Alexander Ivanov: parodies, biography, creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Alexander Alexandrovich Ivanov - a well-known parody poet in Soviet times. For thirteen years, he hosted the highly popular TV show Around Laughter. He played several small but memorable film roles, regularly performed on the stage with his parodies. About how the life path of this talented person developed, and about the literary parodies of Alexander Ivanov, we will tell in this article.

Biography. Home

Alexander Ivanov was born in Moscow in December 1936. After graduating from high school, he entered the Moscow Correspondence Pedagogical Institute and five years later began teaching drawing and descriptive geometry in one of the technical schools.

Meanwhile, even in his early youth, he composed lyrical poems, but after a while he lost interest in this occupation. And once, while reading someone's poems, the poet Alexander Ivanov suddenly began to write parodies unexpectedly even for himself. So he foundyour true gift.

Working as a teacher, he simultaneously writes parodies of the poems of poets, whose books he bought wherever he saw. According to the testimonies of acquaintances, his entire room in a communal apartment in those years was littered with similar publications. It seemed that Alexander Ivanov's parodies and their writing were taken seriously.

First publications

Thus, the poet in 1962 found his true calling. Unexpectedly, the editors of the famous Literaturnaya Gazeta liked the small witty works of the novice parodist, and they began to be published. You understand, in order to get the right to regularly publish his works in such a venerable publication (and "Literature" was truly known and loved by the intelligentsia of the Land of the Soviets), it is not enough for the author to be only talented and original. In addition, he must have his own voice, which would be easily recognizable.

Alexander Ivanov, this mockingbird, masterfully singing the style and intonation of other poets, had such a voice. As soon as he came up with a parody poem on some author, he immediately became famous.

Is this not a dream for a creative person? That is why many poets wanted to "get on the pen" with Ivanov. From all over the country, provincial piites sent him their collections, accompanying them with requests to write "some kind of parody", they even offered options on what exactly should be "ridiculed". Some of those eager to be parodied came up after the concert, they saysome even waited at home … But it became so later, when the program "Around Laughter" appeared on the screens of the country and became popular, and Alexander Ivanov became not only a popular parodist, but also a TV presenter. And at the beginning of his career, offended poets wrote complaints about Ivanov many times, and did not even shake hands.

Alexander Ivanov also became famous for writing epigrams. As well as parodies, they were popular with viewers. In addition, it is known that the parodist wrote several essays and pamphlets, as well as notes for newspapers.

Books

Alexander Alexandrovich Ivanov worked on parodies a lot, so since 1968 his author's collections began to appear. The first book was called Love and Mustard. The next three came out under the headings "Not in my own voice", "Laughing and crying" and "Where did that come from …". In 1970, the parodist Alexander Ivanov was accepted as a member of the Writers' Union. At the time, it was one of those events worth mentioning in biographies.

Until now, the book, en titled "Not in my own voice", is considered by connoisseurs to be one of the best and most notable among the collections of parodies on Alexander Ivanov's poems. Its title informs the reader that the parodist must speak not with his own voice, but with the voice of the poets he parodies.

In this collection, in particular, a parody of Eduard Asadov appeared, who was extremely popular in those years - his poems were memorized, young people copied them into albums (many then had such notebooks to record their favoritepoems and songs). Asadov wrote narrative poems about various everyday situations. They had, as a rule, morality and carried some edification. Literary critics noted their sweetness and sentimentality. The poet Alexander Ivanov in parodies expressed a cheerful protest against this poetic vulgarity - it was impossible to fight hypocrisy and moralizing except for laughter in those years.

With particular predilection, the parodist treated the so-called village poets. Of course, both among poets and among prose writers there were really quite a few who came to literature, being a true connoisseur of the Russian hinterland, and besides being gifted in literature. But among the villagers there were also those who, while calling to turn to the Russian countryside and "primordial values", had never even been to the provinces themselves, traveling and living in the capital cities. They wrote poems with a common dialect and often got confused and made a reservation, naming some rural realities. Of course, it was difficult for a professional parodist to pass by such obvious linguistic flaws and verbal "lisping". In addition, parodies pointed to the obvious squalor and deceit of the imaginary position of such a villager.

