The case of Evgeny Petrov. Petrov, brother of Kataev

Russian satirist Yevgeny Petrovich Petrov ( real surname- Kataev) was born on December 13 (November 30, old style), 1903 (according to some sources, in 1902) in Odessa.

His father, Pyotr Vasilyevich Kataev, was the son of a priest from the city of Vyatka, a teacher in the diocesan and cadet schools in the city of Odessa. Mother - Eugenia - Ukrainian from Poltava, nee who bore the surname Bachey, died shortly after the birth of her second son. The elder brother is Valentin Kataev, a future writer.

The Kataevs had extensive family library, but classic literature did not attract Eugene. He read books by Gustave Aimard, Robert Louis Stevenson and others. He dreamed of becoming a detective, he was attracted by adventure.

In 1920, Evgeny Kataev graduated from the fifth Odessa classical gymnasium. He worked as a correspondent for the Ukrainian Telegraph Agency, then as an inspector of the criminal investigation department in Odessa.

In 1923 he moved to Moscow, where he continued his education and took up journalism.

In 1924, the satirical magazine "Red Pepper" published the first feuilletons and stories under the pseudonym Petrov, also under the name of Gogol's "Foreigner Fedorov". Used a satirist and other pseudonyms. He did not want another writer with the surname Kataev to appear.

Before the start of cooperation with Ilya Ilf, Evgeny Petrov published more than fifty humorous and satirical stories in various periodicals and published three independent collections.

In 1926, while working for the Gudok newspaper, Evgeny Petrov met Ilya Ilf. Their joint work began: materials for the newspaper "Gudok" were processed, themes for drawings and feuilletons in the magazine "Smekhach" were composed.

In the summer of 1927, Ilf and Petrov made a trip to the Crimea and the Caucasus, visited Odessa. They kept a joint travel diary. Later, some of the impressions of this trip were included in the novel "The Twelve Chairs", which was published in 1928 in the monthly literary magazine"30 days". The novel was a great success with readers, but was received rather coldly. literary critics... Even before the first publication, censorship had severely curtailed it. Soon the novel began to be translated into many European languages, and it was published in many European countries.

Their next novel was The Golden Calf (1931). Initially, it was published in parts in the monthly "30 days".

In September 1931, Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov were sent to the exercises of the Red Army in the Belarusian military district, according to the materials of the trip, the essay "A Difficult Topic" was published in the journal "30 Days".

Since 1932, Ilf and Petrov began to publish in the Pravda newspaper.

In 1935-1936, the writers traveled to the United States, the result of which was the book "One-Story America" ​​(1937).

Short stories were written in collaboration with Ilya Ilf " Extraordinary stories from the life of the city of Kolokolamsk "(1928-1929), fantastic story"Bright Personality" (1928), short stories "1001 days, or New Scheherazade" (1929), etc.

The death of Ilf in 1937 interrupted the creative collaboration of the writers.

Petrov did a lot to perpetuate the memory of his friend. In 1939 he published Ilya Ilf's Notebooks, and later conceived of writing a novel called My Friend Ilf. The novel was not completed, only individual sketches and detailed versions of the plan survived.

Peru Yevgeny Petrov owns a number of screenplays. In collaboration with Ilya Ilf were created "Black Barrack" (1933), "Once in Summer" (1936), in collaboration with Georgy Moonblit - " Musical history"(1940)," Anton Ivanovich is Angry "(1941) and others. Petrov independently wrote scripts for the films" Quiet Ukrainian Night "and" Air Carrier. " surname from the credits.

In 1941, Petrov became a war correspondent for Pravda and the Soviet Information Bureau. Often and for a long time he was at the front.

On July 2, 1942, Evgeny Petrov died while returning by plane from besieged Sevastopol to Moscow. The writer was buried in the Rostov region in the village of Mankovo-Kalitvenskaya.

Many films have been staged based on the works of Ilf and Petrov: "The Golden Calf" (1968), "Twelve Chairs" (1971), "Ilf and Petrov Rode in the Tram" (1972), etc. Based on the play by Evgeny Petrov "The Island of Peace" (published 1947) the cartoon "Mr. Walk" (1950) was shot.

Evgeny Petrov was awarded the order Lenin and a medal.

