Friday, March 9, 2012

AS SEEN ON TV: ELOISE


ELOISE

CREATED BY:
Kay Thompson

AS SEEN IN:
'Playhouse 90' - "Eloise"

AS PLAYED BY:
Evelyn Rudie

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

STATUS:
Multiversal Recastaway


From Wikipedia:
"Eloise" is the name of the protagonist in a series of children's books written in the 1950s by Kay Thompson (1909-1998) and illustrated by Hilary Knight (b. 1926). Thompson and Knight followed up "Eloise" (1955) with four sequels.

Eloise is a six-year-old 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.

Thompson's goddaughter, Liza Minnelli, has been cited as a possible model for Eloise, as has the author herself.

The television "Eloise" was an adaptation of the popular book by Kay Thompson, which owed much to the delicate line illustrations of Hilary Knight. The marketing of Eloise and the subsequent book sequels practically always featured the illustrations of Knight, and numerous photographs were published in the 1950s of [Eveyln] Rudie in the role.

In 1956, Rudie became an overnight star with her performance in the title role of Eloise on television's 'Playhouse 90'. It brought her critical acclaim, much press coverage and an Emmy nomination at age six—the first time a child actress was so honored.


Kay Thompson appeared in the TV special as herself.  Toobworld has many televersions of authors who share Earth Prime-Time as their "creations" - Dickens, Twain, Christie, Conan Doyle, etc. - but this may be the first time the actual author is seen in Toobworld along with the characters she "created".

As always, the truth is that the late Ms. Thompson was writing a true-life account, as far as Toobworld is concerned.....

BCnU!

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