Ostap Suleiman Ibrahim Berta Maria Bender-Bey. The real great schemer: who was the real prototype of Ostap Bender

Many talented actors tried to play the role of an "ideological fighter for banknotes", and only one became a genius. Here, as - one talent is not enough. Some got the image, others the role, the third - an ordinary middle-aged guy, wrapped in a scarf with a cigarette in his mouth and a black and white captain's cap on his head. But only.

And it's not about them, it's about him. He was not the first and not the last Ostap, but in the end, he became the only, the best ... I do not pretend to be a film critic or an expert, but for me the best swindler in the history of cinema, the best Ostap Bender is Andrey Mironov. But first things first.

There were 9 great schemers in total. More precisely, 9 completely different actors in different eras tried on the image of someone who knew "four hundred relatively honest ways to take money." We remember only those actors who played the role of Ostap Bender.

By the way, the prototype of Ostap was a person who really lives in this world. Osip Shor - that was the name of the main prototype of Ostap, lived a long life. He is famous for being known as a famous swindler and adventurer, tall - under 2 meters. For some time he worked as an inspector of the criminal investigation department of the glorious city of Odessa. He was smart and inquisitive. Osip's big dream was to go to Brazil or Argentina, so he even began to dress in a special way: he wore light-colored clothes, a white captain's cap and, of course, a scarf ...

Bender on screen

Screen adaptations of novels were both in the USSR and abroad. For example, "The Twelve Chairs" was staged in Poland, Germany, and Cuba. But today let's talk about those actors who played the role of Ostap Bender.

The very first schemer on television was Igor Gorbachev, ironically the namesake of another no less famous schemer of the late 80s. I think everyone understands what I'm talking about...

So, 1966. A black-and-white play "12 Chairs" based on the novel of the same name by I. Ilf and E. Petrov is being filmed on Leningrad television. 1966 is the starting point for all Ostapov, played by nine completely different actors at different times.

Sergei Yursky can also be considered the first Bender in the cinema, in connection with the first appearance of Ostap in the film adaptation of The Golden Calf in 1968. It is noteworthy that at the time of filming the age of Yursky (born in 1935) was 33 years old, in full accordance with the novel: “I am thirty-three years old - the age of Jesus Christ. What have I done so far...?

Most film critics consider Yursky the best Ostap. As I said above, I am not an expert, for me Sergey Yursky is the brilliantly played Vikniksor from the Republic of ShKID, Ivan Sergeevich Gruzdev in The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed, and Uncle Mitya in Love and Pigeons.

By the way, Vladimir Vysotsky auditioned for the role of Ostap along with Yursky... But the preferences of the film director Mikhail Schweitzer were in favor of the latest actor who auditioned for the role. Yursky, in a phone call, referred to employment, but the authority of the film director did his job. In fact, they talked to come to the film studio, to audition. According to rumors, Schweitzer did not like being refused ...

The third swindler and charlatan is Frank Langella, who played Ostap Bender in the American film adaptation of 12 Chairs.

Frank Langella

Frank Langella

Presumptuous Americans saw this story in a slightly different color, deliberately or stupidly stuffing the picture with “jambs” and political overtones.

So, in the opening credits, the name of the film appears in Russian. It is misspelled: "Twelve Stchleev". And on the sign with the name "Street of Marx-Engels-Lenin and Trotsky" Trotsky's name is crossed out, hinting at the repression of the Trotskyists in the late 1920s.

Archil Gomiashvili is a Soviet and Russian film actor of Georgian origin, 4th on my list of "the most talented actors" who played the role of Ostap.

In the film by Gaidai, Bender speaks in the voice of Yuri Sarantsev, due to the wheezing of Gomiashvili, who fell ill, or because of a Georgian accent. Although the age of Archil Gomiashvili did not at all correspond to the age of Bender indicated in the novel, many viewers consider him the best Bender of all the film adaptations of The Twelve Chairs. According to Gomiashvili himself, Bender was both a success and the beginning of the end in the career of a film actor:

“As my friend Makhmud Esambaev jokes, if people know Boris Babochkin only as Chapaev, then me as Ostap Bender. Of course, the film has its merits: it is well edited. Gaidai was a director who knew the laws of the comedy genre very well. But there is one drawback, the most significant in my understanding: they never stopped to look into the soul of Ostap.

I played this role by running - to the rhythm of the film. Also, I was voiced by another actor. I only found out later that they had no right to do this without my consent.

My voice is heard only in one scene in the film. When I saw the movie, I felt bad. After watching, I told Gaidai that, with all my desire to play this role, if I knew that ... (here followed several untranslatable and well-known terms to every Russian person. - A.Shch.), I would not act in film. He didn’t go into his pocket for a word: “If I knew that ... (here followed several untranslatable and equally well-known terms to every Russian. - A.Shch.), I would not have filmed you.” We didn't speak for five years. For the first time after that, he called me on the eve of the TV premiere of Mark Zakharov's "The Twelve Chairs": "Archil Mikhailovich, they will show a criminal offense" ...

Andrei Mironov, the 5th Ostap Bender, played his role in the four-episode musical film "12 Chairs" directed by Mark Zakharov, completely filmed in the pavilion.

It's funny, but the image of Ostap Bender became the subject of a showdown between filmmakers of the Soviet era, according to the principle - who wins. It feels like the directors lined up with a ruler in their hands - let's measure ourselves ... Forgive me ... After all, Leonid Gaidai spoke disapprovingly of Zakharov's picture, calling it a "criminal offense" and opposing his film shot five years earlier to it.

Perhaps Gaidai could not forgive himself for not approving the wonderful Mironov-Papanov tandem then - five years ago, when he, a great director, rejected two of the most brilliant actors on auditions, citing the unconvincing performance of the latter.

Andrey Mironov got used to the role of a fraudulent dreamer of the southern shores brilliantly. You succumb to Bender-Mironov and his charm, you sincerely trust him, even the key to the apartment where the money is! The feeling of freedom, confidence, equanimity, lightness and carelessness in every movement, superiority in everything - next to Ostap Bender you involuntarily feel like such a nonentity. So Ippolit Matveyevich, at one fine moment, understands that without Ostap he is nothing and he will not see his mother-in-law's jewelry as his ears.

In revealing the image of Ostap, the merit is not only A. Mironov, but also the songs that he performs. One thing is certain - M. Zakharov took a chance, and in my opinion he fell into those very images and characters.

No - no, the best Ostap on my list was and is Andrei Mironov. Perhaps the best role of Andrei Mironov. This was supposed to be the most famous swindler, a swindler with experience - Ostap Bender. That's how he was remembered. And it is this version that is considered by the people.

