8. ELOISE ONCE DISAPPEARED FROM THE PLAZA
A watercolor portrait of Eloise, painted by Hilary Knight, hung in the Plaza’s Palm Court beginning in 1957. It was stolen, however, in 1960, but the case was never solved—some attribute it to drunken fraternity boys, some to naughty debutantes, and some to Kay Thompson herself for a publicity stunt. Thompson issued a reward for the portrait but it wasn’t found for two years. Then, in 1962, Knight received an anonymous phone call that led him to the portrait, damaged in a dumpster. Knight produced another Eloise painting for the Plaza, an oil painting that hangs there now, and kept the original in his home for five decades. In time for the “Eloise at the Museum” exhibition, however, it’s been restored by a team of art conservators and will be on view for the first time in over 55 years.
“It was important to Kay that Eloise not grow up. ‘We must always keep her the same, she will always live here,'” Knight says Kay would say. Many have believed that Thompson modeled Eloise after herself, an idea furthered by Knight’s later drawing of Kay bumping the six-year-old to the side and writing “I AM ELOISE” on the mirror in lipstick instead. But Eloise’s rebellious nature—in the heart of the prim and proper 1950s—is what captured audiences’ hearts. “She is stuck in this period, and people don’t seem to mind it. There were no cellphones. What we’re used to is not there at all, and yet it survived. I’m not really sure why. I think it’s the spirit, her spirit, and her invention.”
Credits: townandcountrymag.com
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