The wife of the writer was Valentina Grunzaid. Their children: Petr Kataev (1930-1986) - a famous cameraman who shot almost all of Tatiana Lioznova's films; Ilya Kataev (1939-2009) - composer, author of a number popular songs and soundtracks.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Russian satirist Yevgeny Petrov became famous after the publication of the books "Twelve Chairs", "The Golden Calf", "One-Story America" ​​and "At War", written in tandem with.

Evgeny Petrovich Kataev (real name of the publicist) was born on December 13, 1902 in Odessa. When people who are not familiar with the work and life of Eugene read his autobiography, they get the impression that the creator lived not in a real, but in an ideal Soviet Union. Was free, wrote what he wanted, traveled all over the world and miraculously escaped arrest and repression at a time when everyone around him was imprisoned.

However, if you dig deeper, it turns out that real life journalist was different from official biography... It is known that for a couple of years no one knew for sure the real date of birth of Eugene, therefore October 1903 was indicated in all encyclopedias. Only when, in the 60s, the staff of the Odessa archive found the register of births, in which the date of birth and baptism was recorded, did everything fall into place.

The writer's father, Petr Vasilyevich Kataev, worked as a teacher at the diocesan and cadet schools in Odessa. Eugene's mother, a Ukrainian from Poltava, died of pneumonia a couple of months after the birth of her second son (the writer has an older brother).

It is known that the Kataevs had an extensive family library, but Eugene was not attracted to classical literature. An inquisitive guy read books by Gustav Aimard, and.

In 1920, Evgeny graduated from the 5th Odessa classical gymnasium, in which his classmate and best friend there was Alexander Kozachinsky (the boys even took an oath of brotherly fidelity: they cut their fingers with a piece of glass and mixed blood). Then the future publicist worked for a couple of months as a correspondent for the Ukrainian Telegraph Agency, and then as an inspector of the criminal investigation department in Odessa.

Few people know, but in 1922, during a chase with a shootout, Kataev personally detained his friend Kozachinsky, who led a gang of raiders. Subsequently, the writer achieved a review of his criminal case. As a result, Alexander was not shot, but sent to the camp.

This story later formed the basis for the adventure story "Green Van", the prototype of which, Volodya Patrikeyev, was Petrov. Also, films of the same name were shot based on the work in 1959 and 1983.

Three years later, Kataev moved to Moscow. There, the young man took up self-education and journalism. Already in 1924, the first feuilletons and stories appeared in the satirical magazine "Red Pepper" under the pseudonym Petrov. During its literary career the satirist used other pseudonyms. This was done because the writer did not want his works to be attributed to his brother.

Before the start of cooperation with Ilya Ilf, Evgeny Petrov published more than fifty humorous and satirical stories in various periodicals and released three independent collections. In 1926, while working for the Gudok newspaper, the publicist met Ilya Ilf, with whom he initial stages processed materials for the newspaper "Gudok", and also composed themes for drawings and feuilletons in the magazine "Smekhach".

When the war broke out, Petrov became a war correspondent for the Soviet Information Bureau. He wrote for Soviet print media and for work, often for a long time, was at the front. Once the writer returned from Maloyaroslavets, shell-shocked by a blast wave.

Despite the fact that the publicist practically did not speak, he hid his condition as best he could from colleagues and relatives. It is known that as soon as it became a little easier for him, the journalist immediately began to write about the battles for Maloyaroslavets.

Who happened to be with Petrov on one of the longest front-line trips to the Northern Front, recalled that it was extremely difficult for Eugene to cover long distances on foot because of his weak heart. Young Simonov often offered help to Kataev, but Petrov flatly refused and was happy when a halt was made or when they reached the headquarters.

Literature

In the summer of 1927, Ilf and Petrov made a trip to the Crimea, the Caucasus and visited Odessa. They kept a joint travel diary. Later, the impressions of this trip were included in the novel "The Twelve Chairs", which was published in 1928 in the monthly literary magazine "30 Days". The novel was a great success with readers, but was received rather coldly by literary critics. Even before the first publication, censorship had severely curtailed it. Soon the novel began to be translated into European languages, and it was published in many European countries.

Their next novel was The Golden Calf (1931). Initially, the work was published in parts in the monthly "30 days". In September 1931, Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov were sent to the exercises of the Red Army in the Belarusian military district. Based on the materials of the trip, the essay “A Difficult Topic” was published in the magazine “30 days”. Since 1932, Ilf and Petrov were published in the Pravda newspaper.

