Back to the ussr about the Kremlin tree. Who was the main Santa Claus at the Kremlin's New Year tree? Incognito from Veliky Ustyug

Quite recently, at a concert in the Philharmonic, I unexpectedly saw my school teacher, physics teacher Tamara Ivanovna Pospelova (now Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation T.I. Kravchenko). Largely thanks to her lessons, at one time I went to study at the Physics and Mathematics of the Pedagogical Institute. During the intermission, I approached her, greeted her and without much hope of the desired answer (more than fifty years have passed since we met) asked: "Tamara Ivanovna, do you recognize your former students?" I was stunned by the answer. “Of course, I find out - Vadim Sviridov,” Tamara Ivanovna confidently responded without hesitation. Just think - after twenty-six years of teaching at school, twelve years of work as deputy head of the city department of public education and many years of work as the head of the section of pedagogical labor veterans, when thousands of people flashed in her life, Tamara Ivanovna remembers the names of her first students!

And then, on the eve of the New Year, I remembered the event of school life, amazing for twenty boys and girls of the eighth grade of the railway school No. 12 in the city of Yaroslavl, which happened thanks to Tamara Ivanovna. I mean a trip to Moscow during the January school holidays in 1955 for the Kremlin New Year's tree. But at that time the very idea of ​​visiting the Moscow Kremlin seemed incredible and fantastic. The Kremlin has always been closed to the people, and suddenly, for the first time in those days, its gates were thrown open for children. The fate of the country was decided in the Kremlin, and the upcoming visit caused a certain thrill. The times were still very gloomy, alarming, and even we, children, saw enemies, pests, spies around whom the KGB was catching. And around the country there was an imperialist encirclement, military blocs and bases, aircraft carriers and aircraft with hydrogen bombs, whatever you say, but fear lived in our souls. The name of the great Stalin was still surrounded by an aura of glory, although for some reason it was heard less and less on the radio and flashed in newspapers. A little less than two years remained before the exposure of the personality cult. The name of Beria, the disguised enemy of the people who had penetrated the Kremlin, was also fresh in the memory. These are my assessments from the standpoint of those years.

At that time, of course, I did not think about what it cost our teacher to get tickets for the very first Kremlin Christmas tree in Yaroslavl, and only later I realized how difficult it was to send us to the capital. This is a separate story. By some incredible efforts, unknown moves, the attraction of influential people in Moscow, the persistence and energy of Tamara Ivanovna, this trip to the Kremlin became possible.

And here we are in Moscow. We were placed at the school, in the gym, where we were to spend three nights, since in addition to the Christmas tree, several more museums were planned to visit. Then we slept on the floor, on sports mats - girls in one corner of the hall, guys in another. They went to bed without undressing, covering themselves only with their coats. Then it seemed to us normal and even habitual, because in the fall, when harvesting potatoes on the Gorshikha collective farm, we slept in the same way for a whole month in the village.

Moscow in those days seemed to me uncomfortable and gray, with gloomy and also gray people, among whom there were a lot, which was especially striking, smart military of unknown types of troops. All the time I felt some kind of tension in the faces and silent crowds of people. The streets seemed deserted, apparently from the twenty-degree frost and the prickly wind, which made us have to jog around the city. At the Borovitsky Gate of the Kremlin, a strict military man at the checkpoint checked our tickets, and now we are standing at the Tsar Cannon and Tsar Bell, which greatly amazed our imagination. I remember later one young Georgian, after visiting the Kremlin, excitedly told me that he "saw a big bell" there. Indeed, the Tsar Bell is like our big school bell.

We went through the Faceted Chamber to the majestic St. George Hall, where a huge Christmas tree was installed, hung with balls and shining with colorful lights. The hall was filled with high school students who surrounded the tree, the intricate voices of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden could be heard from somewhere. New Year's fun was in the Kremlin!

