Eloise (Playhouse 90)

"Eloise"
Playhouse 90 episode
Evelyn Rudie as Eloise
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 8
Directed by	John Frankenheimer
Written by	Leonard Spigelgass
Original air date	November 22, 1956 (1956-11-22)
Guest appearances
Evelyn Rudie as Eloise Ethel Barrymore as herself Louis Jourdan as himself Kay Thompson as herself
Episode chronology

"Eloise" was an American television play broadcast on November 22, 1956, as part of the CBS television series, Playhouse 90. It was the eighth episode of the series.

Plot

Eloise is a lonesome six-year-old girl who lives with her nanny at the Plaza Hotel.

Cast

The cast included performances by:^[1][2]

• Evelyn Rudie as Eloise
• Ethel Barrymore as herself
• Louis Jourdan as himself
• Kay Thompson as herself
• Hans Conried as Rene the French Waiter
• Charlie Ruggles as Murphy
• Mildred Natwick as Nanny
• Jack Mullaney as Eloise's Tutor
• Conrad Hilton as himself
• Maxie Rosenbloom as himself
• Monty Woolley as himself
• William Roerick as Manager of the Plaza
• Inger Stevens as Joanna
• Bartlett Robinson as Eloise's Lawyer

June Lockhart hosted the broadcast.

Production

The play was based on Kay Thompson's children's book Eloise. The book was released in June 1955. Leonard Spigelgass wrote the teleplay based on Thompson's book. John Frankenheimer was the director and Martin Manulis the producer. The play was staged at CBS Television City in Los Angeles.

Reception

In The New York Times, Jack Gould panned the production "totally preposterous television", "sophomoric chaos", "a ludicrous hodgepodge", "agony", "childish" (as opposed to "childlike"), "idiotic and contrived, wholly farcical without being funny."^[3]

In the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, John Lester credited Rudie with a "technically remarkable" performance given her age, but opined that the selection of the material "indicates a weakness of basic judgment that could -- and probably will -- result in other offerings, equally superficial and nonsensical."^[4]

References

1. Charles Mercer (November 15, 1956). "'Eloise' Is Being Born in Television's 'Playhouse 90'". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 49 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Kinescope of Eloise aired November 22, 1956.
3. Jack Gould (November 23, 1956). "TV Review: 'Playhouse 90' Offers Hodgepodge 'Eloise'". The New York Times. p. 55.
4. John Lester (November 26, 1956). "'Eloise' Was Thanksgiving TV Turkey". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. p. 25 – via Newspapers.com.