Bemelmans

To the many of us who have enjoyed the sublime pleasures of the Bemelman's Bar at the Carlyle, it is a poignant day. The souls of so many live on there, especially the splendid Barbaral Carrol.........and even Bobby Short snuck in a few times from next door to enliven the scene. A place to treasure and reassure ourselves that all the good things in life are not lost -- sometimes though, just remembered.

It's the birthday of the author of the "Madeline" books, Ludwig Bemelmans, (books by this author) born in Meran, Tyrol, Austria (1898). The first of the five "Madeline" books tells tells the story of a young Parisian girl's trip to the hospital to have her appendix removed. He got the idea when he was in the hospital recovering from a bicycle accident and there was a girl in the next room over who had just had her appendix out.

Madeline (1939) begins: "In an old house in Paris, that was covered with vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines. In two straight lines they broke their bread, and brushed their teeth, and went to bed. They smiled at the good, and frowned at the bad, and sometimes they were very sad. They left the house at half past nine, in two straight lines, in rain or shine ... the smallest one was Madeline!"