The roles of other actors trying on the role of a dreamer-swindler, after Mironov, I consider as versions. They all fall under the perfectly legitimate question: Why? I will list briefly.

In 1993, Vasily Pichul released the film Dreams of an Idiot, based on the Golden Calf. In this film, the role of Ostap was played by singer Sergei Krylov. The classic plot of The Golden Calf with radically altered images of the characters. Ostap Bender is no longer young, bald, wears a hat and a three-day stubble. Faded, dull, lousy, ugly, monstrous ... I feel like I’m turning on ... The feeling that sometimes money is being laundered through the cinema ...

After 10 years, in 2003, another very original Bender appeared - in the film by the German director Ulrike Oettinger "The Twelve Chairs", the main role was played by Georgy Deliev from Odessa.

In the musical New Year's production of "12 Chairs" in 2005, another showman, Nikolai Fomenko, tried on the role of the Great Combiner. He always treated Fomenko with respect, so he simply did not inspect, so as not to spoil the good impressions from him on Russian Radio.

In 2006, the eight-episode series The Golden Calf was filmed, in which Oleg Menshikov played the role of Ostap Bender. The acting embodiment of the image of Ostap Menshikov was recognized as one of the most unsuccessful.

Everyone criticized as much as they could. Sergey Yursky himself reacted sharply:

“This film… is of no artistic value! This movie just doesn't exist! Empty place! And the actors have nothing to do with it.”

Tatyana Lioznova noted that "Menshikov is the worst of Ostapov":

I started watching Golden Calf, but didn’t, because I don’t feel sympathy for the performer of the role of Bender. This is the worst of all Ostapov! The new Bender is weak and somehow feminine, as if devoid of masculinity. The strongest of all, according to the actress, is Archil Gomiashvili, who showed a hero who, with his rudeness and impudence, was very charming ... "

Mark Zakharov, director of the film "12 chairs" in 1976:

“In the Golden Calf, the action is amorphous and slow. Andrei Mironov, Yursky and even Gomiashvili had a sense of purpose and energy that I lack in Menshikov. He is an interesting actor. But he needs help, in the film he is thrown in the absence of a genre. He can only play some kind of cheerfulness from scratch. Missing all actors. Direction is weak.

Ilya Avramenko, screenwriter, screenwriter of The Golden Calf (this television series):

“I am ashamed that I am the author of this film.<…>We see a monstrous camera work; ugly, hacky - production designer. The homegrown scenery is impossible to look at. Complete lack of big plans<…>says that the director simply did not have time to shoot all the material in time.<…>Of the actors at the level, one Dmitry Nazarov (Kozlevich) plays.<…>I consider it a failure. And I'm so sorry! And I want all the people who love Ilf and Petrov<…>as the author of the series, offer my sincere apologies!”

So it goes. And in your opinion - who is the best swindler, all Ostapam Bender?

Ostap Bender- the protagonist of the novels by Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf", "great schemer", "ideological fighter for banknotes", who knew "four hundred relatively honest ways of taking (withdrawing) money". One of the most popular heroes of the picaresque novel in Russian literature.

Bender himself introduces himself as Ostap-Suleiman-Berta-Maria-Bender-bey(in "The Twelve Chairs") and Bender-Zadunaisky(in "The Golden Calf"). In the novel The Golden Calf, Bender is called Ostap Ibrahimovic.

Biography

Name origin

From his biography, he usually reported only one detail: “My dad,” he said, “was a Turkish citizen.”

According to one version, the mention of the "Turkish citizenship" of the father and the patronymic "Ibrahimovic" do not indicate an ethnic connection with Turkey. In this, contemporaries saw a hint of Father Bender's residence in Odessa, where Jewish merchants took Turkish citizenship so that their children could bypass a number of discriminatory legal provisions related to confessional affiliation, and at the same time receive grounds for exemption from military service during the Russian-Turkish war. In addition, the name Ibrahim, is known to be the Arabic form of the name Abraham.

According to another version, Ilf and Petrov deliberately gave Bender an "international" Ukrainian ( Ostap) - Hebrew ( Bender) - Turkish ( Ibrahimovic, -Suleiman, -Bay) name just to exclude the above interpretations and emphasize the universality, universality of this personality. As you know, Odessa is an international city, which was the duet of the authors of "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf". The possibility of Odessa authors borrowing the last name of the protagonist from the name of a city nearby to their homeland, which in Romanian is called Bender (rum. Bender), was expressed by historian Viktor Khudyakov. Indeed, in the novel "12 Chairs" the acrobat of the Columbus Theater is also mentioned. Georgette of Tiraspol- and Bendery and Tiraspol are located opposite each other on different banks of the Dniester. In addition, the city of Bender has a Turkish past, and its main attraction, widely known outside the city, is the Turkish fortress.

The finale of the novel "The Golden Calf" also confirms the version of V. Khudyakov: Ostap does not cross the border of the USSR with Poland or Finland, does not swim across the sea towards Istanbul, but chooses to cross Romania, the Dniester River, near Tiraspol - and on the other side, from the former then the Romanian side - just Bendery.

Bender's life until 1927

"The twelve Chairs"

“At half past twelve, from the northwest, from the direction of the village of Chmarovka, a young man of about twenty-eight entered Stargorod. A homeless man was running after him.”

So in the novel for the first time the great strategist appears.

According to a number of commentators on the novel (in particular, M. Odessky and D. Feldman), the description indicates that a prisoner entered Stargorod, repeatedly convicted and recently released, that is, a recidivist criminal (a fraudster, since immediately after his release he builds fraud plans). In fact, a homeless tramp who does not have a coat or socks in the cold spring (ice on the puddles), but travels in a fashionable suit and smart shoes:

“He didn’t even have a coat. A young man entered the city in a green, narrow, waist-length suit.

But for a repeat offender, there is nothing unusual here. He does not have and should not have an apartment - Soviet law provided that those convicted "to deprivation of liberty" were deprived of "the right to occupied living space". This means that he became homeless after the first term, there was nowhere to return, and he had nowhere to store his wardrobe. If "a young man of about twenty-eight" was arrested before the onset of cold weather, then he did not wear a coat. Bender kept the shoes and suit, since they were taken away after the verdict was passed and returned upon release, while the socks and underwear that were left to the prisoners were worn out.

"Golden calf"

The actions of Ostap Bender in the first part of his biography (“12 chairs”) may fall under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code, while in the second part - “The Golden Calf” - he, in fact, investigates the crime, albeit with the aim of blackmail. Such a duality of the hero is quite in the spirit of the classic detective story.

