Who is Mikhail Svetlov, and Why in the 1960s they could name a motor ship only in the Diamond Hand
Who is Mikhail Svetlov, and Why in the 1960s they could name a motor ship only in the Diamond Hand

Video: Who is Mikhail Svetlov, and Why in the 1960s they could name a motor ship only in the Diamond Hand

Video: Who is Mikhail Svetlov, and Why in the 1960s they could name a motor ship only in the Diamond Hand
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Today it is really possible to ride the Lena River on the passenger motor ship "Mikhail Svetlov", but this three-deck vessel was built only in 1985. It was named after the Russian poet and public figure, and a little - in memory of the wonderful Soviet comedy. In 1968, when The Diamond Arm was being filmed, a ship with that name did not exist, and the idea of naming it that way became another brilliant joke of the great director, which, however, few understood.

In fact, the role of "Mikhail Svetlov" was played by two Soviet ships: "Victory" and "Russia". Both ships were built in Germany and began sailing under different names, and ended up in the USSR after the war for reparations. It would be logical and easier for the film to keep one of these names, but one phrase from the script got in the way. If only Turkish smugglers started shouting "Victory"! Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo! Tsigel, tsigel, ah-lu-lu!”, The filmmakers would not be happy, because this word in our country has a special meaning (with“Russia”it turned out even worse). Therefore, it was decided to give the ship some other, more neutral name.

In one of the frames of the film, you can see that the ship has a real name
In one of the frames of the film, you can see that the ship has a real name

Screenwriter Maurice Slobodsky came up with and suggested to Gaidai to name the ship after Mikhail Svetlov. The Soviet poet and playwright Mikhail Arkadyevich Sheinkman wrote under this pseudonym. The writer died three years before the filming of The Diamond Hand began, and all his friends knew that he was a wonderful person and a real creator, underestimated by the Soviet authorities.

The most famous and, perhaps, the only known work of his was the poem "Grenada", written in 1926. It has been set to music by about 20 composers in different countries. Marina Tsvetaeva wrote to Boris Pasternak: “Tell Svetlov that his Grenada - my beloved - almost said: my best poetry for all these years. Yesenin did not have one of these. However, don't say that - let Yesenin sleep peacefully."

Mikhail A. Sheinkman (Mikhail Svetlov)
Mikhail A. Sheinkman (Mikhail Svetlov)

However, despite his literary successes, the writer had such "sins" that the Soviet government did not forgive: in 1927, Sheinkman published the illegal opposition newspaper "Kommunist"; about the Writers' Union just organized in 1934, he said that "apart from vulgar officialdom, there is nothing to expect from this organization," and about the "holy of holies" he spoke even worse: does not have ". Perhaps only his fame saved him from repression, and not only in the USSR, but also among foreign communists.

During the Great Patriotic War, the opposition writer was a correspondent for the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. Many times he was on the front line and even threw himself behind the front line to the partisans. Together with Levitan, Mikhail Svetlov was included in the black list of the fascist command, a large reward was promised for the death or capture of the writer. For combat work during the Great Patriotic War, Mikhail Arkadyevich was awarded two Orders of the Red Star and medals, but they remained his only awards until his death. The famous poet never received recognition of his literary merits. Much later, posthumously, he was awarded both the Lenin Prize and the Lenin Komsomol Prize.

The real ship "Mikhail Svetlov"
The real ship "Mikhail Svetlov"

Leonid Gaidai decided to restore justice in his film and assigned the name of the disgraced poet to the ship on which the action of the film unfolds. The fact that the motion picture is a comedy, in the opinion of friends who knew Mikhail Svetlov well, would only delight the writer himself, because he had a unique sense of hilarity, loved to play around and constantly composed jokes, many of which became classics of this oral folk genre. Probably, the management of "Mosfilm" and the leadership of the State Film Agency were not familiar with the work of the opposition writer, so this small "hairpin" Gaidai was simply not noticed.

The Soviet censorship gave the directors many unpleasant minutes, and now we will never see some Scenes cut from the popularly beloved Soviet comedies.

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