Vicki Baum

“I like: books, music, children, trees and bad people. I dislike: high society, politics, bridge and important people – if they know they are important.” This concise description of her likes and dislikes concludes Vicki Baum’s autobiographical sketches that the Deutsche Kinemathek took over in 1991. In 1933, the author, widely-read at the time, recapitulated on three typewritten pages her journey in life from Vienna via Berlin to New York and the west coast of the USA. These few pages tell us a great deal: that she was too vain to disclose the year of her birth; that she regarded herself as a child caught in her own dreams; that she was deeply impressed by her first trip to the USA in 1931 (“The country just got to me.”); that she didn’t drink and didn’t smoke; that she wanted to see the world and travel extensively; and it also names her favourite writers. Among the holdings are six photographs, most of which are portraits from the period Baum spent in Hollywood, including images taken by the portrait photographer Clarence Sinclair Bull. These stand out considerably for their professionally-staged aura of glamour compared to another photo, which shows the author on a staircase, wearing a light-coloured dress. It appears like a simple snapshot of a young woman during the Weimar Republic era, who smiles for the camera and is not yet aware that she would leave behind to the world a body of work comprising more than 30 novels, numerous short stories, stage works, scripts and newspaper articles. Moreover, there are approximately 330 pages of correspondence, contracts and other documents by and about Vicki Baum in the Paul Kohner, Inc. Archive at the Deutsche Kinemathek. (Text: Annika Haupts)