Everyday circumstances with extraordinary people

Mark Bernes, Faina Ranevskaya and others

These famous actors of theater and cinema have long passed away. But they, undoubtedly, remained in the memory of many living. I happened to meet with some of them in the most ordinary circumstances.
I met Mark Bernes in the distant fiftieth of the last century. He came to us in Saratov on tour. Then I studied at the Saratov Polytechnic Institute and participated in the work of the student theater. Bernes was invited to our institute, and he attended a rehearsal of the play by K. Trenev's play “Lyubov Yarovaya”, where we talked to him. Bernes was a cheerful and witty man. In the evening, he gave a concert in the assembly hall of the institute, where he sang "Dark Night", "Scows full of mullet", "Song of the front driver" and many other favorite songs. Mark Naumovich told about himself, about the shooting of the film “Two Fighters”. The film was shot during the war either in Tashkent, or the Alma-Ata film studio, I do not remember exactly. Bernes has never been to Odessa. And it was necessary to play this Odessa with a characteristic intonation, typical words and turns of speech. To master the Odessa dialect, he asked to be in a military hospital, where a wounded Odessa fighter taught him that.
He was once asked to sing at a concert dedicated to the closing of the Komsomol congress. And the condition was set: both he and other singers should perform no more than two songs. He sang two of his songs, but the audience did not want to let him go, applauded and shouted “encore!” But he could not sing anymore, these were the rules. At this concert was attended by Khrushchev, who was sitting in the government box. He was indignant and said: "Oh, you, can not meet the needs of young people, sing an extra song." And that was enough to start persecuting the beloved singer. He was ceased to be released onto the stage, made into a movie. There were devastating articles in national newspapers.
Mark Naumovich is undoubtedly remembered and loved by all our compatriots.
On Gorky Street, near Pushkin Square in Moscow, the famous Eliseevsky deli was located. And next to it are the WTO, the All-Union Theater Society. Therefore, it was often possible to meet famous actors, writers, composers ... Once, having received an assignment from my wife to buy products that I used to buy at regular stores, I drove up to Pushkin Square and was about to park my “Zhiguli” when suddenly I was in An elderly woman looked in the window and asked: "I beg you, give me a lift home, this is not far." The voice is low, chest. I recognized Faina Ranevskaya.
- Of course, Faina Georgievna, - I invited her, - please sit down.
“Oh, thank you, my dear,” she said, sitting in the front seat, “it's so hard to catch a taxi ...”
And we went. I asked her, paying attention:
- How do you feel, Faina Georgievna?
“I feel myself, of course,” she answered, “but badly.” Years, years. I'm already old, like a palm tree at the station, nobody needs it, but it's a pity to throw it away.
In her intonation it was felt that she was unhappy in life and very lonely. But she was still joking. Ranevskaya lived on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment in a high-rise building.
“I used to live in a communal flat, in one room,” she said, “now they've given me a two-room apartment.” Probably because the people's artist. And what is to me because? A bakery is under me, where bread rolls are brought at night, and the loaders are knocking, screaming and loudly cursing.
She also said that their high-rise were chosen by suicides. Already there were several suicides.
- Horror ... - she summed up.
When we arrived at her house, Ranevskaya pulled a five-ruble bill from her purse and handed it to me. I waved my hands:
- That you, that you, for no reason ...
She said:
“If you don’t take it, hurt me for the rest of your life,” and she shoved the bill into my pocket.
I was lucky to meet with a famous film director and screenwriter Jacob Segel. It was in the late seventies of the last century. Yakov Alexandrovich then made a film entitled “Risk is a noble cause”. And at the studio to them. Gorky was watching it. I collaborated then in “Evening Moscow” and decided to write material about this film. Called Segelya and asked for him to view. During the break, he introduced me to his wife, Liliana Aleshnikova, and a young and still unknown actor Alexander Mikhailov, who played leading roles in his film. Jacob Segel is known for the films “House in which I live”, “First Day of the World”, “Farewell to Doves” and many others. And he is also known for playing the role of Robert Grant in a wonderful film from our childhood called The Children of Captain Grant. The film was shot in 1936 year. Yasha Segel was then 12 years old. And the film was shot by director Vladimir Weinstock.
