I bring to your attention the first part of the scans of illustrations wonderful artist old "crocodile" Konstantin Rotov one of my favorite books from my childhood "The Adventures of Captain Vrungel" by Andrey Nekrasov.
There was also this cover.
"The sea captain Khristofor Bonifatievich Vrungel was born in Moscow, on Taganka, on December 22, 1934 at 4 o'clock in the morning. Over the next five years, he was formed and strengthened - quite enough to embark on a" round the world "full of dangers! "The only circumnavigation in the world trip on a two-seater sailing yacht. One hundred and forty thousand miles. Lots of visits, lots of adventures ... "
Already at departure, the yacht and its crew, repaired by a fresh forest (and therefore taking root), and its crew surprised the crowds of the curious. At the same time, the name was also lost: from the glorious "Victory" it became "Trouble"! Yes, it does not matter, judged Khristofor Bonifatievich! As well as the fact that the senior assistant Lom has a “rare nose for alcohol”, and the low tide in the Norwegian fiords can surprise you that the documents for squirrels were licked by a chameleon, and the new sailor Fuchs understands only playing cards! There are no hopeless situations for the old sea dog!
"Captain Vrungel, who is he?" All the ins and outs were given out in the late seventies by his literary parent, writing a detailed afterword to the story.
A long time ago, twenty-five-year-old Andrey Nekrasov worked in a Far Eastern whaling trust, the director of which was Andrey Vasilyevich Vronsky, a very interesting person. At one time, together with a friend who later became the famous captain I.A. Mann, he decided to make a trip around the world on a two-seater yacht. The trip did not take place, the yacht rotted on Vasilyevsky Island, and the dreams became funny stories that Vronsky told absolutely wonderfully!
For example, that there are no bad ships, no bad winds, there are bad captains! So it’s worth standing on the stern and knocking out corks from bottles of soda-whiskey one after another, and the ship will begin to move forward already according to the rocket principle! ..
A couple of years later, Nekrasov (already in Moscow) told some of Vronsky's fables to the famous writer Boris Zhitkov, and he advised him to write a "tale" about the captain who had cheated. So Vrungel was “born”… Why Vrungel? You can’t name the hero of a humorous story after a respected person ... There were, however, historical precedents! Remembering Baron Munchausen and the famous Russian sailor Baron Ferdinand Wrangel, Nekrasov "christened" his as yet nameless hero Vrungel! Lom is Mann translated into French from German, a good-natured, but narrow-minded big man ... Sailor Fuchs is a sailor of a whaling flotilla ... Fuchs! Small, bearded, roguish ...
In addition to Vronsky's funny stories, the book also includes other maritime fables, funny cases witnessed by the author himself. The details made the story more truthful, which is very important for a book “built on lies”. "You have to lie convincingly!"
The author offered the rough-finished manuscript to Pioneer magazine. "Vrungel" decided to print, but - in the form of signatures to large drawings... Nekrasov agreed to shorten the story. “I literally had to fight with myself because of every word” ... “Adventures ...” were included in the Pioneer plan for 1937, it was time to order illustrations! In principle, Konstantin Pavlovich Rotov, who was then at the zenith of his fame, agreed, but his time was scheduled by the minute! Nekrasov had to sit down next to him in the buffet of the Pravda publishing house and - almost against the will of the artist - tell the content of the story. Still, he agreed ... Nekrasov writes: “It was not for nothing that I so stubbornly sought Rotov's consent to this work. Since then, both here and abroad, many artists have taken on the illustration of this book, but, in my opinion, the first illustrations created by K.P. Rotov".
I have not seen the work of foreign illustrators, but I am familiar with some domestic ones. And I completely agree with A.S. Unless the color illustrations of V. Bokovny looked, because in them, again, half of Rotov, and a quarter of the cartoon. And besides him, the book was illustrated by: M. Belomlinsky, A. Voronkova and V. Dmitruk, N. Bayrachny, P. Severtsev, S. Serov, G. Yudin, A. Kostin, A. Danilin, G. Samoilov, A. Akatiev, V. Popova, O. Parkhaev, R. Sakhaltuev, A. Lukyanov, V. Korkin, M. Glashkin, A. Ilyin…
"Vrungel" was published in "Pioneer" in series, six episodes in each issue. The publication evoked hot conflicting responses! .. Here V. Litvinov wrote in the newspaper "For Communist Education": "Adventures ..." can only make the most unpretentious reader laugh "... Despite everything, together with the artist, Nekrasov began to prepare a story for separate edition, I had to restore the truncated, re-polish the whole story ...
In the spring of 1939, 25,000 "Adventures ..." fell into the hands of readers! All Vrungel's friends were waiting for what the critics would say ... In the seventh issue of the magazine "Children's Literature" for 1939, two articles appeared at once. The author of one of them, Lev Kassil (“Circumnavigation of the utter liar”), predicted a long and happy life for the book, the author of another, I. Rakhtanov (“Treatise on the nature of lies or a distress signal”), denied the right to lead to existence, predicted oblivion for Vrungel …
“It seemed to some that it was this second article that correctly predicted the fate of the book” ... Se la vie: war, devastation, restoration of the economy, Stalinism - not up to Vrungel's lies! The book has not been reprinted...
But "Vrungel lived in the hopes of his friends"! And hopes came true! In 1958, 200,000 Adventures were published! Although it was written in the preface that the book had been significantly revised, the story remained the same as before, there were only a few minor replacements of the original text, and another chapter on marine terminology was added (and then - as a result of a miscalculation by the technical editor).
