Meryl Gordon's "The Woman Who Knew Everyone," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Woman Who Knew Everyone: The Power of Perle Mesta, Washington's Most Famous Hostess by Meryl Gordon.

The entry begins:

Perle Mesta’s rollicking life story has inspired an Irving Berlin musical, Call Me Madam, in which she was portrayed by Ethel Merman, as well as a movie version of the same, plus an CBS Playhouse 90 docudrama in which Shirley Booth did the honors.

But if a movie were made from my book, The Woman Who Knew Everyone, I think the themes and plot would be dramatically different. Perle was the consummate party-giver, and that’s what she’s known for, but she was also a pioneering diplomat (only the third woman to be named as a State Department foreign envoy), an enthusiastic supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment and influential in Democratic politics.

I hope her substantive experiences would be amply covered in a movie, plus her close friendships with three presidents: Truman, Eisenhower and LBJ. But she also carried on entertaining feuds that would add drama: her ridiculous rift with Jackie Kennedy and a several decades-long white-gloved war with competing DC socialite Gwen Cafritz.

As for casting...[read on]

Visit Meryl Gordon's website.

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My Book, The Movie: The Woman Who Knew Everyone.

--Marshal Zeringue