A rawther disappointing biography

Born Catherine Louise Fink in St. Louis, daughter of a pawn-shop owner and his wife, a frustrated singer with a flair for fashion, Thompson was a master of self-invention and subterfuge from the start. As a child, she conned her parents into exempting her from spankings by convincing them she was more sensitive than her brother and sisters. Her quivering, tearful performance worked so well, it must have encouraged her to continue working her wiles whenever she got the chance. The line between acting and lying was native territory to Thompson, it seems, as well as to her most enduring creation, the disheveled, devilish sprite Eloise of the same-named children’s book, who lives in the Plaza Hotel and is perpetually 6 years old.

For those of us who grew up loving Eloise and have shared her with our children, the character’s unorthodox roots make sense. What better creator for the first unabashed brat of children’s literature than the hot-headed, emotionally immature performer who first began voicing Eloise (a play on her own middle name) back when she was singing in nightclubs?

Unlike the character, though, the Eloise books had two parents: Thompson and illustrator Hilary Knight, whose witty, sophisticated drawings perfectly complement the adult-friendly narratives involving Eloise, her proper English nanny, her pets Skipperdee and Weenie, and the aggrieved, abused Plaza employees who must deal with her antics. Thompson’s own behavior reaches its ugliest in her treatment of Knight, whom she edged out of the bulk of the fame and riches the Eloise empire generated. Her backstabbing of Knight, as well as other collaborators who found themselves erased from the credits, make Thompson seem less charming than her biographer insists she was; readers might agree more with the British journalist who is quoted saying “Miss Thompson is something to marvel at from a respectful distance.’’