She was born
Pearl Skirvin in
Sturgis, Michigan, a daughter of
William Balser Skirvin, an original
'89er who became a wealthy Oklahoma oilman and founder of the lavish
Skirvin Hotel located in downtown Oklahoma City. Her younger sister was a silent-film actress,
Marguerite Skirvin Tyson (1896–1963) and her younger brother was an oil man, rancher and investor,
Oren William Skirvin (1897-1981). Mesta married Western Pennsylvania steel manufacturer and engineer
George Mesta in 1916, but was widowed in 1925; she was the only heir to his $78 million fortune ($ today). Mesta settled in
Newport, Rhode Island, but moved to
Washington, D.C. in 1940. She also maintained a home in the
Pittsburgh suburb of
West Homestead, Pennsylvania, the location of her late husband's
Mesta Machinery plant and headquarters, but spent little time there, as she felt largely unaccepted by the Pittsburgh social scene. Four years later, Mesta changed the spelling of her first name to Perle. She was active in the
National Woman's Party and was an early supporter of an
Equal Rights Amendment. She switched to the Democratic Party in 1940 and was an early supporter of
Harry S. Truman, who rewarded her with an ambassadorship to
Luxembourg. Mesta is most noted for her festive parties, which brought together senators, congressmen, cabinet secretaries and other government figures in bipartisan
soirées of high-class glamour. Invitation to a Mesta party was a sure sign that one had reached the inner circle of Washington political society. Her influence peaked during the Truman era; being an old friend of the Eisenhowers, she maintained her social position throughout the 1950s despite her support of the
Democratic Party. Her power waned significantly with the rise of the Kennedys in 1960. Perle was, in fact, a friend of
Rose Kennedy, but a generation gap between her and
Jacqueline Kennedy had made it impossible for her to stay relevant during the Kennedy era. Nevertheless, she remained an avid hostess until her later years. She was apparently the inspiration for the
Black Russian cocktail when the bartender at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels decided to make a signature drink for her. Mesta wrote the autobiography
Perle: My Story, published in 1960, and was the subject of a book by titled
Playing Her Part: Perle Mesta in Luxembourg. Lesch also directed a documentary film about Mesta's stay in Luxembourg titled
Call Her Madam (Samsa Film, 1997). In 1951, she was inducted into the
Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Mesta died of
hemolytic anemia on March 16, 1975, aged 92 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She is interred with her late husband in the nonsectarian
Homewood Cemetery in Pittsburgh. Mesta is the namesake of the
Mesta Park neighborhood in Oklahoma City. ==References==