Serve the dinner backward, do anything - but for goodness sake, do something weird.

Elsa Maxwell (May 24 1883 – November 1 1963) was an American gossip columnist and author songwriter and professional hostess renowned for her parties for royalty and high society figures of her day. Maxwell took credit for introducing Rita Hayworth to Prince Aly Khan in the summer of 1948. She developed a gift for staging games and diversions at parties for the rich and began making a living devising treasure-hunt parties come-as-your-opposite parties and other sorts including a scavenger hunt in Paris in 1927 that inadvertently created disturbances all over the city.

She also appeared as herself in the films Stage Door Canteen (1943) and Rhapsody in Blue (1945) as well as co-starring in the 1939 film Hotel for Women for which Elsa Maxwell wrote the screenplay. Elsa Maxwell (May 24 1883 – November 1 1963) was an American gossip columnist and author songwriter and professional hostess renowned for her parties for royalty and high society figures of her day. Maxwell is credited with the introduction of the scavenger hunt and treasure hunt for use as party games in the modern era.