Russian writer Khait Arkady: biography

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

Arkady Khait is the screenwriter of the cartoons about Leopold the Cat and “Well, you wait!”, beloved by several generations, the author of funny humoresques for the satirical newsreel “Wick” and the children's magazine “Yeralash”, the creator of serious works about the difficult life of the Jewish people - “The Enchanted Theatre”, “My Kosher Lady”, “Nationality? Yes!”, People's Artist of the Russian Federation.

His sparkling pop miniatures, both from the lips of the writer himself and famous artists, had a significant impact on the Soviet humor of the period of the 1970-80s.

Arkady Khait: biography of a satirist

The future writer was born in Moscow in the family of an ordinary engineer. Khait Arkady Iosifovich, whose date of birth is January 25, 1938, lived in a communal apartment with his family, who had moved from Odessa. The boy was never bored: good neighbors, a cheerful older brother, a dad who loved to joke and did it intelligently, gently, sharply - such an environment instilled in Arkady a great sense of humor,which gave the future writer a start in life.

Arkady Khait's student years

Initially, the young man planned a career in the construction industry. Khait Arkady even followed in his father's footsteps and became a student at the Moscow Civil Engineering Institute. It was within the walls of this educational institution that a fateful meeting with Alexander Kurlyandsky, a future colleague in writing and at that time also a student, took place.

The acquaintance of young people happened during the patrol service, where students were often attracted. As people's combatants, the guys in groups of four guarded the peace of the inhabitants of the city.

Kurlyandsky, being the head of the patrol, drew attention to the funny guy Arkasha, who was with him on the shift and joked so that everyone present laughed until they colic. Some time later, Alexander was instructed to organize a student skit. A certain freshman Hite was advised to help. Having found him, Alexander was surprised to recognize the same Arkasha from the patrol in the young man.

Kapustnik became famous throughout Moscow, and the formed creative duet of both authors lasted until 1973. Its collapse was facilitated by the difference in the perception of creativity that appeared in the process of joint work, which prevented each of the authors from developing further.

First steps in creativity

Hight Institute Arkady, a writer with a capital letter, graduated in 1961, worked for some time in his speci alty, but love for the word and literature in the future withplunged him headlong into writing.

In his work, Hite devoted the lion's share of his time to the younger generation. His interesting scripts for the newsreel "Wick" and "Yeralash" and the program "Baby Monitor" attracted a huge children's audience. The performances "Golden Key", "Miracles with Home Delivery", "Well, Wolf, Wait!", staged on the basis of Hite's works, brought only kindness and faith in miracles to the world of boys and girls.

Working on the scripts of your favorite cartoons

Most of all, the Russian writer Khait Arkady, whose biography is of sincere interest to the modern generation, gained fame as the author of scripts for the animated series "Well, wait a minute!" and "Cat Leopold". By the way, the name of the cat came up with the son of Khait - Alex. While two minds - Khait and Kurlyandsky - puzzled over how to call the main character of the cartoon, constantly offended by harmful mice, little Alyosha gave him the nickname Leopold. The boy was under the impression of the movie "The Adventures of the Elusive Avengers", in which the main enemy of the Elusive Avengers was Leopold Kudasov, a counterintelligence colonel.

Children's performance "The Birthday of the Cat Leopold", which became the basis of the plot of everyone's favorite animated film, and today is successfully staged in many Russian theaters.

"Well, wait a minute!" in the work of Arkady Khait

In collaboration with Kurlyandsky Hait, Arkady Iosifovich, whose work is familiar to many viewers, wrote scripts for a cartoon beloved by many generations of children, - “Well,wait!”.

The history of the relationship between the Wolf and the Hare for several decades kept millions of viewers at the screens: both children and adults. And today, this masterpiece of Soviet times remains one of the favorites of most people. There was a version that the domestic animated series is a copy of the American Tom and Jerry, but none of the screenwriters has ever watched a foreign animated product. Therefore, the authorship of the stories of the immortal "Well, wait a minute!" belongs exclusively to Arkady Khait and Alexander Kurlyandsky. Once, at one of the creative meetings, the famous satirist was asked the question: will the Wolf eat the Hare. The answer was this: as long as the Wolf and the scriptwriters of the film want to eat, the Hare will not be caught.

cowboy”, “Once upon a time there was a donkey”, “Rehearsal”.

Arkady Khait: what was he like in life?

In life Arkady Iosifovich Haight, a famous and sought-after writer, was a very talented wit and incredibly loved Odessa. He wrote a lot about the glorious seaside city, collecting various tales, anecdotes and stories.

