Behind the scenes "Zucchini" 13 chairs ": What secrets were revealed by the 90-year-old TV star Zoya Zelinskaya

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

For 16 years, this TV show was considered one of the best humorous programs on Soviet television, everyone knew its regular heroes, calling them by the names of their characters. But few know that Olga Aroseva, Spartak Mishulin, and Natalya Selezneva owed their popularity not even to scriptwriters and directors, but to one actress - Zoya Zelinskaya, who played Mrs. Teresa in the "Tavern". She recently turned 90 years old, and only now she has revealed many secrets of the legendary TV show …

Zoya began her career as a fashion model at the House of Models. After school, she graduated from GITIS and became an actress of the Theater of Satire, to which she gave 60 years of her life. In her sophomore year, she married director Georgy Zelinsky. At the age of 27, the actress made her film debut in the legendary "Carnival Night", however, she played a cameo role there, and her name was not even mentioned in the credits. Glory came to her only 10 years later, when she appeared in the image of Mrs. Teresa in the TV show "Zucchini" 13 Chairs ", directed by her husband.

Few knew that the idea of creating this TV show belonged precisely to Zoya Zelinskaya. Once at a planning meeting of the State Television and Radio, a decision was made on the need to create an entertainment program on television, and this case was entrusted to director Georgy Zelinsky. However, there were no ideas about the format of the program at that time - these were scattered humorous scenes. After reading the material, the director said: “” And his wife convinced him that a real masterpiece could be made of this program.

Initially, the program was called "Good evening", and there were only a few characters in it: the actor Spartak Mishulin, who created a pantomime in the style of Charlie Chaplin, Zoya Zelinskaya herself in the image of a singer, and there was also a hilarious scene about how a woman cannot find anything in her purse - Zelinskaya advised her husband to offer this role to Olga Aroseva, an actress of the Theater of Satire, who for many years had been left without noticeable roles. Variety numbers to the soundtrack, which over the years have become the highlight of this project, did not exist at that time.

Only now Zoya Zelinskaya told about how it all began: "". So, with the light hand of Zoya Zelinskaya, the program "Zucchini" 13 chairs "acquired a format in which it was recognized and loved by millions of Soviet viewers.

The name for the program was invented by the viewers themselves - a competition was announced, in which the variant "Zucchini" 13 chairs "won (referring to the work of Ilf and Petrov, only 13 chairs are not 12). There were indeed 13 places in the "Zucchini", but over time, there were about 50 actors! But the constant protagonists were Mrs. Monika (Olga Aroseva), Pan Director (Spartak Mishulin), Mrs. Katharina (Natalia Selezneva) and Mrs. Teresa (Zoya Zelinskaya).

The search for the host also took some time. The first to play this role was Aleksandr Beliavsky, who was called the author of the idea of "The Zucchini": they wrote about how the actor, after returning from a tour in Poland, offered to film jokes from Polish humorous magazines. Zoya Zelinskaya refutes this version, stating that in fact he had nothing to do with the creation of the project - Belyavsky simply played the role of Pan Leading. However, the actor wanted to act in films, and being busy on the set of Zucchini interfered with his plans - the program went on air every Friday, and he decided to leave the project.

Andrei Mironov replaced Belyavsky - but, oddly enough, in this image, the audience's favorite failed. After the releases with his participation, the audience began to send letters asking to replace the presenter with a "cheeky look", since "Zucchini" turned into Mironov's benefit performance - he drew all attention to himself, overshadowing other artists and suppressing them with his temperament. Then they listened to the opinion of the audience, and Andrei Mironov, after two episodes of the program, did not appear in the "Kabachka". The next master Leading was Mikhail Derzhavin, who was so organic in this image that he stayed in the "Kabachka" for 14 years.

The heroes of "Zucchini" became stars of the all-Union scale, and Olga Aroseva, Natalya Selezneva and Zoya Zelinskaya became trendsetters - they took ideas from foreign magazines, and the heroes had to look the same. This turned out to be a daunting task. Zoya Zelinskaya said: "". For this, fashionable actresses have suffered more than once: at one time it was forbidden to wear hats - a bourgeois wardrobe element alien to proletarian taste. And Natalya Selezneva was once not given a fee for appearing on the screen in an overly short skirt. Trousers and breeches were also not welcome.

Recently, Zoya Zelinskaya admitted that with her colleague in the theater and "Zucchini" Olga Aroseva, they not only were not friends, but throughout the entire period of cooperation they remained rivals. Zelinskaya says: "".

Zoya Zelinskaya at the same time continued to act in films, but there were no bright works then - filming in "Zucchini" took all of her time. More than once, because of this, she had to refuse the proposals of the directors. The director Valentin Pluchek was also jealous of the successes of his theater actors, who often repeated to them: "" At the same time, he could not help but notice that many spectators came to the theater just to see their favorite characters from "Zucchini". True, they repeatedly disrupted the performances with a storm of applause when their favorites appeared on stage during the performance.

After the aggravation of the political situation in Poland in 1980, the program was closed, considering it politically incorrect. This time was the most difficult period for the actress, not only because she had to say goodbye to Mrs. Teresa. Her second husband was journalist Valery Lednev, with whom she was very happy. At 41, Zelinskaya first became a mother, giving her husband a son, Sergei. But in 1987 her husband passed away - he suffered a stroke, and this loss was a terrible blow to her. Until now, it is very difficult for the actress to remember this.

In the late 1990s - early 2000s. Zoya Zelinskaya starred in several films and TV series, among which the most memorable were her work in the Dossier of Detective Dubrovsky, At the Corner at the Patriarch's, and Tests for Real Men. For more than 10 years, the actress has not acted in films, but continues to appear on television, participating in various shows. On December 8, 2019, she turned 90 years old, but it's hard to believe in this - she looks much younger than her years. Her recipe for youth is simple: ""

The eternal rival of Zoya Zelinskaya caused conflicting feelings among others, but they were always strong: The volcano of emotions of Mrs. Monica - Olga Aroseva.