Killing and resurrecting a hero

In the preface to The Golden Calf, Ilf and Petrov jokingly told that by the end of writing The Twelve Chairs, the question arose of a spectacular ending. A dispute arose between the co-authors whether to kill Ostap or leave him alive, which even caused a quarrel between the co-authors. In the end, they decided to rely on the lot. Two pieces of paper were placed in the sugar bowl, one of which had a skull and crossbones painted on it. The skull fell out - and in thirty minutes the great strategist was gone.

According to E. Petrov’s brother, Valentin Kataev (in the book “My Diamond Crown”), the plot basis of “The Twelve Chairs” was taken from the story “Six Napoleons” by A. Conan Doyle, in which the gem was hidden in one of the plaster busts of the French emperor. The busts were hunted by two criminals, one of whom was eventually stabbed to death with a razor by his accomplice. In addition, Kataev also mentions “a hilariously funny story by a young, early-dead Soviet writer from Petrograd Lev Lunts, who wrote about how a certain bourgeois family flees from Soviet power abroad, hiding their diamonds in a clothes brush.”

The writer Valentin Kataev indirectly speaks in favor of this version: “As for the central figure of Ostap Bender’s novel, it was written from one of our Odessa friends. In life, he bore, of course, a different surname, and the name Ostap is preserved as a very rare one. The prototype of Ostap Bender was the older brother of a remarkable young poet… He had nothing to do with literature and served in the criminal investigation department to combat banditry…”

After the publication of the book, O. Shor came to Ilf and Petrov in order to demand "author's" for using the image, but the writers, laughing, explained that the image was collective, therefore, there could be no talk of remuneration, but they drank "peace" with him, after to which Osip left his claims, asking the writers for only one thing - to resurrect the hero.

It should also be noted that in 1926, a year before Bender appeared on the pages of the book, in Moscow, where Ilf, Petrov and Kataev lived, And With great success (a total of two hundred performances were given) at the Vakhtangov Theater, Mikhail Bulgakov's play "Zoyka's apartment" was staged, showing the manners of the NEP. The play features the character Amethyst, aka Putkinovsky, aka Anton Siguradze, who is very similar to the future Bender. This is a charming rogue, an artistic rogue, an elegant swindler, very active and eloquent, getting out of various situations. Amethystov, like Bender, was released from prison before his first appearance in the play. Ametistov was shot in Baku, as Bender was stabbed to death in Moscow - but both of them miraculously resurrected. Amethysts can convince anyone of anything (except the police). Ametistov's blue dream - Cote d'Azur and white pants (" Oh, Nice, Nice![cf. Oh, Rio, Rio! The azure sea, and I'm on its shore - in white trousers!»

In the 19th century, the image of a great schemer with a dream of Rio was anticipated by Baron Nikolai von Mengden (son of General von Mengden and Baroness Amalia) (1822-1888), who in 1844 ended up in Rio de Janeiro in an adventurous way out of idle curiosity. Posing as a Russian senator, he received an audience with the Brazilian Emperor Pedro II. After spending time in Rio de Janeiro "fun", Nikolai Mengden returned to Russia, where he had already been dismissed from service. This story was told in the memoirs of Baroness Sophia Mengden, published in 1908 in the journal Russkaya Starina.

Bender on screen

Screen adaptations of novels were both in the USSR and abroad. For example, "The Twelve Chairs" was staged in Poland, Germany, Cuba. In the first foreign adaptations, the plot was significantly changed, and the name of the protagonist was also changed. Below is a list of actors who played the role of Ostap Bender.

Monuments to Ostap Bender

Monument to Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov in Cheboksary

Ostap Bender is immortalized with monuments in a number of cities:

• Berdyansk, Zaporozhye region - immortalized together with Shura Balaganov in the park. P. P. Schmidt.
• Zhmerynka, Vinnitsa region of Ukraine, near the railway station - a monument in the form of a standing Ostap surrounded by chairs.
• Melitopol, the intersection of B. Khmelnitsky Ave. and st. Kirov, near the cafe "City".
• Pyatigorsk - a monument near the "failure".
• St. Petersburg - a monument to the great strategist was erected on July 25, 2000, on Ostap's "birthday", at 4 Italianskaya Street, at the entrance to the Golden Ostap restaurant.
• Starobilsk, Luhansk Oblast of Ukraine - a monument to Ostap Bender was erected in the "Student" square of the LNU. Shevchenko.
• Kharkov, a number of monuments (for details, see Monuments to the heroes of the works of Ilf and Petrov in Kharkov).
• Cheboksary - a monument to Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov on Efremov Boulevard (Cheboksary Arbat).
• Yekaterinburg - a monument to Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov was erected in August 2007 on Belinsky Street.

• In honor of Ostap Bender, the annual festival of humor "Golden Ostap", held since 1992 in St. Petersburg, was named, and awards were presented as part of this festival.

• OJSC "VINAP" (former Novosibirsk Pivvinkombinat) produced beer under the brand name " Comrade Bender” with the image on the label of Bender, Kozlevich, Panikovsky and Balaganov in the Gnu Antelope car and with quotes from the book.

• In the early 90s, one of the performers of O. Bender in the cinema, Archil Gomiashvili, founded the Zolotoy Ostap club / restaurant in Moscow.

Links

• Web-magazine "Evening empty call". In the footsteps of the Great Combinator Ostap Bender

Notes

1. M. Odessa, D. Feldman. Literary strategy and political intrigue. "The Twelve Chairs" in Soviet Criticism at the Turn of the 1920s-1930s
2. Khudyakov V.V. Chichikov's and Ostap Bender's scam // City in blossoming acacias... Benders: people, events, facts / ed. V. Valavin. - Bendery: Polygraphist, 1999. - S. 83-85. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 5-88568-090-6
3. Khudyakov V.V. In blooming acacias, the city ... Bendery: people, events, facts / ed. V. Valavin. - Bendery: Polygraphist, 1999. - 464 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 5-88568-090-6
4. Eduard Bagritsky."Smugglers" ()
5. "The Twelve Chairs", ch. XXX "At the Columbus Theater"
6. Housing Code of the RSFSR, article 60, part 2, norm 18
7. Daniel Kluger. The first detective of the Soviet Union
8. Electronic library - Books for readers and downloaders (; Fiction. Fantasy Fantasy Rassadin S., Sarnov. In the country of literary heroes 1-2
9. Information about Osip Shor
10. Osip Shor With reference to the materials of the Novye Izvestia newspaper dated November 6, 1999.
11. V. Kataev. My diamond crown / M., "Soviet writer", 1979.
12. Epoch. Events and people. //TV channel "Belarus", November 23, 2011, 15:30
13. Sergei Belyakov. The lonely sail of Ostap Bender / "New World" 2005, No. 12
14. Levin A. B."Twelve Chairs" from "Zoyka's Apartment"
15. Michael Bulgakov . Collected works in five volumes. Volume 3: Plays. M: Fiction, 1992. "Zoyka's apartment". Comments.
16. "Fragments of the family chronicle" (from the memoirs of Baroness Sophia Mengden)
17. List of foreign film adaptations
18. Andrei Veligzhanin. The soloist of the choir sang for Vysotsky in "The Cook" / "Komsomolskaya Pravda", 26.02.2004

Ostap Bender is the protagonist of the famous novels by Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf". Without a doubt, Bender is one of the most striking characters in Russian literature, each line of which has long been disassembled into quotes. This is an amazingly charming swindler, smart, subtle and incredibly inventive, whose goal, faith and eternal passion is money. He does not hide his sincere love for banknotes, and his whole life is subordinated to their production. Despite the fact that in the end all his grandiose projects fail, Bender always remains the winner - even with his throat cut, even robbed and caught, as happened to him in the denouement of both novels.