In 1935-1936, the writers traveled to the United States, the result of which was the book "One-Story America" ​​(1937). Also in co-authorship with Ilya Ilf were written the novels "Unusual stories from the life of the city of Kolokolamsk" (1928-1929), the fantastic story "The Bright Person" (1928), the short stories "1001 days, or New Scheherazade" (1929) and the great many other wonderful works.

The creative collaboration of the writers was interrupted by the death of Ilf in 1937. Kataev did a lot to perpetuate the memory of his friend. In 1939 he published Ilya Ilf's Notebooks, and later conceived of writing a novel called My Friend Ilf. True, the novel was not completed and only individual sketches and detailed versions of the plan survived.

Peru Yevgeny Petrov owns a number of screenplays. In collaboration with Ilya Ilf were created "Black Barrack" (1933), "Once in Summer" (1936). Later, in co-authorship with Georgy Munblit appeared "Musical History" (1940), "Anton Ivanovich is Angry" (1941).

Kataev independently wrote scripts for the films Quiet Ukrainian Night and Air Carrier. It is also known that the writer worked on the script for the film "Circus", but in the end demanded not to indicate his name in the credits.

Among other things, films based on the works of Ilf and Petrov were staged: "The Golden Calf" (1968), "Twelve Chairs" (1971), "Ilf and Petrov Rode in the Tram" (1972). Also, based on the play by Kataev "The Island of Peace", the cartoon "Mr. Walk" (1949) was filmed.

Personal life

Eugene's wife's name was Valentina, she was eight years younger than him. Petrov surprised his beloved every day and did everything so that a smile did not leave the face of the chosen one. Young people legalized the relationship when the girl was barely nineteen. After the wedding, the writer retained the same reverent attitude towards his wife. It is worth noting that marriage was not influenced by the fashion for free relationships, which spread in the 1920s in the bohemian environment.

In this union, two sons were born - Peter (named after his father) and Ilya (named after a friend). According to the recollections of the writer's granddaughter, her grandmother until her death (in 1991) continued to love her husband and never took off the ring he had given him.

The eldest son of Evgeny and Valentina became a cameraman, shot many popular Soviet films. The younger Ilya worked as a composer, wrote music for a couple of films and TV series.

Death

Petrov outlived his friend Ilya by five years. After the death of Ilf, death literally followed Eugene on his heels. Once a writer in a gymnasium laboratory swallowed hydrogen sulfide, and he was barely pumped out for fresh air... Then, in Milan, a publicist was hit by a cyclist, and he almost fell under the wheels of a passing car.

During Finnish war the shell hit the corner of the house in which the author of the story "The Prodigal Dad" slept. Near Moscow, the journalist came under German mortar fire and barely survived. In the same year, the screenwriter had his fingers pinched by the door of the front-line "emka". It happened when the German aircraft attacked the writer, and he urgently needed to leave the car and run into the ditch.

The creator died during the Great Patriotic War... When on July 2, 1942, Yevgeny was returning by plane to Moscow, the pilot, avoiding the bombing, lowered his flight altitude and crashed into a mound. Of the several people on board, only Petrov, who at that time was 38 years old, died.

The writer's remains were buried in the Rostov region in the village of Mankovo-Kalitvenskoye.

Bibliography

• 1922 - "Real Work"
• 1924 - "Not Burned Out"
• 1926 - "The Joy of Megas"
• 1927 - "Without a report"
• 1928 - "Twelve Chairs"
• 1928 - "Bright Personality"
• 1929 - "Hat"
• 1931 - The Golden Calf
• 1934 - "Recipe for a Quiet Life"
• 1936 - "One-Story America"
• 1942 - "In the War"
• 1942 - "Front Diary"
• 1965 - "Journey to the Land of Communism" (unfinished)

Russian satirist Yevgeny Petrovich Petrov (real name - Kataev) was born on December 13 (November 30, old style), 1903 (according to some sources, in 1902) in Odessa.

His father, Pyotr Vasilyevich Kataev, was the son of a priest from the city of Vyatka, a teacher in the diocesan and cadet schools in the city of Odessa. Mother - Eugenia - Ukrainian from Poltava, nee who bore the surname Bachey, died shortly after the birth of her second son. The elder brother is Valentin Kataev, a future writer.

The Kataevs had an extensive family library, but Eugene was not attracted to classical literature. He read books by Gustave Aimard, Robert Louis Stevenson and others. He dreamed of becoming a detective, he was attracted by adventure.

