Our Lending Department prepared 3 new anniversary thematic exhibitions dedicated to memorable dates of August.
August 5th is the 120th anniversary of the first Russian silent screen star Vera Kholodnaya. Her artistic career was very short, she died at only 26. Film historians have counted different numbers of films she played in – from 50 to 80, of which little has survived during the years of the Civil War. Vera Kholodnaya became a significant figure, the queen of the screen. She had a natural combination of beauty, purity and mysterious sadness that used to grasp spectators’ attention from the very first moments. In the book written by Aleksey Kapler, “The Secret of the Beauty Queen”, that you can find at the exhibition, he tells of his first impression of the actress. His astonishment was so great Vera became his first adolescent love: “The whole country was in love with her!” One more proof for that can be found in the book of Aleksander Vertinsky “Behind the curtains”, numerous poems are dedicated to Vera, including “Your fingers smell of incense”. We also recommend you looking into the books of amazing storyteller Vitaly Wulf (“Silver Ball”) and film historian Neya Zorkaya.
100th anniversary of Viktor Rozovs’ birthday is celebrated on August 21st. Viktor Rozov is known as one of the largest dramatist of the 20th century. “Her Friends”, the play that showed the story of a blind girl staged at the Central Children’s Theatre in 1949 became his first success. The Sovremennik Theatre opened in 1957 with the play “Eternally Alive”. “Letyat Zhuravli”, the film which screenplay was based on the play “Eternally Alive” received world recognition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1958. “I am a happy person!” he wrote in his autobiography. Viktor Rozov’s book “Udivlenie pered zhiznyu” is highly popular among our readers and never stays on the shelf for long. His works compiled in three volumes are also available at the exhibition.
110th anniversary of Natalia Sats will be celebrated on August 27th. The first female director of opera house, a playwright, so active and energetic, she became an author of librettos for children’s operas and ballets, wrote books and articles on music education and created a wonderful Music Theatre for Children. “She has always been a constructor by nature, she never stopped constructing herself in multidimensional ways”, says her daughter Roxana Sats. From her early childhood she was acquainted with famous theater people like Stanislavsky, Vakhtangov, Sulerzhitsky, Kachalov, Moskvin and she always used to choose the best plays for her unique theatre with its symbolic Blue Bird that served as a memory of her father-composer. “What great artists, orchestras, such monumentality and artistic preciseness – and all this for kids?!” said V.Vesnin, famous architect. Talented in all aspects, she wrote a number of books about her dramatic life – “Zhizn – yavlenie polosatoe” and “Novels from my life” are presented at the third exposition of our exhibition.
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