- Vicki Baum
Hedwig (Vicki) Baum (
January 24 ,1888 –August 29 ,1960 ) was anAustria n writer. She is known for "Menschen im Hotel" ("People at a Hotel", 1929), one of her first international successes.Baum was born in
Vienna into aJewish family. She began her artistic career as a musician playing theharp . She studied at the Vienna Conservatory and played in anorchestra inGermany for three years. She later worked as ajournalist for themagazine Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung , published byUllstein-Verlag inBerlin . She was married twice: first, from 1914, to an Austrian journalist who introduced her to the Viennese cultural scene; and, from 1916, toRichard Lert , a conductor and her best friend since their childhood days. DuringWorld War I she worked for a short time as anurse .Baum began writing in her teens. Her first book, "Frühe Schatten", was published when she was 31. She is most famous for her 1929 novel "Menschen im Hotel" which was made into an Academy Award winning film, "Grand Hotel". Her
memoir , "It Was All Quite Different", was published posthumously in 1964. She wrote more than 50 novels, and at least ten were adapted as motion pictures inHollywood .Baum visited
Bali in 1935 - and as a conseqeunce she wrote "A Tale from Bali" which was published in (1937). The book was about a family that was caught in the massacre in Bali in 1906.Vicki Baum died of
leukemia inHollywood, California , in 1960.Vicki Baum is considered one of the first modern
best seller s authors, and her books are reputed to be among the first examples of contemporarymainstream literature .Dicta
*"A woman who is loved always has success".
*"Fame always brings loneliness. Success is as ice cold and lonely as theNorth Pole ".
*"Marriage always demands the greatest understanding of the art of insincerity possible between two human beings".
*"Pity is the deadliest feeling that can be offered to a woman".
*"To be a Jew is a destiny".
*"There are shortcuts to happiness and dancing is one of them".External links
* [http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/vbaum.htm Books and Writers Baum biography]
* [http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/BaumVicki/ Baum biography]
* [http://walterspies.com/ Walter Spies still used to receive guests at his house in Iseh, including the Austrian novelist, Vicki Baum: musician, Colin McPhee...]
*imdb name|id=0062139|name=Vicki Baum
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.