In 1920, Evgeny Kataev graduated from the fifth Odessa classical gymnasium. He worked as a correspondent for the Ukrainian Telegraph Agency, then as an inspector of the criminal investigation department in Odessa.

In 1923 he moved to Moscow, where he continued his education and took up journalism.

In 1924, the satirical magazine "Red Pepper" published the first feuilletons and stories under the pseudonym Petrov, also under the name of Gogol's "Foreigner Fedorov". Used a satirist and other pseudonyms. He did not want another writer with the surname Kataev to appear.

Before the start of cooperation with Ilya Ilf, Evgeny Petrov published more than fifty humorous and satirical stories in various periodicals and released three independent collections.

In 1926, while working for the Gudok newspaper, Evgeny Petrov met Ilya Ilf. Their joint work began: materials for the newspaper "Gudok" were processed, themes for drawings and feuilletons in the magazine "Smekhach" were composed.

In the summer of 1927, Ilf and Petrov made a trip to the Crimea and the Caucasus, visited Odessa. They kept a joint travel diary. Later, some of the impressions of this trip were included in the novel "The Twelve Chairs", which was published in 1928 in the monthly literary magazine "30 Days". The novel was a great success with readers, but was received rather coldly by literary critics. Even before the first publication, censorship had severely curtailed it. Soon the novel began to be translated into many European languages, and it was published in many European countries.

Their next novel was The Golden Calf (1931). Initially, it was published in parts in the monthly "30 days".

In September 1931, Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov were sent to the exercises of the Red Army in the Belarusian military district, according to the materials of the trip, the essay "A Difficult Topic" was published in the journal "30 Days".

Since 1932, Ilf and Petrov began to publish in the Pravda newspaper.

In 1935-1936, the writers traveled to the United States, the result of which was the book "One-Story America" ​​(1937).

In collaboration with Ilya Ilf, he wrote the novels "Unusual stories from the life of the city of Kolokolamsk" (1928-1929), the fantastic story "The Bright Person" (1928), the short stories "1001 Days, or New Scheherazade" (1929), etc.

The death of Ilf in 1937 interrupted the creative collaboration of the writers.

Petrov did a lot to perpetuate the memory of his friend. In 1939 he published Ilya Ilf's Notebooks, and later conceived of writing a novel called My Friend Ilf. The novel was not completed, only individual sketches and detailed versions of the plan survived.

Peru Yevgeny Petrov owns a number of screenplays. In collaboration with Ilya Ilf were created "Black barrack" (1933), "Once in summer" (1936), in collaboration with Georgy Munblit - "Musical history" (1940), "Anton Ivanovich is angry" (1941) and others. Independently Petrov scripts were written for the films "Quiet Ukrainian Night" and "Air Carrier". He worked on the script for the film "Circus", but in the end demanded to remove his name from the credits.

In 1941, Petrov became a war correspondent for Pravda and the Soviet Information Bureau. Often and for a long time he was at the front.

On July 2, 1942, Evgeny Petrov died while returning by plane from besieged Sevastopol to Moscow. The writer was buried in the Rostov region in the village of Mankovo-Kalitvenskaya.

Many films have been staged based on the works of Ilf and Petrov: "The Golden Calf" (1968), "Twelve Chairs" (1971), "Ilf and Petrov Rode in the Tram" (1972), etc. Based on the play by Evgeny Petrov "The Island of Peace" (published 1947) the cartoon "Mr. Walk" (1950) was shot.

Evgeny Petrov was awarded the Order of Lenin and a medal.

The wife of the writer was Valentina Grunzaid. Their children: Petr Kataev (1930-1986) - a famous cameraman who shot almost all of Tatiana Lioznova's films; Ilya Kataev (1939-2009) - composer, author of a number of popular songs and music for films.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

"Each of us considers ourselves to be obliged to the other ..."

Let's eat observation: this person opens up to us mainly in tandems. Every reader knows famous couple co-authors, sounding like a whole, inseparably: Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov. This writing duo stayed in domestic literature, first of all, as the creator of the incredibly popular, witty, satirically grotesque, adventurous aphoristic novels "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf". In miniature Dual biography"Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov wrote in 1929:" It is rather difficult to compose an autobiography of the author of The Twelve Chairs ...