Having survived adversity, Vrungel has begun to live a new life since 1958. happy life! In 1961 " fantasy story”was published in Omsk, in 1965 there was a Moscow reprint, the circulation of the seventies was more than 500,000 thousand copies, the eighties - about 2,000,000 copies, the nineties - also about 2,000,000 copies. Yes, and 100,000 copies of the book, published already in the 21st century, mean something. English, Armenian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Georgian, Indian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Turkmen, Uzbek, Yugoslav, Japanese (and some other) children read Vrungel in their own languages. “The good old captain equally generously gave smiles to all readers” ... The author of the book was sure: “I didn’t waste my time and work on this book in vain!”
Valery OKULOV
February 9th, 2016
In the early 1980s, it was possible to drive children home from the street (and then they still spent more time in the yards, and not in the four walls of apartments or computer clubs) by one very in a simple way. It was enough to shout from the balcony that the Adventures of Captain Vrungel were about to begin.
No wonder - it was the first Soviet animated series, and what a one! During its show, the yards were cleared of children at about the same speed as the streets “lost” adults a little earlier, when the heroes of the series Seventeen Moments of Spring came to life on the blue screens.
After the release of Vrungel in 1979, the entire Union and even some other countries learned about the Kievnauchfilm film studio.
The cartoon has become a cult for several generations of children born in the USSR and post-Soviet states. And the only cartoon super factory of dreams in the Land of Soviets - the Soyuzmultfilm studio - has acquired a serious competitor in the face of Kyiv animators.
The heroes of the animated series looked and moved in a way that was not quite usual for that time - the cartoon was made by a rare method of rearrangement. In addition, the adventures of the captain funny last name conquered hitherto unknown on the expanses of one sixth of the land with looseness and wit, parodying many stereotypes of Western and Soviet cinema.
Mafiosi with "speaking" names stylized as Italian - Giulico Bandito and De La Voro Gangsterito - refer to Italian-American gangster films, agent Zero-zero-x - to the famous Bondiana, the phrase "Chief, everything is lost!" - to the classic comedy by Leonid Gaidai The Diamond Arm.
The unusual atmosphere of the cartoon, characters and gags (humorous miniatures) - all this is basically the fruit of the imagination and extraordinary humor of one person - the director of the film, David Cherkassky. His talent, revealed in Vrungel, then flourished in other popular cartoons - Doctor Aibolit and Treasure Island.
But it's not just the director. Grateful viewers literally pulled all these three animated series into quotes. Although all the cartoons were made according to well-known literary works, phrases like “I am bloodthirsty, I am merciless”, “the living will envy the dead”, “your song is sung” or “put the captain aside” acquired the unique intonations of the famous Soviet actors Zinovy Gerdt, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan and Farada seeds.
The main hit of the Adventures of Captain Vrungel, passing from mouth to mouth, was the song of the Italian mafiosi: "We are a gangster, gangsterito ...". “When our friends from sunny Italy came to visit us and we began to sing this song,” says Natalia Zavalnyuk from Kiev, who, together with her husband, has been a fan of Vrungel for many years, since her childhood. “They looked at us with round eyes and were perplexed: it seemed to be in Italian, and at the same time nothing was clear.”
For the Kyiv actor Yevgeny Paperny, who voiced several roles at once in Vrungel and other cartoons by Cherkassky, to sing this song in any house where there are children and where he had to be, became a kind of labor duty for a guest.
“At one time, both of my daughters watched these cartoons, and now my granddaughter is growing up on them. At school, they were proud to be the children of Dr. Livesey and Giulico Bandito [Cherkassky's cartoon characters voiced by Paperny]," the artist smiles.
"We were just trying to tell fascinating story and tell it in a funny way. I don't like tragedies and I don't understand what it is.", - Cherkassky says quite seriously, explaining the reason for the success of his work.
Most Soviet children, only after watching the cartoon, found out that the captain they fell in love with had a literary source. Book of the same name little-known writer Andrei Nekrasov, written in the 1930s, at the end of the era of General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, when the cartoon appeared, was already firmly forgotten.
This happened even despite the unusual situations that the brave Russian captain Khristofor Bonifatievich Vrungel, his assistant Lom and the Frenchman Fuchs, who joined them, got into during a round-the-world voyage on the Pobeda-Trouble yacht. Problem literary work was that the adventures of his heroes were described in insipid language.
Perhaps the book would not have received fame at all and would not have become the basis for the most popular cartoon. But the illustrations saved her. The pictures, hand-drawn by the classic Soviet caricature Konstantin Rotov, gave the publication a special aura of romance of distant wanderings.
The well-known artist also illustrated the books The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov and The Old Man Hottabych by Lazar Lagin. In addition, his brush belongs to one of the most recognizable images of children's Soviet literature- Uncle Styopa, a policeman from a poem by Sergei Mikhalkov.
Mostly devoid of ideological overtones, these drawings have a timeless charm. Like many independent talents, Rotov did not escape Stalinist repressions. He was arrested on trumped-up charges in 1940 and spent 14 years in camps and exile before being rehabilitated.
After Rotov, the creators of the cartoon Vrungel did not need to invent much. The illustrations of the book, as if through tracing paper, migrated to film. Vrungel makes Lom jump from a cliff for squirrels onto the yacht Trouble, the crew of this boat accelerates with the help of gases from opened bottles of champagne, Vrungel and Fuchs, dressed in one huge cloak, fly in an airplane - all this is taken from Rotov with the accuracy of a storyboard.
"The drawings were mesmerizing"- director Cherkassky recalls his first impressions of the book, which he saw for the first time in 1950. Thanks to these illustrations, he fell in love with the story of Nekrasov, as well as the Three Musketeers of Alexandre Dumas and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, which the director read in childhood.
Radna Sakhaltuev - Buryat Walt Disney. Character Creator
"Treasure Islands", "Doctor Aibolit" and "The Adventures of the Captain
Vrungel". People's Artist of Ukraine.
