Edith Utesova - the bright rise and tragic fate of the forgotten princess of the Soviet stage

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

Today, few people remember the name of the daughter of the great Leonid Utesov, although for many years she traveled with her father throughout the country, was a faithful assistant in her work and sang a duet with him magnificently. For example, their "family" performance of the song "My Dear Muscovites" is still considered the best, and in the recording of the merry "Beautiful Marquise" we also hear the soft lyric soprano of Dita Utesova.

Leonid Utyosov became a father when he was only 19 years old. Two years earlier, on the very first day of his work in the troupe of the traveling theater, the young singer met the actress Lenochka Goldina, his future wife. As often happens in bad melodramas, the lovers were caught on the street by the rain, which they waited in Utesov's room … and two days later they decided to get married. This marriage lasted almost 50 years, and was probably one of the main successes in the life of the great singer, although in the first years of their life together, the young family had to fully sip on the acting fate: constant traveling, trains, stations, hotels.

Little Dita was born in Odessa in 1914 and almost from the first days of her life she joined this completely childish regime. By the way, Utesov himself came up with the name of his daughter and even persuaded the worker who issued the birth certificate to register it, but later the girl was called that only at home. From early childhood, Edith was accustomed to the roads. Elena bravely endured all the hardships of an artistic nomadic life. Sometimes, however, the situation became so difficult that the young father resorted to non-standard solutions. So, for example, once in a crowded carriage, he suddenly began to portray a madman. With shouts of "Oh, the devils ran!" Utesov rushed about the train and caught the nimble unclean. Their compartment was empty very quickly, and the family drove on all alone.

When the time came to teach her daughter, it was decided not to send her to school, but to hire a governess. So Edith received a home education worthy of a little princess. The teacher all week communicated with her only in foreign languages, and she was allowed to switch to Russian only on weekends. Thus, the girl perfectly mastered English, German and French. General subjects, vocals, piano, dancing, theater studio - the child hardly had free time, but she was perfectly prepared for the career of an actress. Utyosova's daughter saw her future life only in the drama theater. The fate of the pop singer Dita never attracted, although her voice was beautiful.

It seemed that everything was going well - the girl entered the Shchukin school, but she failed to fulfill her dream. Oddly enough, Edith's acting career did not work out, and she was not taken to the theater. The question arose about what to do next for her. Leonid Utesov, although hesitated, decided to try to give his daughter a chance to perform with his orchestra. The Tea-Jazz collective, although it aroused the mistrust of officials from the Ministry of Culture, nevertheless, has successfully performed throughout the country for many years. After the release of "Merry Fellows" in 1934, the popularity of Utesov and his orchestra became simply overwhelming.

To the great surprise of Utesov, the audience really liked his daughter. They began to sing a duet. Dita's soft but sonorous soprano was perfectly combined with Leonid Osipovich's hoarse timbre. The special sincerity of the performance, which, in fact, made Utesov, a rather average vocalist, a great singer, also passed on to her. In his book, he described this turn of life:

To make a full-fledged solo career, Utyosov advised his daughter to perform under a pseudonym, but she did not agree - Dita was a real "daddy's daughter", and their joint success confirmed this. Together they record a lot of really successful songs, which are very popular with the audience. In addition, Edith develops a literary talent. She writes poetry, makes translations of foreign songs for adaptation on the Russian stage, helps her father in organizing the work of the orchestra.

This incredibly successful creative tandem, in which there was no place for envy, but there was a real "nepotism" in the best sense of the word, existed for 17 years. All these years, officials who perceived the family duo as "nepotism" constantly criticized the Utesovs and put a spoke in their wheels. Finally, in the mid-1950s, by order of the USSR Ministry of Culture, Edith was fired from the orchestra. However, such a strong pop singer could really exist without her father's shoulder, and Edith continues her solo career on her own, but, unfortunately, not too successfully. At the end of her life, poetry became her main occupation. Many were published, but still the main stellar rise in her life took place next to the great father.

In 1982, the already very old Leonid Utesov had to experience a terrible blow - he outlived his daughter. Unfortunately, Edith could not have children, although her marriage to director Albert Handelstein was very successful, so there were no legal heirs to this family. Edith Utesova died of leukemia in January, and her father passed away on March 9.

It is known that when Stalin watched The Merry Fellows, he said: “Good! It’s like I’ve been on vacation for a month.” Of course, for the film, this meant the green light at the box office and a huge success. However, the creation of the popularly beloved comedy was not without scandals and secrets. Read on about how the first Soviet musical comedy film appeared, and why it became fateful for Lyubov Orlova.