(Can’t find a public image of the wedding for this one. Not that you’d really want one.)
My wife was going through some boxes of old magazines and clippings, and turned up the 60th Anniversary issue of Newsweek from January 3rd, 1994. And guess who leads on the “Newsmakers” page? (Hint: It’s always the first answer on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.)
‘Monday Night Football’ Strikes Again
It may not have been the wedding of the century, but it does qualify as the spectacle of the week. When Donald Trump wed Marla Maples last Monday night at his Plaza hotel in New York, the media flocked to promulgate every last detail. After all, this is the guy who draws attention the way a 7-Eleven attracts loitering teens.
(I thought it should be “… attracts flies”, but 7-Eleven really isn’t that bad.)
“It was the greatest concentration of paparazzi in New York City history,” says Trump, never shy about pulling the trigger on a superlative assessment of his latest achievement. “Robin Leach told me only the Academy Awards was equal.” The paparazzi were there, all right, but they probably had plenty of leftover film. About a third of the 1,500 invitees found something better to do. One leading New York publisher lamented the absence of “the right people.” Presumably he didn’t mean no-show Michael Jackson, whom Trump had hyped all week as a potential guest. Even The Donald’s kids, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric, risked a Yuletide coal delivery by opting to hang out in Aspen with Ivana.
Yes, indeed, everybody who’s anybody … wasn’t there. Though I’m sure the millions of people who did show up had a huge time, the best:
About a thousand second-string well-wishers — including O. J. Simpson, Sen. ‘Monday Night Football’ Strikes Again and Don King did watch Marla strut the aisle in her Carolina Herrera dress and $2 million borrowed tiara before sticking around to feed on trough-loads of caviar and champagne. Best-selling vampirelike radio host Howard Stern was probably the biggest name on hand. As the ceremony ended he was discreetly approached by a phalanx of hired muscle, ready to put the kibosh on any stunts. No tricks, but he scandalized some by predicting the union would falter. “I give him two weeks and he’s back in the sack,” Stern told a reporter. Trump will need to do something to keep people interested.
Tell you the truth, I still miss Newsweek.