One of the poems of the now forgotten Soviet poet Alexander Govorov, for example, was honored with a parody by Alexander Ivanov. It ended like this:

Long live the ancestors, Shoeed in bast shoes!

Long live the grandfathers, Long live grandmas!

Long live the grandchildren, Hailgranddaughters, Long live the granddaughters, Dressed in trousers!

Ay, seems to be out

Bad poetry.

Oh, I'm allowed, I'm from the plow!

The parodist's creed

And here is how Alexander Ivanov himself told what he thinks about the essence of his profession:

- Hundreds of thousands of people now write poetry, easily mastering the elementary skills of creating all kinds of iambs, choreas and even free verse. There is no trouble in this phenomenon itself, it is even a sign of the increased culture of the population. The trouble is that the graphomaniac is drawn to fame, to recognition, and he besieges publishing houses. The editors of a Moscow magazine told me that they receive 150-200 kilograms of poetry every month. It was not a joke, but a statement of fact, the verses were recalculated by weight, because such was their quality. Meanwhile, some of them, and not a small one, leaked into the press. The editorial dam could not resist the stormy rampart. Criticism constantly complains about these holes in the dam, but complaining alone is not enough. And here laughter comes to the rescue, exposing literary failure. I love literature too much to put up with mediocrity, lack of culture, with everything that impoverishes and averages our poetry.

Further, the parodist added that in his work he not only struggles. A friendly parody, he believed, is able to support and, as it were, legitimize the poet's right to his own style, even help him become easily recognizable. The poet, Ivanov argued, has the right to both declarations and manifestations of various emotions in poetry only on condition that he really lived thesefeelings. The poet's life was to be filled with everything that he later turned into poetry. Such, in his opinion, was, for example, the life of David Samoilov - after all, his poems

…contain the inexplicable secret of the beautiful with their seeming lightness and simplicity.

A life worthy of a poet, according to the parodist, was lived by both Bulat Okudzhava and Vladimir Vysotsky.

Literary critics noted that the parodist Alexander Ivanov created parodies of the masters of the word, like music to their poems. These witty miniatures both teased, and caused a smile, and at the same time forced to admire the poems themselves. It happened that Alexander Ivanov, with his parodies, performed at poetry evenings together with famous poets - Bella Akhmadulina, David Samoilov, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Bulat Okudzhava. He read parodies of the poems of these authors, causing laughter not only from the audience, but also from the poets themselves.

Here, for example, is how a fragment of Alexander Ivanov's parody of Andrei Voznesensky's poems sounds:

Sneezing nylon dragonflies

dogs are planning castor oil on corduroy, Insect cockroaches cough up glucose.

Delirium? Brad.

On TV

For many years, Alexander Ivanov hosted "Around Laughter", and all his parodies sounded from that scene more than once. Many viewers, who can be said to be "experienced", remember well this program, which was once famous. She appeared on television screens in 1978. There is a version that the name for it at the stage of its creation was invented by Valerian Kalandadze,Deputy Editor for Literary and Drama Broadcasting TV. It was specially consonant with the program "Around the World" - even then it was a kind of television hit.

By the way, the role of the host was originally supposed to be entrusted to the popular artist Andrei Mironov, but he was busy both on the set and in the theater, then this honorary position was temporarily offered to parody poet Alexander Ivanov.

The very first issue attracted a huge number of viewers, and it could not be otherwise, because such stars as Mikhail Zhvanetsky, Leonid Utesov, Rina Zelenaya and Vladimir Andreev took part in it. Ivanov, too, fit perfectly into the chair of the presenter. The programs from release to release became more and more popular, and Alexander Ivanov was offered a permanent job on television.