The common pirate-adventure theme of all three of his famous animated series is from there - from literary childhood. But he truly gave Vrungel a second birth. The main characters turned out to be no less funny than Rotov's, and the director's script significantly surpassed Nekrasov's mediocre text.
“When I started doing the director's script, I felt that I lacked dramaturgy, conflict Cherkassky recalls. — And immediately they came up with two gangsters, came up with a boss and an agent who interferes with them. And the heroes led me along.
So instead of the ideologically seasoned scoundrel-imperialist-militarist Admiral Kusaki, who Nekrasov has, Cherkassky got two handsome, impossibly funny Italian gangsters, their boss and the agent Zero-zero-x opposing them, as persecutors of the Vrungel team.
Grigory Shpigel - Agent 00X
“All the gags were not written in the script and were invented on the go, Cherkassky continues. — Just like that, of course, tricks didn’t appear - I had to review thousands of [Western] magazines, which in my time had a lot of different jokes.
Participants in the filming of the cartoon recall that their work on the story of the adventures of the funny captain and his no less humorous team was a real holiday.
“I remember the joy that was around. We [ film crew] played football every day, and when they made a movie, I don’t remember Cherkassky says. — We didn't even discuss anything during this work time. This was my system: nothing is written out [in advance] in the script, full impromptu.
But it was not always so. Sometimes there was not enough time to deliver the next series, and therefore beds were placed for the group right in the studio. Everyone not only spent the night there, but also cooked food and even drank. “Cognac on the windowsill, grub. There were no night shops then, but, nevertheless, David [Cherkassky] is a very hospitable person in this regard - he supplied us with food and doping. And we kept on this doping, starting each other», - Paperny recalls such “hands-on work”.
The actor also remembered the gatherings after work (at a time when it was not necessary to shoot episodes in an accelerated mode) with the production designer of the film, Radna Sakhaltuev, who lived not far from the studio.
In addition to the owner of the apartment, his guests, fried chanterelle mushrooms, young potatoes and strong drinks, which were purchased back in work time. “I'm not saying we got drunk. For courage, as Cherkassky said, a degree was needed that raised us from the [level] of everyday life and just above the microphone, ”Loma’s “voice” laughs.
Courage was indeed needed. After all, the lives of the characters literally depended on the actors who voiced the characters. Artists drew facial expressions and movements for them, starting from the voice, which was recited in advance.
The fate of the protagonist turned out to be more difficult than others. Three episodes had already been filmed, but Cherkassky still could not find a "voice" for Vrungel. The director tried many fairly well-known actors - Vladimir Tatosov, Valentin Nikulin, Oleg Onufriev - until the idea finally arose to invite the famous Zinovy Gerdt.
“He was the era then. Voiced everything french paintings. Gerdt is musical and sings a lot, and if not his part, then he sang along, made jazz so- the director admires the work of the artist. — He man of genius. And it was a pleasure to get to know him, to talk with him, to rejoice together.”
Zinovy Gerdt as Captain Khristofor Bonifatievich Vrungel
“Having defended the shift, we went to the hotel Ukraine, where Gerdt lived then, Paperny recalls. — Everyone went to the hotel, and he fell behind, finishing his cigarette (he then smoked a lot), and then, happy, limping, flies in and says: “Why did you all leave?! At the corner, with a click of about six meters, I hit the urn with a bull. And then suddenly some old woman runs across the road and yells: “I saw it! I saw you hit it right! Zinovy Gerdt, you are not only a talented [artist], you are also a basketball player!”
A talented ensemble cast harmonized well with a strong group of animators. Suffice it to recall that it was on Vrungel that the Russian director-animator Alexander Tatarsky, the father of the Plasticine Crow, the author of the cartoons Padal, began his career. last year's snow, Investigation leads koloboks and plasticine screensavers from the 1980s to transmission Good night, kids.
The animators did their job so brilliantly that the transfer technique - the gradual movement of paper-cut parts of the figures of heroes, objects and other things in which the animated series was filmed - looked very realistic.
“The characters turned out to be more voluminous, and not flat, as in the drawn technique,- says production designer Sakhaltuev. — Then the translation was used by many. Another thing is that not everyone succeeded. When the translation is inept, then the joints are visible where parts of the character are cut off.
Semyon Farada - Giulico Banditto
In addition, the Adventures used another unusual technique for animation at that time, when real images of the sea or a forest fire were inserted into the cartoon life. And they did it, according to Cherkassky, only because of the lack of time. After all, the film crew managed to release only three ten-minute episodes a year. In total, 13 of them appeared in three years.
“The end of the year was a nightmare for us. They drove, and they were already stuffing whatever they got in there, just to hand over [the next portion of the episodes on time], - recalls Sakhaltuev. — They even brought some schoolchildren to the studio, who helped to paint over something there.”
Then it was hard to imagine that a masterpiece would come out of all this. Although for the creator of Vrungel he never was like that. “I have never perceived and do not perceive Vrungel as a cult cartoon, Cherkassky admits. — It was so long ago that I've been in another place for a long time - in another place, at another time. But it's a blessing that the way I feel has coincided with the joy of the people who watch it."
Interesting facts and bloopers:
The prototype of Captain Vrungel was Nekrasov's acquaintance with characteristic surname Vronsky, a fan of telling maritime fiction stories with his participation. His surname was so suitable for the main character that the original book was supposed to be called The Adventures of Captain Vronsky, but out of fear of offending a friend, the author was forced to look for another.
The prototype of one of the main characters of the senior assistant Lom in his story was a cadet of the naval school Ivan Mann. The surname of this character in German means "man" (Mann), and in French "man" - "l'homme" (sounds like the Russian "Scrap").
Measure sea water temperature
seems possible due to the lack of such!