He calls himself Ostap-Suleiman-Berta-Maria-Bender-bey, so he introduced himself in the novel "The Twelve Chairs", and in "The Golden Calf" he called himself Bender-Zadunaisky, although in the course of the whole novel he is simply called Ostap Ibragimovich. The year of Ostap's birth is also ambiguous - in "The Twelve Chairs" he was 27 years old in 1927, while in "The Golden Calf" he mentioned that he was 33 years old ("the age of Christ"), the time of action is 1930. So, it can be considered the year of birth of Ostap Bender 1900 or 1897.

Of the scattered and sometimes contradictory stories of Ostap, which he told various characters on different pages, Ostap's childhood passed either in Mirgorod, or in Kherson, and in 1922 he was in the Taganka prison. And it was after his release from prison that he developed his famous "400 relatively honest ways to take money from the population."

So, having appeared for the first time in the novel "The Twelve Chairs", Bender arrives in Stargorod, where he immediately begins to develop vigorous activity. It's funny that many critics immediately saw in the "young man of about twenty-eight" a former recidivist prisoner. Indeed, Ostap Bender had nothing, he didn’t even have a coat, but at the same time he managed to look like a real dandy and smoothie.

Bender's charisma literally captivates the reader from the first appearance - each of his phrases is a pearl, each decision speaks of a genius. It is not surprising that he instantly becomes a leader in any society. "I will command the parade!" - this famous phrase of Bender has long become a saying, and, they say, this phrase in this formulation had to be abolished in official documents.

In the course of The Twelve Chairs, Bender has to lead not the most, in his opinion, intellectually burdened detachment of adventurers like himself, but Bender never loses his famous optimism, even in the most deplorable circumstances.

Bender's mind is unusually flexible - sometimes he just comes up with brilliant plans right in the course of events - so, even entering Stargorod in one suit, the young man was not at all sure what he would do in this city - whether he would become a polygamist, or would distribute the picture "Bolsheviks write a letter to Chamberlain. And in the end, he meets Ippolit Matveyevich Vorobyaninov, who tells him the amazing story of Madame Petukhova's family diamonds. So, Ostap's plans changed instantly, and new friends resolutely set off to mine treasures.

Money is the idol, the idol and the meaning of Ostap's whole life, he sincerely and wholeheartedly loves these "yellow circles".

“Since some banknotes are roaming around the country, then there must be people who have a lot of them,” Ostap is firmly convinced of this and is ready to put his life in search.

Alas, the search for family diamonds, which sometimes seemed so close, was not crowned with success for Bender. Moreover, at the end of the novel, Ostap is killed by the former marshal of the nobility, Vorobyaninov. By the way, they say that the authors of the novel, Ilf and Petrov, had serious disagreements about the ending of the novel - should Bender be left alive or killed? In the end, the lot decided everything - and Kisa Vorobyaninov struck a razor across the defenseless neck of the sleeping Ostap ...

Surprisingly, the absence of happy endings in both novels does not sadden the readers at all, although all of them, no doubt, succumb to Bender's charisma and sincerely wish him good luck in his scams. So, the end of each book seems to promise - Ostap Bender will return again, with a new adventure and new congenial ideas.

By the way, they said that Ilf and Petrov announced a third novel with Bender, and even its name was mentioned in print - "Scoundrel", but this novel, alas, never saw the light of day.

There are many versions of who was the prototype of Ostap Bender - some even call the name Valentin Kataev, although Kataev himself said that he could be one of the writers' childhood friends in Odessa.

The image of Ostap Bender was embodied on the screens by several brilliant Russian actors at once, among which the most striking are Sergei Yursky, Archil Gomiashvili, Oleg Menshikov, and, of course, Andrey Mironov.

Monuments to Ostap Bender stand today in many Russian and Ukrainian cities - St. Petersburg and Kharkov, Pyatigorsk and Kremenchug, as well as in Elista, Yekaterinburg, Berdyansk and many others.

Despite the fact that the first novel by Ilf and Petrov was published more than 80 years ago, Ostap Bender remains one of the most recognizable, vivid and eternal characters today, and each of his remarks has long become a quote. Critics and literary scholars may argue - how exactly did the authors manage to create such a controversial image - at its core, Bender was an ordinary swindler and rogue, and at the same time it is simply impossible not to love him. Charming and gallant, impudent and noble in his own way, stylish and impoverished - such is he, Ostap Ibragimovich Bender, "the son of a Turkish subject."

Ostap Bender- the protagonist of the novels by Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf", "great schemer", "ideological fighter for banknotes", who knew "four hundred relatively honest ways of taking (withdrawing) money". One of the most popular heroes of the picaresque novel in Russian literature.

Bender himself introduces himself as Ostap-Suleiman-Berta-Maria-Bender-bey(in "The Twelve Chairs") and Bender-Zadunaisky(in "The Golden Calf"). In the novel The Golden Calf, Bender is called Ostap Ibrahimovic.

Biography

Name origin

From his biography, he usually reported only one detail: “My dad,” he said, “was a Turkish citizen.”

According to one version, the mention of the "Turkish citizenship" of the father and the patronymic "Ibrahimovic" do not indicate an ethnic connection with Turkey. In this, contemporaries saw a hint of Father Bender's residence in Odessa, where Jewish merchants took Turkish citizenship so that their children could bypass a number of discriminatory legal provisions related to confessional affiliation, and at the same time receive grounds for exemption from military service during the Russian-Turkish war. In addition, the name Ibrahim, is known to be the Arabic form of the name Abraham.

