Foto: Arthur Benda (D'Ora) (1885-1969)
Mit freundlicher Genehmigung
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Copyright

1869 - 1945

Later he mingled with members of the "Jung-Wien" and there came friendships with authors like Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Hermann Bahr and Arthur Schnitzler into being.

He became an editor for the "Wiener Allgemeinen Zeitung" in 1894 and was responsible for the category theater. Eight years later he changed to "Die Zeit", where he was able thanks to his acquaintanceship with archduke Leopold Ferdinand to write juicy details and scandals which soon made him famous within Europe. He finally became a leading journalist in Europe.

He got married with the stage actress Ottilie Metzel in 1902 which also influenced his later plays and novels in which the topic "marriage" became more importance. 

In 1906 he changed to the Ullstein-Verlag in Berlin and worked for the "B.Z. Am Mittag" and the "Berliner Morgenpost" for a short time, but he soon returned to "Die Zeit" to Vienna.

Felix Salten came in touch with the still young film business in 1913 and he wrote several scripts for silent movies like "Der Shylock von Krakau" (13), "Der Narr des Schicksals" (15) - he was also the director of this movie, "Der Glücksschneider" (16) and "Dr. Schotte" (18).
 

His activity for the film kept undiminished in the next decades and he wrote the scripts for "Das verbotene Land" (24), "Moderne Ehen" (24), "Komödianten" (25), "Die kleine Veronika" (29), "Scampolo, ein Kind der Strasse" (32), "Ich und die Kaiserin" (33) and "Liebelei" (33).

His writing career was especially in the 20's very successful and he published popular novels and became a demanded author. To these books belong "Der Hund von Florenz", "Die Dame im Spiegel", "Die Jugend des Eichhörnchens Perri" and especially "Bambi". All three animal stories were later filmed by Walt Disney - Bambi belongs till today to one of the most successful animation movies. 

Saltens books became prohibited in the national socialist Germany and he got into a financial distress. Finally his daughter who was married in Switzerland was able to secure that Felix Salten and his wife were allowed to immigrate to Switzerland. There he died in 1945 in Zurich.

To the numerous books of Felix Salten the experts also credit to him the then under a pen name written story "Josephine Mutzenbacher".
 

Other movies from Felix Salten:
Urteil des Arztes (14) Der Schuss im Traum (15) En Opstandelse (15) Herztrumpf (20) Olge Frohgemut (22) Schwere Jungs – leichte Mädchen (27) Die Blumenfrau von Lindenau (31) Un peu d'amour (32)