Who Knew WashU? 7.11.17

Question: Which former WashU student authored a best-selling children’s book in the 1950s after achieving success as an actress, singer, composer and voice coach?

Kay Thompson reviews music
Kay Thompson (left) and Jane Allyson go over the music for the musical comedy “Good News.” (Photo courtesy of Smithsonian Institute)

Answer: B) Kay Thompson, who was a contemporary of playwright Tennessee Williams, at Soldan High School and then at Washington University. She enrolled in 1927 and spent time studying music and theater before moving to California. In 1955, she published the book “Eloise,” about a precocious child living in New York’s Plaza Hotel.

(Note: There is an exhibition about the character, “Eloise at the Museum,” on view through Oct. 9 at the New York Historical Society.)

Congrats to this week’s winner, Susan Starbuck, of the Department of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine. She will receive an “I Knew WashU” luggage tag!