My first image of Elsa Maxwell was a black and white photo; she’s a stocky woman and not beautiful by any means. But knowing nothing else but this I saw that this woman had such a joix de vivre about her that it made me want to know more about her. And there is so much to know about Elsa Maxwell that has been lost to the ages. So on this, her 136th birthday, I wanted to write something brief about her.

Laugh at yourself first, before anyone else can.

Elsa Maxwell

Elsa wanted everyone to believe that she was born in a theatre in Keokuk, Iowa to poor parents. In reality she was born in her grandmother’s house in Iowa and then moved with her thoroughly middle class parents to the ever burgeoning city of San Francisco. This would be the first of many discrepancies between what she would tell the world about herself and what the reality was.

She was a woman of opposites, an ugly woman surrounded by the most beautiful people imaginable. “Old battering-ram Elsa always gave the best parties,” the Duke of Windsor once said. She was poor yet arranged and lived in the world of extreme luxury. She claimed that she never asked to be paid for planning the lavish parties that she did but did admit to getting “gifts” from her clients. Her cost of living was very low as she had very few personal possessions and the Waldorf Astoria gave her an apartment in their hotel as she was seen as being so influential. Perhaps the most paradoxical part was being a lesbian but never publicly condoning homosexuality. She had an open relationship of over 50 years with singer and heiress Daisy Fellows-Gordon known as “Dickie” (and cousin to our Jullian Fellows of Downton Abbey fame.) When Elsa died Dickie was her sole heir but when asked about why she wasn’t married Elsa would say: “Seeing unhappiness in the marriage of friends, I was content to have chosen music and laughter as a substitute for a husband.”

But more than anything personal her work and legacy are what truly remain more than the woman herself. She single handedly created the scavenger hunt and its premier in Paris in 1927 created frolicking havoc on the city; it ended with famed interior designer Elsie de Wolfe detained by the French Navy. There were so many parties including:

• A Hoe Down themed party featuring live cows and a milking contest
• A Come As You Are Party. Invitations were sent at different times of the day and night and attendants were instructed to attend in whatever they received the invitation in. Outfits included a woman just in a slip and a man with shaving cream on half his face.
• A Come As Your Opposite Party. Fanny Brice came as Tosca; Cole Porter came as a football player. CAMP.

• 

• 

• 

Elsa also had a knack for matchmaking, having introduced Aly Kahn and Rita Hayworth and Maria Callas to Aristotle Onassis. She was quite famously in love with Maria Callas and love letters from Elsa to Maria still exist. That being said Maria truly wasn’t having it but flirted along due to Elsa’s knack for drumming up publicity.

Why do I love Elsa? She was a woman who was considered ugly but with her irrepressible spirit made her mark on the 20th century. She created a role for herself where one never existed. It makes me wonder what she could have done if she were alive today, but she’d probably hate us all and call everyone on social media a bore. Full disclosure: I’ve been working on a one woman show about Elsa so stay tuned!