Books |
Eloise
Kay Thompson
By
Published: Jan 01, 2007
Category:
Children
Actually, the title is “Kay Thompson’s Eloise” — like a movie directed by a screen giant. Kay Thompson got her name above the title, as it were, because she wasn’t some little mouseburger who wrote an eccentric kid’s book and got lucky. She was Kay Thompson, a star several times over, and you can’t really understand Eloise, her 6-year-old creation, without understanding that the character and the creator were one and the same person.
Eloise, you’ll recall, lives at New York’s Plaza Hotel with her nanny, her pet dog and turtle and her dolls. She’s a brat — she misbehaves and is never punished — but it’s not really her fault. Her glamorous mother is always in Europe or jetting off somewhere. If Eloise didn’t kick up her heels and poke her nose into everyone’s business, we’d know her for what she really is: a sad and lonely little girl.
Kay Thompson was the brash side of Eloise. She had a knack for vocal arrangements and worked on a slew on MGM musicals in the 1940s. She got around: Judy Garland chose her to be Liza Minnelli’s godmother. And she was a legendary performer. In 1948, she opened at a chic New York Club. In attendance: Constance Talmadge, William Randolph Hearst and Maurice Chevalier. When the ovation ended, they asked Chevalier, "What do you think?" "I don’t know," Chevalier said. "I’ve never seen anything like her."
Thompson’s big personality — she’d go on to play the outsized (“Think pink!”) fashion editor in the film of “Funny Face” — was nowhere in evidence one day in the early 1950s when she arrived late for a rehearsal. The New York Herald Tribune reports: “In a high, childish voice that she had never used before, she made her apology. One of her co-workers said, ‘Who are you, little girl?’ Ms. Thompson replied, ‘I am Eloise. I am 6.’ The others joined in the game, each assuming a juvenile identity, and it became a regular rehearsal pastime."
An excuse became a character became a vision for a book. Thompson knew exactly how to capture a 6-year-old; her writing style is as energetic as Eloise. Her sentences are in overdrive; because she hates periods, Eloise chatters on for pretty much the whole book, very much like many 6-year-olds. Happily, Fate sent Thompson the dream illustrator, the young Hilary Knight. His black-and-white sketches have a hastily-drawn quality — his moptop Eloise is always on the go.
There are plenty of books that teach kids manners. There are schools galore that teach kids how to color between the lines. Though she insisted her books were for “precocious grown ups,” Kay Thompson is one of the few writers for kids who raises the flag proudly for anarchy and privilege and days filled with adventure. Hers is a harmless influence — she’s a patch of blue sky on a cloudy day. You don’t read her looking for a moral lesson, just for fun.
So, in its day, Eloise was big. A rocket, really. In the 1950s, there were Eloise dolls and toys. At the Plaza, you could pick up a telephone and hear the voice of Eloise. (It was the voice of Kay Thompson: "Hello, it’s me, Eloise.") There were even tea parties at the Plaza, with Thompson taking the part of Eloise.
Thompson milked the franchise, alienated her collaborator and publisher, became a recluse. She died in 1998, age uncertain. I would wager that she was quite insane at the end; indeed, she might have been certifiable as far back as the creation of Eloise.
No matter. Kids will always love the dash of this pint-sized urban pirate. Her own room on the top floor of the coolest hotel in New York! A wimp tutor instead of dumb old school! And no parents to tell you what to do! Wow, that kid has it good!
Half a century later, there are the books. There is also a special edition, with an 18-page scrapbook, written by Vanity Fair’s Marie Brenner, and illustrated with never-before-seen photographs and memorabilia. And there’s a TV movie, starring Julie Andrews.
And then there are little girls, listening to these books before they go to sleep. I’m betting they dream of being in charge, of getting their way. They’ll need other dreams too, but these are invaluable. Spoiled, big-mouth Eloise is a public service.
To buy “Eloise” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “The Absolutely Essential Eloise” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Eloise in Paris” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Eloise at Christmastime” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Eloise Takes a Bawth” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Eloise’s Guide to Life: Or, How to Eat, Dress, Travel, Behave, and Stay Six Forever” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy the DVD of “Eloise at the Plaza,” a 90-minute TV film starring Julie Andrews, from Amazon.com, click here.
