film made for Russian tv with support of the ministry of culture of the Russian federation
Studio MIR presents:
Masters of russian animation
Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg A portrait against the background of their time
Valentina Brumberg
- I'm wildly jealous that I'm not there. Behind that door they had laughter, uproar [Zinaida Brumberg]
Oh my God, how nice, how cheerful, What a - completely different life. It makes one laugh [Eduard Nazarov]
Seeing the tape I had the same feeling, wildly jealous of everyone present there ... [Fydor Khitruk]
- That's it ... Who could enter there without any causes or occasions
and sit there sipping tea and bawl with Zina.
The Brumberg sisters' room was a center of warmth and wit.
- I love their movies. Little Red Riding Hood,
Puss in Boots - in fact,the first musicals ...
I still remember all these tunes. I even have here, I could show you,
cassettes of them. I can't sing. But, Puss in Boots ...:
sings -go, my daughter, for a journey on the river to the river bank ... no, first was. Princess:
- On the maps I wonder something I need ..., then ...
-Learn now wish ... who is my dear friend.
[Puss in boots - 1938]
They're very well incorporated in the environment, in the atmosphere,
in the action that was typical for the 30's.
From the end of the twenties, to the thirties. They were part of this,
I would even say, polyphonic action.
Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg were born in Moscow, to an educated Jewish family.
Their dad, Simon, was a physician and served in the First World War.
Mom, Cecilia, was a music teacher. The family had four children.
In 1898 - Valentine and Alexander, In 1900- Zinaida
and in 1903, Daniel was born.
At the age of 4 years, all the children could read well.
Their mother taught them drawing, dancing, German, music
The girls did brilliantly in school. And in 1916, finished their Gymnasium diploma as first of the class.
The revolution had begun. Valentina and Zinaida in 1918 went to VHUTEMAS
- The higher art technical workshops.
Zinaida S. wrote about this time. "VHUTEMAS, where we followed
workshops led by Mashkov, Konchalovsky, Lentulov, Falk.
Our teachers were far from academic norms. The Sculpture Department had lessons Greek-Roman Wrestling.
Mashkov began his classes with gymnastics.We did not have the right to use the word "can't."
On the wall hung a poster: "Being sick is strictly prohibited."
The play of the young Eisenstein "Even a Wise Man Stumbles"
surprised the young sisters for the free interpretation of the classics. They write:
"It was an exciting performance, but seeing in this eccentric, the future author of the "Battleship Potemkin"
we then could not." The authority of those years was Vsevolod Meyerhold.
This is the layout of the Meyerhold Theater, which was never built. In its place is now the Tchaikovsky hall.
Students did not miss a single premiere. Hutemasovtsev's idol was Mayakovsky.
He even came to Myasnitskaya to see paintings of the Brumberg sisters.
There came a new kind of art-animated films. Zinaida wrote:"Young artists, that is, us,
were invited to come to the SCC -ARMENIAN STATE film college to do this amazing thing.
We went to the Leningrad road, to the premises of the former restaurant Yar.
The founders of the experimental animation workshop,Olga and Nikolai Khodataeva, Yuri Merkulov
and Zenon Komissarenko initiated a feature film: "China in flames."
This film became a kind of school for us.
Movies counted as coursework. We met with the technology of animation at the time: [China in flames 1925]
Out of construction paper, figures were cut; their limbs fastened with wires.
All were painted in black & white. There wasn't a specific cameraman,
everyone took his turn. We all filmed on a hunch.
Later we made with Olga and Nikolai Khodataeva the film "Samoyed boy."
The plot of the film is simple. It's the history of a Nenets-boy.
Northern episodes were styled after Nenets woodcarving, and in the Leningrad graphic style of Dobuzhinskiy.
- They were, -how to say it-
like two poles of plus and minus. Opposites. Precisely because of their character differences
they had that spark. When they argued, everything shook. They would squeal arguing with each other.
But when Ivan Ivanov-Vano would come, it was already a polyphonic quarrel near to hystery.
Why, then all their disputes would end with: "Vanya, do not get angry with us please ..."
Together with Ivanov-Vano we did the Tale of Tsar Durandae. The film was graphic, black and white,
based on the figures of Pokrovsky.
The war began, Soyuzmultfilm studio was evacuated to Samarkand.
This cartoon was drawn on the train, at the studio's evacuation.
Here you see the sisters and Lev Atamanov and inside the carriage Ivanov-Vano.
This sister with the actor Gotovtsev, who played the king in The Tale of Tsar Saltan.
The storyboard was scribbled on a map that all studied to get what they should focus on.
In Samarkand,wrote Zinaida Brumberg, at first we were not up to the tales.
But it became clear that we should stick to this genre. The method used on "The tale of Tsar Saltan" was Eclair.
In essence it means that actors play out scenes in front of a camera, often in costume and full makeup.
-On an island lies a city rising high above the sea
A fir grows in front of the palace, it has a crystal squirrel house.
A squirrel lives there ever so playful,
Does it sing songs, and nibbles nuts.
