Vicki Baum facts for kids
Hedwig "Vicki" Baum (born January 24, 1888 – died August 29, 1960) was a famous writer from Austria. She is best known for her novel Menschen im Hotel ("People at a Hotel"), which came out in 1929. This book became a huge success around the world and was later made into a popular movie called Grand Hotel in 1932. It even became a musical on Broadway in 1989!
Contents
Early Life and Music Career
Vicki Baum was born in Vienna, Austria. Her family was Jewish. Her mother was often unwell, and her father worked at a bank.
Vicki started her artistic journey as a musician. She played the harp! She studied music at the Vienna Conservatory. After her studies, she performed in different cities in Germany from 1916 to 1923. Later, she worked as a journalist for a magazine called Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung in Berlin.
Vicki Baum was married twice. Her first marriage was short. In 1916, she married Richard Lert, who was a conductor. They had two sons, Wolfgang and Peter.
Vicki Baum and Boxing
In the late 1920s, Vicki Baum started something quite unusual for women at the time: she took up boxing! She trained in Berlin with a famous boxer named Sabri Mahir.
Vicki wrote in her book, It Was All Quite Different, that only a few women trained there. These included famous people like Marlene Dietrich. She saw herself as a "New Woman," showing that women could do things usually done by men.
Sabri Mahir had one rule for women: no sparring in the ring. This meant no black eyes or bloody noses! But punching the ball was fine. Vicki believed it was good for women to learn to defend themselves. She even mastered a tough rope-jumping routine. She later said that her strong work ethic came from her training in Mahir's boxing studio.
Becoming a Famous Writer
Vicki Baum started writing when she was a teenager. But she only became a professional writer after her first son was born. Her first book, Frühe Schatten (Early Shadows), came out in 1919. She then wrote a new novel almost every year! She wrote over 50 books in total.
Many of her books were made into movies in Hollywood. Her ninth novel, Stud. chem. Helene Willfüer (Helene), was her first big success. It sold over 100,000 copies! Vicki Baum is seen as one of the first modern bestselling authors. Her books often featured strong, independent women living through exciting times.
The "Grand Hotel" Story
Vicki Baum is most famous for her 1929 novel Menschen im Hotel ("People at a Hotel"). This book actually started a new type of story called the 'hotel novel'. It was made into a play in Berlin in 1929. Then, in 1932, it became the Academy Award-winning film Grand Hotel.
Vicki moved to the United States with her family because she was asked to help write the movie script for Grand Hotel. She lived in Los Angeles and worked as a screenwriter for ten years.
When the Nazis came to power in Germany, they banned her books in 1935. They said her stories were too sensational. Vicki became an American citizen in 1938. After World War II, she started writing her books in English instead of German.
Travels and Other Books
In 1935, Vicki Baum traveled to many places, including Mexico, China, Egypt, and Bali. She became good friends with a painter named Walter Spies. With his help, she wrote Liebe und Tod auf Bali (Love and Death in Bali). This book was about a family caught in a terrible event in Bali in 1906, when the Dutch took over the last independent kingdom there.
Later Years and Legacy
After World War II, Vicki Baum's popularity slowly decreased. She passed away in Hollywood, California, in 1960, at the age of 72. Her book of memories, It Was All Quite Different, was published after she died in 1964.
Vicki Baum is still remembered today. In 1999, a square in Vienna was named Vicki-Baum-Platz in her honor. In 2009, a street in Berlin was also named after her.
Selected Works
- 1919 Frühe Schatten: Die Geschichte einer Kindheit (Early Shadows: The Story of a Childhood)
- 1928 Stud. chem. Helene Willfüer (Helene)
- 1929 Menschen im Hotel (Grand Hotel)
- 1937 Liebe und Tod auf Bali (Love and Death in Bali)
- 1943 Hotel Berlin
- 1962 Es war alles ganz anders (It Was All Quite Different) -- her memories
Selected Film Adaptations
Many of Vicki Baum's books and stories were made into movies:
- Grand Hotel (1932), based on Menschen im Hotel
- Hotel Berlin (1945), based on her novel Hotel Berlin
- Week-End at the Waldorf (1945), also based on Grand Hotel
- A Woman's Secret (1949), based on Mortgage on Life
- Menschen im Hotel (1959), another film based on Grand Hotel
Vicki Baum's Famous Sayings
Vicki Baum had some interesting thoughts about life:
- "A woman who is loved always has success."
- "Fame always brings loneliness. Success is as ice cold and lonely as the North Pole."
- "There are shortcuts to happiness and dancing is one of them."
See also
In Spanish: Vicki Baum para niños