I met with Weinstock, and he spoke about some of the details of the work on the film. In those years, it was impossible to dream of shooting somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean or in the mountains of South America - where the events described in the novel by Jules Verne took place. Therefore, we found a suitable nature at home. And then the yacht "Duncan" began to surf the harsh Atlantic in the Black Sea, near Tuapse, and the mountains around Nalchik and the deep Chegem Gorge became mysterious Patagonia with its rocky Cordillera, rough rivers and noisy waterfalls. Shortly after the meeting with Jacob Segele and Vladimir Vainshtok in the newspaper "Evening Moscow" appeared two of my essay: "Actor, stunt" and "Happy wind."
It is no secret that the quality of our cars - "Zhiguli", "Muscovites", "Zaporozhtsev" - was not the best. Therefore, at service stations crowded motorists who drove their cars in for repair. Among them were a lot of celebrities - Mikhail Gluzsky, Semyon Farad, and other famous actors.
Gluzsky told the story of how he left the car with the headlights on for the whole night in the parking lot, and in the morning he could not start the engine - the battery had sat down. I had to take him by taxi to the workshop for recharging. Seeds Farada brakes failed, almost got into an accident. “It’s my own fault,” he admitted, “he didn’t replace the brake pads on time.”
In the Moscow auto center on Warsaw highway, I met once with Savely Kramarov. We stood in a small queue at the cashier to pay for the repair of their cars. I stood behind him. He went to the window, gave the cashier money, and she said:
- Give 16 cents.
“I don’t have any change,” Kramarov replies.
Then I pulled out an 20-kopek coin from my pocket and handed it to him. He took it and handed it to the cashier. Then he turned to me and asked:
- And where can I find you to repay?
I answer:
- Do not worry, I will find you myself.
- Where? He asks.
- In one of the films with your participation.
He smiled at the joke, then we got into our “Zhiguli” and went off in different directions.
What happened to the fate of the wonderful Russian comedian, the favorite of the public Savely Viktorovich Kramarov? He fell into disgrace to the head of the Public Broadcaster Lapin, who suddenly discovered he had a Jewish background. Kramarov was accused of attending a synagogue. They stopped filming him, and in October 1981, he left the country with great sadness in his heart. In America, in Hollywood, he starred in the film The Telegraphist and played several more roles. Preparing to shoot in two new films. But fate had its own way: he was diagnosed with cancer, and in May 1995, he died.
Savely’s father, Viktor Kramarov, was an excellent lawyer. In 1938, he was offered to speak in defense of one of the prominent heroes of the Civil War, who was tried according to the 58 article as an enemy of the people. He was demanded from the lawyer that he should not defend him very much in court, but rather agreed with the prosecutor and confirmed that his client was an enemy of the people. But Viktor Kramarov told about his merits and asked for an excuse for him. The accused was still shot, and soon lawyer Viktor Kramarov was also arrested. He was serving a sentence in Siberia at logging. In the 1948 year, his sentence ended, but V. Kramarov stayed free for a short time. In 1950, he was again put in prison and sent to the Turukhansk region, and a year later he hanged himself.
On Petrovka Street, next to the city improvement department, in which I served as chief engineer, stood the house of artists of the Maly Theater. The window of my office looked out into a deserted closed courtyard, bounded on both sides by metal garages, and on the third side there was just this house where Yuri Solomin, Igor Ilyinsky and other actors lived. Solomina I often saw. He went out into the courtyard with a notebook and walked back and forth, learning the role. He gestured, entering the image. From the side it looked amusing. And soon came the film "His Excellency's Adjutant."
I was not acquainted with Solomin, but Igor Vladimirovich Ilyinsky, who played in the films “The Feast of Saint Jorgen”, “The Cutter of Torzhok” and others, knew personally. In the evenings, he often sat on a bench near his house, I sat down at his place, and we talked. He was a good storyteller, he loved to joke. Once, it was winter, the secretary looked into my office and said: "Ilyinsky came to you." I noticed that the actor is excited. It turned out that he had arrived on his old Volga, wanted to put it in the garage, the same metal one, which went out to the back wall in the courtyard under my window, but was firmly stuck in the snow. “Do not worry,” I reassured him, “we will help you now.” He called the head of the department, he sent the guys with shovels, and everything was done, as they say, quickly and efficiently. Tomorrow Igor Vladimirovich came to me again - he brought a pass for the play “The Power of Darkness”. The last years of his life Ilyinsky already saw almost nothing, was very weak. He died in the 1987 year in the 86 year of life.

Gennady Gelfer