No ordinary nuts, mind you, the shells are gold, the hearts pure emerald ...
- Here is a art of animation making that was created,at that time by the ensemble of these people.
To leave anyone out was impossible, they all contributed,they each created a part ... It was a very integrated art.
Though they worked together Ivan Petrovich was
one kind of artist but Lev Atamanov a completely different one,
The Brumberg sisters, it is peculiar, were very different as artists too.
But their films were a unity because they were all over the working floor.
Zinaida wrote:"It is now clear that the eclair material, can only be the starting point for the imagination of the artist.
But at first, many took the path of just redraw the acted performance.
For the authenticity of the dances in "The Lost Letter" Igor Moiseyev was consulted.
He said:"Let your imagination float, cartoon characters have possibilities unthinkable for the human movement apparatus.
Eclair only reigned briefly. It is now seen as disastrous naturalism,
but it still put a stamp on the film "The Tale of a Soldier" where the leading role was played by Michael Yanshin.
May I beg for a little food?
I'll break it in half and give him the left It doesn't break...I'll give him all!
And then, somehow, I'll manage ...
They hadn't forgotten their past at VHUTEMAS. Generally spoken that's an interesting subject:
someone who follows their development, should be sure to pay attention to that they came
from a very formalistic view on the medium that reigned at VHUTEMAS
"Fyodor Zaitsev" - is a landmark film. It broke the dominance of social realism & eclair.
And it was good in every aspect. A magnificent scenario by Nikolai Erdman and Mikhail Volpin
wonderful music, voiced by Erast Garin and Michael Yanshina, Brilliant art direction by Anatoly Sazonov.
Dot, dot, comma, minus, curve ... stick, stick and egg-shape, ready the little man is
Aesthetic smuggling that's what they were doing.
And they were right being more afraid of the State Committee for Cinematography than fire.
They from the start, that's something I remember discussed this Aesthetic smuggling!
And this little man! I know where he came from. So spoke the editor of the state fund (Goskino).
This is not wine, but only ink that Gavrilo pours out here in the morning.
We will drink the ink in these glasses
in honor of the pure conscience in adults and boys
He even said: "I know your language is like these Aesopian fables -
I's a cloak, you trying to mislead me with I'm already figuring out this Aesopian language..
He warned us all the time. He panicked at this Aesopian language
and most importantly, he was afraid he would miss something.
And, of course: he missed it. Go like the wind, my eight-legged horse, I'm full of hope and anxiety.
I can't believe Zaitsev will trait his friend I believe that children are good
I know that Zaitsev has at least some conscience and honor.
Probably, however, as it goes, our animation art also has its periods and epochs,
when the time comes to an end and it already has,
Fyodor Zaitsev, I'm sure, will be eternal as Michael Angelo's Moses.
My acquaintance with the sisters Brumberg
was in prehistoric times, in 1948. I graduated from the State Institute of Cinematography -
Art Department and had been appointed, at first part-time, at studio Soyuzmultfilm.
Artist/art-director Lana Azarkh
In the room where I met the head of the personnel department sat the Brumbergs,
In the narrow room were two very simular looking ladies,
but one was big and the other one small.
When the chief HR said that I would work for them in the role of art assistant,
there was a friendly cry. "We do not want one, we do not want one!"
So since 1955, and
until the death of Valentina S., I have always worked with them.
In the animation "The Island of errors" the cow and horse were voiced by brilliant actors -
Serafima Birman and Vladimir Gribkov. - Excuse me, but who are you?
We used to be the cow and the horse
From task 118, But after a certain shameless boy
Crossed us, we became... what you see now.
Many have drawn caricatures of the Brumberg. Especialy sarcastic is this one from Grigory Kozlov.
Yes ... Some people in our time were heroes.
It's very touching to remember them ... Why - also because of being
extremely jealous. They very much liked, actually,I do not know, maybe somewhere on their own,
in the silence of the night, they somehow behaved differently, but when in public,
They just loved their work, loved their pictures. That's why besides the envy, I needed to learn from them.
Their temperaments were different, V alentine was so explosive, Zinaida S. was more impulsive.
more relaxed. Nicholas R. Erdman, their screenwriter and
a long-term friend, always said: "These different sisters!"
One, he's talking about Valentina, - acting as Courtesan racing in
nightly walks along restaurants and the other, Zinaida S., sits at home and eat noodles.
They were very cultured people and good artists. When Valentina S. went abroad
She always took a travel notebook to draw in. The drawings were great.
Zinaida S. is a outstanding watercolor artist.
These sketches for the film "The time machine" are surely inspired by journeying Tunesia.
The film was written by Lana Azarkh and Valentina.
From the notes of Zinaida Semyonovna:
I'm so happy that before directing "The Canterville Ghost"
my sister and I went to England as tourists. In the Tower of Menzies castle,
consisting of huge stones and spiral staircases, we could visualize our eccentric hero.
When we worked we had a lot of fun.
Valentina S. had the firm conviction that work should be fun.