Much less people, even those who read, know about another pair - Evgeny Petrov and Valentin Kataev. The fact is that the famous Petrov, being younger brother the author, already well-known at that time, Valentina Kataeva, took a pseudonym for himself by his own patronymic, rightly assuming that the two Kataevs "Bolivar of Native Literature" would not stand up, there would be confusion.

Evgeny Petrovich Kataev was born on December 13, 1903. Of course, in Odessa. It was this city that gave its readers a galaxy of the so-called "southwestern" writing school. These are world-class writers - Valentin Kataev, Isaak Babel, Yuri Olesha, Eduard Bagritsky, Evgeny Petrov, Ilya Ilf, Semyon Kirsanov, Vera Inber. The term "southwest" in literary sense was introduced in the article of the same name in 1933 by the famous literary critic, critic, writer, journalist, screenwriter and film theorist V. Shklovsky. However, the same was the name of the first collection of poetry by E. Bagritsky, published in 1928.

Evgeny Petrovich Kataev, aka Evgeny Petrov

Literary critics are still debating whether this is a school or, perhaps, a number of independent talents, but the facts are inexorable: many of the aforementioned writers, having moved to Moscow and worked in the editorial office of the newspaper "Gudok" (where, by the way, Mikhail Bulgakov from Kiev also worked), became known Soviet writers.

In Odessa, the Kataevs lived on Kanatnaya Street, and by 1920 Yevgeny graduated from the 5th Odessa classical gymnasium. During his studies, his classmate was Alexander Kozachinsky, a nobleman by his father, who later wrote the adventure story "Green Van", the prototype of the main character of which - the head of the Odessa district police department Volodya Patrikeyev - was Evgeny Petrov.

It should be said about this, the third, pair, in which Evgeny Petrov is convincingly represented. Only a few fans of the Russian adventure genre know about it. This story is romantically enchanting, dramatic, with a criminal plot, even with the blood oath of brotherhood, which Zhenya and Sasha made to each other in school years... And in fact, their friendship-brotherly bonds were preserved throughout their lives, although they were subjected to serious tests.

Correspondent of the Ukrainian Telegraph Agency Evgeniy Petrov

The fact is that fate brought two friends together in a bizarre way: Alexander Kozachinsky, a man of an adventurous warehouse and great charm, from the age of 19, having abandoned detective work in the Bolshevik criminal investigation department, led a gang of raiders operating in Odessa and the surrounding area. Ironically, in 1922 it was Evgeny Kataev, then an employee of the Odessa Criminal Investigation Department, who arrested him. Kozachinsky, after a chase with a firefight, hid in the attic of one of the houses, where he was discovered by a classmate. Subsequently, Yevgeny achieved a review of the criminal case and replacement of Kozachinsky with an exceptional measure of punishment, execution - by imprisonment in a camp. Moreover, in the fall of 1925, Kozachinsky was amnestied. At the exit from prison he was met by his mother and faithful friend, Evgeny Kataev ...

The columnist for the Top Secret publication Vadim Lebedev concludes his essay Green Van with surprising facts that emphasize the inexplicable, supernatural connection that existed between these people: “1941 separated them. Petrov goes to the front as a war correspondent. For health reasons, Kozachinsky was sent for evacuation to Siberia. In the fall of 1942, having received news of the death of a friend, Kozachinsky fell ill, and a few months later, on January 9, 1943, a modest obituary appeared in the newspaper "Soviet Siberia": "The Soviet writer Alexander Kozachinsky died."

That is, in the years that have passed since Kozachinsky was released from prison, he managed to become a “Soviet writer”. Which, by the way, was also facilitated by Evgeny Petrov. In 1926, he arranged for Kozachinsky as a journalist in the same editorial office of the Gudok newspaper. And in 1938, Petrov persuaded his friend, with whom they had once read to Mein Reed, to write the adventure story "The Green Van" (in 1983 it was interestingly filmed, some echoes of the biography of Alexander Kozachinsky are also visible in the image of the leader of the gang in Nikita Mikhalkov's 1974 film "At home among strangers, a stranger among our own"). But now we also understand what is behind the last lines of the "Green Van": "Each of us considers ourselves to be obliged to the other: I am for the fact that he did not once shoot at me with a Mannlicher, and he - for the fact that I planted him on time. "

Alexander Kozachinsky

In the biography of Petrov, we note his work as a correspondent for the Ukrainian Telegraph Agency, as well as his service for three years as an inspector of the Odessa Criminal Investigation Department. Ironically, in the style known to us, this page of life is reflected in the autobiography of Ilf and Petrov (1929): "His first literary work was the protocol of the examination of the corpse of an unknown man."

