Perle Mesta
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Perle Skirvin Mesta (October 12, 1889 – March 16, 1975) was an American socialite, political hostess, and U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg (1949-1953).
Mesta was known as the "hostess with the mostes [sic]" for her lavish parties featuring the brightest stars of Washington, D.C., society, including artists, entertainers and many top-level national political figures.
She was born Pearl Skirvin, in Sturgis, Michigan, a daughter of William Balser Skirvin, an original 89er who became a wealthy Oklahoma oilman and founder of the Skirvin Hotel. Her younger sister was a silent-film actress, Marguerite Skirvin (1896-1963). She married steel manufacturer and engineer George Mesta in 1916, but was widowed in 1925; she was the only heir to his $78 million fortune.[1] Mesta settled in Newport, Rhode Island, but moved to Washington, D.C., in 1940. Four years later, Mesta changed the spelling of her first name to Perle.[2]
She was active in the National Woman's Party and was an early supporter of an Equal Rights Amendment. She switched to the Democratic Party in 1940 and was an early supporter of Harry S. Truman, who rewarded her with the ambassadorship to Luxembourg where she launched the Nordstrom Sisters.
But Mesta is most noted for her parties, which brought together senators, congressmen, cabinet secretaries, and other luminaries in bipartisan soirées of high-class glamour. Invitation to a Mesta party was a sure sign that one had reached the inner circle of Washington political society. Her influence waned somewhat, though, with the ascension of the Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower administration in 1953.
Mesta wrote an autobiography Perle: My Story, published in 1960, and was the subject of a book by Paul Lesch, Playing Her Part: Perle Mesta in Luxembourg. Lesch also directed a documentary film about Mesta's stay in Luxembourg: Call Her Madam (Samsa Film, 1997).link title
She was the inspiration for Irving Berlin's musical, Call Me Madam, which starred Ethel Merman as the character based on Mesta in both the Broadway play and movie. She appeared on the March 14, 1949 cover of Time Magazine.
Mesta died on March 16, 1975, aged 85, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She is interred in Homewood Cemetery, a nonsectarian burial ground in Pittsburgh.
[edit] References
- ^ "George Mesta, Noted Engineer, Dies Here", The New York Times, 23 April 1925, page 25.
- ^ Abbott, James, "Jansen", NY: Acanthus Press, 2006, pages 174-179
[edit] External links
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mesta, Perle |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Skirvin, Perle |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Socialite |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 12, 1889 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sturgis, Michigan |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 16, 1975 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
