Secrets of "Good night, kids!"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

July 10 marks the 67th anniversary of the famous actress and TV presenter Tatyana Vedeneeva. Many viewers remembered her as aunt Tanya from the program "Good night, kids!". For 55 years of its existence, this program has become one of the most successful projects in the history of television and has gained immense popularity among both children and adults. But surprising as it may seem, in the Soviet era, even in a program for children, censors managed to discern "political sabotage"! Why "Good night, kids!" almost got banned, for which they demanded to remove Piggy from the program, and who wanted to publish the book “20 years under the skirt of Aunt Vali” - further in the review.

It all started in 1963, when Valentina Fedorova, the editor-in-chief of programs for children and youth, saw in the GDR a children's animated series about the adventures of a sand man. Then she had the idea to create an evening program for children in the USSR. Young viewers saw the first release on September 1, 1964. At the same time, the song "Tired Toys Sleep" appeared, which was first performed by Oleg Anofriev, and then by Valentina Tolkunova.

The first black-and-white screen saver of the program featured a watch with moving hands. An animated color splash with plasticine characters was created by Alexander Tatarsky in the 1980s. In 1999, it was replaced by a screensaver with a hare with a clock in hand. For some reason, he terrified the children so much that many of them cried when the broadcast began. This caused a flurry of angry letters from parents, and the old screensaver was returned.

There were several options for the name of the program: "Bedtime Tale", "Evening Tale", "Visiting the Magic Man Tik-Tak", and only on the eve of the first broadcast stopped at "Good Night, Kids!" The actors themselves called her among themselves "Spookushki". At first, the program consisted of pictures with a voiceover test, then they were replaced by puppet shows and small plays, in which the actors of the Moscow Art Theater and the Theater of Satire played. The first puppet characters were Shustrik and Mamlik, Buratino, Tepa the hare.

None of the first heroes lingered for a long time, until in 1968 the dog Filya appeared - one of the permanent characters and long-livers of the program. He was voiced by the actor Grigory Tolchinsky. Years later, he joked: "". But such a name would be inaccurate. The fact is that female announcers were forbidden to wear skirts so as not to embarrass the male actors manipulating the dolls from under the table. But you could officially touch the presenter by the legs! When she needed to enter into a conversation, she was tapped on her leg, and when she was stroked on her knee, it was a signal that it was time to end the transmission.

In the early 1970s. Fila was joined by Piggy and Stepashka. The first, until 2002, spoke in the voice of the actress Natalia Derzhavina, and the second - Natalia Golubentseva. Over the years, the artist got so accustomed to her character that she began to speak in his voice sometimes in real life, for example, when it was necessary to pity the traffic police officers. And in her ID, Honored Artist Golubentseva pasted a photo in which she was captured together with Stepashka. The last in this company in 1979 was the only girl Karkusha, whose voice and character was presented by the actress Gertruda Sufimova. When in 1998she was gone, Karkusha was "adopted" by the actress Galina Marchenko.

For 55 years, several presenters have changed in the program: Valentina Leontyeva (aunt Valya), Vladimir Ukhin (uncle Volodya), Tatyana Sudets (aunt Tanya), Tatyana Vedeneeva (another aunt Tanya), Yuri Grigoriev (uncle Yura), Yuri Nikolaev (also one uncle Yura). Recently, the program was hosted by Oksana Fedorova, Anna Mikhalkova, Dmitry Malikov and Nikolai Valuev.

Although it was extremely difficult to discern political implications in the program for children, the censors still managed to do it. Several times the program "Good night, kids!" accused of political sabotage. When Nikita Khrushchev went on a visit to America, the program was going to show the cartoon "The Frog the Traveler", and this issue was taken off the air. And when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, officials strongly recommended not to show the cartoon about the bear Mishka, who never brought the work started to completion. True, the staff of the program considered it just a coincidence. And when in 1999 the Russian government was headed by Sergei Stepashin, the television bosses were going to "fire" Stepashka because of unnecessary associations, but at the request of the audience he was returned.

Puppet characters were also periodically criticized and attacked. More often than not, clouds were gathering over Piggy. At the same time, the reasons were sometimes just ridiculous: once a question was brought up to the board of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company about why all the dolls blink, but Piggy does not. The question was decided radically - the dolls were replaced by people. This caused such indignation of the audience that the characters they loved had to be returned after 2 months.

Another time, Piggy became the object of criticism of the Muslims of the USSR, who demanded to remove the pig from the frame. To this the editor of the program replied: the Koran says that pork should not be eaten, and it is not forbidden to look at it. Piggy was defended, but after a few years he again became the cause of the conflict along with Philip. An angry letter came to the editorial office: "" But the children themselves loved these characters so much that no adults' arguments could change anything.

The most unlucky character Piggy got it during the filming. Once in the zoo he was hit with a paw by a bear, and in the dolphinarium he was dragged under the water by a dolphin. Actors too often had to face difficulties. Natalia Golubentseva told: "".

One of the most "long-running" TV projects was just about to be closed. In 1991, the state stopped allocating funds for the creation of the program, and new issues were no longer aired. Then the audience bombarded the editorial office with letters demanding the return of "Good night, kids!": "". And when this did not help, they began to write complaints to all instances. The program returned, but 10 years later the situation repeated itself: again there were no funds, besides, it was impossible to advertise "non-childish" products next to the program, and this time the audience defended it again. In 1999, the program disappeared from the air because of another "sabotage" that had nothing to do with it: there was no place for it in the broadcast network, since at that time the TV series "Deadly Force" was broadcast. They have never wanted a good night for the kids!

They said that Aunt Valya was married to television: How was the fate of the host of "Good night, kids!" Valentina Leontyeva.