The abundance of "blunders" is due to the fact that the film, according to David Cherkassky himself, was created at a record speed and there was no time to correct many inaccuracies. But the discovery of so many overlaps and, in addition, the systematization of some of them only says that the cartoon is very good and that fans are ready to review it again and again.
Almost the entire series is made in the technique of translation. (A number of shots also use clippings from photographs, wires, threads.) The exception (the usual hand-drawn animation) is mainly those shots where the object moves towards the viewer, or, conversely, moves away into the depths of the screen, or is panned from different sides.
At the Chef forefinger throughout the film is absent on the right, then on the left hand.
Yes, I will grind you down, grind you into powder, fry you over low heat ...
However, I'll come up with something worse for you. I will kick you out and
you have to be again honest people. (With.)
The mustache of the protagonist, Christopher Bonifatievich Vrungel, throughout the series looks either jet black, or black with gray hair, or completely gray. The color of his cap also changes: now white, then black, then blue, and the shades of blue are different.
No wonder I called the yacht "Victory".
Images of cartoon characters and individual mise-en-scenes were created largely based on classic illustrations Konstantin Rotov. But the captain's mustache was added by the artist Natalya Guz, which gives the cartoon Vrungel, along with his manner of smoking a pipe and imposing, unhurried movements, an outward resemblance to Stalin.
The sails on the "Trouble" and on the "Black Cuttlefish" periodically disappear and reappear. Apparently, this is a special move by the creators in order to desired episodes focus the viewer's attention on the characters. It is possible that the steering wheel on the "Trouble" temporarily disappears for the same reason. Or it is such a steering wheel that is easily moved from place to place, since it was blown up a couple of times by artillery shots, and a minute later it was back on deck.
The design of the "Black Cuttlefish" is curious. On larger plans, this ship resembles a wooden ship of the 18th century. (moreover, the fore-sail is striped, black with orange), on the general ones - a modern model of a single-mast yacht (the fore-sail is plain brown). A binnacle with a compass moves now to the bow of the yacht, then to the helm.
The number and arrangement of locks on the double bass case varies from frame to frame. At the end of the eighth series, the gangsters defiantly pick all the locks, but two episodes later they reappear on the case out of nowhere. At the same time, the case was thrown up and dropped many times, but the sculpture, oddly enough, did not break into pieces.
The sailors on the Black Cuttlefish, when they first appear before the audience (series 3), are one-legged and bearded, like the captain. In subsequent episodes, they "modify" and remain so until the end.
Agent Zero-Zero-X in the second series - with a huge nose, no mustache and a gold tooth in his mouth. Starting from the fourth series, his nose becomes narrower, antennae appear (which, however, either disappear again or become thicker), and the golden tooth is no longer visible.
Ha ha ha! Hands up. Your song is sung...
The third series ends with the episode where Julico and De La Voro receive an assignment from the Chief. At the beginning of the fourth series, when this episode is repeated, both gangsters are dressed differently. In these costumes, they remain until the end of the film. Gangsteritto's mustache also disappears in a couple of shots.
Throughout the regatta, Turkish sailors move from yacht to yacht, judging by the color of the sails, decks and sides.
Regarding hats: a) minor bandits in the castle in an interesting way change hats (episode 9); b) the earflap on Fuchs' head becomes his usual hat and vice versa (episode 9); c) the theater director's boater turns into a wide-brimmed cowboy hat and back (episode 11).
We're not exactly Hawaiian in a way.
Rather, not even Hawaiians at all ...
There is uncertainty with the color of the gloves of the Agent, and the Gangsteritto, and the minor bandits in the castle, and the captain of the Black Cuttlefish, and his sailors.
Cigars behave strangely in the teeth of Archibald Dandy. In the second series, the speaker gets up with a cigar in his mouth, and as soon as he starts speaking, the cigar disappears somewhere. IN last episode(where it turns out that the speaker and the Chief are the same person) Mr. Dandy takes a cigar out of his mouth with two fingers and says the first words "Do you know ...". In the next frame (lips close-up), she is again between the teeth.
At the start of the regatta (series 3), the speaker asks: “Are all the yachts ready?”. Immediately after these words, the camera shows that all the participants in the race are still calmly standing in a row on the embankment. In addition: a) the yachts in different shots are turned to the pier either bow or stern; b) the formation of the guardsmen stands facing the sea, sometimes with their backs; c) the neighbors of the pirates on the left turn out to be the Turks, then some other sailors.
As you call the yacht, so it will float.
According to the plot, at the beginning of the regatta, Fuchs does not yet know the sea teams and the names of the gear. So, with the command “Fill the grotto!” (which means "to pull the main ship's sail"), he decides that he must "fill some cave to capacity." However, a few shots earlier, the new sailor is rather deftly hoisting the mainsail with the captain and the first mate. Actually, this is not entirely a blunder: a person may know what “sails” are in general, but not know how each of these sails is called by sailors.
Many maritime terms, maritime jargon and special constructions (not only the aforementioned “fill the mainsail”, but also “tack”, “poison the chain”, “earth on the nose”) are understandable only to those viewers who have already read the story of the same name by Andrei Nekrasov.
During the maneuvers, the yacht "Trouble" makes an overkill coup. As the smoke clears, the audience sees the yacht upside down, with the snorkel sticking out of the keel like a periscope above a submarine. Then the camera shows in close-up how Vrungel, lurking behind the keel, raises this pipe carefully and not immediately. It's just not a very good setup.
The sea overboard in the vast majority of the frames of the series is real, not painted. Is not single type combining animation and cinema in the series: in the second series, Vrungel and Lom run through a real forest, in the seventh series a car drives through the streets of a real city, in some episodes the real sky serves as a background (black and white inserts from newsreels do not count). Also, real fire and / or smoke are embedded in the cartoon frame.