According to another version, Ilf and Petrov deliberately gave Bender an "international" Ukrainian ( Ostap) - Hebrew ( Bender) - Turkish ( Ibrahimovic, -Suleiman, -Bay) name just to exclude the above interpretations and emphasize the universality, universality of this personality. As you know, Odessa is an international city, which was the duet of the authors of "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf". The possibility of Odessa authors borrowing the last name of the protagonist from the name of a city nearby to their homeland, which in Romanian is called Bender (rum. Bender), was expressed by historian Viktor Khudyakov. Indeed, in the novel "12 Chairs" the acrobat of the Columbus Theater is also mentioned. Georgette of Tiraspol- and Bendery and Tiraspol are located opposite each other on different banks of the Dniester. In addition, the city of Bender has a Turkish past, and its main attraction, widely known outside the city, is the Turkish fortress.

The finale of the novel "The Golden Calf" also confirms the version of V. Khudyakov: Ostap does not cross the border of the USSR with Poland or Finland, does not swim across the sea towards Istanbul, but chooses to cross Romania, the Dniester River, near Tiraspol - and on the other side, from the former then the Romanian side - just Bendery.

Bender's life until 1927

"The twelve Chairs"

“At half past twelve, from the northwest, from the direction of the village of Chmarovka, a young man of about twenty-eight entered Stargorod. A homeless man was running after him.”

So in the novel for the first time the great strategist appears.

According to a number of commentators on the novel (in particular, M. Odessky and D. Feldman), the description indicates that a prisoner entered Stargorod, repeatedly convicted and recently released, that is, a recidivist criminal (a fraudster, since immediately after his release he builds fraud plans). In fact, a homeless tramp who does not have a coat or socks in the cold spring (ice on the puddles), but travels in a fashionable suit and smart shoes:

“He didn’t even have a coat. A young man entered the city in a green, narrow, waist-length suit.

But for a repeat offender, there is nothing unusual here. He does not have and should not have an apartment - Soviet law provided that those convicted "to deprivation of liberty" were deprived of "the right to occupied living space". This means that he became homeless after the first term, there was nowhere to return, and he had nowhere to store his wardrobe. If "a young man of about twenty-eight" was arrested before the onset of cold weather, then he did not wear a coat. Bender kept the shoes and suit, since they were taken away after the verdict was passed and returned upon release, while the socks and underwear that were left to the prisoners were worn out.

"Golden calf"

The actions of Ostap Bender in the first part of his biography (“12 chairs”) may fall under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code, while in the second part - “The Golden Calf” - he, in fact, investigates the crime, albeit with the aim of blackmail. Such a duality of the hero is quite in the spirit of the classic detective story.

Killing and resurrecting a hero

In the preface to The Golden Calf, Ilf and Petrov jokingly told that by the end of writing The Twelve Chairs, the question arose of a spectacular ending. A dispute arose between the co-authors whether to kill Ostap or leave him alive, which even caused a quarrel between the co-authors. In the end, they decided to rely on the lot. Two pieces of paper were placed in the sugar bowl, one of which had a skull and crossbones painted on it. The skull fell out - and in thirty minutes the great strategist was gone.

According to E. Petrov’s brother, Valentin Kataev (in the book “My Diamond Crown”), the plot basis of “The Twelve Chairs” was taken from the story “Six Napoleons” by A. Conan Doyle, in which the gem was hidden in one of the plaster busts of the French emperor. The busts were hunted by two criminals, one of whom was eventually stabbed to death with a razor by his accomplice. In addition, Kataev also mentions “a hilariously funny story by a young, early-dead Soviet writer from Petrograd Lev Lunts, who wrote about how a certain bourgeois family flees from Soviet power abroad, hiding their diamonds in a clothes brush.”

The writer Valentin Kataev indirectly speaks in favor of this version: “As for the central figure of Ostap Bender’s novel, it was written from one of our Odessa friends. In life, he bore, of course, a different surname, and the name Ostap is preserved as a very rare one. The prototype of Ostap Bender was the older brother of a remarkable young poet… He had nothing to do with literature and served in the criminal investigation department to combat banditry…”

After the publication of the book, O. Shor came to Ilf and Petrov in order to demand "author's" for using the image, but the writers, laughing, explained that the image was collective, therefore, there could be no talk of remuneration, but they drank "peace" with him, after to which Osip left his claims, asking the writers for only one thing - to resurrect the hero.

It should also be noted that in 1926, a year before Bender appeared on the pages of the book, in Moscow, where Ilf, Petrov and Kataev lived, And With great success (a total of two hundred performances were given) at the Vakhtangov Theater, Mikhail Bulgakov's play "Zoyka's apartment" was staged, showing the manners of the NEP. The play features the character Amethyst, aka Putkinovsky, aka Anton Siguradze, who is very similar to the future Bender. This is a charming rogue, an artistic rogue, an elegant swindler, very active and eloquent, getting out of various situations. Amethystov, like Bender, was released from prison before his first appearance in the play. Ametistov was shot in Baku, as Bender was stabbed to death in Moscow - but both of them miraculously resurrected. Amethysts can convince anyone of anything (except the police). Ametistov's blue dream - Cote d'Azur and white pants (" Oh, Nice, Nice![cf. Oh, Rio, Rio! The azure sea, and I'm on its shore - in white trousers!»

In the 19th century, the image of a great schemer with a dream of Rio was anticipated by Baron Nikolai von Mengden (son of General von Mengden and Baroness Amalia) (1822-1888), who in 1844 ended up in Rio de Janeiro in an adventurous way out of idle curiosity. Posing as a Russian senator, he received an audience with the Brazilian Emperor Pedro II. After spending time in Rio de Janeiro "fun", Nikolai Mengden returned to Russia, where he had already been dismissed from service. This story was told in the memoirs of Baroness Sophia Mengden, published in 1908 in the journal Russkaya Starina.

Bender on screen

Screen adaptations of novels were both in the USSR and abroad. For example, "The Twelve Chairs" was staged in Poland, Germany, Cuba. In the first foreign adaptations, the plot was significantly changed, and the name of the protagonist was also changed. Below is a list of actors who played the role of Ostap Bender.

Monuments to Ostap Bender

Monument to Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov in Cheboksary

Ostap Bender is immortalized with monuments in a number of cities:

• Berdyansk, Zaporozhye region - immortalized together with Shura Balaganov in the park. P. P. Schmidt.
• Zhmerynka, Vinnitsa region of Ukraine, near the railway station - a monument in the form of a standing Ostap surrounded by chairs.
• Melitopol, the intersection of B. Khmelnitsky Ave. and st. Kirov, near the cafe "City".
• Pyatigorsk - a monument near the "failure".
• St. Petersburg - a monument to the great strategist was erected on July 25, 2000, on Ostap's "birthday", at 4 Italianskaya Street, at the entrance to the Golden Ostap restaurant.
• Starobilsk, Luhansk Oblast of Ukraine - a monument to Ostap Bender was erected in the "Student" square of the LNU. Shevchenko.
• Kharkov, a number of monuments (for details, see Monuments to the heroes of the works of Ilf and Petrov in Kharkov).
• Cheboksary - a monument to Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov on Efremov Boulevard (Cheboksary Arbat).
• Yekaterinburg - a monument to Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov was erected in August 2007 on Belinsky Street.

