 His parents were bakers, and his talent is said to have first manifested itself in his cake decorations.He studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and later contributed comic drawings to the Vienna humor magazine "Kikeriki" (Cock-a-doodle-do).Unable to make a living from his art in Vienna he joined a theatrical troupe as a scene painter and then as a comedian, traveling with them in the Tyrol and Italy.