Word: mesta
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Lady Bird Johnson now has something impressive: a twelve-room, French château-style house in Washington's Spring Valley section. Its previous owner, party-giving Perle Mesta, grandly dubbed it Les Ormes (The Elms), decorated it with all kinds of French furniture, tapestries and bric-a-brac. The Washington word was that Perle had been asking $200,000. The Johnsons paid something closer to $160,000, and Englished its name to The Elms. "Every time somebody calls it a château, I lose 50,000 votes back in Texas," sighed Lyndon...
...Johnsons bought much of Perle Mesta's fine furniture, but hired Interior Decorator Genevieve Hendricks to help give The Elms a touch of Texas without spoiling the French look. In the living room, paneled with red-and-gold brocatelle from an old French castle, Lady Bird upholstered everything in jaspe satin ("Fabric-wise, I like this room best"), added a cherry-rose chair ''that seems to say, 'Come in.' " The dining room, which Mrs. Mesta had decorated with French wall coverings of tapestry patterns, was considered perfect as it was. In the foyer are displayed...
...flew to New York to be sure that she looked her best entering the hospital.* When the late Marion Davies traveled East for the inauguration of President Kennedy, George (for $2,000 for two days) accompanied her. He has flown to San Francisco for two hours to "do" Perle Mesta, and to Europe for two months as Jennifer Jones's personal hairdresser. His income this year will be $65.000. but George is dissatisfied ("If I could do what I want. I'd give it all up and be a beach...