page_title: Perle Mesta
hierarchical_section_title: Perle Mesta
caption_attribution_description: English: From left: First Lady Bess Truman, Ambassador Perle Mesta, President Harry S. Truman
context_page_description: Perle Reid Mesta was an American socialite, political hostess, and United States ambassador to Luxembourg.
  Mesta was known for her lavish parties for Washington, D.C. society, and attendees included artists, entertainers and many national political figures.
  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. She was the title character played by Shirley Booth in the Playhouse 90 feature "The Hostess with the Mostess" in 1957. In a 2009 essay by Thomas Mallon, Mesta has been identified as a model for the character Dolly Harrison in Allen Drury's 1959 novel Advise and Consent.
context_section_description: Perle Reid Mesta (née Skirvin) (October 12, 1889 – March 16, 1975) was an American socialite, political hostess, and United States ambassador to Luxembourg (1949–53).
  Mesta was known for her lavish parties for Washington, D.C. society, and attendees included artists, entertainers and many national political figures.
  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. She was the title character played by Shirley Booth in the Playhouse 90 feature "The Hostess with the Mostess" in 1957. In a 2009 essay by Thomas Mallon, Mesta has been identified as a model for the character Dolly Harrison in Allen Drury's 1959 novel Advise and Consent.
caption: First Lady Bess Truman with Perle Mesta (center) and President Harry S. Truman in 1949
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