GROSS, FERDINAND:

By: Isidore Singer, Max Cohen

Austrian writer; born in Vienna April 8, 1849; died at Kaltenleutgeben, near Vienna, Dec. 21, 1900. His ancestors lived in Italy; his father emigrated from Padua to Hungary, and went from there to Vienna. Ferdinand began his literary activity when a boy of fifteen. He joined the editorial staff of the "Extrablatt" in 1872, and in 1877 won the first prize of the Berliner Literarisches Centralbureau for his feuilleton "Litterarische Zukunftsmusik." In 1879 he went to Frankfort-on-the-Main to become feuilleton editor of the "Frankfurter Zeitung." In 1881 Gross returned to Vienna and joined the editorial staff of the "Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung." For a time he was the feuilletonist of the "Neue Wiener Tageblatt," and editor of the "Extra-Post." He was president of the Concordia, an association of Vienna journalists, from 1898 until 1900. Among his works are the following: "Geheimnisse," one-act comedietta, Vienna, 1877; "Kleine Münze," sketches, Breslau, 1878; "Oberammergauer Passionsbriefe," ib. 1880, new ed. 1900; "Nichtig und Flüchtig," sketches, Leipsic, 1880; "Die Neuen Journalisten," comedy, with Max Nordau, Leipsic, 1880; "Mit dem. Bleistift," sketches, Breslau, 1881; "Der Erste Brief," comedy, Vienna, 1883; "Heut und Gestern" and "Aus der Bücherei," Vienna, 1883; "Blätter im Winde," Vienna, 1884 (2d ed., 1888); "Aus Meinem Wiener Winkel," Leipsic, 1885; Lieder aus dem Gebirge," Vienna, 1885; "Litterarische Modelle," Berlin, 1887 "Gedichte," 1887; "Goethe's Werther in Frankreich"; "Was die Bücherei Erzählt," Leipsic, 1889; "Zum Nachtisch," Leipsic, 1889. In 1891 Gross began his editorial connection with the "Wiener Fremdenblatt," and on Dec. 21 of the same year his adaptation of Daudet's "L'Obstacle" was produced at the Hofburg Theater. In 1892 another collection of stories and sketches," Im Vorbeigehen," was published at Leipsic, and his drama, "Um Drei Uhr," was produced. His later works are: "Augenblicksbilder" and "Ungebunden," Vienna, 1895; "Blätter im Walde," Leipsic, 1896; "Wer Ist Frei von Schuld?" (one-act sketch), 1896; "In Lachen und Lächeln," Stuttgart, 1898; "Von den Leichten Seiten," Leipsic, 1900.

S. M. Co.