Felix Salten
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Felix Salten (September 6, 1869 – October 8, 1945) was an Austrian writer. He was born Siegmund Salzmann in Budapest, Hungary. When he was three weeks old, his family moved to Vienna, Austria. Many Jews were immigrating into the city in the late 19th century because Vienna had finally granted full citizenship to Jews in 1867.
His family was poor and he did not have much formal education. Because of his lack of schooling, he began his career working menial jobs. Siegmund was dissatisfied. He whiled away his hours at the insurance office by writing, and submitted his poems and stories to the newspapers. He did not get much recognition at first. But in 1902, Émile Zola died and the papers were highly impressed by Salzmann's moving obituary. He became a member of the Young Vienna movement (Jung Wien) and received work first as an editor, then as a theatre critic. In 1910, he began writing novels.
His most famous work by far is Bambi. He was inspired to write the book after a trip to the Alps, in 1923. It was published three years later (1926). In 1933, he sold the rights, and he did not see a cent from the Disney movie based on Bambi released in 1942.
Life in Austria became perilous for a prominent Jew in the 1930s. Adolf Hitler had Bambi banned in 1936. Two years later (1938), Salzmann moved to Zurich, Switzerland.
He had a wife, Ottilie Metz, and two children: Paul and Anna-Katherina. He wrote another book based on the character Bambi, titled Bambi's Children: The Story of a Forest Family, 1939. His story "The Hound of Florence" inspired another Disney film: The Shaggy Dog.
He is also believed to be the author of the fictional autobiography of Josefine Mutzenbacher.
Novels
- Olga Frohgemuth (1910)
- Bambi, A Life in the Woods (1926)
- Martin Overbeck (1927)
- Animal Novels: 15 Rabbits (1929)
- Florian the Emperor's Horse (1933)
- Djibi, the Little Cat (1945)
Reference
- USC Library biography (http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/libraries/feuchtwanger/exiles/salten.html)
- Another short bio (http://www.elliemik.com/salten.html)
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- Filmography (http://www.famoushotels.org/famoushotels/ARCHIVES/COFFEE_HISTORY/coffeehtm/SaltenFILM.HTML)de:Felix Salten