Madeline is a children's book series written by Ludwig Bemelmans, an American author of Belgian, Austrian and German origins. The first book in the series, Madeline, was published in 1939. It proved to be a success, and Bemelmans wrote many sequels to the original during the 1940s and 1950s. The series continues to this day, written by Bemelmans' grandson John Bemelmans-Marciano. The books were later adapted into a television series and a feature film. The adaptations are famous for having the closing line, first uttered by actress Ethel Barrymore in a play: "That's all there is, there isn't any more."
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Film and television adaptations
Madeline on the silver screen
The earliest appearance of Madeline in the cinema was in the 1952 animated short Madeline, produced by United Productions of America (UPA) and directed by Bobe Cannon. The film was nominated for the 1952 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), but lost to Tom and Jerry's 7th and final award winning cartoon Johann Mouse.
In 1959, William L. Snyder's Rembrandt Films produced animated adaptations of Madeline's Rescue, Madeline and the Bad Hat and Madeline and the Gypsies for the educational film market. The latter two were featured, along with other similar adaptations of children's books, in Snyder and Gene Deitch's 1966 theatrical feature Alice of Wonderland in Paris.
A live-action feature adaptation of Madeline, produced in France by Jaffilms but shot in English, was released in 1998 by Tri-Star Pictures. It starred Hatty Jones as the title character, Frances MacDormand as Miss Clavel and a supporting cast with British actor Ben Daniels & Nigel Hawthorne. Its script encompassed the plots of four of the books. Original music for the film was provided by Michel Legrand and has Carly Simon singing the theme song "In Two Straight Lines". It was directed by Daisy Mayer.
Madeline on TV
In 1989, DiC Entertainment adapted the first Madeline book into an animated television special for HBO. The show's teleplay was written by Judy Rothman, who would serve as a writer, lyricist and story editor for nearly all subsequent Madeline animated projects. The special was narrated by Christopher Plummer, and featured original music and songs by Joe Raposo (who died four months before the special aired), with lyrics by Judy Rothman. The special was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Animated Program (One Hour or Less).
In 1991, Cinar produced animated adaptations of the other five Madeline books for The Family Channel, with Christopher Plummer returning as narrator. Each special featured new songs, with lyrics by Judy Rothman and music by Canadian composer Jeffrey Zahn, who replaced the late Joe Raposo. In addition, "I'm Madeline," Madeline's theme song from the original special, was reprised in the new specials.
In 1993, DiC began producing a Madeline cartoon series, which also aired on The Family Channel. 20 episodes were produced for the series (Season 1). Christopher Plummer again reprised his role as narrator, and "I'm Madeline" was used as the series' theme song. Until recently the show aired on The Disney Channel and Toon Disney in the U.S., and is still repeated daily on Disney networks and affiliates worldwide.
In 1995, additional 13 episodes were produced for ABC, under the title The New Adventures of Madeline. The new episodes featured a new theme song: "Hats Off to Madeline".
In 2001, another new batch of 28 episodes was produced for The Disney Channel. The theme song was once again changed, this time to "Oh, Madeline!" (although overseas airings of the episodes still had "Hats Off to Madeline" as the opening theme instead). In addition, Christopher Gaze succeeded Christopher Plummer as narrator of the series. The show won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Animated Program. The New Adventures of Madeline was shown on KOL's Secret Slumber Party between Fall 2006 and 2007.
DiC also produced two animated telefilms. Madeline: Lost in Paris (1999) featured Madeline being drawn into a scam by her supposed "Uncle" Horst, and finding out the true meaning to the word "family." The second cartoon feature, My Fair Madeline (2002), has the title character put in a London finishing school as punishment for trouble she had supposedly caused, while trying to stop two thieves from robbing the Louvre. When she finds out that the thieves are in London, Madeline does everything she can to stop them from stealing the Crown Jewels.
Characters
- Madeline: The smallest one, and the leader of the girls. She is the most outgoing and appears to be the only redhead. She is about 7 or 8 years old
- Chloe, Nicole, Danielle, Yvette, Nona, Anne, Amy, Juliette, Monique, Lulu, and Sylvie: Madeline's best friends on the television series. (Note: Sylvie was known as Simone on the 1995 ABC episode Madeline and the Science Project.)
- Aggie: Madeline's best friend in the movie who is always with Madeline and wants to do the same things she does.
- Marie: Small and clever, always trying to look out for Madeline.