• In honor of Ostap Bender, the annual festival of humor "Golden Ostap", held since 1992 in St. Petersburg, was named, and awards were presented as part of this festival.

• OJSC "VINAP" (former Novosibirsk Pivvinkombinat) produced beer under the brand name " Comrade Bender” with the image on the label of Bender, Kozlevich, Panikovsky and Balaganov in the Gnu Antelope car and with quotes from the book.

• In the early 90s, one of the performers of O. Bender in the cinema, Archil Gomiashvili, founded the Zolotoy Ostap club / restaurant in Moscow.

Links

• Web-magazine "Evening empty call". In the footsteps of the Great Combinator Ostap Bender

Notes

1. M. Odessa, D. Feldman. Literary strategy and political intrigue. "The Twelve Chairs" in Soviet Criticism at the Turn of the 1920s-1930s
2. Khudyakov V.V. Chichikov's and Ostap Bender's scam // City in blossoming acacias... Benders: people, events, facts / ed. V. Valavin. - Bendery: Polygraphist, 1999. - S. 83-85. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 5-88568-090-6
3. Khudyakov V.V. In blooming acacias, the city ... Bendery: people, events, facts / ed. V. Valavin. - Bendery: Polygraphist, 1999. - 464 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 5-88568-090-6
4. Eduard Bagritsky."Smugglers" ()
5. "The Twelve Chairs", ch. XXX "At the Columbus Theater"
6. Housing Code of the RSFSR, article 60, part 2, norm 18
7. Daniel Kluger. The first detective of the Soviet Union
8. Electronic library - Books for readers and downloaders (; Fiction. Fantasy Fantasy Rassadin S., Sarnov. In the country of literary heroes 1-2
9. Information about Osip Shor
10. Osip Shor With reference to the materials of the Novye Izvestia newspaper dated November 6, 1999.
11. V. Kataev. My diamond crown / M., "Soviet writer", 1979.
12. Epoch. Events and people. //TV channel "Belarus", November 23, 2011, 15:30
13. Sergei Belyakov. The lonely sail of Ostap Bender / "New World" 2005, No. 12
14. Levin A. B."Twelve Chairs" from "Zoyka's Apartment"
15. Michael Bulgakov . Collected works in five volumes. Volume 3: Plays. M: Fiction, 1992. "Zoyka's apartment". Comments.
16. "Fragments of the family chronicle" (from the memoirs of Baroness Sophia Mengden)
17. List of foreign film adaptations
18. Andrei Veligzhanin. The soloist of the choir sang for Vysotsky in "The Cook" / "Komsomolskaya Pravda", 26.02.2004

In the early spring morning of 1927, a tall middle-aged man in an elegant suit and patent-leather boots approached the massive door from the side of Bolshaya Nikitskaya with a semi-shooting step. He looked at the brass plate. It read: “The editorial office of the newspaper Gudok.

Showing the red book to the watchman, the tall man went up to the third floor and without knocking entered the room of the 4th lane. In a room smoky with cheap cigarettes were two young reporters.

I greet the workers of the pen, - said the newcomer.

The plot of "12 chairs" was suggested to the writers' tandem by Valentin Kataev

He sat down on the couch and crossed his legs.

Hello, Valyun, - this is how Evgeny Petrov called his older brother Valentin Kataev.
- Hello, Valentine, - nodded the second reporter with sad eyes. His last name was Ilf.
- I have a business proposal for you ... For both of you, - Kataev said conspiratorially and looked around. - I want you to become my ... literary Negroes.

Evgeny Petrov and Ilya Ilf looked at each other in bewilderment.

Recently, Valentin Kataev was haunted by the thought that he could become the Soviet Dumas father. Someone told him gossip that Dumas did not write his novels himself, but hired novice writers, gave them a plot, they wrote, and he edited. Valentin Petrovich told the reporters of "Gudok" his story. The story was that a certain district leader of the nobility, Vorobyaninov, was hunting for jewelry sewn into one of the twelve chairs. Ilf and Petrov liked the plot. The authority of Kataev guaranteed the publication and, consequently, the fee. Without much thought, the newly-minted literary negroes set to work that same day.

Ilf and Petrov began to write their first novel as literary blacks.

As literary heroes, they decided to make the most of all their acquaintances. Literary caricatures were made for all buddies and friends. Almost every character had their own prototype. They decided to introduce one common acquaintance, a certain inspector of the Odessa criminal investigation department, into the novel as an episodic person. They left him his real name - Ostap. As for the surname ... Ilf gave him the surname of his neighbor, the owner of the butcher shop Bender. Ilf liked its sound. However, in the course of work, this very Ostap suddenly began to crawl out everywhere, “pushing the rest of the characters with his elbows”, and literally after a few chapters he turned into the main character. As a result, when Ilf and Petrov brought the manuscript to Kataev for editing, it turned out to be a completely different idea. Kataev realized that in a short time literary blacks turned into real writers. The situation was, frankly, awkward. Valentin Petrovich, as a man of honor, refused to edit someone else's work and politely removed his name from the future cover of the book.

The story of the impostor artist entered the novel almost unchanged.

Kataev was forced to admit that the novel was a success. But for the use of his idea, he put forward two conditions. First: wherever and whenever this novel is published, on the first page of the book there should be a dedication to him, Valentin Kataev. Second: as soon as the novel is published, the author of the idea receives a golden cigarette case from the writers. Kataev foresaw that the novel would be a success, and already with pleasure presented the cigarette case that he would receive from grateful authors.

The prototype of Ostap Bender is the inspector of the criminal investigation department and adventurer from Odessa Ostap Shor

Later, the authors did give Kataev a cigarette case. But in order not to spend too much, they bought him the smallest, mockingly tiny ladies' cigarette case. However, a fact is a fact: formally, the cigarette case fully met the terms of the contract: it was gold and it was a cigarette case. Appreciating humor and a joke, Kataev accepted the cigarette case with a smile.

So the novel was born, and in it an illegitimate hero named Ostap Bender. Unbelievable, but true: in 1935, a survey was conducted among schoolchildren of the USSR on the topic “Who is your favorite literary hero?”, It was supposed to get an answer - Pavel Korchagin, but received - Ostap Bender.

