Madeline is a media franchise that originated as a series of children’s books written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans, an Austrian-American author. The books have been adapted into numerous formats, spawning telefilms, television series and a live action feature film. As a closing line, the adaptations invoke a famous phrase Ethel Barrymore used to rebuff curtain calls, “That’s all there is, there isn’t any more.” The stories take place in a Catholic boarding school in Paris. The teacher, Miss Clavel, is strict but loves the children, cares for them, and is open to their ideas.
Madeline was written by Ludwig Bemelmans and published in 1939. Bemelmans wrote five sequels between 1953 and 1961. Later books in the series were written by Bemelmans’ grandson John Bemelmans Marciano. The books focus on 12 girls in a Catholic boarding school in Paris. Madeline is the smallest of the girls, only seven years old and the only girl with red hair. She is the bravest and most outgoing of the girls. The images seem classical and show scenery and landmarks of the location where the story takes place such as the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River.
In the first book, Madeline gets sick, is taken to the hospital and has her appendix removed to the envy of all the other girls. In Madeline’s Rescue she falls into the Seine River and brings back the dog that saved her life.
Dell Comics published a Four Color Comics issue in 1942 titled “Ludwig Bemelman’s Madeline and Genevieve”
Picture Credit : Google
