Playhouse 90 (TV Series) The Hostess with the Mostes' (1957) User Reviews

The story behind "Call Me Madam"

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 28 May 2018]

Call Me Madam is one of my favorite old movies, but I had no idea it was based off a real woman's life! Pearl Mesta started life in Oklahoma, and when her father struck oil, her future was well ensured. However, while the musical references her background, the main plot and character of the woman are vastly different that what really happened. In the musical, Ethel Merman portrays an absolute idiot. In The Hostess with the Mostest, a television biopic of the Pearl Mesta, Shirley Booth takes over and tells her real story.

A fast learner who relies on natural intelligence and spontaneous problem-solving, Pearl travels to New York to pursue her dream of being an opera singer. While she doesn't make it, she does fall in love with her neighbor, Robert Lowrey. As a housewife, she has other goals: to become a wonderful hostess and for her guests to be incredibly happy at her parties. Once in Washington, she hobnobs with senators, President Truman, and gossip columnists-Hedda Hopper plays one!

If you've never seen Call Me Madam, this story probably won't appeal to you. But if you have, and you're interested in what the real Pearl was like, you can give this a watch. Shirley is always a likable heroine, and believe it or not, she looks really pretty in this movie! Her gowns are very flattering, making me wonder if it was her money her guests were interested in, or her other assets.

Not the "Mostest" but Always Nice to See Shirley Booth

[HarlowMGM · 5/10 · 14 November 2022]

Shirley Booth was into her decade of filmmaking in the 1950's, after over 30 years as a Broadway actress. She, of course, won the Oscar with her film recreation of her greatest stage role "Come Back Little Sheba" but in her fifties (though publicly passing at in her forties) there weren't that many starring roles for women in that age range back then and there were only three additional films, all of them quite well-received by the critics and, to a lesser degree, by the public. This Playhouse 90 adaptation of Perle Mesta's life story was Booth's first major entry into television where in the 1960's she would enjoy her greatest fame, starring in the sitcom "Hazel".

Perle Mesta was a rich widow from Pittsburgh who moved to Washington DC in the forties and became one of the most popular society hostesses with the political community, eventually appointed by President Truman as one of the first female Ambassadors. Her story became the basis for a Broadway comedy-musical starring Ethel Merman, "Call Me Madam", which was such a hit there was also a film version. Mesta's life story, however, was turned into a cartoon, not unlike Annie Oakley's in Merman's more enduring musical smash "Annie Get Your Gun". This "straight" drama based on Mesta's life, opens with admiring words about the musical but it's clear this drama wants to set the record straight about Perle, still alive and well in 1957 and appearing at the end of this teleplay to comment on her current charity work inspired by her period as an Ambassador.

Though as long as a feature film, this drama seems a little too rushed as it jumps through the episodes of Perle's life, starting with her childhood as the daughter of an Oklahoma oil man. Litte Perle deams of being an opera singer and as an adult, moves to New York to study voice. Unfortunately, she's not very good (one feels for Shirley, singing in her own voice that was able to pull off several Broadway musicals, with the scripted comments about her lack of singing talent). Perle's cackling does however provide an opening for an introduction to her upstairs neighbor (Robert Lowery) a steel magnate from Pittsburgh who begins to fall for her. They marry and move to Pittsburgh but Perle's other childhood dream of being a party hostess is crushed by a Pittsburgh socialite who wanted to marry Lowery herself as she and her friends freeze Perle out of society. Widowed early, Perle decides to settle down in Washington D. C. She also revives her dream of being a society hostess to great success and her subsequent friendship with Truman (unseen but voiced by a mimic) leads to the Ambassadorship.

Broadcast live in 1957, this program enjoys one of the better kineoscope copies I've seen of one of these vintage live shows. Unfortunately, the drama itself isn't all that interesting. The program badly needs a light touch a times, but even Perle's disasterious first D. C. party isn't really played for humor. Booth is elegantly dressed in the show, appropiate for the moneyed heiress, and while she always gives a sweet performance, I do feel she played her role a little too timidly . This was perfect for her troubled screen heroines in "Come Back Little Sheba", "About Mrs. Leslie," and "Hot Spell" but Mesta was apparently a confident chatterbox able to charm apples off a tree and that does not quite come through here in this characterization. Shirley could certainly play such roles as "The Matchmaker" and "Hazel would later prove.

None of the supporting cast really has that much to do although it was wonderful to see longtime film character actress Louise Beavers in a live production and I enjoyed the obscure actress Carol Veazie as a Republican senator's wife who becomes Democrat Perle's first D. C. friend, a nice touch emphasizing Mesta's diplomacy skills. Given this is a biopic of the recent past in 1957 and a couple of the supporting roles are unflattering characterizations, one wonders if these were real people, composites, or just fictional characters. We don't have all that much recorded for posterity on the great actress Shirley Booth beyond the "Hazel' sitcom so while "The Hostess with the Mostes'" is at best a qualified success, one is grateful it still exists.

A tale of a fascinating life.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 15 June 2022]

The magnetic Shirley Booth had an amazing career on stage and screen, whether as Ruth Sherwood, Aunt Cissy or Dolly Levi, and the Academy Award winning actress gives a terrific performance here as society hostess Perle Mesta who goes from oil heiress in Oklahoma to the widow of a steel tycoon in Pittsburgh to society hostess in Washington D. C. to ambassador in Luxembourg. So few women have a musical written about their life, and while it is not among the shows constantly revived, "Call Me Madam" has kept her name alive amongst people who know about the show whether through recordings or the 1953 Ethel Merman film.

Obviously a lot had to be changed because while her life was dramatic, it wasn't as colorful as what happens in the musical. Still, she did have a fascinating life, breaking through the barriers put up against her and making a difference in the lives of many when she became ambassador, desiring to help children from foreign lands get an education in the United States. Mesta appears briefly at the end, and her big heart is obvious. Hedda Hopper plays a Washington D. C. matron who finds her gauche at first but can't help but admit her charms when she finally meets her and gets to know her. The fabulous Louise Beavers shows once again her big heart in her gentle performance as the loyal maid, and Robert Lowery is good as well as the husband she loses early.

The mixture of comedy and drama makes this Playhouse 90 episode well worth seeing, and I enjoyed cheering her on as it showed her struggle creating a society dinner with a temperamental chef, leaky plumbing and nothing ready to serve, turning it into a memorable evening regardless of the problems. The dramatic turnabout at the end features Werner Klemperer as the father of a Russian boy, denying his own son out of fear, and sets Mesta on a new goal. Booth is perfect throughout, and for those who love her films and her TV series "Hazel", this is a must.