Meryl Gordon's "The Woman Who Knew Everyone"

Meryl Gordon is an award-winning journalist and tenured NYU journalism professor. She is the author of four biographies; two have been New York Times bestsellers. Her work has appeared in New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times.

A native of Rochester, New York and a graduate of the University of Michigan, Gordon has worked as a newspaper reporter, magazine writer, TV and radio reporter. She has covered a wide array of topics including national politics, influential New Yorkers, police and courts, economics and business, fashion, food, celebrities, pioneering women and book reviews. She is based in New York City.

Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of her new book, The Woman Who Knew Everyone: The Power of Perle Mesta, Washington's Most Famous Hostess:

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, Olivia Colman would make a terrific Perle – Olivia Colman is terrific in any role. Perle was not a beauty even at the best of times, but she was always perfectly dressed with a warm smile on her face. You would want an intelligent and attractive actress in the role, not a knock-out. Much as I admire the work of Nicole Kidman, she’s too beautiful and would need much more than a prosthetic nose to be plausible.

As for a director, it would be intriguing to see what Greta Gerwig, fresh off Barbie, would make of Perle’s life as a feminist.

Visit Meryl Gordon's website.

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