The rise of many young artists became obvious after the release of the program, sometimes thanks to one number alone. This is how Leonid Yarmolnik became famous with his famous Chicken Tobacco. For the first time, the talented Mikhail Evdokimov appeared on this stage - he was discharged from Siberia, where he was listed as a canteen worker.

Arkady Raikin, Mikhail Zadornov, Klara Novikova, Efim Smolin, Arkady Arkanov, Semyon Altov, Grigory Gorin and many others often appeared on the blue screen under the unobtrusive guidance of the presenter. Humorous duets were very popular - Mikhail Derzhavin and Alexander Shirvindt, Roman Kartsev and Viktor Ilchenko … Young singers also appeared, for example, here for the first timethe viewer met Nadezhda Babkina and Alexander Rosenbaum.

In general, for quite a long time the program "Around Laughter" was a hit on TV programs. And the phrases of comedians in the form of proverbs and sayings were in full swing in the speech of ordinary citizens.

However, in the 90s, other times came, and the attention of society shifted towards the socio-political life of the country. The programs "Vzglyad" and "Before and after midnight" appeared. The television administration, considering that the potential of the program "Around Laughter" has been exhausted, decided to stop working on it. This happened in 1991.

It seemed that no one needed the satirist Alexander Ivanov and parodies anymore. It has been a difficult time for his family. The need so pressed the spouses that for some time Ivanov even sold his own collections of parodies at the book fair near the Olimpiyskiy.

The most famous parodies

Here we will mention the works of the parodist, which became the most famous and at one time made the name of their creator famous.

Perhaps the most famous parody of Alexander Ivanov - "Red Pashechka". For the first time, she sounded from the stage in the program "Around Laughter". Unfortunately, today few people will remember the work of the Soviet writer, prose writer Lyudmila Uvarova. If not for the famous parody.

In addition to being written in prose and based on the well-known children's fairy tale about Little Red Riding Hood, it should be noted that the theme and style of the parody are very unusual. Perhaps no one before Ivanov had ever written so funny on such a bitter topic. However, the parodist understood this, therefore, anticipating the reading of the humoresque, he said:

- Yes, I certainly understand that laughing at the deaths and illnesses of people is, of course, wild and immoral. But I still allowed myself such a "cynical" parody - based on the fact that laughter will simply be over the author's manner of Lyudmila Uvarova to escalate the themes of death and illness in her work to such an extent that the work simply cannot be read normally, and ultimately this the injection becomes absurd, too obviously "squeezed". From this point of view, I showed the author's style in the "distorted mirror".

Another no less popular was Alexander Ivanov's parody "Circle Square" (otherwise called the "Enchanted Circle"). It was written to one of the poems of the rather famous poet Yuri Ryashentsev:

Area of a circle… Area of a circle… Two pi er.

- Where do you serve, friend?

- APN.

(Yuri Ryashentsev)

Here is the text of the parody itself:

My friend says, breathing a little:

- Where did you, goluba, study at TSPSH1?

You didn't drain the cup of knowledge to the bottom, Two pi er - not the area of the circle, but the length, And not a circle, but a circle, moreover;

Teaching in class it seems to be in the sixth.

Well, poets! Amazing people!

And science, apparently, does not take them.

You can't blame them for banality, No key can unlock their secrets.

Everything usedfrolic them, darlings, dare.

Education everyone wants to show…

The abbreviation TSPSH here denotes a parochial school.

The parody "Golytba" by Alexander Ivanov was also very popular. Meanwhile, it was written not to a poem by a contemporary, but to a work by a Russian poet who lived in the 19th century, Alexei Pleshcheev.

The artist Gennady Khazanov brilliantly performed a parody written by Grigory Gorin on the style of the parodist Ivanov himself. Performed at one of the New Year's "Blue Lights", she laughs at the beginning of the children's fairy tale poem "Moydodyr" by Korney Chukovsky. There was a misconception that Alexander Ivanov wrote a parody of "Moydodyr" himself, but this is not so.

After the transfer

In the 90s, the satirist poet labored on the political stage in the support group of the future President Boris Yeltsin.

