She was born Pearl Mesta (she changed it to the more exotic Perle later in life) in Michigan in 1889 and moved to Oklahoma City with her father William Skirvin, oilman and owner of the Skirvin Hotel which was also their family home. She left town in 1917 and married steel baron George Mesta who soon left her widowed with a substantial fortune which, when combined with her father’s inheritance, made her one of the wealthiest women in America.

Perle moved to Washington because she was active in women’s rights and empowerment and she quickly learned she could increase her influence by bringing important people together in a relaxed atmosphere. She became very close to Presidents Truman and Eisenhower and Truman even made her Ambassador to Luxembourg. Her place in history was assured when legendary composer Irving Berlin created a Broadway musical based on her life, Call Me Madame, in which she was declared “the hostess with the mostest’.”

For thirty years, beginning in the 1940s, Perle Mesta reigned over Washington, DC society, hosting expensive parties which brought together a mix of people with the sole purpose of having fun, “Whether I give a party in New York or London or Hollywood or Washington, I like to have guests who are in the thick of things,” she said.