Such as we are quite adult guys, the tree itself was of little interest, especially since we were not entitled to gifts, unlike Muscovites, who, to our envy, received them in beautiful metal painted suitcases. For me, the New Year is still identified with the smells of spruce needles and tangerines, and then in the Kremlin buffets were also sold oranges, which I had not tried, and lemonade in terribly attractive bottles wrapped in gold foil. All this was remembered, but the most important thing for me then was something else. I imagined how tsars and emperors marched through these magnificent halls and, probably, Stalin's own boots creaked. I looked into all the corners of the Grand Kremlin Palace where one could go. For some reason, the doors of the conference room of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR turned out to be unlocked, where I timidly, on a small step, entered, seeing in reality what was often printed in newspapers. For me, the palace was also interesting because my mother visited here in 1938 for a meeting of members of the women's councils of the command staff of the Red Army. It was not at all an ordinary event, because Stalin spoke to women. Our family still has a cardboard, stamped, numbered pass in her name.

We visited the Kremlin and the Armory, which was first opened in those days, where the country's Diamond Fund was also exhibited. All this was interesting, especially for the guys. We devoted two days to trips to the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum and the Museum of Gifts to Stalin. The Gift Museum occupied a huge building with a huge number of all kinds of exhibits, from hundreds of smoking pipes to Persian carpets. I remember that most of all were struck by the huge carpets depicting Stalin and scenes from his life, made by Central Asian craftswomen. As now I see a small grain of rice lying under the microscope, on which a whole poem dedicated to the leader was written.

Later it became clear that the opening of the Kremlin to the people, the holding of the first New Year tree there were the beginning of that Khrushchev thaw that came a little later. First of all, this was expressed in the fact that soon people began to meet with intelligent faces, in clothes from someone else's shoulder, shod on bare feet and with plywood suitcases. Soon there was an opportunity, albeit timidly, to speak the truth about what we had.

That old Kremlin New Year tree was remembered not just for an unusual entertainment, but left a deep mark in the minds of each of us and was, I must say frankly, one of the turning points in the life of the whole country.

A few words about the main official children's holiday in the USSR - New Year. memoir series of notes.

From 6 to 10 years old, I went to several trees every New Year and even visited twice "The main Christmas tree of the country" in the Kremlin. By December 31, I had such stocks of sweets (and they gave a gift at each tree) that I could drink tea for three months in the evenings only with them.

The most carbonaceous and complex Christmas tree theatrical performances took place in the recreation center of the Hammer and Sickle plant on Zolotorozhskaya (?) Street. In addition to the performance itself, one could also look at the fish in the aquariums and, in general, the recreation center itself was a very good and intimate place. Probably, he remained with him now, because for a long time the gay club "Chameleon" was located there, and gays are known as picky in aesthetic matters.

I often found myself in the recreation center "Frezer" (seemingly), which was located near the railway station Perovo.

But the worst tree in my memory was a tree in the fresh air (that is, in a fifteen-degree frost) in Izmailovsky Park. Just to say that I was very cold there is some reticence. I was naturally numb there from the frost. Who invented this concentration camp for children?

The Christmas tree action was built on approximately one canvas - a gathering of children with round dances and dances about little ducklings to the accordion, some kind of performance and, finally, the distribution of gifts. There was nothing interesting there (I already understood this when I was 6-10 years old), but such was the tradition - the New Year came and we had to go to the Christmas tree.

If it was burdensome for you to walk, then you could always send one of your parents for a gift.

A few words about the pretentious event called "Kremlin tree", which was considered as the main one in the USSR and was the flagship of this branch of the Soviet show business.

It is clear from the name of the event that it took place in the Kremlin. A Soviet citizen did not get inside especially often (both then and now), but it was interesting there!

In the Palace of Congresses, the children first of all could appreciate the cleanliness of the toilets there. Perhaps from the public, they were the cleanest in the country.

At the gathering of children, some pioneers stood in a cordon, who (just like the modern policemen) were present, but did not know anything and did not decide. They could not help with anything.

