One Step (Leonid Iovich Gaidai centenary)

The American educator Thomas Paine, in his treatise “The Age of Reason“, published in 1795, wrote: “One step and the great becomes ridiculous; one more step and the funny becomes great.“ This step is sometimes lifelong. Such a life was the fate of director Leonid Iovich Gaidai. His humor expressed a simple essence - a person should be happy. And the most direct way to do this is through laughter. Gaidai was gifted with a unique talent to feel this good nature of laughter and reveal it to moviegoers. His films are still watched in one breath. They are interesting for both children and adults. In 2023 the 100th anniversary of his birth. And, although he was born in the Amur region, his whole life is inextricably linked with the city of Irkutsk. He grew up in Irkutsk, studied, he returned here after each successful film, his family lived here. On the outskirts of Glazkovo, on Kasyanov Street, 35, Leonid Gaidai’s father, Iov Isidorovich, built a house for the family himself. Leonid Gaidai had a brother Alexander and a sister Augusta. The whole family was very friendly. There were many books in the house. The brothers and sister loved to study. Augusta became a technologist at the Irkutsk Mica Factory. Alexander became a famous reporter and writer. Leonid Gaidai grew up as a tomboy. He studied at the railway school number 42, now there is a lyceum. We can visit the museum there and even see the class where the director studied. As a student, Leonid was creative: he went to a drama club, played the balalaika, and participated in amateur performances. Immediately after school, in 1942, Gaidai went to the front. And he returned to his native Irkutsk on crutches, wounded. In the winter of 1944, he came to the director of the Irkutsk Drama Theater Volin and asked to be accepted into the theater studio. After three years of study, he becomes an actor and gets roles in the theater. But this is not enough for him, and Leonid Gaidai decides to go to Moscow. There he entered the Institute of Cinematography - VGIK. Then he decided for himself that he likes to make films more than to be an artist. His first films failed at the cinema, they were criticized. Gaidai went to his parents in Irkutsk, where a decisive turn in his fate took place. In the attic of the house, he found a number of the “Pravda“ newspaper with the feuilleton “A Dog Barbos“ by Stepan Oleinik. The feuilleton fascinated him extraordinarily. The nine-minute film “A Dog Barbos and the Extraordinary Cross“ was a huge success. A unique phenomenon was born of three super-popular heroes of Soviet cinema - Dunce, Coward and Leery, who later shone in Gaidai’s films. We can safely say that director Leonid Gaidai was the star of the Soviet Union in the sixties and seventies of the last century. Irkutsk and his father’s house in Glazkovo have always been dear to Leonid Gaidai. From Moscow, from the filming, which went either in the Crimea, or in Baku, or in America, letters were constantly sent home. It was so habitual for him that after each film he came to Irkutsk. He stayed with his brother Alexander, visited his sister Augusta, wandered the streets of childhood. He died in 1993. In 2012, a monument to Leonid Gaidai was opened in Irkutsk. It consists of two large sculptures: one embodies the legendary trio of the film “Caucasian captive“ - Coward, Dunce and Leery, the second depicts film director Leonid Gaidai in the process of directing the shooting. The monument is installed on Labor Square, near to the circus. If you approach him, you seem to get on the set and can participate in the process. Irkutsk keeps the memory of Leonid Gaidai, he is remembered here, loved and appreciated. Memorial plaques have been opened in the city: on the house where the Gaidai family lived for many years (along Kasyanov Street, house 35), at Lyceum No. 42, where he studied (Profsoyuznaya Street, house 3). The center of Russian cinematography named after Leonid Iovich Gaidai was founded in the cultural center “Artistical“ and a memorial plaque was installed (Karl Marx Street, 24) Gaidai is a recognized classic and master of comedy. Our city is rightly proud of such a countryman. He took a step from the ridiculous to the sublime, showed us laughter, in which there is love, and goodness, and truth, there is only evil in it. _____ TEXT, VIDEO and EDIT: Viktor Kudelya Music: “Echoes of the 60s“: “Smile“ Fragments of films: “Caucasian captive“, “Ivan Vasilievich changes his profession“, “A Dog Barbos and the Extraordinary Cross“ Used materials: “Chronicles of Angara“ electronic catalog of periodicals and resources of the Irkutsk region. Curator - M. V. Kudelya Helped shoot video: mom