fPAR@ ` ÄTEXT ` ÇThompson, Kay1911╨entertainer and writerBorn in St. Louis in 1911, Kay Thompson early displayed a considerable talent for the piano. At sixteen she appeared as a soloist with the St. Louis Symphony. At seventeen she made her way to California, where she worked as a vocalist with the Mills Brothers. Later she was a singer and arranger for Fred Waring╒s band and then produced and hosted a CBS radio program, ╥Kay Thompson and Company.╙ From 1942 to 1946 she was a composer and arranger for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in Hollywood, contributing to the scores of such films as The Harvey Girls, The Ziegfeld Follies, and The Kid from Brooklyn. In 1947 she went on the road with her own nightclub act and enjoyed success in clubs in Hollywood, Chicago, Miami, and New York City. In 1954 Thompson staged a short-lived one-woman show at the Hotel Plaza in New York. Out of various experiences grew the idea for her first book, Eloise, published in 1955. Eloise illustrated by Hilary Knight, told of the adventures of an ill mannered, unattractive, but appealingly precocious six-year-old who was the terror of the Hotel Plaza. The book reached the best-seller list in 1956, as did its sequels Eloise in Paris, 1957, and Eloise at Christmastime, 1958. Eloise in Moscow followed in 1959 and Eloise Takes a Bawth, 1964. The books spawned a variety of related products, including postcards, dolls, and a phonograph record. Thompson appeared in the motion pictures Funny Face, 1956, and Tell Me That You Love Me Junie Moon, 1970; she appeared also on various television programs and composed a hit song, ╥Promise Me Love.╙ She published Kay Thompson╒s Miss Pooky Peckinpaugh and Her Secret Private Boyfriends Complete with Telephone Numbers, 1970.Movie: Thompson and the Kay Thompson Ensemble perform ╥All Over Nothing At All╙ in the 1938 movie ╥Manhattan Merry-Go-Round,╙ directed by Charles F. Riesner. ╢styl ` " ! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ , !I H !I X !I Z !I n !I t !I ë !I 5¬ !I º !I ¡ !I ├ !I ╔ !I │ !I ┬ !I ╬ !I σ !I ε !I ■ !I !I ( !I 2 5¬ 3 !I ├ !I ╬ !I ┘ !I ⁿ !I p !I ╫ !I ▀ 5¬ ß !I link `
