Austrian-born American illustrator and writer of children's books, such as Madeleine (1939), and adult fiction, including Hotel Splendide (1940), which was based on his experiences in the hotel and restaurant business.
Dictionary:
Be·mel·mans (bē'məl-mənz, bĕm'əl-) , Ludwig
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Austrian-born American illustrator and writer of children's books, such as Madeleine (1939), and adult fiction, including Hotel Splendide (1940), which was based on his experiences in the hotel and restaurant business.
| Works: Works by Ludwig Bemelmans |
| Wikipedia: Ludwig Bemelmans |
Ludwig Bemelmans (April 27, 1898 – October 1, 1962) was a German-American author, an internationally known gourmet and also a writer and illustrator of children's books. He is most famous today for the series of Madeline books.
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Bemelmans was born to Belgian painter Lambert Bemelmans and German Frances Fischer in Meran, Austria. His father owned a hotel. He grew up in Gmunden on the Traunsee in Upper Austria. His first language was French and his second German.
In 1904, his father left the family for Ludwig's governess. His mother, Frances, took Ludwig and his brother to her native city of Regensburg. Bemelmans had difficulty in school and hated the German discipline. He was apprenticed to his uncle Hans Bemelmans at a hotel in Austria, but he apparently shot and seriously wounded a waiter and was forced to choose between being institutionalized or emigration to America.
He spent the next several years working at hotels and restaurants, and in 1917 joined the U.S. Army but was not ordered to Europe because of his German heritage. He did become an officer, however, and rose to second lieutenant. In 1918, he was naturalized as an American citizen.
In the twenties, he tried to become an artist and painter while working at hotels, but had substantial difficulties. His cartoon series "The Thrilling Adventures of the Count Bric a Brac" was dropped from the New York World after six months.
In the early 1930s Bemelmans met May Massee, the children's book editor at Viking Press who became a sort of partner, and he began to publish a number of children's books beginning with Hansi in 1934.
The first Madeline book was published in 1939 and was actually rejected by Viking and published by Simon and Schuster.
In 1953, he fell in love with a small bistro in Paris "La Colombe" in the "Ile de la Cité", bought it, and painted murals. He remained the owner of the place during two years until he sold it to Michel Valette who made it into a famous cabaret.
However, Bemelmans also wrote a number of adult books, including travel and humorous works, and movie scripts for films like Yolanda and the Thief. Spending time in Hollywood, he also became a close friend of Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl.
Bemelmans' "Central Park," a mural on the walls of the Carlyle Hotel's Bemelmans Bar in New York City, is his only remaining artwork on display to the public. He also painted the children's dining room in Aristotle Onassis yacht Christina, for the young daughter of the magnate, Christina Onassis.
Each story begins: "In an old house in Paris, that was covered with vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines... the smallest one was Madeline."
The girls are cared for by a nun, Miss Clavel. Other characters include Pepito, son of the Spanish Ambassador, who lives next door; Lord Covington (called Cucuface by the girls), owner of the house; and Genevieve, a dog who rescues Madeline from drowning in the second book.
Bemelmans published six Madeline stories in his lifetime, and a seventh was discovered and published posthumously:
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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Copyrights:
![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Works. The Chronology of American Literature, edited by Daniel S. Burt. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ludwig Bemelmans". Read more |
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