Reference books report that in 1923 Petrov arrived in Moscow, where he became an employee of the Red Pepper magazine. Eugene was significantly influenced by his older brother Valentin Kataev (1897-1986). Kataev's wife recalled: “I have never seen such affection between brothers as Vali and Zhenya had. Actually, Valya made his brother write. Every morning he started with a call to him - Zhenya got up late, began to swear that he had been awakened ... "Okay, swear further," Valya said and hung up. "

In 1927 with working together over the novel "Twelve Chairs" (1928), the creative collaboration of two citizens of Odessa - Yevgeny Petrov and Ilya Ilf - began. Subsequently, in collaboration with Ilya Ilf, he wrote the novel "The Golden Calf" (1931), the short stories "Unusual Stories from the Life of the City of Kolokolamsk" (1928), the fantastic story "The Bright Personality" (filmed), the short stories "1001 Days, or New Scheherazade "(1929) and others.

Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov

The books of Ilf and Petrov were repeatedly staged and filmed. The creative collaboration of the writers was interrupted by the death of Ilf in Moscow on April 13, 1937.

Ilf and Petrov, while living in Odessa, attended the literary circle "The Collective of Poets", in which Kataev, Olesha, Bagritsky began, but they met already in the Moscow "Gudok", where the entire 4th page of the newspaper was assigned to satire. In the story "My Diamond Crown" Valentin Kataev wrote: “My younger brother, who served in the Odessa Criminal Investigation Department, came to Moscow and got a job as a warden in Butyrka. I was horrified and made him write. Soon he began to earn decent money in feuilletons. I offered him and my friend (Ilf. - Author) a story about the search for diamonds hidden in the upholstery of chairs. My co-authors not only perfectly developed the plot, but also invented new character- Ostap Bender. "

Ilf and Petrov wrote with enthusiasm, after the end of the working day in the editorial office, they returned home at two in the morning. In 1928, the novel "The Twelve Chairs" was published - first in a magazine, and then as a separate book. And immediately became extremely popular. The story of the adventures of the charming adventurer and swindler Ostap Bender and his companion, the former leader of the nobility, Kisa Vorobyaninov, was captivating with brilliant dialogues, bright characters, a subtle satire on Soviet reality and philistine life. Laughter was the authors' weapon against vulgarity, stupidity and idiotic pathos.

Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov

The book quickly sold out into quotes: "All contraband is done in Odessa, on Malaya Arnautskaya Street", "Dusya, I am a man tormented by narzan", "A sultry woman, a poet's dream", "Bargaining is inappropriate here", "Money in the morning - chairs in the evening" , "To whom the mare has a bride", "Only cats will be born quickly", "The giant of thought, the father of Russian democracy" and many, many others. Unforgettable is Ellochka the ogre's dictionary with her interjections and other remarks that have come into our life - "darkness!", "Horror!" ”,“ Don't teach me how to live! ”,“ Ho-ho ”. In fact, it can be argued without exaggeration that the entire book about Bender consists of immortal aphorisms that are constantly quoted by readers and moviegoers.

The prototype of the great schemer Ostap Bender was the Odessa friend of the writers - Osip Shor, an adventurer with a special sense of humor and a wonderful storyteller, episodes of whose adventures are included in the book (marriage to Madame Gritsatsuyeva, arrival in the province under the guise of famous artist).

Odessa was present in "The Twelve Chairs" in the character and humor of Bender, and in the next book "The Golden Calf" (the famous phrase "golden calf" is amusingly parodied in the title) it becomes a scene of action, recognizable in the port city of Chernomorsk, where Ostap and Panikovsky and Balaganov on the "Wildebeest". And again there are many quotes that have gone to the people: "The ice has broken, gentlemen of the jury!" "," Distribution of elephants "," Do not make a cult out of food "," I will command the parade. "

Monument to Ellochka the Cannibal on Petrovsky Street in Kharkov. The prototype is the actress Elena Shanina, who played the role of Ellochka in the film by Mark Zakharov

Evgeny Petrov remarked about the main character of his roguish novel: “Ostap Bender was conceived as a minor figure, almost an episodic person. For him, we had prepared a phrase that we heard from one of our acquaintances, a billiard player: "The key to the apartment where the money is." But Bender gradually began to bulge out of the frames prepared for him. Soon we could no longer cope with him. Towards the end of the novel, we treated him like a living person and were often angry with him for the insolence with which he crawled through almost every chapter.

