Frane Milčinski (pen name Ježek; 14 December 1914 – 26 February 1988) was a Slovene poet,

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Early satirical authors *Aes ...

humorist A humorist is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking. A raconteur is one who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way. Henri Bergson writes that a humorist's work grows from viewing the morals of society ...

and comedian, actor,

children's writer Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

, and director. He is considered one of Slovenia's foremost 20th-century satirists and entertainers.

Life

Milčinski was born in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

in 1914 as the third child of the writer and judge Fran Milčinski. During World War II he was interned at the

Gonars concentration camp The Gonars concentration camp was one of the several Italian concentration camps and it was established on February 23, 1942, near Gonars, Italy. Many prisoners were transferred to this camp from another Italian concentration camp, the Rab co ...

. He was married to the writer and journalist Jana Milčinski.

Work

He worked in the theatre and radio from an early age.

Awards

Throughout his career, Milčinski won numerous awards. The 1951 film ''

Kekec Kekec is a fictional children's literature character created by Slovenian author Josip Vandot in 1918. He was first introduced in the serial "Kekec on the Hard Path" () in ''Zvonček'' magazine (volume 19, issue 1/2). He is a young shepherd boy ...

'', for which he co-wrote the screenplay and theme song "Dobra volja je najbolja," won the first international award for a Slovene feature film when it won a

Golden Lion The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a ...

in the children's film category at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

in 1952. Milčinski also won the Levstik Award in 1959 for his story '' Zvezdica Zaspanka'' (The Sleepy Little Star). In 1975 he won the Grand Prešeren Award for lifetime achievement in radio, television, film, and literature.

Legacy

The Ježek Award for creative achievement in radio and television is named after him; it has been bestowed annually since 1989 by Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization,

Radiotelevizija Slovenija Radiotelevizija Slovenija () – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija, RTV SLO (or simply RTV within Slovenia) – is Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization. Based in Ljubljana, it has regional broadcasting centres in Koper and Ma ...

.Radiotelevizija Slovenija site
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Selected prose

* ''13 in ena: humoreske Franeta Milčinskega – Ježka'' (13 and One: Humorous Stories by Frane Milčinski, a.k.a. Ježek, 1951) * ''Zvezdica Zaspanka'' (The Sleepy Little Star, 1959) * ''Legenda o birokratu'' (A Legend about a Bureaucrat, 1961) * ''Desetnica in druge pravljice'' (The Tenth Daughter and Other Tales, 1964) * ''Govoreči bankovec: antologija slovenske humoristične proze'' (The Talking Banknote: An Anthology of Slovene Humorous Prose, 1976) * ''Preprosta ljubezen'' (Simple Love, 1987) * ''Ta svet je pesmi vreden'' (This World Is Worthy of a Song, 1988) * ''Humoreske'' (Humorous Stories, 1998) * ''13 + 8 humoresk'' (13 + 8 Humorous Stories, 2003)

Screenplays

* ''

'' (1951) * '' Svet na Kajžarju'' (1952) * '' Vesna'' (1953) * '' The Beginning Was Sin'' (1954) * ''

Ne čakaj na maj ''Ne čakaj na maj'' (lit. ''Do Not Wait for May'', with the English title ''Don't Whisper'') is a 1957 Slovene language, Slovene romantic comedy directed by František Čap. It is a sequel to the 1953 film ''Vesna (film), Vesna''. Synopsis We me ...

'' (1957) * ''Dobri stari pianino'' (1959) * ''Zvezdica Zaspanka'' (1965)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milcinski, Frane Slovenian children's writers Slovenian male poets Slovenian comedians Slovenian male film actors Slovenian radio personalities 1914 births 1988 deaths Prešeren Award laureates Levstik Award laureates Writers from Ljubljana 20th-century Slovenian male actors 20th-century Slovenian poets 20th-century comedians