Call Me Madam
Have you ever heard the phrase "the hostess with the mostes'?" Perle Mesta was the inspiration for it! The phrase comes from the song "The Hostess with the Mostes'" which was written by Irving Berlin for Call Me Madam, a Broadway musical heavily inspired by Perle Mesta's life, particularly her time as ambassador to Luxembourg. The show opened to critical acclaim, winning several Tony Awards and eventually made into an Academy Award-nominated film in 1953.
Perle Mesta at a party given by Nikita Khrushchev for President Dwight Eisenhower at the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., September 16, 1959. Courtesy Library of Congress.
Poster for the stage production Call Me Madam at the Imperial Theatre, 1950. Courtesy The New York Public Library Digital Collections.
"You are a tradition, you are an event in the life of America."
— John Connally, 1972
Career politician during a toast to Perle at one of her last parties to host
"Oklahoman Perle Mesta, famed Washington, D.C., hostess and former U.S. minister to Luxembourg, smiles with actress Shirley Temple Black in this 1970 photo."
Brandy McDonnell, May 28, 2006. The Oklahoman. Courtesy Oklahoma Hall of Fame Archives.