Ilf and Petrov were at the peak of popularity: their feuilletons were successfully printed in the newspaper Pravda, collections of their short stories were published, and after a trip to the United States in 1932-1935, the story One-Story America (1937) was published. “How do we write together? Yes, and we write together. Like the Goncourt brothers. Edmond runs around the editorial offices, and Jules guards the manuscript so that acquaintances do not steal it, ”the co-authors joked.

As Valentin Kataev predicted, two novels by Ilf and Petrov have become classics of humor and satire, translated into many world languages. They became even more popular after the cult adaptations with loved ones Soviet actors: "The Golden Calf" with Sergei Yursky, Zinovy ​​Gerdt and Leonid Kuravlev, "Twelve Chairs" with Andrei Mironov and Anatoly Papanov. In Odessa there is a monument to the Chair, a monument to Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov (in the City Garden). The monument to Ilf and Petrov was opened in the Sculpture Garden of the Literary Museum.

Monument to Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov in Odessa

One of the streets of Odessa is named after the writers. There are monuments to Kisa, Osa and Ellochka the man-eater in Kharkov, near the Rio cafe. And the monument to Father Fyodor, who ran out in Kharkov for boiling water, is installed on the platform of the Kharkov South Station. “Kharkov is a noisy city, the center of the Ukrainian republic. After the provinces, it seems as if he has gone abroad, ”wrote Fr. Fedor to his wife.

In 1937, Ilya Ilf died of tuberculosis. Petrov put a lot of effort into publishing notebooks friend, conceived great piece"My friend Ilf". In 1939-1942 he worked on the novel "A Journey to the Land of Communism", in which he described the USSR in the near future, in 1963 (excerpts were published posthumously in 1965).

The writer Yevgeny Petrov has two wonderful sons. We know the cameraman Pyotr Kataev (1930-1986), who shot the main films of Tatiana Lioznova. These are the well-known to us "Seventeen Moments of Spring", "Three Poplars on Plyushchikha", "We, the undersigned", "Carnival". And we know the composer Ilya Kataev (1939-2009) from the song “I’m Standing at a Half-Station” from the Soviet television series “Day by Day”. Ilya Kataev is the author of music for Sergei Gerasimov's films "By the Lake" and "To Love a Man".

Monument to Ostap Bender in Kharkov. Opened on August 22, 2005 on Petrovsky street. Sculptor Eduard Gurbanov. Prototype - actor Sergei Yursky

We will not disregard the mystical page of life extraordinary person Evgenia Petrova, who, according to existing legend, completes his earthly destiny.

They say the writer had a strange and rare hobby: I've been collecting envelopes all my life ... from my own letters! He sent a letter to some country, but he invented everything except the name of the state - the city, the street, the house number, the name of the addressee. Therefore, after a month and a half, the envelope returned to Petrov, but already decorated with multi-colored foreign stamps, with the indication "The addressee is incorrect."

But in April 1939, the writer sent a letter to New Zealand by inventing a town called Hydebirdville, 7 Wrightbeach Street and Merrill Ogin Waysley's addressee. In the letter itself, Petrov wrote in English: “Dear Merrill! Please accept our sincere condolences on the passing of Uncle Pete. Be strong, old man. Forgive me for not writing for a long time. Hope Ingrid is okay. Kiss my daughter for me. She's probably already quite big. Your Eugene. "

Monument to Father Fyodor on the first platform of the Southern Railway Station in Kharkov. year 2001. The inscription on the granite: "The first capital of Ukraine - to Father Fedor"

The story goes that by August he unexpectedly received not his own envelope, as usual, but the real answer, the return address read: "New Zealand, Hydebirdville, 7 Reitbeach, Merrill Ogin Weisley." And - the blue postmark "New Zealand, Hydebirdville Post."

The content of the letter horrified Petrov: “Dear Eugene! Thanks for the condolences. Ludicrous death Uncle Pete threw us off track for six months. I hope you will forgive the delay in the letter. Ingrid and I often remember those two days that you were with us. Gloria is very big and will go to the 2nd grade in the fall. She still keeps the bear that you brought her from Russia. " Petrov, who had never traveled to New Zealand, was completely amazed that in the photograph he saw a strong build man who hugged ... himself, Petrov! On back side the picture was written: "October 9, 1938" ...

