'I am not a magician. I'm just learning ': a sad page fairy tale from Igor Klimenkov's' Cinderella'
'11.11.2020'
Source: Yandex Zen
His name is known to few, as the role in the fairy tale "Cinderella" remained the most significant work in his acting career. But Igor Klimenkov was able to do a lot in other areas of art, writes the author of the "Shining" blog on Yandex Zen.
In the Soviet film production of the fairy tale "Cinderella" directed by Shapiro and Kosheverova, a magical setting was created by extraordinary actors, including Igor Klimenkov, with his pure gaze and angelic appearance.
Acquaintance with the cinema
Klimenkov got on the set of the film "Cinderella" also in an almost fabulous way.
One of the director's assistants accidentally noticed a boy with an amazing appearance among the visitors of the library of the Palace of Pioneers of Leningrad and did not hesitate to invite him to audition, writing on a piece of paper where to come. The boy did not take this conversation seriously, in addition, he was engaged in many circles and he had his own hobbies, from which he was reluctant to break away.
A couple of weeks passed until the note was accidentally discovered by Igor's mother in the pocket of his clothes. When the director Kosheverova saw the boy, she immediately accepted him into the film crew to play the role of a page. Before that, photos of almost 25 thousand children from all over the vast country passed before her, but none of them came up.
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Cinderella in the picture was played by the radiant actress Yanina Zheimo, who at that time was already 36 years old, and Klimenkov was barely thirteen, but they became friends, as if both were schoolchildren.
Already becoming an adult, Klimenkov recalled that Yanina Boleslavovna's behavior betrayed a child's soul in her, while her hands looked much older. The directors hid them in beautiful high gloves, in which Cinderella is shown at the ball. The young performer of the role of the page and the main heroine of the film, in the moments of rest between filming, settled in a fabulous carriage in the shape of a pumpkin and chatted merrily while Cinderella smoked her cigarette of the Belomor-Canal brand, and the boy gnawed sunflower seeds. Then he talked about this friendship with the actress and the simple cordial relationship to which he treated with the delight of youth.
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A page of an angelic appearance was just learning to be a wizard, which he reported from the screens to the country, which remembered him and became very famous.
After a successful debut in Klimenkov's acting career, only one film appeared. In 1949, Igor was invited to take part in the filming of a nautical story called “Happy Voyage”, where he played the role of a young cadet from the school named after Admiral Nakhimov. The film did not receive much recognition and this work was the last for Klimenkov in the cinema.
Creative searches
Igor easily entered the theater institute after graduating from school, but quickly realized that this profession did not suit him, and left there. He possessed versatile talents and was good at drawing, so the next attempt to get an education sent the entrance exams to the Vera Mukhina School. But this art university has always had huge competitions and it failed. Finally, he managed to enter the Herzen Pedagogical Institute, which the guy was not destined to finish.
In the early 60s, a wave of illegal student organizations swept across the country. Students from the Leningrad Mining Institute formed a group that began to publish and distribute their own newspaper. They were arrested under the article for propaganda, and Klimenkov, who was among the sympathizers, was expelled from the pedagogical institute.
So fate itself pushed him to the main cause of life, in which he became a truly unique specialist. Igor did not finish his studies to graduate, but took up another hobby of his - playing the guitar. He achieved excellent success in this art, and also became a good teacher of this instrument. Over time, he went even further in the development of his profession and began to make author's unique guitars. Children's hobby has grown into a real creative vocation. He taught both adults and children to use musical instruments. Among his students was a very young girl Irena Zykova, whose mother was a talented Soviet guitar performer Liliana Sedletskaya.
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The girl came to the guitarist's workshop when she was only twelve years old, but an extraordinary feeling arose between them and after Irena reached adulthood, she and Klimenkov got married.
In the Republic of Estonia, the skill of the guitar master has found more application than in the conditions of Leningrad life. The guitarists' family moved to Tallinn. Igor did not sit without work - many professional performers were trained with him, who wanted to learn all the secrets of the instrument they played. Guitars coming out of the hands of the master sounded in different countries of the world.
The famous musician John Williams played his instrument in Mexico, in Argentina the instrument made beautiful sounds in the hands of the singer Maria Amdi, and in Venezuela the guitar, created by the hands of a Russian master, sang from the touch of the second largest performer in the world, Alirio Diaz.
The little page still became a real wizard, as he promised everyone from the big screens of cinemas. He created his wonderful creations from old furniture junk, randomly found pieces of wood, and one of the most amazing masterpieces, Klimenkov, cut out of an old table top.
The cover of an old rosewood table came to the master in a special way too. Igor's wife said about this guitar that it was priceless, because it was made of furniture made 300 years ago, especially for the emperor's chambers. During the marauding raids on the royal palaces after the revolution, the master who worked for Count Sheremetyev, realizing the value of the furniture product, carried it out in parts to himself, saving it from the fire. The guitarist met this man during a visit to Novgorod and before his death, a hundred-year old man entrusted him with his jewel - a rosewood table.
Life in Crimea
The family often performed together at guitar concerts in Tallinn. In 1982, during one such event, Alexander Perepadin, who was the director of the wealthy Pobeda collective farm in Crimea, heard their play. He invited the spouses-musicians to come to live with him on the peninsula, where he promised to help with obtaining housing and work. Igor and Irena decided to move and became residents of the village of Novenkoye. There Klimenkov was promoted to director of a local music school, and his wife began to work as a teacher.
In the village, they were treated as exotic characters who adhered to informal views and could express them openly. But the patronage of the collective farm director helped them out.
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During his life in Crimea, Igor Afanasevich created his own puppet theater, where each doll was created by his imagination and skill. The only son Nikolai grew up and tried his hand at business unsuccessfully, being unable to pay off his debts. The father had to sell all his masterpieces, down to the last doll.
The final blow for Klimenkov was complete blindness as a result of eye damage. He could no longer do what he loved and was completely wilted. The master passed away in the 72nd year, in the spring of 2006.
Having buried her husband, his wife Irena sold the house in Novenkoye and left in an unknown direction. In memory of the family in the former collective farm, only one photograph remains: Igor Klimenkov on the stage of the Palace of Culture with his students.
However, there is one more photo. At the humble grave of an actor, teacher and guitar master. From this photo, a little page smiles at rare visitors to the cemetery. And next to it is a phrase that made him, albeit briefly, famous: “I am not a magician. I am just learning".
Original column published on the blog. "Radiance" on Yandex Zen
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