Eloise Website - Eloise on TV 1956

On November 22, 1956, Thanksgiving day, Eloise made her TV debut on Playhouse 90. There was a lot of press and excitement surrounding the live show. The premise for the teleadaptation of the Eloise book is a threatened divorce by Eloise's parents, with a romance between the tutor and the chambermaid as the subplot.

When all was said and done, Variety said that "while it wasn't exactly a turkey, it wasn't pheasant under glass either." According to Variety, "the show's only real wallop in the person of Evelyn Rudie as Eloise herself. " Ms. Rudie garnered an Emmy nomination for her role. Based on the experience, Thompson never allowed Eloise to be dramatized again.

Starring
Evelyn Rudie		Eloise
Kay Thompson		Herself
Louis Jourdan		Fictional European Prince
Hans Conreid		Rene the French Waiter
Ethel Barrymore		Herself
Monty Wooley		Himself
Conrad Hilton		Himself
Mildred Natwick		Nanny
Jack Mullaney		Eloise's Tutor
Charles Ruggles		Murphy, a Hack Driver
Maxie Rosenbloom		Himself
William Roerick		Manager of the Plaza
Inger Stevens		Johanna, a Chambermaid
Bartlett Robinson		Eloise's Laywer

Musical Numbers "Eloise" "How to Raise a Child" "I Am in the Persian Room" Oh, What a Love-a-ly Morning "Johanna" Songs written by Kay Thompson Lennie Hayton Orchestra

Credits
Producer		Martin Manulis
Director		John Frankenheimer
Screenwriter		Leonard Spigelgas
Art Director		William Tyler Lee
Set Designer		Hilary Knight

Press clippings containing previews, reviews and other information pertaining to the Playhouse 90 Special, "Eloise"

Photos from Eloise At The Plaza
(Photos copyright © ABC 2003)

ABC/BOB D'AMICO

ABC/PETER STRANKS

ABC/BRUCE MACAULAY

ABC/MICHAEL GINSBURG

JULIE ANDREWS AND NEWCOMER Sofia Vassilieva STAR IN “ELOISE AT THE PLAZA,” AN ENCHANTING ORIGINAL MOVIE BASED ON THE POPULAR CHILDREN’S BOOKS, PREMIERING ON “THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY”
APRIL 27 at 7:00 pm, Eastern (6:00 pm Central) ON ABC
Read the Press Release

Eloise at the Plaza Links
The Wonderful World of Disney's Eloise at the Plaza
Eloise at the Plaza writer and producer Janet Brownell

July 18, 2002 LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Eloise, the garrulous little girl who lives in New York's Plaza Hotel, is headed to the screen for the first time. Read the entire article here

October 9, 2002 HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Julie Andrews will star as the nanny in "Eloise at the Plaza" and "Eloise at Christmastime," two ABC television movies based on the bestselling children's books.

Newcomer Sofia Vassilieva ("The Brady Bunch at the White House") stars in the title role as a precocious 6-year-old who lives in New York's Plaza Hotel and refers to her beleaguered nanny as her "most constant companion."

The pictures, which mark the first film adaptations of the Eloise story, will be shot back-to-back starting next month in Toronto and New York. Both will air on ABC's "Wonderful World of Disney" franchise next year.

"There is absolutely no one else who could better portray the warmth and sense of fun, but also the English-ness of Eloise's Nanny than Julie Andrews," said Quinn Taylor, ABC's senior VP of motion pictures for television and miniseries.


Photo: ABC / Michael Ginsburg	Photo: ABC / Peter Stranks	Photo: ABC / Peter Stranks	Photo: ABC / Peter Stranks

Photo: ABC / Peter Stranks		Photo: ABC / Peter Stranks