Amazingly, it was on the day indicated in the photo that the writer was admitted to the hospital unconscious, with severe pneumonia. Then, for several days, doctors fought for his life, believing that he had almost no chance of survival. Petrov wrote another letter to New Zealand, but did not receive an answer: the Second World War... From the first days of the war, the writer became a war correspondent for Pravda and Informburo. Colleagues did not recognize him - he became withdrawn, thoughtful, and stopped joking altogether ...

Evgeny Petrov on the leader "Tashkent" broke through to the besieged Sevastopol. From left to right - Yevgeny Petrov and the commander of the "Tashkent" Vasily. Eroshenko

Here is the documentary truth: on July 2, 1942, the plane on which the front-line journalist Yevgeny Petrov was returning to Moscow from Sevastopol was shot down by a German fighter over the territory of the Rostov region, near the village of Mankovo ​​...

But amazing story added finishing touches: They say that on the day the news of the disappearance of the plane was received, a letter from Merrill Weisley was sent to Petrov's Moscow address. Weisley admired the courage of the Soviet people and expressed concern for the life of Yevgeny himself. In particular, he wrote: “I got scared when you started swimming in the lake. The water was very cold. But you said you were destined to crash on a plane, not drown. Please, be careful - fly as little as possible "...

A monument was erected at the site of the plane's crash ...

Angelina DEMYANOK, "One Motherland"

According to the rules in force at all times, biography creative personality consists of facts, guesses and outright inventions. The biography of the famous Soviet writer Evgenia Petrova. It is true that the child was born in Odessa, a city on the Black Sea. Father's surname is Kataev. Even many readers of our day know about the writer Valentin Kataev. But not everyone knows that Valentin is the older brother, and Evgeny is the younger. In life, it so happened that the youngest had to work under a pseudonym in order to avoid confusion on a historical scale and in solving everyday issues.

Kataev Jr. received his education in a classical gymnasium. In the early 20s of the last century, after the completion Civil war Evgeny came to Moscow after his older brother. Before that, he managed to work at home in the criminal investigation department. The work left its mark in the memory for a long time, and on the basis of these "traces" the young writer wrote the story "Green Van", based on which the film of the same name was shot twice. Due to the prevailing circumstances, the career of a detective in the capital did not work out, and the newcomer from Odessa had to retrain as a journalist. He was initially good at humorous and satirical sketches.

It should be emphasized that natural data - intelligence and excellent memory - allowed Eugene to quickly get used to the literary environment of the capital. The first humoresques and sketches from nature were published on the pages of the Red Pepper magazine. After some time, Petrov took the position of executive secretary of this publication. At that time, the young and energetic journalist was called a "multi-lingual". He had the strength and imagination to write several texts at once and send them to different editions. A similar practice is used today, but such a load is not within the power of every subject who smudges paper.

Creativity is like life

The personal life of Evgeny Petrov was simple and even banal. In the confusion of editorial affairs, love for the girl Valentina fell on him, who turned out to be eight years younger than the groom. Husband and wife, as they say, coincided in character, upbringing and temperament. The family took shape once and for all. And each child was born as a unique work. The Petrovs had two sons. And each literary work getting ready to go out like a beloved child. A similar harmony in family relationships is extremely rare.

Meanwhile, life in the country flowed and raged. Already an accomplished writer and journalist Yevgeny Petrov set himself and solved large-scale tasks. Some critics note that the novels “12 chairs” and “The Golden Calf”, created in collaboration with a colleague on the pen Ilya Ilf, became the pinnacle of his work. For a significant number of connoisseurs, the names of the authors - Ilf and Petrov - have become an idiom, sustainable combination... Among those noticed and appreciated is their book "One-Story America". Before reading these travel notes Soviet people little was known about how the American people lived in the outback.

When the war broke out, Yevgeny Petrov began working as a correspondent for the Soviet Information Bureau - Soviet Information Bureau. At the same time, he sent his materials from active army in the newspapers Pravda, Krasnaya Zvezda, Ogonyok magazine. War correspondent Petrov was killed in a plane crash in 1942 while returning from a mission to Moscow. After his death, collections of his works "Moscow is behind us" and "Front diary" were published.