The Hostess With The Mostes' On The Ball

Album: Call Me Madam (1950)
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Songfacts®:

  • The second number from the 1950 Broadway production Call Me Madam, like the rest of the songs in the show it was written by Irving Berlin. The hostess with the mostess was actually a real person: Perle Mesta (1889-1975). She earned that soubriquet due to her lavish parties; as well as a society hostess she was US Ambassador to Luxembourg (1949–1953), making this show and the accompanying book both contemporary and potentially controversial.

    In both the Broadway production and the 1953 film, the hostess with the mostes' - Sally Adams - was played by Ethel Merman, who sings this autobiographical and slightly risqué song. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England

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