So there was a lot of laughter. It didn't mean we got distracted from work. It accompanied it.
An hour before the rendez-vous (1965)
On the whole, it was our second home. Maybe even the first one.
They were very kind to their artists.
They vey well understood the merit of background artists and animators.
As their animators also very much appreciated their directors.
Through their creative they bonded in friendships, despite the age difference.
I must say that the voice actors we recorded always were outstanding.
At one time Mikhail Yanshin directed the actors.
He was accompanied, in my opinion, by the entire theater-institute.
The launch of the country's first satellite marked the era of the Khrushchev thaw.
For a period the totalitarian regime became liberal.
It became possible to make funny, satirical films on contemporary themes.
The Brumberg Sisters wrote: "Big Troubles" was very dear to us, it brought us nothing but joy.
When the script was brought over by Slovodskoi,
in the script itself lay the key to how to graphically approach this,
because the little girl was telling the story.
And that's why I made the first sketches, like the first drawings children make.
I made them on brown paper, with watercolors, and thick black outlines,
and the figures I made alike well, incidentally, they move as if they're not moving ... because
children draw often in profile. So they move accordingly.
The animators really had to deal with some technical issues here.
This is me. This is my complete family.
Papa had to carry the entire household It wore him out and made him fold
Left direction* he decide to go, *(Black market) To fire* refrigerators in a row. *(Sell illegal)
but as they to the left did pace, they seemed to have left a notable trace.
In his heart this fear now crept that it would cause him to get swept* *(Arrested)
Here is a qualified non-realistic style, for me,
already settled into this blatant realism
- I was not able to master this style, so I felt like I shouldn't be in the credits.
Now I'll tell you about Kapa She looks like mama, not like papa
Kapa is a well shaped girl Kapa has no need to be a working pearl
Kapa doesn't have a need to study Kapa can live happy-go-lucky
Animated scenes of rock 'n' roll by Marina Vaskanyants.
She was dancing herself and was the best for executing the dance scenes in the animation.
We had this, so to speak, salon,
because people went there with something on their mind, or without, for ,say, a good laugh.
So, one day, I was sitting there alone,
the door opened quietly in the evening and in came the general manager.
Such a gray shadow. he greeted me and said:
"You know, Lana A., from all groups I know, what's happening on the inside,
but about your group, I don't know anything.
Well, I said to him.
- "What is for you a good relationship? What questions do you have?"
Well, I told him, that if something occurs
we solve it successfully because we have a great mutual understanding.
And so, I never received a good rating and left the studio.
The sisters had close relations with the author Yuri Olesha. [Three fat men 1963]
At that time they lived under poor conditions. Yuri Olesha's wife Olga Gustavovna Swauk,
the main character was named after her, was forced to sew, and the famous writer
appeared summer and winter at the studio
in the same coat. But always brilliant and witty.
Without this fuss, the bustle, they could not live,
for them, it would be equivalent to death; I am absolutely convinced of it.
Equivalent to physical death, and I remember it well,
I remember, I do not recall which Czar, that is, which manager
posed the question, if they shouldn't send them in honorable retirement.
They broke out in tears, but I was then who? - I was chairman of the creative board,
We too were like bosses, Fedenka, well, we make sure that we did not fire them.
Valentina S. died due to the fact that they were denied work.
They were still in their forces and, be sure, COULD still work.
Holy smoke, parenting isn't easy We had us Gaidar and Tolstoy!
who were teaching us, that we have mind and logic!
Nightingale, nightingale, sing while you can,
Every era gives birth to it's own masterpieces, that, without fail, will remain
And of those are many, many by our dear sisters Brumberg.
Valentina S. who knew three languages, began to study Spanish.
When I asked: why you need it, she said: "I believe in an afterlife ..."
At the film worked Writter and director: Irina Margolina, camera: G Lyahobetski, sound V tarassov, I Voronin
Montage: D Zhigunov, K Lunkin
Music K Bodprv, E Vorohovski Consultant G Borodin
Text reader: Eduard Nazarov
Historic material was used from The gosfilmfund etc, and archives from Marka Lyakhovetsk, Lev Atamanov
Filmfragments were shown from «China in flames(Hands off from China)» (1925)
«THE BOY FROM SAMOED» (1928)
«THE TALE ABOUT TZAR DURUNDAI» (1934)
«THE CAT IN BOOTS» (1938)
«THE TALE ABOUT TSAR SALTAN» (1943)
«A DISAPPEARED DIPLOMA» (1945)
«THE TALE ABOUT THE SOLDIER» (1948)
«FEDIA ZAITSEV» (1948) «AN ISLAND OF MISTAKES» (1955)
«BIG TROUBLES» (1961) «THREE FAT MEN» (1963)
«AN HOUR BEFORE THE RENDEZ-VOUS» (1965) «ABOUT THE CRUEL STEPMOTHER» (1966)
«THE CANTERVILLE'S GHOST» (1970)
General Producer Irina Margolina
The End Subs by Alevtina & Eus, April- June 2015 Film produced by Studio MIR 2013