Three happy marriages of the great puppeteer Sergei Obraztsov

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

His "Unusual Concert" was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most attended. His dolls on stage were very lively, and the performances themselves were bright, perky, touching in places. And the leader of this action, Sergei Obraztsov, loved one woman all his life, was married to two, and his strongest marriage turned out to be with a puppet theater.

The first love

He was only 17 years old when he first fell in love. He was a student and had just started working in an orphanage as a drawing teacher. A very nice teacher Sofya Semyonovna worked in the same orphanage. For some reason, young Sergei's heart always skipped a beat if she was close.

When he saw her with the head of the drama circle, he did not find anything better than to ask Sofya Semyonovna about an affair with a theater-goer.

At that time they were together with the orphanage in the camp in Ruza. Sophia gladly walked with him in the evenings, but the question of the rival did not give rest to the young teacher of drawing. He was so shy that the question was not asked by himself, but by his doll, a funny little arap. He once made it with his own hand from papier-mâché, hoping to get something by selling it. But no one was interested in the doll, and the black baby became his constant companion. With his help, he mastered singing. When in the lesson it was necessary to sing a romance, playing out its plot, the student himself hid behind a chair, and the doll, artistically and very vividly, put its hands on its hips and gave commands to the accompanist.

And now the question about Sonechka's novel was asked by a funny little arapie. Sonya was slightly taken aback by the question, but answered, looking straight into the beady eyes of the doll, that she had nothing to do with the head of the drama club.

When they returned to Moscow, at the ball he decided to kiss Sonya for the first time. And in the evening I told my father about it. The father, a man of the old school, said that Sergei must now propose to Sofya Semyonovna. In the fall, they became husband and wife. Three years later, the Obraztsovs had a son, Alyoshka. Sergei Vladimirovich dearly loved his first-born, was ready to do anything for the sake of his wife and son.

He already worked at the Moscow Art Theater Music Studio and had to go on a long foreign tour. Sofya Semyonovna, knowing how sensitive her husband is, told him goodbye not to worry too much if he had an affair with some young actress there. But how could Sergei Vladimirovich betray the one he loved more than life? Upon his return, he could not stop looking at his, such a sweet and dear wife.

But their happiness was destined to end quickly. Sophia died immediately after the second birth. And Sergei Vladimirovich was left alone, with newborn Natasha and four-year-old Alyoshka.

Life goes on

For a long time he could not get out of depression. It seemed that his life was over. Only Sonya's shawl on the back of a chair in an empty apartment remained of former happiness. He did not believe that he could ever be happy again.

But three years have passed since Sonechka's death, and on tour Sergei Vladimirovich suddenly noticed Olga Shaganova. Fragile, gypsy beautiful. They began to communicate on the basis of love for dogs. For the production in the second Moscow Art Theater, where he now worked, he needed a dog. Obraztsov bought the perky setter May. And in another performance Shaganova's pet, the gray dog Musa, took part. When the Moscow Art Theater was on tour in the Donbass, they walked their favorites together in a public garden in the city of Makeevka. And they placed them for the night in the same room - in a hairdresser, because it was forbidden to move in to any hotel or hostel with dogs. They returned from the tour as husband and wife.

Olga tried to replace Alyosha and Natasha's mother. She always had enough time, warmth and care for two kids. Sergey Vladimirovich undoubtedly loved Olga. But he could not forget about Sonya. When he was sad, he went into his office and looked at Sonechkin's portrait for a long, long time, which was kept in his office.

He tenderly protected his second wife Olga Alexandrovna, took care of her touchingly, but she had to come to terms with his sadness for his unquenchable love.

Real love

Sergei Vladimirovich himself believed that he was truly married to his dolls. They really lived in his hands, and then in the hands of his actors. They loved, suffered, were sad. Maybe just because he breathed this life into them, Obraztsov's puppet shows were such a huge success all over the world. Tickets for his performances were sold out instantly.

"Unusual Concert" has been played more than six thousand times and staged on the stage of thirty-nine countries. Zinovy Gerdt, who was the entertainer in this performance, began to speak with the audience in different languages.

Sergei Obraztsov, who once began his career as a drawing teacher, became the Great Puppeteer, loved by the whole country, obeyed by dolls and respected by all Soviet rulers. He was allowed something that could never be allowed to anyone. But he was the only one in the country, it was impossible not to reckon with his opinion, and his talent could not be ignored. We can say that there are no masters of the puppet genre equal to him to this day.

The doll, which once just helped him to express his emotions, feelings, to get used to the role, suddenly became his greatest love. It seems that their fates really merged together, turning into a real marriage of the Grand Master and his dolls. He himself said more than once that they have a common life line. Dolls became his life, his family, his profession.

Probably, it was this "marriage" that became the happiest and most successful in his life. He was even stronger than death. After all, the Great Puppeteer is still alive in his living dolls. And this life will last as long as his charming creatures will appear on the stage.

Surprisingly, the love of her life is the entertainer of the "Unusual Concert" Zinovy Gerdt found it precisely thanks to this production.