Then the parodist Alexander Ivanov wrote parodies in the form of political pamphlets, as well as epigrams on political figures. Only thanks to this work did he manage to straighten out his financial situation and even buy a house on the Spanish coast.

Private life

Ivanov's first marriage was unsuccessful. A young woman with a teenage son from his first marriage, whom he met on a beach in the Crimea, moved to Moscow and quickly found another, better off husband.

After the divorce, when the parodist was already well over thirty, he met in Leningrad with one of the most beautiful womenNorthern capital by the ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater Olga Zabotkina. She became for Alexander Ivanov, who periodically fell into a binge, and wife, and mother, and girlfriend, living with him until the end of his days.

One of the former admirers of the beautiful ballerina, Evgeny Fort, spoke of this unexpected marriage as follows:

Everyone was surprised when she married San Sanych, because he was not a man of her novel. But how can you understand women!

The talented ballerina herself, who played several prominent roles in the cinema, and by that time had already received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR, left the stage to move to Moscow and become her husband's secretary. In fact, she was in charge of all his affairs and followed the performances. She was present on all recordings of the program "Around Laughter". In addition, she was also the first listener of his parodies. According to family friends, with her help, the image of the host of the famous program "Around Laughter" was created.

"Smart, beautiful, restrained and strict" woman, thrifty even to some stinginess in everyday spending, and a real "gray eminence" of the family characterized Olga Zabotkina, who is well acquainted with the spouses Arkady Arkanov.

A peculiar sign of the Ivanov and Zabotkina family was the constant presence of pets - like most childless couples, they filled their loneliness by getting cats, dogs, canaries …

In one of the interviews, in 1990, parody poet Alexander Ivanov spoke about his family like this:

Familywe are small - me and my wife Olga Leonidovna Zabotkina, a former ballerina of the Kirov Theater. Now the wife is retired, dancing, as I say, in the kitchen. We don't have children, but we have a cat Alarek and a dog Avva.

Olga Zabotkina died five years after her husband's death.

Character and appearance

Acquaintances characterized Alexander Ivanov as a loner. He had almost no friends, he did not tell anyone about himself and did not confide his spiritual secrets. Yes, and about personal matters, either spoke briefly or tried not to spread at all.

An unforgettable feature of Alexander Ivanov was his appearance. Tall, very thin, imperturbable, with some kind of inquisitorial grin on his face, he appeared on the stage. However, in reality, his equanimity was apparent: as the parodist himself admitted, each time before and during the performance he experienced such excitement that he simply "stupefied" from fear of a hall filled with spectators.

Ivanov's favorite style was, as the satirist Arkady Arkanov dubbed it, "demonstrative asceticism" - a strict suit of a classic cut, a straight posture, a calm, slightly seasoned with sarcastic notes, manner of communicating with the audience. And this, the leader's raised eyebrow in surprise at the poems being read, which were attacked by the parodist (as a rule, on his individual lines or words). Further, the audience was informed of the name of the parody, which necessarily followed from the absurdity contained in the general sense of the work or inindicated phrases.

According to contemporaries, those who were part of the circle of acquaintances of Alexander Ivanov, his pride was that he made one of the most common Russian surnames so popular.

Death

The parodist Alexander Ivanov died in July 1996 in Moscow. He came to the capital from Spain, where they lived in their house with their wife for the last years. The trip was supposed to be short - Alexander Ivanov was offered to take part in a concert in honor of some democratic holiday. His wife could not accompany him, as she always did, this time. Finding himself in forced solitude, the poet once again broke into a binge. He died from a massive heart attack, which was the result of acute alcohol intoxication.

The poet was buried at the Vvedensky cemetery in Moscow.

According to some evidence, the lyrical poems of Alexander Ivanov, which he allegedly wrote for many years without showing anyone, should have been preserved in the archive. But they disappeared, and no one knows where, not even his widow.

In this article we talked about the satirist Alexander Ivanov, the program "Around Laughter" and its parodies.