Arkady Iosifovich bowed before Zhvanetsky and considered him unsurpassed. Mikhail Mikhailovich had the same opinion about the satirist, saying that he would easily give odds to many humorous writers: he writes better, faster and funnier than the rest. Arkady Khait was a great conversationalist and very cheerfula person, but for some reason unsure of his talent and creative abilities. Sometimes friends even had to push him to write a play or screenplay. A satirist in a conversation could instantly answer with a funny phrase, so they communicated with him very carefully and were even careful not to enter into an argument.

In his work, Arkady Khait agreed only to those projects that were of interest to him. Even if pennies were offered for them, this did not bother the author at all. The satirist loved to master unfamiliar genres and, it seemed, could write everything: from a cheerful children's song to a serious adult play that could cause involuntary tears. Haight was never chic, although he was considered a we althy person, but the post-perestroika crisis burned all his savings.

Variety creativity of Arkady Khait

Arkady Khait is the author of a large number of pop humoresques performed by the famous master Arkady Isaakovich Raikin and novice actors at that time Evgeny Vaganovich Petrosyan, Gennady Viktorovich Khazanov, Vladimir Natanovich Vinokur.

In the 1980s, three solo programs by A. I. Khaita performed by these artists: “A kind word is also pleasant for a cat” - E. Petrosyan, “Is there an extra ticket” - V. Vinokura, “Obvious-incredible” - G. Khazanova. Hite's monologues were read not only by entertainers; his texts were voiced by Valentin Gaft, Inna Churikova, Andrey Mironov, Savely Kramarov and even athlete Irina Rodnina.

Train for happiness

On the account of Arkady Khaitthe authorship of such variety productions as "Three took the stage", "Open Day", his books "No Applause", "30 Years Later", "The Sixth Sense", "Little Things in Life", "Under One Roof" found their reader.

After the opening of the Jewish theater "Shalom" Khait Arkady was appointed its main author. According to the writer's play, the performance "The Train for Happiness" was staged on the stage of the Arts Convent, a kind of kaleidoscope of illustrations from the life of Jews. This was followed by such productions as "The Enchanted Theatre", "Jewish Songs of the Perestroika Period" and "Nationality? Yes!”.

Khait Arkady Iosifovich (photo) - the only satirist of his kind, awarded the USSR State Prize. He was also awarded the "Nika" award for the screenplay for the film "Passport" directed by Georgy Danelia, written jointly with the famous Georgian film director, artist and screenwriter Rezo Levanovich Gabriadze.

Life in Germany

The last years of his life Hayt Arkady lived in Germany. He left the country for many reasons, among which was the default, which painfully hit the pocket of every Soviet citizen. Arkady Khait was very upset by the loss of what he had accumulated, because he got the money with hard work. The writer did not forget Russia, he missed it and came here several times. During visits to his homeland, he continued to write for domestic performers, but jokes to him, already a resident of another country, were given harder and harder.

Khait Arkady knew several languages;He learned English on his own and often translated the conversations of officials on trips to America. He spoke fluent Czech, Polish, French and German. He visited many cities in the USA and Israel, where his performances were a huge success. The satirist managed to write a lot of touchingly funny materials about emigration.

Arkady Khait: family

In family life, Arkady was happily married to Lyudmila Klimova. Son Alexei also chose the path to the film industry: he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Subsequently, with Japanese colleagues, as a producer and screenwriter, he worked on the creation of an animated and quite popular film "First Squad".

The last years of the life of Arkady Khait

While on tour in Estonia, Arkady Iosifovich Khait felt unwell; the writer was forced to return to Munich to go to one of the clinics for examination. Unfortunately, the doctors made a mistake with the diagnosis and the writer was treated for a completely different disease. For two years, Arkady Iosifovich fought courageously for his life, but in vain. He died in a hospital in Munich on February 22, 2000. His ashes rest in the same city in the old Jewish cemetery.

The story of one portrait

Shortly before his death, a mystical story took place, which Alexander Levenbuk, the chief director of the Shalom Theater, remembers very clearly. On one of his visits to Moscow, Arkady brought a portrait painted by Igor Kvasha to the Shalom Theater. Despite Hite's humorousness and positivity in life, he was portrayed in the painting as serious. This work, posted inLevenbuk's office, one of the actresses, who had psychic abilities, once saw. Looking at her for a long time, she said that Arkady was seriously ill. Levenbuk, who had a medical education, did not believe her words, considering his friend to be absolutely he althy. After a short time, it became known that Arkady was suffering from leukemia, which was already too late to treat.