Eloise at 55

Illustrator Hilary Knight is being honored by the New York Public Library tonight. He speaks to Rachel Syme about Kay Thompson, the lost Eloise book, and her new movie. VIEW OUR GALLERY

Illustrator Hilary Knight lives in a small apartment in Manhattan’s Tudor City, made to look even smaller by the black lacquer paint that coats every wall like fresh tar. The wall itself is barely visible, hidden behind hundreds (perhaps thousands) of framed artwork by himself and others. The subjects range wildly—Nefertiti in profile, Parisian can-can girls, a fighter jet, posters announcing the opening nights of now iconic Broadway shows. And in the den corner, propped up against an armchair in two-dimensional repose: a life-sized, cardboard cut-out of Eloise.

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“She never wanted to do anything to promote the book, for anniversaries. I said, ‘Kay, can’t we do a special drawing or something?’ And she said, ‘Oh no darling, the book sells itself.’ Of course nothing ever does.”

Kay Thompson’s Eloise was an immediate hit when it was published 55 years ago. The subject was irresistible: A little girl living at the Plaza—along with her nanny, pug, and turtle—who has carte blanche to run around the hotel and city, getting into trouble at every turn. Thompson, who died in 1998, staunchly believed that Eloise was a book for grownups with childish impulses, rather than the other way around.

And while Thompson may have provided the unforgettable voice of Eloise (“Paper cups are very good for talking to Mars.”), it was Knight’s drawings that truly brought the character to life. “This was the best thing that ever happened to it,” says Knight, “though Kay wouldn’t ever say so. The first four books published during Thompson’s lifetime (Eloise, Eloise in Paris, Eloise at Christmastime, and Eloise in Moscow) were all incredible successes, breaking records one after the other.