An offensive incident happened to me there. Gifts were given out on tickets after the concert, and I left my ticket in my outerwear and handed it over to the wardrobe. Therefore, I then had to run out of the wardrobe back for what was supposed to be. Anyone who decided that it is a joy for children to carry a cardboard sheet half the size of an album sheet with them for two hours is a great connoisseur of children in general and pioneers in particular.

In the reports (and the newspapers wrote about the "main Christmas tree of the country" and the program "Vremya") it was necessarily mentioned that "This year the Kremlin Christmas tree will be visited ..." some regular nomenclature guests - Vietnamese children, children from BAM, some Samantha Smith and other similar figures. I didn’t come across, but the general attitude towards everyone without exception in those corridors and halls was simply imbued with indifference.

At the appointed time, a gang of gathered children was launched into the hall, took seats (it seemed that any seats were not indicated in the tickets) and watched some of the new cartoons for dispersal. It was there that I first saw and immediately noted for myself "Kitten from Lizyukov Street".

Here in this hall, only the backdrop with Lenin was draped in accordance with the event.

After about half an hour, the performance itself began. He collected all the worst vices of theaters and it was difficult to watch him. But we have to. After all, then your parents and classmates will ask you about your visit to the Kremlin. The plot was monstrous, although serious stage special effects were used - flying over the stage on a cable, noise, light, and so on.

There were a hundred people on the stage, no less.

Having endured this side dish, the children received a red plastic Kremlin tower (a box in the form of it) with sweets and chocolates.

Having dressed (and this is where the pioneers from the cordon came in handy!), Went out into the street and, like suitcases at the airport, moved along an oval loop. And the parents grabbed the children like things from a conveyor belt. Whoever was not snatched on the first lap (just like the suitcase), went to the second and could wind eight circles like that before the parents deign to call out to their child.

Tickets to the Kremlin were distributed through the school, and I don't even remember any special intrigues during the distribution. This tree had more prestige in the eyes of adults than in the eyes of children.

The child could later see the same performance on TV. On the seventh of January of the new year (at the end of the New Year's holidays), television necessarily showed the action. This is apparently for those aesthetes who did not get on it, but wanted to evaluate the level. On TV, she looked even more boring and worse than live, and its broadcast did not cause a stir among children, even at the level of puppet cartoons.

Now the children's Christmas tree culture is completely a thing of the past and today's children in the New Year (thank God!) Now have completely different pleasures. Such that we could not even dream of.

Every year, on the eve of New Year's holidays, many children's performances are held in our capital. However, the Christmas tree in the Kremlin is still considered the brightest and most colorful. More than one thousand children and their parents are looking forward to this event. Therefore, it is not surprising that many are already interested in what the Kremlin Christmas tree will be like in 2018.

Historical reference

The first time this event took place in 1954. The heroes of the performances of that time were not fabulous heroes at all, but real people - revolutionaries. A lot of time has passed since then and now on the stage of the Kremlin you can see cartoon characters, fairy-tale characters, and of course Santa Claus and Snow Maiden.

It has always been prestigious to attend these performances. Previously, this event could be compared with a trip to Artek, since there were no free tickets on sale, and only children of the party nomenklatura or heroes of socialist labor could get to the Kremlin Christmas tree. Now, in order to visit the main Christmas tree of the country, it is not necessary to perform heroic deeds.

In the thirties of the last century, the main Christmas tree was held in the Column Hall, and only in the fifties the Kremlin became its place of "registration". The first role of Santa Claus was entrusted to M. Garkavi - the husband of the famous throughout the country artist L. Ruslanova. He was a very charming person and played many interesting roles, ranging from WWII soldiers to entertainers of jazz orchestras. Mikhail Naumovich, like no one else, approached the role of the country's main Santa Claus. The children of the Soviet country loved him very much for his sincerity and openness.

Since the nineties, the main post of Father Frost in Russia has been occupied by the famous actor D. Nazarov. He is known to many for his roles on such theatrical venues as:

• Maly Theater;
• "Sphere";
• Moscow Army Theater;
• Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov.

