Text from Tatyana Timofeevna’s handwritten notebook “Our genealogy: the Samsonovs”. First person. [?] — illegible places. Page numbers (p. N) are given in the comments.
(notebook page)
Once I was with Mama at the rest home
“Vasilki.” There I became acquainted
with Natasha Kornevtseva[?] / Kortestseva[?], with whom
we became friends; she was also in entrance
10. Our parents were also
acquainted. We often played together:
now at their place, now at ours. And then they
began to teach us. A very kind,
cultured, amusing
woman studied with us. Her name was Zinaida Nikolaevna.
Apparently she was a schoolteacher.
She taught us to read and write,
told us something about history,
reading us much that was interesting,
took us to the theatre. So that when
I went to school I was already literate.
With Natasha she was something like
a governess. Our parents
worked a great deal. We saw
Papa very rarely, only on weekends.
One incident comes to mind. I
was at Natasha’s; we were given
dinner, and then her papa put
us down to rest on the sofa. Natasha —
against the wall, and I — at the edge. I disliked this
terribly and decided to run.
It was spring. I quietly got up,
quietly opened the door and broke
out to freedom… Natasha was
a year older than I, so at school
we parted. She studied in the class
above. And naturally both I and
she acquired new friends. But our friend-
ship we preserved.
(notebook page)
To the dacha we went to Serebryany Bor.
The dacha was official. We lived,
as people used to say, on the 1st prosek
dacha No. 2. A place of indescribable
beauty: a pine wood, the Moskva River.
Our plot was large, but
[not all of it was worked? / even the land … — illegible].
From the gate ran a long avenue of
lilac. The house too was large,
two-story. We occupied the 1st floor,
and upstairs always someone of Papa’s
acquaintances. Part of the plot
was given over to a vegetable garden and flower garden.
Papa himself did this work.
He dug, made beds, planted. He very much
loved to dig in the earth and when
he had time (and there was always
little of it, busy with work) he pottered
in the garden. We grew carrots, cucumbers,
marrows, beetroot, turnips, tomatoes and
even potatoes. There were bushes of cur-
rants, raspberries, there were cherries,
there were 4 apple trees, black[currant?], wood-sorrel[?].
When the cucumbers began to grow,
my brother and I cast
a covetous eye on them. The cucumbers were small —
tiny, one must not eat them there, but
we very much wanted to try, though
it was forbidden to us. And so
we organize raids with him, crawling
to the beds, thinking no one
saw us. But Grandmother was standing on the porch
and shouts to us: “I see, I see!”
(notebook page)
And what flowers Papa raised,
carnations everywhere, and what else —
so it was no wonder. And petunias, and
climbing[?] sweet pea, and
the scent in the garden was magical.
(That — in[?] our time one doesn’t see
these flowers.)
We always kept animals:
cats, dogs, even rabbits.
We had a dog, an Irish setter,
bright red. She was named
“Lada.” She was very friendly with
me (she was a very kind creature)
and I remember — any[?] of my pranks.
I remember once I am sitting on the steps
(I was about 5), and next to my
Lada. And suddenly she began to lick
my hair, so much that I even forgot
to get up. Then we had to wash it
for a long time.
And we always had cats.
Once we even got 3 cats,
so that they would not quarrel. Otherwise
every evening there was a quarrel: with whom
the cat would sleep.
In summer at the dacha all sorts of ordinary
mongrels of different
colors would come to us. In winter they lived with the watchman,
and with spring they came to us.
Very clever; they all went everywhere with
us, even to the little river, but they did not like
to bathe: they go into the water up to the belly
and go no farther. As soon as anyone
called them[?]. All summer they came
to us, ate there at our place.
(page only partly filled)
But when in autumn it was time to leave
for the city, he would go off with hanging head.
And however we called, however we shouted, however we called,
he would go down the avenue to the gate, without even
looking back. I remember I remembered him
so firmly for a long time. We spent
at this dacha some 13–14 years. And
afterward they were with us. Only in the last
year he did not come.
Dear, good, our kind dog.
How much joy he gave us, and
we sincerely loved him. You were a
fine friend!
(verses on a separate leaf)
Yura’s poem, composed for [the anniversary day?].
(in the left margin:)
When every-
one was
merry,
Yura sat
and wrote.
We
were 50.
To dear Tanya and Sasha
on the anniversary day, 11 Sept. 1976
Tanya and Sasha have an anniversary
Already an event[?] is afoot
And I cannot without tricks
Not compose a clumsy verse.When we at last arrived
Embraces simply stunned
While I was hugging Tanya
Roman was kissing Tasya[?].We entered the room and
lo
One chews, the other sings
All except Eva Konstantinovna
Appeared for the merriment
characteristic[?].A slightly spoiled
anniversary
Had barely begun already gave
From harsh earthquakes
[… bottom of the page cut / continued on the next page]
(continuation of Yura’s verse)
Tatyana and Inna sang songs
A boy walked like Vanka-Vstanka[?]
Nadezhda quite cut loose[?]
And Volodya[?] smoked a straw[?].Led[?] the others a handsome man[?]
Mikhail[?],
He amused us in his own way[?],
Now watched over the song,
Now recalled the frivolous,And on the whole everything was wonderful
Everything tasty never now[?] for us
[struck through: And all] And at times simply
astonishing!
[struck-through line]
you can’t make out what she
door?Here we always have Tatyana
and Sasha
From us as if carefree[?]
[To us? / Or?] strange[?] is their love of ours
They have grown much younger,
(end of the visible text of the poem on this leaf)
(Father’s meetings with cultural figures)
Some actors would come, I think
even Mili[?] Cherkas[?]. At that time in
Serebr. Bor they were shooting the film “The Last
Camp,” where it[?] played the lead.
Ludovkin[?] gave Father his book with
an autograph (we still have it)
As director of “Mezhrabpomfilm”
Papa met many interesting
people.
Martin Andersen Nexø — Danish writer
Father conducted negotiations with him about
writing a scenario. Talks with Nexø were hin-
dered by the fact that he did not speak Russian,
and Papa — Danish. They had to conduct the nego-
tiations through an interpreter. Conversation with Nexø
was a true pleasure. They
grew close and one day Father invited
him with his family to our house as guests. Two
children (Peter — about 8 and a daughter — about 12),
his wife and he himself. These were the October
holidays. Nexø were then living at the hotel
“Savoy” on Rozhdestvenka. There was a dinner,
and then the children went off to play.
Nexø’s children liked it so much at our place
that they stayed with us another
2 days. Mama and the wife bought them
presents: toys and among them was
a horned[?] kisun[?]; that toy Peter
would not let out of his hands. And then Mama
took them back to the “Savoy.” Coming
to Moscow Nexø always visited Father
at work. On one of his visits he
gave Father his book with an autograph
(we still have it).
Jean-Richard Bloch — French writer
Father’s meetings with him took place
at “Mezhrabpomfilm” (the film studio). They com-
missioned a scenario from him. Jean-Richard Bloch
willingly took the job. He wanted[?] that
the scenario be on a French roman[?]
libretto which he presented; it was
exceptionally interesting. The idea of the scenario
— the class struggle in France.
Henri Barbusse — French writer.
The meetings were also connected with the wri-
ting of a scenario. On these affairs he many
times was in Moscow at the film studio.
For the scenario “On the Leipzig trial
of G. M. Dimitrov” they painted in several
episodes with the participation of Barbusse himself.
← Documents and congresses · Notebook contents · Father’s character →