Talk:Ludwig Bemelmans

Works
It would be nice to have complete bibliography of his writings. I particularly remember "The Donkey Inside", an amusing account of his travels in South America. Augusta2 00:06, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Dead link
The link to the article on the Smithsonian appears to be down, & I wasn't able to find it searching on their site. However, it is available via Archive.org Emmadw (talk) 17:39, 7 November 2010 (UTC) Emma

Austrian
We call, label, and class him Austrian in the lead, infobox nationality, and categories. Is there good reason for it?

He was born to Belgian and French parents (A-H citizens?) in Austria-Hungary territory that is now in Italy. His mother tongue was French. We say he "grew up" in upper Austria but also that his family moved to Germany "after" 1904 when he turned six years old. He hated German schooling and was apprenticed in Austria. When apprenticed? When shoot the waiter? when emigrate? We say emigrate "several years" before 1917, when he joined the US army. He became a US citizen in 1918, the year he turned 20, and created a published book first in 1934, after about 20 years in the US.

--P64 (talk) 20:21, 16 February 2013 (UTC)


 * After some poking around I made these changes re the matter at hand.
 * lead: replace 'Austrian' with 'Austria-Hungary-born American'
 * infobox: delete nationality 'Austrian'; add citizenship 'United States (from 1918)'
 * categories: replace 'Austrian children's writers' with cat '; add cat '


 * In the lead previously, "Austrian[1]" linked to the {bareURL} for the abstract of a New Statesman article, which calls him "Austrian author Ludwig Bemelmans" altho the article does not. The complete [ref name=roberts] (still ref#1) now distinguishes between the article and its linked abstract. (Evidently EBSCOhost.com provides Eprints, without useful URLs, via some libraries including mine.) The article is relevant to this biography, although it does not date LB's time at the Ritz-Carlton NYC (established 1917, we say) and its information may be based entirely on his book Hotel Bemelmans.
 * --P64 (talk) 21:51, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

Birthdate: in the article both 27 and 30 April are stated as birthday - this may need adjustment either in the article or in the section right column — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.182.148.51 (talk) 13:02, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Madeline Series
This page puts forward an argument that Miss Clavel is a nun and not a nurse based on orders that called themselves "Madames" such as that founded by St. Madeleine Sophie Barat. This is a good point, but it is contradicted by Ludwig Bemelman's own grandson, John Bemelmans Marciano, in this article: https://www.npr.org/2013/10/11/230949629/at-75-shes-doing-fine-kids-still-love-their-madeline. However, Mr Marciano was born some years after his grandfather's death, so his views may not be correct.

As to the question of why a "nurse" would be working in a Paris Convent school may be begging the question. If Miss Clavel is a nun, then the school may indeed be a convent school, but it may be a normal boarding school and she is their teacher. In this context, it should be remembered that "nurse" could refer to someone looking after younger children, rather like the term "nanny". This, non-medical, use of the term was quite common in the literature of the period. However, the nurse was more concerned with childcare up to around the age of 5. Teaching children was usually the role of a governess. (See the article:Nanny - Wikipedia) I don't know what Bemelmans may have experienced in Austro-Hungary or in Germany, but that may have influenced his writing. 2A00:23C7:57A3:E201:D87C:45E0:AA42:D0C0 (talk) 00:24, 21 March 2023 (UTC)