In the burning forest mentioned above, figures of firefighters are visible.
Gangsters get into the car clearly in Egypt. But in the next episode, they are driving on highways that look a lot like MacArthur's Labyrinth in San Francisco.
Julico and De La Voro contact the Chief while sitting in the car in their normal clothes. When the Chief turns on the video phone, both bandits appear on the screen in Arab outfits (which they used to wear as disguises) against the backdrop of a stone wall.
Building the scenery for the Neptune Festival, Vrungel rolls out a wide checkered carpet on the deck of the yacht. This can only mean that the mast, along with the sails, was removed somewhere for a while. Vrungel-“Neptune” appears before his sailors in a clown mask, with a classic circus remark “Ha ha! Here I am!" and shows the real circus show with tricks and other tricks (note that clowns, strong men and tigers are painted on the flags interspersed with Neptunes and mermaids). But at the end of the holiday, the captain gets an artificial beard, which is more in line with the traditional image of the sea god.
Leave the captain to dunk!
In the ninth episode, the Agent, landing on the island of Shef, holds an umbrella in right hand. In the next frame, the umbrella moves to left hand, and in the right there is a bag that has come from nowhere.
The sperm whale belongs to the toothed whales. When the sperm whale in the cartoon sneezed, you could really see large teeth in its mouth. And only in one frame, where the sperm whale's mouth was slightly open, a whalebone was visible in it, as, for example, in a bowhead whale or a fin whale.
In the tenth series, when the gangsters notice an island with a volcano from afar, smoke is clearly coming from the crater. However, on close-up it turns out that the vent is plugged with a cork. The volcano is generally unusual: it has a firebox, and steps lead to the top of the crater. This despite the fact that the island was distinctly called "uninhabited".
The shots accompanying the shot from the cannon (the inscription "BUMM!", asterisks, puffs of multi-colored smoke and a flying clock mechanism) were subsequently used by David Cherkassky in three episodes of the animated series Doctor Aibolit.
Some items tend to resize relative to the characters. First of all, this refers to the case of the double bass and to the sculpture inside.
Mani, mani, mani, mani. We are not people, but pockets.
And pockets, as you know, need money.
Another characteristic example is the door on which Vrungel and Fuchs float after the explosion of the volcano. Also noteworthy is a crack on the surface of the island with a volcano: it becomes either wider or narrower.
In Fuchs's Tale, the order of the yachts at the start of the regatta is changed again. The captain of the Black Cuttlefish is missing his right leg instead of his left, and an eye patch appears.
It's written on a gangster submarine with Latin letters: "Underwater boat". This technique is not new: in Leonid Aristov's cartoon "African Tale" there were spellings "Protokol" and "Prigovor".
Name: Captain Vrungel (Christopher Bonifatievich Vrungel)
A country: Russia
Creator: Andrey Nekrasov
Activity: seasoned sailor
Family status: not married
Captain Vrungel: character history
catch phrases resolute Captain Vrungel - a real storehouse of wisdom. Still, after all, a brave hero has plowed the whole world for a long maritime career. This characteristic does honor to the experienced sea wolf. And it does not matter that most of the stories told by a man are provided with incredible and implausible facts. Behind fantasy stories kindness, selflessness and fearlessness are hidden.
History of creation
The author of the brave navigator is Andrey Nekrasov. Before being a writer, man for a long time worked as a sailor on a fishing boat. One of the hobbies of the future "father" Vrungel was to write down legends and sea stories shared by familiar sailors.
Leaving work on the ship, Nekrasov, on the advice of a familiar prose writer, created several stories dedicated to sea adventures. And in 1937, the Pioneer magazine published brief excerpts from the story The Adventures of Captain Vrungel. The editors decided to break the voluminous story into several parts. Periodical Readers whole year followed the journeys of the brave captain.
In a full-fledged format, the story was published in 1939. The published book was expanded with several new adventures and included a chapter on Japan and an uncensored magazine.
Nekrasov did not hide from his fans that all the characters in the humorous story have prototypes. For example, the prototype of Vrungel is Andrei Vronsky. The writer's friend liked to regale his acquaintances with fables about marine life. It was stories like these that inspired the author to write this book.
At first, Nekrasov even planned to leave the character's real name, but considered that Vronsky would not like such fame. After a painful search, the brave captain received the surname Vrungel, which is very consonant with the name of a fellow writer.
"The Adventures of Captain Vrungel"
Nautical school teacher Christopher Bonifatievich Vrungel, who devoted many years to free time sea and ships, one day he decided to go on a trip around the world. An inveterate bachelor, accustomed to getting by with a minimum, quickly found a suitable vessel for himself.
The yacht, looked after by the captain, required a little repair. While the ship was undergoing changes, Khristofor Bonifatievich was looking for an assistant who would help the hero make such a long and dangerous journey.
Soon fate brought the man to a guy named Lom. Heroes quickly found mutual language, but the departure was postponed - Lom did not know English, without which the circumnavigation of the world is impossible. Soon the trouble was eliminated, and Captain Vrungel's yacht set sail from the shore.
At this point, the first problem emerged. While Lom was learning English, the trees from which the ship was being completed took root. Together with the yacht, half of the pier set sail from the shore. The heroes had to take a break to clear the ship. In addition, during a small crash, the yacht lost half of its name. Now, instead of the beautiful name "Victory", the ship was called "Trouble".
Norway was the first stop on the way. To admire the views of an unfamiliar country, the sailors moored at the fjord, but made a mistake in assessing the area. After low tide, the ship hung between two rocks. The men had no choice but to wait for the tide. In order not to waste time, the heroes went ashore, where they fell into the epicenter of the fire.
