This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Tjmayerinsf (talk | contribs) at 13:43, 22 May 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 13:43, 22 May 2007 by Tjmayerinsf (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Elsa Maxwell (b. May 24 1883, Keokuk, Iowa - d. November 1 1963, New York City) was an American gossip columnist and author, songwriter and professional hostess whose parties for royalty and the high society figures of her day earned her the title of "the hostess with the mostest".
Maxwell is credited with the invention of the scavenger hunt and treasure hunt for use as party games in the modern era (). She appeared in the 1943 film, Stage Door Canteen, alongside Dame Judith Anderson, Tallulah Bankhead, Katharine Cornell, Lynn Fontanne, Helen Hayes, Gertrude Lawrence, Alfred Lunt, Lord Menuhin, and Cornelia Otis Skinner.
In 1953, Maxwell published a single issue of her magazine, Elsa Maxwell's Café Society, which had a portrait of Zsa Zsa Gabor on the cover. Anne Edwards' biography Callas (2001) says that Maxwell introduced Maria Callas to Aristotle Onassis and that Maxwell was an lesbian who tried to seduce Callas.
Bibliography
- RSVP: Elsa Maxwell's Own Story, by Elsa Maxwell, 1954.
- How To Do It, or The Lively Art of Entertaining, by Elsa Maxwell, Little, Brown and Company, 1957.
External links
  | This article about an American journalist is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |