He was also a marksman who could shoot the spots out of a playing card with a rifle operated by his feet.
Peter Sloterdijk, in his book You Must Change Your Life, discusses Unthan's commitment to what he terms an "ethics of the Nonetheless", which places him "undoubtedly" in "the earlier defiance-existentialist movement" of Germans such as Max Stirner in order to "...demonstrate the unusual convergence of human and cripple in the discourses of the generation after Nietzsche".
In 1925, Unthan published his autobiography, Das Pediscript (instead of manuscript - because he had typed it with his feet, pedally, as opposed to manually) in Germany. In English translation it was published in 1935, six years after his death.
He was sent to a music conservatory at 16 and graduated a couple of years later.
By the age of 20 Unthan was performing to full concert halls. He would go on to perform notably in Vienna with classical orchestras. He began with personal concerts and later added additional tricks to his repertoire.