The fire drove both sailors and local squirrels into the water. Resourceful animals did not lose their heads and jumped from land to the yacht. Well, the captain and his assistant followed suit. Later, the squirrels were taken to a zoo located in Hamburg. The good-natured captain could not leave the animals that had lost their homes.
Holland was remembered by Khristofor Bonifatievich for herring. In observing the locals, the cunning sailor came up with the idea of how to deliver fish to another state without hiring a large ship. To do this, the captain placed himself on the bow of the yacht and with the help of a whip drove the swimming fish in the right direction.
Such work tired Vrungel, and the hero decided to take another assistant on the ship. In Calais, the sailor Fuchs joined the team of "Troubles". True, already at sea it turned out that the man was a card cheat and did not understand anything in the maritime business.
On the shores of England, the restless trinity was invited to participate in a sailing race. Naturally, the experienced captain Vrungel did not refuse. A man with brilliance led "Trouble" to victory. All possible assistance in this was provided by corked bottles of sparkling drink.
Not far from mediterranean sea real pirates attacked the hero. However, such actions did not frighten the resourceful captain. Khristofor Bonifatievich fumigated the ship with tobacco smoke and, while the attackers made their way through the smoke screen, turned the ship over. The robbers had the impression that the yacht had sunk, and the villains retreated.
The heroes continued their journey. We handed over the herring in Egypt and headed to Africa. There, Vrungel loaded unusual provisions onto his ship and set off further along the course. But it soon turned out that the deck was full of small crocodiles that had hatched from freshly bought eggs. A brave captain sent 50 small biting reptiles overboard.
So imperceptibly experienced sailors reached the equator. To please the bored assistants, Vrungel changed into. But such entertainment puzzled the men. Lom and Fuchs decided that the chief had had a sunstroke, and dipped the hero into the water a couple of times. This caused irreparable damage to the reputation of the seabass.
However, Khristofor Bonifatievich restored good name after saving Fuchs from a shark with simple lemon, which threw the predator right into the mouth.
In the ice of the Southern Ocean, on the way of brave men, a sperm whale caught a cold. Wanting to help a sick animal, Vrungel got into a new mess. "Trouble" brought to the ship of an organization that saves sperm whales from extinction. True, the methods of the defenders differed in originality. Environmental activists decided that The best way save sperm whales - just destroy them all.
For the "unhelp" of the organization, Vrungel and his team were landed on a desert island. But even in such conditions, Vrungel, accustomed to Spartan conditions, settled down comfortably. True, carried away by kindling fires, the man blew up a piece of land, lost the yacht and Lom's faithful assistant.
Picking up a small board, the captain and the second sailor reached the Hawaiian coast. Here the hero found out that his native "Trouble" was carried to Brazil. Therefore, the men in a hurry left the paradise island in order to return to the chosen course again.
After the reunion of the team, Khristofor Bonifatievich took the yacht to New Zealand, and briefly stopped in Australia. Near New Guinea with "Trouble" there was an accident. The mast, broken by the typhoon, had to be replaced with a palm tree, which was planted right on the deck of the ship.
Not far from Japan, the long-suffering ship sank after all. Experienced sea wolf before last moment did not part with the yacht, but, realizing that the "Trouble" could not be saved, he cut off the impromptu mast with his own hands. Such a decision was not easy for the hero, because a real captain does not fit to part with the ship even in dangerous situation.
Hired as stokers on a ship passing by, Vrungel and his team get to Canada. In the new country, the men had to change the sea vessel for sledges, into which the heroes harnessed an uncontrollable dog and a cow. So, on the chaise, the hero returned to hometown, where the brave captain was greeted with a standing ovation.
The risky journey ended successfully thanks to the skill, wisdom and fearlessness of Christopher Bonifatievich. Soon the man returned to his former position as a teacher. And now the hero sometimes recalls his own adventures during conversations with talented students.
Screen adaptations
In 1978, director Gennady Vasiliev transferred the image of the brave Christopher Bonifatievich to television screens. In the film "The New Adventures of Captain Vrungel", the schoolboy Vasily Lopukhin was mystically transferred to the character's ship. Together, the heroes coped with enemies and hardships. The role of Captain Vrungel went to the artist. The actors spent three months on the Crimean coast, filming sea scenes on a converted fishing felucca.
In 1980, Captain Vrungel became a hero animated film. Filming of the project began in 1976, but the premiere took place 4 years later due to the laboriousness of the creation process. The cartoon includes 13 episodes, each of which took 16,000 drawings (the cartoon was filmed on the principle of "relaying"). They entrusted to voice the main character. The main antagonists of the cartoon were mafiosi-"banditos" who got to the "Trouble" in a submarine.
Image brave captain often operated in the TV show "Alarm Clock" from 1983 to 1985. Vrungel's costume was tried on by an actor. In one of latest releases two characters appeared on the TV screen at once. Actors Mikhail Pugovkin and the previously mentioned Yuri Volyntsev performed as a duet in the miniature "Two Vrungels".
Quotes
“Ay-yay-yay, what to do? Senior Assistant Scrap! Get out of the hold ... champagne! And shoot corks astern!”
“How do you do, Fuchs? I mean, how are you?”
“We're not exactly Hawaiian in a way. Rather, not even Hawaiians at all ... "
“Clear the port side of greenery! It’s inconvenient somehow to swim with the estate: the fish will laugh.
"Whatever you call a yacht, that's how it will float."
Andrei Nekrasov is a writer, essayist, prose writer, better known to the reader as the author of the adventures of the famous Captain Vrungel and his faithful assistants, Fuchs and Lom.