Some remembered him for his roles in films, in the role of Stalin and Yeltsin. He also starred in a number of television projects. More than one popular cartoon has been voiced by his voice.

What is remarkable about the Christmas tree in the Kremlin in 2018

The Kremlin tree has a rich history and traditions. Most of the country's children still dream of visiting it. For many years of its existence, it has not lost its human face. Everything here is subordinated to the tastes and interests of children. The Christmas tree in the Kremlin continues to amaze the public. Every year directors and directors do their best to keep the New Year's event in the Kremlin in the memory of the kids for a long time. Every season the writers come up with new and exciting stories so that interest in the tree not only does not fall, but also grows continuously. The directors of the children's show are constantly changing the scenery, making them even richer and more colorful. The creators of all kinds of special effects keep up with them. What will be the performance this year is kept secret until the very last moment. Despite the intrigue, most viewers are confident that the next show will be even more ambitious and impressive. After all, the best specialists in this field are working on the project. There is no doubt that the 2018 Kremlin Christmas tree will also be the best in recent years.

The experience of recent years shows that the most interesting are performances with interactive content. Surely the next New Year's performance in the Kremlin will meet these requirements, and young spectators will be able to participate in the development of events on the stage. Kids will feel that they are in a real fairy tale with their favorite characters.

A good tradition has already developed, when a New Year's holiday for children begins from the very threshold of the Kremlin Palace. Wonderful events unfold right in the foyer in front of the main performance, where children can take part in all kinds of competitions and fun games. Animators disguised as their favorite children's heroes lead round dances with the kids and entertain them as best they can. The duration of the pop-game program is 45 minutes. Before each performance, kids can also watch an interesting cartoon. The performance itself lasts one hour and ten minutes. The finale of the holiday invariably ends with the presentation of a delicious and sweet gift.

The timing of the children's New Year party in the Kremlin has remained unchanged for many years. This winter it will take place: from 25.17.17 to 08.01.18.

Schedule of New Year's performances

Tickets

You can buy tickets for performances from 06.12.17. It is from this date that the official distribution of tickets starts. They are valid for children from 7 to 15 years old. One ticket entitles you to receive only one gift. For school performances, accompanying persons are not allowed into the hall, with the exception of one leader for every ten students, for whom a ticket is also required. Children are only allowed to attend shows on 25, 26, 30, 31 December 2017 and 1 January, 2 January and 8 January with adults. For other dates, this order applies only to 18:00. The exceptions are sessions:

• 25.12.17 — 10:00;
• 29.12.17 — 10:00;
• 30.12.17 — 10:00, 14:00;
• 31.12.17 — 10:00, 14:00;
• 01/02/18 - 10:00 and 14:00;
• 07.01.18 — 10:00;
• 08.01.18 — 10:00.

If the event is going to be attended by two adults and one child, you need to buy two sets of tickets, if one is an adult and two or more children, then you should purchase one set and the required number of children's tickets. This applies to events held at 10:00 and 14:00.

You can buy tickets for children in the parterre. The seats on the balconies and in the amphitheater are designed to be visited with adults, that is, you need to buy sets.
Adults without children are not allowed to the show. They can only receive a gift for an already purchased ticket.

Morning and afternoon performances are attended exclusively by children, with the exception of 25, 26, 30, 31.12.17 and 01, 02, 08.01.18.

The gift spine must be kept until the end of the performance. It is for him at the end of the performance that a gift will be given in the foyer.

The entrance to the show starts one hour and fifteen minutes before the time indicated on the tickets.

You can get to the Christmas tree by driving the metro to the Aleksandrovsky Park station and then going through the Troitsky Gate, which is under the Kutafya Tower.

If you are your child who goes to the show himself, check that he has a mobile phone with your number.

Access to the performance is carried out with tickets corresponding to the date and time of the performance.

