Felix Salten was born as Siegmund Salzmann in Budapest and studied in Vienna. He became a writer of light fiction, reviews and other articles for the Vienese newspaper Neue Freie Presse. He maintained the high standard of his predecessor and friend Theodore Herzl.
Salten won his international fame with his best known animal story Bambi (1923) about a deer’s life in the forest. The story became a universal classic for children and published in many languages. Walt Disney produced a highly acclaimed animated film of the story. His plays Der Gemeine (1899), the comedy Das staerkere Band (1912), and Louise von Koburg had no lasting success. Mention should be made of his essay Das oesterreichische Antlitz. The best essays on theater were collected in Schauen und Spielen (1921). Notable are his romans Josefine Mutzenbacher, Funfzen Hasen (1929), and Florian, das Pferd des Kaisers (1933). Among his novellas are Wiener Adel (1905), Das Burgtheater (1922) and Geister der Zeit (1924). His novellas were written with humor, satire and eroticism. Jewish topics were dealt with in his novel Simon (1928) and in the essays compiled in Neue Menschen auf alter Erde (1925), following his visit to Palestine. Another travel report Funf Minuten in Amerika was published in 1931.
In 1938, he moved to Czechoslovakia from where he managed to travel to the USA to avoid Nazi persecution. After World War II he settled in Zurich, Switzerland where he died.