Favorite cartoon
More than one generation of children grew up on this work, successfully filmed by director D. Cherkassky in 1978. Saveliy Kramarov, Vladimir Basov, Mikhail Pugovkin, Sergei Martinson speak in the voices of their favorite characters in the 13-episode cartoon. The unlucky and fearless Captain Vrungel was voiced by Zinovy Gerdt.
Andrey Nekrasov would hardly have been able to write such an epoch-making fantasy book for children, sitting at his desk at home. Therefore, he personally decided to conquer the seas and oceans in order to get in touch with the life of his hero in reality. Rather, it was the other way around: first there were oceans and seas, and then a cute character Khristofor Bonifatievich Vrungel appeared, who described his incredible adventures around the world, naturally embellishing them a little.
Andrey Nekrasov: biography
Andrei Sergeevich Nekrasov was born in Moscow on June 22, 1907. The doctor's son was fond of adventure literature in childhood; The Travels of Marco Polo made a special impression on him.
After graduating from school in 1924, he began working as a fitter at the metropolitan tram station, but young Andrey was attracted by unknown horizons, and in 1926 he moved to distant Murmansk, where he got a job as a sailor on a fishing boat. Then there was another ship. And further.
And he beat whales, and mined gold
Sailing on a variety of ships as an ordinary sailor and fireman in the regions of the Far East and Far North, Andrey Nekrasov began to write down interesting cases and funny situations witnessed and in which he took part. For 10 years in difficult natural conditions tried myself in different areas: stood at the burning furnaces of the ship's stoker heavy watches, hunted walruses in the Bering Strait, organized pacific ocean whaling, mined gold on the Amur and oil on Sakhalin. In 1933, after graduating from the marine technical school in Vladivostok, Nekrasov Andrey Sergeevich was appointed deputy in the maritime department of the Dalmorzverprom trust.
Nekrasov's writing activity
The first publications (1928) were separate notes and poems (mainly for a children's audience), under which Andrey Sergeevich Nekrasov signed as Tope.
In 1935, the book "Sea Boots" saw the light of day - a collection of stories in which the author shares with the reader stories about the hard working days of sailors in the North. In 1936, the publication of the book "The Tale of Comrade Kirov", written in collaboration with several writers, took place.
The book "The Adventures of Captain Vrungel", published in 1937 and brought popularity to its author, was translated into many languages and reprinted several times. The prototype of the captain was an old acquaintance A.M. Vronsky, who headed the Far East the first whaling trust and often entertained his friends with invented stories at his leisure. At the same time, the writer Bogdanov N.V. not unreasonably believed that one of the prototypes of Christopher Bonifatich was Nekrasov himself, who amused the editorial staff with fascinating tales-stories.
The book was met with mixed reviews by critics of the time. So, Leo Kassil praised the story, written for people who love jokes, appreciate the intricate charm of fables and notice the true philistine meaning in ridiculous absurdities. The writer I. Rakhtanov predicted that the frivolous work would soon be forgotten, but after 30 years he changed his mind, including Vrungel in the category of books that are destined for a happy long life.
Almost immediately after the publication, the children's book was withdrawn from sale, and the author, who at that time held the post of assistant to the 1st secretary of the Dnepropetrovsk regional committee, was arrested and sent to build the Norilsk plant.
Postwar years
In 1941, Andrei Nekrasov volunteered for the front, served in aviation and infantry; since 1942 he was an employee of a front-line newspaper. In 1943 he joined the Writers' Union of the USSR.
In 1944, having fallen under the wheels of a merciless repressive machine, the writer was convicted by a military tribunal for 3 years.
After rehabilitation, the writer was in the leadership of a closed yacht club for Soviet captains and even acquired one of the decommissioned German yachts, which he called "Trouble" in honor of the book counterpart. When launched, the ship sank, fully justifying its name, and after repairs, hitting the power line with steel shrouds, it completely burned down.
Before last days Nekrasov Andrei Sergeevich was a member of the editorial board of the literary almanac "Ocean" and the magazine "Pioneer". He died at the age of 80 on February 15, 1987.
Navigation at our nautical school was taught by Christopher Bonifatievich Vrungel.
“Navigation,” he said in the first lesson, “is a science that teaches us to choose the safest and most profitable sea routes, plot these routes on maps and navigate ships along them ... Navigation,” he added at last, “is not an exact science. In order to fully master it, you need personal experience long practical swimming ...
This unremarkable introduction was the cause of fierce disputes for us and all the students of the school were divided into two camps. Some believed, and not without reason, that Vrungel was nothing more than an old sea wolf at rest. He knew navigation brilliantly, taught interestingly, with a twinkle, and apparently he had enough experience. It seemed that Khristofor Bonifatievich had indeed surfed all the seas and oceans.
But people, as you know, are different. Some are gullible beyond measure, others, on the contrary, are prone to criticism and doubt. There were those among us who claimed that our professor, unlike other navigators, never went to sea himself.
To prove this absurd assertion, they cited the appearance of Christopher Bonifatievich. And his appearance really somehow did not fit with our idea of \u200b\u200ba brave sailor.
Khristofor Bonifatievich Vrungel walked in a gray sweatshirt, belted with an embroidered belt, combed his hair smoothly from the back of his head to his forehead, wore pince-nez on a black lace without a rim, shaved cleanly, was obese and short, his voice was restrained and pleasant, often smiled, rubbed his hands, sniffed tobacco and in all his appearance he looked more like a retired pharmacist than a sea captain.
And so, in order to resolve the dispute, we somehow asked Vrungel to tell us about his past campaigns.
- Well, what are you! Now is not the time,” he objected with a smile, and instead of another lecture, he arranged an extraordinary navigation test.
When, after the call, he came out with a pack of notebooks under his arm, our disputes ceased. Since then, no one has doubted that, unlike other navigators, Khristofor Bonifatievich Vrungel gained his experience at home, without embarking on a long voyage.
