August 10: Nikolai Erdman, a playwright who was banned during his lifetime, died.
On August 10, 1970, Nikolai Erdman passed away. He was a contemporary of the century, a playwright, poet, and co-author of the screenplays for the films "Morozko," "Fire, Water, and Copper Pipes," "Volga-Volga," and "Jolly Fellows." He also authored the plays "The Mandate" and "The Suicide," and was exiled to Yeniseisk and Tomsk for his poetry and parodies.
— Citizen Podsekalnikov, life is beautiful
“I even read about this in Izvestia, but I think there will be a refutation.”
People used to have an idea and were willing to die for it. Nowadays, people who want to die don't have an idea, and people who have an idea don't want to die. This must be fought. We need ideological corpses.
The court cannot sentence anyone to life. It can sentence someone to death, but not to life.
German House and Block Letters
Born in 1900 in Moscow, the son of Erdman, an accountant at a clothing factory, and Kormer, a watchmaker's daughter. They spoke German at home. He attended a commercial college. He recalls writing his Russian assignments in block letters—a feature that typists later adored.
Imagists and two lists
At 19, he was drafted into the Red Army and demobilized a year later. He began writing. Along with his artist brother Boris, he was part of the Imagist group founded by Mariengof and Yesenin. He met them at a literary café: "Two young men approached and said, 'Erdman, come see us tomorrow, let's talk'... and so I talked with them for three years after that." He became particularly close with Vadim Shershenevich—he once confessed to him that he had compiled two lists: one of those who would follow his coffin, and the other of those who would follow it in any weather. Shershenevich was on the latter, in the front row.
Fables and satirical reviews
He wrote poetry, fables, and worked in the genre of satirical reviews, often together with Vladimir Mass.
We are updating our everyday life
And all its details.
"The piano was completely open
And the strings in it trembled…”
"Why are you shaking?" they asked the sufferers.
Ten fingers played the sonata.
- We cannot tolerate such a regime,
You beat us - and we tremble!..
But their hands answered them,
Hitting the keys again:
- When you get hit, you make sounds,
And if you are not beaten, you will remain silent.
The meaning of this short fable is clear:
If they didn’t beat us,
We wouldn't write fables.
"Mandate": Fame at 24
At 24, he wrote his first play, "The Mandate," about the family of NEPman Gulyachkin, struggling to adapt to the new realities ("When will the old days ever return!"). It was directed by Meyerhold, with Erast Garin starring. Fame came to the young playwright.
A word is not a sparrow, if you let it go, you won't catch it, so that means if you let it go, you won't catch it, and for this you will be caught and not released
"Suicide": "Gogol! Gogol!" - and a ban
In 1928, Nikolai Erdman completed his play "The Suicide." Stanislavsky, upon hearing it for the first time, reportedly exclaimed in delight, "Gogol! Gogol!" The play was not allowed to be staged. Stalin initially granted permission, but then banned the completed production, claiming that "comrades consider [the play] shallow and harmful."
We must admit frankly, dear comrades, that our deceased is not entirely remarkable. If, in his place and under the same conditions, a prominent public figure had shot himself, say, Gorky or a People's Commissar, that would have been better.
Arrest on the set of "Jolly Fellows"
He worked in film as a screenwriter. In 1932, he co-wrote the screenplay for "Jolly Fellows" with Mass and Alexandrov. During filming, he and Mass were arrested due to their poetry and parodies. Their names were removed from the film's credits.
One day the GPU came to Aesop -
And it took the old man by the ass.
And the conclusion is clear:
No need for fables!
Link: Yeniseisk and Tomsk
The sentence was "lenient"—three years of exile to Yeniseisk. A year later, he was allowed to move to Tomsk, where he worked as literary director of the city theater. In letters to his mother, he signed himself "your Mamin-Sibiryak":
I'm living in search of a room... Yesterday I placed an ad in the newspaper, afraid the censors would let it through. They published it in full. As you can see, everything is going well; they've already started publishing me.
The NKVD Ensemble and Return to Moscow
At 36, he was released and banned from living in large cities. He returned to Moscow in 1942, where he and Mikhail Volpin were invited to join the NKVD Ensemble as composers. He participated in front-line brigades; one day, putting on his uniform and looking in the mirror, he said:
I feel like they've come for me again.
Stalin Prize, Taganka, "The Bat"
After the war, he wrote film scripts, winning the Stalin Prize for one of them, "Brave People." He worked at the Taganka Theater. He collaborated with Volpin for many years, collaborating on the Russian version of Strauss's operetta "Die Fledermaus." He died at 69.
