Ludwig Bemelmans: The Man Who Created Madeline

Creators of the eternal images of children’s books have usually been quiet, retiring, private individuals, like the Reverend Mr. Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, who gave us Alice, or A.A. Milne, of Winnie the Pooh fame, or Charles Schultz, who dreamed up Charlie Brown and his crew. A vastly different sort of person was the creator of Madeline. Almost all children and parents today are well acquainted with the little convent-school girl with a blue dress, yellow hat, and mischief-making smile. But few know that in spirit she was the mirror image of her creator, Ludwig Bemelmans, the free-wheeling, free-spending, freelance artist of the mid-twentieth century, a man who was always on the go, always getting into and somehow out of impossible situations. In this digital short, award-winning journalist Robert Wernick, captures the antics and spirit of the dashing nonconformist who gave the world one of its most beloved heroines.