Word: mesta
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...that wealthy Perle Mesta was moving to Luxembourg to be the U.S. minister, something was missing in the capital's social life. Who would take her place as the No. 1 partygiver? Sweltering Washington, where bureaucrats are grateful for a drink or a dinner in the July heat, was anxious for an answer...
Last week Gwendolyn Cafritz, lithe, lynx-eyed wife of Washington Real Estate Millionaire Morris Cafritz (rhymes with "Say Fritz") stepped forward to take Perle Mesta's place. From her luxurious mansion on Foxhall Road, Mrs. Cafritz issued invitations to a mint julep and steak party this week at the Cafritz estate. The guest list, if all showed up, was almost as impressive as a Mesta fiesta. Among those invited: Vice President Barkley, the John Snyders, the Clark Cliffords, Generals Omar Bradley and Hoyt Vandenberg, a hatful of ambassadors and Cabinet members, and General Dwight D. Eisenhower...
...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...
...Senate was expected to confirm Mrs. Mesta with little delay (she had been hostess to plenty of them), so she quickly set about preparing to leave for Europe. She closed "Uplands," her fashionable Foxhall Road mansion, ordered the Mesta mansion at Newport shut up, and moved into Washington's Sulgrave Club. There was one annoying hitch: A shipment of costly fabrics containing materials for the ministerial wardrobe was pilfered en route to Washington, and even the FBI, when called in, couldn't find it. But Perle was not fazed. "It's too hot to think about clothes...