Word: mesta
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Missouri's earnest, plodding Forrest C. Donnell is one U.S. Senator who has never sampled the hospitality of Washington's No. 1 hostess, Perle Mesta. Last week, when her appointment as U.S. minister to Luxembourg reached the Senate floor, Republican Donnell was ready & waiting with a hungry look in his eye. First he demanded to know whether the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had ever discussed Perle's qualifications (it had not); then he read extensively from J. Rives Childs's American Foreign Service, to prove she had none...
...Republican Charles Tobey rose to interrupt: "I look upon this as a gem of an appointment, for is not the lady a 'Perle' in reality?" Tobey freely admitted that Perle had never appeared before the Foreign Relations Committee, "but," said he, "the Senators have come before Perle Mesta, many & many a time, in ... great feasts of the intellect and palate . . ." Texas' bellowing Tom Connally got in some licks too. "The Senator from Missouri wants a man with striped britches and a silk hat, perhaps," shouted Connally. "Career men are all right in their places, but . . . they...
Later in the week, Perle Mesta, wearing a white shantung Hattie Carnegie suit and a purple orchid (from Mrs. Woodrow Wilson), stood proudly beside Vice President Barkley and her new boss, Secretary of State Acheson, for the swearing in. The minister to Luxembourg's oath-taking was far more star-studded than Acheson's had been. Five Cabinet members, half a dozen ambassadors and squads of faithful Mesta partygoers showed up. "It's just like one of Perle's parties," said one guest. After the ceremony, the Democratic Party's fund-raising hostess made...
...fusty Washington grandes dames were inclined to sneer at Mrs. Cafritz' ambitions-but then, they had never accepted Perle Mesta either, and Perle Mesta did all right without them (TIME, March 14). Budapest-born Gwen Cafritz, as a matter of fact, had never even quite made the grade with the hostess whose evening slippers she hopes to fill. Gwen was never invited to Perle's parties, although Perle received several invitations from Gwen. Washington gossips like to say that when Perle took a house not far from the Cafritzes, Gwen promptly phoned her, said: "Now that...
Gwen now has her own hatpin drawn for Mrs. Mesta. Says she: "Why, Perle Mesta came to Washington with a telephone book and a cookbook ... I was in Washington when Mrs. Mesta came and I was here when she left ... I just don't really think she matters...