Ticket price:

The ticket price includes:

• wardrobe;
• game program in the lobby;
• basic presentation;
• new year gift.
• good mood.

Official site

In the finale of his Bibigon, Korney Chukovsky promised: “And when the New Year comes, I will put my tiny friends in the pocket of my warm fur coat, and we will go to the Kremlin for the Christmas tree. And I imagine how happy and happy the children will be when they see with their own eyes the living Bibigon and his cheerful smart sister, his sword, his triangular hat and hear his fervent speech. "

"Bibigona" after a 10-year stay "on the shelf" was allowed to print at about the same time when the first Christmas tree was held in the Kremlin Palace. Until 1954, the main Christmas tree of the country was a holiday in the Column Hall of the House of Unions. After death, the doors of the Kremlin opened, and on New Year's Eve several thousand happy children gathered here. For the behavior of the New Year tree in the Kremlin, the Great Hall of the Kremlin Palace was used, and the country's main Christmas tree, richly decorated with airplanes, satellites, astronauts and sheaves of wheat, was installed in the St. George Hall, which was completely unsuitable for this.

The heroes of the first performances, scripts for which were written by such aces as Lev Kassil and Sergei Mikhalkov, were Red Army men, workers, peasants and Bolsheviks — these are “ours”. The main Baba Yaga of the 50s were the White Guards. But ours won, waving a saber and quoting paragraphs from the short course of the CPSU (b).

After 10 years, the student theater "Our House" found new scriptwriters for the Christmas tree in the Kremlin Palace - Eduard Uspensky, Alexander Kurlyandsky and Arkady Khait. The "fathers" of the crocodile Gena and the parrot Kesha returned the fairy tale to the New Year, making the main characters of Santa Claus, Snow Maiden, wizards and sorceresses and, of course, the charming Baba Yaga.

Natalia Vishnyakova

Much less is known about Sergei Ivanovich Preobrazhensky than about all his colleagues in the role of "the main Santa Claus." But it was thanks to him that Santa Claus became what he is now.

Preobrazhensky was not just a playwright, but also a talented teacher. He knew how to work with children himself and taught this to others. It was Sergei Preobrazhensky, who took over the position of Santa Claus at the Christmas tree in the Column Hall of the House of Unions, who formulated recommendations for artists performing in this role.

It's hard to believe, but in the late 1930s, when the New Year trees in the USSR had just appeared, the dominant role of Santa Claus was not at all obvious. Moreover, this character did not even participate in the holidays everywhere.

Sergei Preobrazhensky clearly formulated: "Santa Claus is the main manager, the first entertainer and the leader of all the fun." He confirmed these words by many years of work on the Christmas tree in the Hall of Columns.
Some argue that he worked in this role until the early 1960s. But the relatives of Sergei Ivanovich say that in the mid-1950s he underwent a serious operation, after which he no longer performed.

Alexander Khvylya

In 1961, the Kremlin Palace of Congresses was opened in Moscow, in which in subsequent years the congresses of the ruling Communist Party of the Soviet Union were held. In accordance with the slogan “All the best for children”, the main New Year tree of the country began to be held in the newly built Palace.

Actor Alexander Khvylya as Morozko in the film of the same name, 1964 .. Photo: russianlook.com
The Kremlin Christmas tree received the status of an important state event, and the candidate for the role of the country's "main Santa Claus" was selected very meticulously.

Father Frost. Snowfall, Zimnik and Treskun. What our ancestors called Santa Claus
Everything was decided by the cinema. In 1964, a fairy tale film "Frost" was released on the screens of the country, where the role of the winter wizard was played by the actor Alexander Khvylya. By that time, he had on his account the heroic roles of Budyonny, secretaries of party committees, the image of the stern Captain Gulya from "Fifteen Years Captain" and many other works.

In the image of Morozko, Alexander Leopoldovich turned out to be so organic that at the top they decided: "You can't find the best Santa Claus for the Christmas tree in the Kremlin!"

