for: Madeline (name)

The books, and the show, detail Madeline's daily adventures in late 1930s France. Every day, she and her friends break their bread, brush their teeth, go to bed, and go for a walk in two straight lines. As well, each book shows Madeline's bravery and kindness, especially in the face of adversity.

From the Sept. 4, 1939 issue of Life Magazine:

"Madeline is the story of an adorable pipsqueak. It was written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans and will be published on Sept. 5 by Simon & Schuster ($2). Its author came to the U.S. in 1914 from the Austrian Tyrol. He became a citizen and enlisted in the War. Later he related his experiences as a German-speaking U.S. soldier in a 1937 best-seller, My War with the United States.

In its origins, Madeline goes back to a summer's day in 1938 when Bemelmans was run down by the only automobile on the Île d'Yeu off France. In the hospital, he found himself neighbor to a young girl recuperating from an appendectomy. He was so impressed by the enjoyment the child derived from her operation that he decided to write a children's book in which the heroine should experience a similar adventure. In a fatherly way he wrote the book for his daughter, Barbara, age 3, who is as precocious and enchanting a youngster as Madeline."

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.

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.