Naturally, when a great man appears in the world, every nation hastens to prove that he is precisely her son. Bender's nebulous origins have fueled a host of such claims. Serious Arab scholars have irrefutably proven that Bender was a Syrian. Their Uzbek colleagues successfully refuted this version, brilliantly proving that Ostap was a Turk. Germans, Jews, Georgians put forward their versions... It seemed that the final and fat point in the dispute between pundits was put in the mid-1990s, when the editorial office of the newspaper "Arguments and Facts" received a letter from the Moscow Cultural and Educational Organization of the Karaites, where it was claimed that the Karaim Ilya Levi-Maytop, like Ostap, "the son of a Turkish subject", acted as the prototype of Bender. An no. The role of Bender's prototype was claimed not only by the best sons of the nation, but also by independent candidates. The Moscow hooligan Yashka Shtopor, the Petrograd dandy of the 1920s Ostap Vasilyevich, the famous artist Sandro Fasini and the famous Odessa rogue Misha Agatov...

Odessa cafes were empty in the 1920s. Beer was sold only to union members

Did the great combinator even have a prototype? The end of the 20th century finally gave the long-awaited clue. The prototype of Ostap Bender was Osip Veniaminovich Shor. For friends and relatives - Ostap. Literary critics and journalists were able to find not only the person who served as the prototype of Bender, but also trace his fate, which turned out to be no less amazing than that of his literary counterpart.

Ostap Shor was born at the very end of the 19th century on Kanatnaya Street in Odessa in the family of a merchant, owner of shops of colonial goods. Ostap was the second child in the family. The elder brother Nathan, better known as the poet Anatoly Fioletov, played an important role in Ostap's life, but more on that later.

In 1901, his father died of a heart attack. A few years later, the mother married a successful St. Petersburg merchant, David Rapoport. From this marriage, the girl Elsa was born, who later became an artist at the Gorky film studio. Tender love for Elsa Ostap and Nathan carried through their whole lives.

Ostap's jokes already at that time bore the characteristic features of Bender's humor. Elsa Davidovna Rapoport recalled several funny stories. Here is one of them. Once, in a conspiratorial voice, Ostap asked his sister if she would like to look at two corpses in the corridor of the apartment. The little girl flatly refused. For several days, Elsa only thought about the corpses in the hallway. She was afraid to go out into the street, to come from the street, in the evenings the girl was put to bed in the light ... Ostap's calculations turned out to be correct. Curiosity took over. Elsa approached Ostap and asked to be shown where the corpses were. Ostap agreed with his sister that if she gave him a porcelain piggy bank along with the contents, then he was ready to fulfill his promise. The girl nodded. A moment later, Ostap pulled two decapitated chickens from behind his back and waved them in front of his sister's face. The girl cried out in fear. Ostap calmed his little sister, pressing her head to his chest along with a porcelain piggy bank. From the age of eight, Ostap fell ill with a fashionable ball game, which was brought to Odessa by English sailors. While all children of his age wanted to be sailors, pirates and musicians, Ostap was the first to understand that good money can be earned only by becoming a professional football player. It was football that brought him closer to the brilliant Yuri Olesha, the future author of Envy and Three Fat Men. Friendship with him lasted almost half a century.

In 1916, Ostap entered the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute, where he was caught by the October Revolution. Ostap traveled home to Odessa for about a year. He met people, got into trouble, fell in love, ran away from his pursuers. Ilf and Petrov drew many episodes for their novels from stories that Ostap Shor told his friends in subsequent years. The young Ilf was especially impressed by the stories about the fire inspector in the nursing home and the impostor artist on the ship - they entered the novel in whole chapters, with minor additions.

In Odessa, Ostap breathed more freely. But still Odessa was already different. The events of those years greatly changed its appearance. The city of enterprising businessmen, stock and ship brokers, clever swindlers, Italian opera, cafeterias and wits, where everything revolved like on a carousel in Dyukovsky Park, turned into a carousel of a different kind - bloody. During the first three revolutionary years, fourteen authorities changed in the city. Austrians, Germans, French, British, troops of Hetman Staropadsky, Petliurists, Haidamaks, the White Army of General Denikin, the Bolsheviks, even the army of some Galician general Sekir-Yakhontov ... There were times when several authorities and political groups were in charge of the city at the same time. So, the Bolsheviks settled on Peresyp. The territory from the station to Arcadia was occupied by the Gaidamaks and Petliurists. The center was under the rule of the interventionists and the White Guard. The Moldavian woman was owned by the ten thousandth army of raiders of Mikhail Vinnitsky, better known under the nickname Mishka Yaponchik. Each government had its own state borders, marked with clotheslines with red flags, and, of course, its own currency. Many refugees from other provinces of the Russian Empire arrived in the port city. This created a special atmosphere and a huge field of activity for thieves, cheaters, pharmacists and swindlers. The city was choking with banditry. Odessans were forced to unite in people's squads to combat criminality. The most desperate were awarded the title of inspector of the criminal investigation department.

Yuri Olesha was one of Ostap's closest friends

Those who knew Ostap closely spoke of him as a kind, imposing, excitable truth-lover with a highly developed sense of humor. Ostap was smart, decisive, with a lightning-fast reaction to momentary events.

In April 1918, Ostap Shor became an inspector of the Odessa Criminal Investigation Department. It must be taken into account that his height was under one hundred and ninety and he possessed incredible strength. Ostap Shor in a short time dealt a tangible blow to the gang of Mishka Yaponchik: he solved the cases of robbing two banks and a manufactory, set up successful ambushes and caught the raiders red-handed.

Ostap fled, jumping out of the window of the investigator's office

Today it is hard to believe, but the two most famous prototypes of the literary heroes Ostap Bender and Beni Krik hated each other fiercely. Yaponchik considered Ostap his personal enemy and publicly promised to take revenge. The bandits tried to kill him several times. One evening they seized Ostap on Lanzheronovskaya Street, put the muzzle of a revolver to his back, put a mackintosh over the revolver for disguise, and took him to be shot at the port docks. But you need to know Ostap. Passing Fanconi's cafe, the detective managed to start a quarrel with one of the stockbrokers at a street table. A fight began. The bandits considered it good to retire.

In the first period after the revolution, power in Odessa changed more often than the seasons

But still they dealt their terrible blow. They wanted to shoot Ostap, but by mistake, misled by the surname, they shot Nathan, who in a few days was supposed to marry the young poetess Zinaida Shishova. The young people were in a furniture salon, where they chose furniture for their future home. There is a story in Odessa about what happened next. For the first time it was told by Yuri Olesha to Valentin Kataev. Kataev mentioned her in his biographical novel My Diamond Crown. And the inhabitants of Odessa gave history the image of a legend. We present it in full.

Three middle-aged men in boaters and suits of English cloth stopped in front of a furniture store. After standing a little at the window, they took turns crossing the threshold. Then everything happened quickly.

Shore Mr.
- Yes.
- Greetings from Mishka Yaponchik.

