People in Oklahoma history
The “Hostess with the Mostest”
Perle Mesta came to Oklahoma City with her father, who had arrived on the first train when the territory was settled. Her father, William Skirvin, became a rich oilman and used his money to build the Skirvin Hotel.
At her father’s hotel, Perle learned the art of lavish entertaining. Later, she married a wealthy Italian who died after eight years and left her his $78 million-dollar fortune.
Moving to Washington, DC, she soon gained fame for her lavish parties. Being invited to one of her events meant you were a success:
(Perle’s) parties ….brought together senators, congressmen, cabinet secretaries and other government figures 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.
The friend of movie stars and presidents, the subject of a Broadway play, “Call me Madam,” she was nicknamed the “Hostess with the Mostest.”
“I like to mix people, the uppers, the middles and the lowers, the sours and the sweets,” she explained to an interviewer. “If there are too many dull ones, I put some aside for the next occasion.” –Perle Mesta