a sure-fire way to get laid.

  34. Posted by OIL | October 7, 2010 at 10:11 PM

    get back to work under the desk

  35. Posted by Shawn | January 28, 2011 at 3:57 AM

    Seems like weak sauce. I mean how often do you hear about someone getting his freak on….at his ballet club?

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