The character was developed by the author based on her childhood imaginary friend and alter ego, with a voice in which Thompson spoke throughout her life, according to her biographer, filmmaker Sam Irvin. The series consists of Eloise (1955) and four sequels.Įloise is a young girl who lives in the "room on the tippy-top floor" of the Plaza Hotel in New York City with her nanny, her pug dog, Weenie, and her turtle, Skipperdee. So, to have the portrait disappear was a great exit.Eloise is a series of children's books written in the 1950s by Kay Thompson and illustrated by Hilary Knight. It was 1960, she'd taken the three books out of publication and only left the original book in publication. "I strongly suspect that this was Kay Thompson's best stunt ever. He picked up the damaged painting and put it in storage, where it’s been, until it was restored for this exhibit. Two years later, Knight got an anonymous phone call telling him the portrait was in a dumpster on New York's East Side. There was a great amount of excitement but the portrait failed to show up.”
“Walter Cronkite announced on national TV, 'Eloise kidnapped from the Plaza Hotel.' Kay offered a reward. The disappearance made headlines, Curley says. Thompson donated it to the Plaza, where it hung in the lobby, but it was stolen on the night of the Junior League Ball in 1960. (Collection of Hilary Knight, © Kay Thompson)Ĭurley says the painting hasn’t been displayed for 57 years. Two years after the painting's well publicized disappearance, Knight received a phone call from a muffled voice telling him where to find his artwork ― in a trashcan and ripped in pieces. Children visiting the Plaza can have an Eloise tea in the Palm Court, with pink cotton candy, go to a store with all kinds of Eloise merchandise, and even stay overnight in the Eloise suite on the 18th floor, designed by Betsey Johnson. The Plaza celebrates its most famous resident, even if she's fictional. That she pressed all the buttons!" she says with a laugh. "If the elevator comes up really, really slow, that means she did it again. Plaza concierge Hatusumi Komiyali suggests they check the elevator. In fact, Curley adds, “The Plaza was flooded with six-year-olds looking for Eloise coming in and saying 'is Eloise here?'” And all of a sudden here's this wild irrepressible six-year-old rushing around barging into things, getting into trouble. “She landed at the Plaza in 1955, in the midst of the staid Eisenhower era, when role models for women were June Cleaver and Donna Reed.
Jane Curley, the exhibition’s curator, says Eloise became part of the cultural zeitgeist. Eloise left her mark on everything, from mirrors at the Plaza, to readers around the world.
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