<i>Zut Alors!</i> Madeline Is 60

In an old house in Paris
That was covered in vines
Lived twelve little girls
In two straight lines.

Just about everyone who ever heard a bedtime story knows those lines, the opening words of the first Madeline book by Ludwig Bemelmans, written 60 years ago.

The author's grandson, John Bemelmans Marciano, gave CBS This Morning a Madeline history lesson at The Carlyle hotel's Bemelmans Bar in New York City, where artwork by Ludwig Bemelmans is on permanent display.

"Madeline was, in a lot of ways, him," says Marciano. "He was the smallest one in class, and he was the one who was always getting into trouble, and he was the one who was kind of flouting all the rules. So probably more than he even realized, he was the character."

The first book was published in 1939. "It was an instant smash," the grandson explains. "Then he waited until 1953 to publish the next one, and that was so successful, it won the Caldecott award. He started to get movie offers and cartoons, and there started to be the firstÂ…merchandising."

The Caldecott Medal, named for 19th-century illustrator Randolph Caldecott, is awarded annually by the American Library Association to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. Bemelmans won the 1954 medal for Madeline's Rescue.

Marciano himself has written a book about his grandfather, to be published in the fall. It includes a lot of information about the Madeline character, as well as "how the books were made,...[a] behind-the-scenes look, and we also have his paintings and excerpts of his writing," he says.

To mark Madeline's 60th birthday, Disney is releasing a new home video, Madeline: Lost in Paris. Also available, from Golden Books Video, are 15 Madeline stories, narrated by actor Christopher Plummer.