- Vicki: Bossy and snobby, who is horrible to Madeline, but they become friends in the end.
- Regine: Has a voice in the 12 girls (besides Madeline) and always asks Miss Clavel questions.
- Camille: Has a good sense of smell, and is one of the quietest.
- Isabelle: Is a bit sassy at times, but still very friendly.
- Daphine: Lovely and intelligent, always being looked after by the girls.
- Anne: Can be loud at times, and is very enthusiastic.
- Ellie: A know-it-all, but defends the girls when defense is needed.
- Dominique: Smart, pretty, and graceful, Dominique always has a smile on her face.
- Kate: Is very close to Miss Clavel.
- Janine: Is a worry-wart, but very good friends with everyone, especially Dominique and Anne.
- Sylvie/Simone (For name clarification, see note above): The tallest one, rather bossy (despite being the tallest), but still very friendly.
- Miss Clavel: The teacher. Always trying to keep Madeline out of trouble, and she is a nun.
- Pepito: The Spanish ambassador's son. Lives next door to the girls; used to be extremely naughty, but Madeline redeemed him. As such, he was called "the Bad Hat" by the girls, and afterward, they have crushes on him.
- Lord Cucuface (known in the movie as Lord Covington): Chairman of the school's board of trustees, had a change of heart after receiving one of Genevieve's puppies.
- Genevieve: The girls' dog. Extremely intelligent, possessing various skills such as juggling, arithmetic, etc. Was a stray until she saved Madeline from drowning; she also had puppies.
- Sugar Dimples: A character from the television series and a reference to Shirley Temple. Sugar is a Hollywood screen actress, who originally had a spoiled and unkind personality, which reflected her lack of friends. With a lesson from Madeline in kindness, she eventually became a close friend of the girls.
Soundtracks and audiobooks
Madeline audiobooks have been appearing since the early 70s in the form of vinyl records. The record typically consists of a mixture of stories and songs.
The first soundtrack for the TV series was Madeline's Favorite Songs, released in 1995. It contains 16 tracks of music composed by Joe Raposo or Jeff Zahn with lyrics by Judy Rothman from the DIC and Cinar specials. The second soundtrack, Hats off to Madeline, was released in 1996. It contained 17 tracks of music from the 1993 and 1995 episodes of the show. In 2002, the latest Madeline soundtrack to date, Sing-A-Long With Madeline, was released, featuring 27 tracks of music from the 2001 episodes.
Computer CD-ROMs
Madeline CD-ROMs started appearing in the early 90s, in time with the TV show. The CDs were compatible with both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh based PCs. They were published by Creative Wonders.
Toys
Madeline toys were initially produced by Eden Toys LLC. After the acquisition of Eden by Learning Curve, Learning Curve now produces Madeline toys. Most popular during the 90's was a Madeline ragdoll, with a signature half-smile and scar from the appendectomy that corresponds with the story from the book.
Trivia
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (October 2008) |
- In the book Madeline In America, Madeline supposedly has the surname of "Fogg". This is the first time that Madeline was given any last name; according to John Bemelmans-Marciano, her surname was made up for the sake of the rhyme [1], and thus is not canon.
- Miss Clavel (aka Sister Clavel), the nun who takes care of the twelve children, seems to be less nervous in the movie than in the TV series, as she was more confident in driving a car in the movie, adding to the fact that the role played by Frances McDormand was also a bit of a car buff.
- The person who was responsible for keeping the boarding school from being sold in the movie was said to be the 'Uzbekistani ambassador'. However, since the whole story took place in the Cold War years, Uzbekistan was still a part of the Soviet Union, and there wasn't such an ambassador yet until the union broke up in 1991.
- There was an episode in which Madeline, Pepito and her friends encountered a skunk while visiting Lord Cucuface's perfume factory. However, skunks inhabit the Americas from Canada to central South America.
- A frequent misconception in the series, especially among those new to the book (or the cartoon) is that the girls were in an orphanage. Contrary to popular belief, Madeline is not an orphan as evidenced by her father's gifts when she is in the hospital getting her appendix removed. The girls are in a boarding school, not an orphanage, which is especially evident in Madeline's Christmas, which mentions families that the girls are able to spend the holiday with. As well, Yvette once received long black gloves from a relative in Ohio, and she and her aunt went shopping for designer wear. The film, however, portrays Madeline as an orphan, but her residence is still a boarding school.
References
External links
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