Ludwig Bemelmans’ charming intergenerational friendship with the late-in-life “First Lady of Interior Decoration” provides an enormously enjoyable nostalgia trip to the sun-soaked glamour of Los Angeles, where de Wolfe surrounded herself with classic movie stars and a luminous parade of life’s oddities.
 
With hilarity and mischief that de Wolfe would no doubt approve, To the One I Love the Best lifts the curtain on 1950s Hollywood–a bygone world of extravagance and eccentricity, where the parties are held in circus tents and populated by ravishing movie stars.

Bemelmans, who was working at MGM, had originally come to the California home of de Wolfe just for cocktails but by the end of the night, he was firmly established as a member of the family: given a bedroom in their sumptuous house, invitations to the most outrageous parties in Hollywood, and the friendship of the larger-than-life woman known to her closest friends simply as ‘Mother’.

To the One I Love the Best (which refers to de Wolfe’s dog) is a touching tribute to a fabulously funny woman and an American icon.
 
Be pretty if you can, be witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you.   – Elsie de Wolfe

In this charming and uproariously funny hotel memoir, Ludwig Bemelmans uncovers the fabulous world of the Hotel Splendide-the thinly disguised stand-in for the Ritz-a luxury New York hotel where he worked as a waiter in the 1920s. With equal parts affection and barbed wit, he uncovers the everyday chaos that reigns behind the smooth facades of the gilded dining room and banquet halls.

In hilarious detail, Bemelmans sketches the hierarchy of hotel life and its strange and fascinating inhabitants: from the ruthlessly authoritarian maître d’hôtel Monsieur Victor to the kindly waiter Mespoulets to Frizl the homesick busboy. Illustrated with his own charming line drawings, Bemelmans’ tales of a bygone era of extravagance are as charming as they are riotously entertaining.
 
“[Bemelmans] was the original bad boy of the NY hotel/restaurant subculture, a waiter, busboy, and restaurateur who “told all” in a series of funny and true (or very near true) autobiographical accounts of backstairs folly, excess, borderline criminality, and madness in the grande Hotel Splendide? If you like stories about old New York as I do, this classic will have you laughing out loud.”   -Anthony Bourdain

“Madeline, Madeline, where have you been?”

“We’ve been to London to see the Queen.”

The small but feisty heroine, Madeline, and her charming world have been loved by children and adults alike for eighty years. Take a trip to London in this timeless picture book classic.

First published in 1939, MADELINE and its sequels have been adapted into numerous formats, spawning television series and a live action feature film.

Praise for MADELINE:

• “The illustrations are stunningly beautiful and touchingly eccentric”

The Guardian

• “No one has ever written more delightful stories” New York Herald Tribune
]]> https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/madeline-mini-hb/ Thu, 03 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/madeline-mini-hb/ "In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines..." The small but feisty heroine, Madeline, and her charming world have been loved by children and adults alike for eighty years. Take a trip to Paris in this timeless picture book classic.]]>

“In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines…”

The small but feisty heroine, Madeline, and her charming world have been loved by children and adults alike for eighty years. Take a trip to Paris in this timeless picture book classic.

First published in 1939, MADELINE and its sequels have been adapted into numerous formats, spawning television series and a live action feature film.

“The illustrations are stunningly beautiful and touchingly eccentric” The Guardian

“No one has ever written more delightful stories” New York Herald Tribune

]]> https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/madeline-70th-annivesary-ed/ Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/madeline-70th-annivesary-ed/  

The classic picture book that has been charming children for over 80 years.

‘In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines

lived twelve little girls in two straight lines?’

Something is not right with little Madeline.

Her friends are sad when she goes to hospital to have her appendix removed.

But they cheer up when see her impressive scar!

• The small but feisty heroine, Madeline, and her charming Parisian world have been loved by children and adults alike for over eighty years.
]]> https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/madeline-in-london-70th-anniversary-ed/ Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/madeline-in-london-70th-anniversary-ed/  

A timeless classic picture book, loved throughout the world

‘In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines
lived twelve little girls in two straight lines…’

Pepito lives next door to Madeline and her friends.

When he moves to London, he pines for the twelve little girls terribly. So Miss Clavel and her charges pay him a visit in London…and come home with a new friend!

• The small but feisty heroine, Madeline, and her charming Parisian world have been loved by children and adults alike for over seventy years.
• This 70th anniversary edition has a gold embossed detailing on the cover
]]> https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/madelines-christmas-70h-anniversary-ed/ Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/madelines-christmas-70h-anniversary-ed/  

‘In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines

lived twelve little girls in two straight lines…’

It’s Christmas Eve, and Miss Clavel and her charges are all in bed with colds.

All except Madeline, who answers the door to a rug-seller. But when she discovers that the rug-seller is also a magician, the little girls are whisked away on a magic Christmas carpet ride!

• The small but feisty heroine, Madeline, and her charming Parisian world have been loved by children and adults alike for over seventy years.
• Filled with the beautiful original illustrations, this makes a great Christmas gift for kids!
• Perfect for fans of the original Madeline, as well as the other books in the Madeline Series including Madeline in London and Madeline at the White House, Madeline
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