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It's the Roaring '20s again when a Stafford County couple throw a grand party at their waterfront home Date published: 8/24/2009
BY CATHY DYSON Beth Newburger wanted to celebrate her husband's 80th birthday in grand fashion, so she re-created the setting of one of the most famous novels written during the decade in which he was born. The glorious waterfront home of Newburger and her husband, Richard Schwartz, turned into a scene from "The Great Gatsby" on Saturday night. Women in flapper-style dresses and feathered headbands paraded about the wraparound porches of the couple's three-story home. Men resembling gangsters in pinstripe suits, along with others wearing straw hats, knickers or bow ties, were offered liquor that flowed faster than the nearby Potomac River. "It's unbelievable," said Molly Smith, artistic director of Arena Stage in Washington, as she glanced around her. "The beauty of Beth's parties is they're clever, fun, imaginative and full of vitality, just like Richard is." Dignitaries from the nation's capital, along with well-to-do residents from the Fredericksburg region, made up the guest list, along with the couple's extended family. More than 200 people poured onto the 6-acre property, at the tip of Marlborough Point in eastern Stafford. A shuttle bus took them from a nearby parking area through the gated entrance to "Richlynd." Guests chatted under the wide porches of the home--and gasped when a rainbow appeared over the river after thunderstorms stopped and skies cleared. Then they ventured under a massive lighted tent, as big as a cottage, where dinner was served before fireworks exploded over the Potomac. It was a scene from the Roaring '20s, all right, and the gracious hostess and guest of honor couldn't have been more pleased. "This was all Beth's idea," said Schwartz, dressed in a white jacket and blue bow tie. "She's always given me parties on big birthdays, but this is topping all of them." Newburger didn't want to make the event a costume party; she figured no one would bother. Instead, she told them to come as a character from "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald's tale about the extravagant lifestyles of the 1920s. Fitzgerald and Schwartz have a few things in common other than the decade. Both attended Princeton University, and both have the gift of storytelling, friends of Schwartz said. Some in the crowd also compared Schwartz to Gatsby himself, who was known for his legendary parties.
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