Four shots were counted by a fat, balding seller of double-striped mattresses in the furniture workshop of Mr. Mirkin on Deribasovskaya, corner of Ekaterininskaya. A young man was left lying on the floor in furniture shavings.

Both bandits and Chekists liked to visit the Odessa Opera House

Ostap was not at the funeral. All these days he was looking for killers. And found. Terrible as an autumn night storm, in a gray wide jacket, a captain's coat and a thick knitted scarf around his mighty neck, Ostap stopped at an old fishing halabud on Second Zalivnaya, on Peresyp. His tired eyes, the color of young Bessarabian wine, looked at the damp sky. Then Ostap's gaze dropped to the door. With a kick, like the center forward of the Black Sea, he knocked out the plywood door and entered the dark goiter of the basement.

The three killers sat at a dirty oval yellow table. Ostap went up to the table and placed on it his Mauser with a polished handle, issued by the Odessa People's Militia. It was a sign that he wanted to speak. Shoot a little later.

Next to Ostap's Mauser were revolvers, finks and brass knuckles.

Which one of you scoundrels killed my brother? asked Ostap, wiping his tears with a turquoise handkerchief.
- It's my fault, Ostap, - said one of the bandits in the vest. - Decided it instead of you. Messed up the last name. God knows, I cry for him, as for my own brother.
- You better shoot me in the liver, you bastard. Do you know who you killed?
- I didn't know then. And now I have information - Natan Fioletov, a famous poet, a friend of Bagritsky. I beg your pardon. If you can't forgive, then take your gun. Here's my chest for you, and we'll be quits.

Ostap spent the whole night with the bandits. By the light of cinders, they drank rectificate without diluting it with water. They read the poems of the murdered poet and wept.

With the first cold rays of the sun, Ostap hid the Mauser in a wooden holster and left unhindered...

Ostap took the murder of his brother very painfully. He vowed never to take up arms again. After some time, he resigned from the criminal investigation department and left to travel around the country. Due to his impulsive and decisive nature, Ostap constantly got into dangerous troubles. So, in 1922 he ended up in Moscow, or rather, in the Taganskaya prison in Moscow. He landed there for a fight with a man who insulted the wife of a famous poet. But as soon as the investigators found out that Ostap was an inspector of the Odessa Criminal, he was immediately released.

Ostap remains in Moscow. Often appears at literary evenings, where he meets with his old acquaintances, fellow countrymen. His famous phrase dates back to this time: "My dad was a Turkish subject." Ostap repeated it often when it came to military duty (children of foreign citizens were exempted from military service). This phrase was popular in Odessa in the 1920s. Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov, in order to emphasize Ostap Shor's attitude to the criminal investigation, introduce a number of hints and specific phrases of Bender into the novel, showing him as a professional detective. And in the chapter "And others." Ostap Bender draws up a protocol from the scene. And in the most professional way. “Both bodies lie with their feet to the southeast and their heads to the northwest. There are lacerated wounds on the body, apparently inflicted by some kind of blunt instrument. But the most famous phrase about the key to the apartment where the money is, belonged not to Shor, but to one Odessa respectable billiard player.

After the release of "12 Chairs" and "The Golden Calf", Ostap Shor sought out the authors of the books. What was the surprise of Ilf and Petrov when Ostap demanded in a rather impudent form to pay him a large sum for Bender written off from him. Writers began to make excuses. Ostap laughed. Friends stayed up until the morning. Apparently, Shor was talking about his life. That is why Ilf's famous “Notebooks” contain the following entry: “Ostap could even now travel all over the country, giving concerts of gramophone records. And I would live very well, I would have a wife and a mistress. All this should end quite unexpectedly - with a gramophone fire. Ostap Shor gave a new impetus to the co-authors. Ilf and Petrov conceived the third part about the adventures of Ostap Bender, where Bender would be the prototype of today's DJs. But the plan was not destined to come true. Ilf fell ill with tuberculosis for a long time.

In 1934, Ostap went to Chelyabinsk to help his friend, the director of a tractor factory. In 1937, the director was arrested by the NKVD. Ostap starts a fight with them, which was, no doubt, a bold act. He was arrested, but he again did something outstanding. He jumped out of the window of the investigator's office and fled. But still far from these events, he formulated some of his views, which Ilf and Petrov endowed with their beloved hero. In particular, both the literary character and his prototype are characterized by the following phrase: “I have had serious disagreements with the Soviet authorities over the past year. She wants to build socialism, but I don't."

Ilf and Petrov conceived the third part about the adventures of Ostap Bender

During the Great Patriotic War, Ostap tries in vain to get through to his relatives in besieged Leningrad. In the end, because of all the torment, he developed eczema, which eventually developed into skin cancer. Sick Ostap is evacuated to Tashkent. In the evacuation, he works as a conductor on freight trains.

The corner of Richelieu and Lanzheronovskaya streets, where Ostap fell into the clutches of Mishka Yaponchik's gang

After the war, Ostap Shor and his family moved to Moscow on Vozdvizhenka. Retires on disability. Often visits the ailing Yuri Olesha in Lavrushinsky Lane. After the death of a friend, ailments haunt him, and Ostap practically goes blind.

In 1978, the biographical novel "My Diamond Crown" by Valentin Kataev was published. In it, Kataev only hints at who Ostap Bender was written off from. But Shor did not want to publicly talk about his life. Affected by age, and numerous blows of fate. He remained a mystery for another two decades.

Ostap Shor died in 1979. He was buried in Moscow at the Vostryakovsky cemetery. Such is the fate of this man, who became the prototype of one of the most popular literary characters.

Colossus on bronze legs

At first, the chief chess player of Kalmykia, President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, promised to open a monument to Ostap directly in Rio de Janeiro, but then, apparently deciding not to squander cultural values ​​around the world, he put it at his side.

Since 1999, the two-meter figure of Bender has guarded the peace of the inhabitants of the City-Chess chess town (a hotel complex on the outskirts of Elista, built for the World Chess Olympiad). The authorities of Rio de Janeiro are still tearing their hair out of frustration.

If your friends have been to Italian Street in St. Petersburg, you could already see this monument in their red-eyed photographs. A rare tourist will resist the temptation to sit on the chair of the master Gambs in front of the lens of a soap dish. The son of a Turkish subject did not appear in Leningrad.

Nevertheless, in 2000, with great fanfare, the monument was unveiled. The sculptor could not stop at just one thing, and besides the chair, he gave Bender a folder with the Koreiko case. Facial features also had to be divided between Yursky and Mironov.

Photo sources: ITAR-TASS; Ullstein / Vostock Photo; Everett Collection; Corbis/RPG; in / about "Sovexport-film"; PhotoXpress