So we would have remained with this erroneous opinion if I had not been lucky enough to hear from Vrungel himself a story about world tour full of dangers and adventures.
It came out by accident. That time, after the control, Khristofor Bonifatievich disappeared. Three days later we learned that on the way home he lost his galoshes in the tram, got his feet wet, caught a cold and went to bed. And the time was hot: spring, tests, exams ... We needed notebooks every day ... And so, as the head of the course, they sent me to Vrungel's apartment.
I went. Easily found an apartment, knocked. And then, while I was standing in front of the door, Vrungel appeared to me quite clearly, lined with pillows and wrapped in blankets, from under which a nose reddened from a cold sticks out.
I knocked again, louder. Nobody answered me. Then I pressed the doorknob, opened the door and ... was dumbfounded by surprise.
Instead of a modest retired pharmacist at the table, deep in reading some ancient book, sat a formidable captain in full dress uniform, with gold stripes on his sleeves. He gnawed ferociously at a huge smoky pipe, there was no mention of pince-nez, and his gray, disheveled hair stuck out in tufts in all directions. Even the nose, although it really turned red, became somehow more solid with Vrungel and expressed determination and courage with all its movements.
On the table in front of Vrungel, in a special rack, stood a model of a yacht with high masts, with snow-white sails, decorated with multi-colored flags. There was a sextant nearby. A carelessly thrown bundle of cards half covered a dried shark fin. On the floor, instead of a carpet, a walrus skin with a head and with fangs was spread, in the corner lay an Admiralty anchor with two bows of a rusty chain, a curved sword hung on the wall, and next to it was a harpoon-killer. There was something else, but I did not have time to consider.
The door creaked. Vrungel raised his head, closed the book with a small dagger, got up and, staggering like in a storm, stepped towards me.
- Very nice to meet you. Sea captain Vrungel Khristofor Bonifatievich,” he said in a thunderous bass, holding out his hand to me. To what do you owe your visit?
I confess, I got a little scared.
“Well, Khristofor Bonifatievich, about notebooks… the guys sent…” I began.
“I'm sorry,” he interrupted me, “I'm sorry, I didn't recognize it. The cursed disease has shattered all memory. Star has become, nothing can be done ... Yes ... so, you say, behind notebooks? - Vrungel asked and, bending down, began to rummage under the table.
Finally, he took out a pack of notebooks and slapped them with his broad, hairy hand, and slapped them so hard that the dust flew in all directions.
“Here, if you please,” he said, preliminary loudly, with taste, sneezing, “everyone is “excellent” ... Yes, sir, “excellent”! Congratulations! With full knowledge of the science of navigation, you will go to plow sea spaces under the shadow of a commercial flag... Commendable, besides, you know, and entertaining. Ah, young man, how many indescribable pictures, how many indelible impressions await you ahead! Tropics, poles, arc swimming great circle…” he added dreamily. - You know, I raved about all this until I swam myself.
- Did you swim? Without thinking, I exclaimed.
- But how! Vrungel was offended. - I something? I swam. I, my friend, swam. He even swam. In some ways, the world's only trip around the world on a two-seater sailing yacht. One hundred and forty thousand miles. Lots of visits, lots of adventures... Of course, times are not the same now. And morals have changed, and the position, - he added after a pause. - Much, so to speak, appears now in a different light, but still, you know, you look back like this, into the depths of the past, and you have to admit: there was a lot of both amusing and instructive in that campaign. There is something to remember, there is something to tell! .. Yes, you sit down ...
With these words, Khristofor Bonifatievich pushed a whale vertebra towards me. I sat down on it like on a chair, and Vrungel began to talk.
Chapter II, in which Captain Vrungel talks about how his senior assistant Lom studied English, and about some particular cases of the practice of navigation
I sat like this in my kennel, and, you know, I got tired. Decided to shake the old days - and shook. He shook it so much that dust went all over the world! .. Yes, sir. Excuse me, are you in a hurry now? That is great. Then we'll start in order.
At that time, of course, I was younger, but not so much that I was a boy at all. No. And the experience was behind him, and years. Shot, so to speak, a sparrow, in good standing, with a position, and, I will tell you without boasting, on merit. Under such circumstances, I could have commanded the largest steamship. This is also quite interesting. But at that time the largest ship was just at sea, and I was not used to waiting, I spat and decided: I would go on a yacht. It is also, you know, not a joke - to go on a round-the-world voyage on a double sailing vessel.
Well, I began to look for a vessel suitable for the implementation of the plan, and, imagine, I found it. Just what you need. Built just for me.
The yacht, however, required a little repair, but under my personal supervision they put it in order in no time: they painted it, put new sails, masts, changed the sheathing, shortened the keel by two feet, extended the sides ... In a word, I had to tinker. But it was not a yacht that came out - a toy! Forty feet on deck. As they say: "The shell is in the power of the sea."
I don't like premature conversations. I put the ship at the bank, covered it with a tarpaulin, and for the time being I started preparing for the trip.
Success, similar enterprise, as you know, largely depends on the personnel of the expedition. Therefore, I chose my companion with particular care - the only assistant and comrade in this duty and hard way. And, I must admit, I was lucky: my senior assistant Lom turned out to be a man of amazing spiritual qualities. Here, judge for yourself: seven-foot-six, voice like a steamer, extraordinary physical strength, endurance. For all that, excellent knowledge of the matter, amazing modesty - in a word, everything that a first-class sailor needs. But Loma also had a drawback. The only one, but serious: complete ignorance of foreign languages. This, of course, is an important vice, but it did not stop me. I weighed the situation, thought, figured it out and ordered Lom to urgently master English colloquial speech. And, you know, Lom took possession. Not without difficulty, but mastered in three weeks.
