| LC control no. | no 96015285 |
|---|---|
| Descriptive conventions | rda |
| Personal name heading | Mesta, Perle, 1889-1975 |
| Variant(s) | Mesta, Perle, ca. 1890-1975 Skirvin, Perle, 1889-1975 Skirvin, Pearl Reid, 1889-1975 |
| Associated place | Washington (D.C.) |
| Birth date | 18891012 |
| Death date | 19750316 |
| Place of birth | Sturgis (Mich.) |
| Place of death | Oklahoma City (Okla.) |
| Profession or occupation | Ambassadors Socialites Political hostess |
| Found in | Perle--my story, 1960 : t.p. (Perle Mesta) p. 11, etc. (b. Sturges, Mich.; daughter of William Balser Skirvin; married George Mesta) OCLC, 2-28-96 (hdg.: Mesta, Perle Skirvin; Mesta, Perle, 1890-1975; Mesta, Perle, ca. 1890-1975; usage: Perle Mesta) Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture, via WWW, October 17, 2013 (Mesta, Perle (1889-1975); Pearl (later Perle) Reid Skirvin was born October 12, 1889 in Sturgis, Michigan, to William Balser and Harriet Elizabeth Reid Skirvin; in 1917 she married George Mesta, a Pittsburgh machine-tool magnate; her husband died in 1925; she neither remarried nor had children; she became a friend and early booster of Harry Truman; after Truman became president in 1945, Mesta secured her status as Washington's number-one hostess; she enhanced her political influence by raising large sums to sustain Truman's 1948 campaign and retire Democratic debts in its aftermath; Truman named Mesta U.S. Minister to Luxembourg in 1949, making her the nation's third woman to be a chief of mission; resigning her diplomatic post in 1953, Mesta resumed party-giving and retained much of her informal influence through the 1960s; Perle Mesta died on March 16, 1975 in Oklahoma City) Wikpedia, October 17, 2013 (Perle Mesta; Perle Reid Mesta (née Skirvin) (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 mostest" 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; 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 entitled Call Her Madam (Samsa Film, 1997); 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 the movie; she appeared on the March 14, 1949 cover of TIME; in 1951, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame) |
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