Kay Thompson (1909-1998) was a singer, dancer, vocal arranger, and coach of many MGM musicals in the 1940s. The Eloise character grew out of the voice of a precocious six-year-old that Miss Thompson put on to amuse her friends. Collaborating with Hilary Knight on what was an immediate best-seller, Kay Thompson became a literary sensation when Eloise was published in 1955. In this book, Eloise and Nanny are going to a big parade.