Khvylya coped well with the role of Santa Claus, however, since he took up his post as a rather middle-aged man, sometimes incidents happened. For example, he could not master working with a radio microphone. Once, having finished his part of his speech in the Kremlin, Santa Claus Khvylya went backstage and began to complain aloud about a number of problems. The voice of Ded Moroz, dissatisfied with the life of Santa Claus, hovered over the Kremlin Palace, and the technicians could not catch the artist in the intricate corridors. However, Grandfather Frost did not have time to say anything really seditious.

Roman Filippov

If Alexander Khvylyu was put on the throne of “the main Santa Claus” by cinema, then his successor won the “kingdom” for himself.

Roman Sergeevich Filippov is one of the best masters of an episode in Soviet cinema. Possessing a high stature and a loud voice, Filippov did not fit the roles of the main characters, but he was remembered for the short time that the directors assigned him. Well, who does not remember Nikola Pitersky from "Gentlemen of Fortune", whom Yevgeny Leonov almost deprived of his sight with the help of a "goat"? And what about the visitor from the restaurant in the Diamond Hand, who cordially invites Nikulin and Mironov to the Kolyma?

Already being a long-term Kremlin Grandfather Frost, Roman Filippov tied himself even more strongly to the New Year's holiday, playing Kamneedov in "The Wizards".

New Year's Eve in the Column Hall of the House of Unions, 1973.
First, Filippov was invited to the Kremlin Christmas tree as an understudy for Alexander Khvylya. There were many doubles, but they all worked with Khvyli's phonogram (most of the performance was held under a previously made recording). Filippov insisted that a phonogram with his voice be recorded. Then the actor made sure that he and Khvylya took turns working.

In general, when Khvylya went to retirement, the question of who would become the most important among Santa Claus was no longer a question.

Roman Filippov played the role of Santa Claus on the country's main Christmas tree for almost two decades. He got so accustomed to her that he asked colleagues to replace him at the theater in early January. He was adored by children and parents. And the latter has become a problem over time.

The fact is that the dads who brought their children to the Christmas tree began to meet Filippov with champagne (and not only with champagne), wanting to have a drink with Santa Claus. As a rule, Filippov did not refuse.

As a result, sometimes Santa Claus was late to appear on the stage, and his colleagues had to play up what was happening, which is not so easy, given that the performance is accompanied by a previously recorded phonogram.

However, these pranks to Roman Sergeevich were forgiven for his ability to work with children and devotion to the New Year holiday.

It just so happened that Roman Filippov spent the last Christmas tree in January 1992, just a few days after the disappearance of the USSR. At his last performance, the presenter made a mistake: instead of the traditional phrase "Santa Claus does not say goodbye to you," he sounded "goodbye." This turned out to be a bad prophecy: just a month later, Roman Sergeevich was gone.

Dmitry Nazarov

When the official residence of Father Frost appeared in Veliky Ustyug in the 1990s, the position of the country's main Father Frost also became official. A casual person could not hold such a high post. In addition, a large actor was required, not only in terms of talent, but also in terms of physical dimensions, with a powerful male voice and charm.

Incognito from Veliky Ustyug

Who plays the role of the main Father Frost of Russia today is not known for certain. When journalists begin to pester the wizard with questions about who he really is, he logically answers: “How who? Santa Claus, of course! "

Father Frost during a visit to St. Petersburg, December 22, 2013.
According to sources close to reliable, Dmitry Nazarov resigned as chief Santa Claus. His successor is named the star of the series "Voronins" and the disaster film "Metro" Stanislav Duzhnikov. According to external data, Duzhnikov is quite suitable for this role. However, the actor himself claims that he does not play the role of Santa Claus, since even his own daughter exposes him.

Whether it is true or not, only Santa Claus himself and his entourage know. This is probably correct. After all, the incognito of the acting New Year's wizard is part of his image. You can guess about something, but you cannot be sure. After all, this is part of the New Year's magic, which neither children nor adults want to give up.