1 time ago
Philip Kirkorov
Launched in 1976, the television program “Wider Circle” surpassed all the musical projects of Soviet and Russian TV in terms of the number and variety of presenters. Over the 30 years of its existence, it has been hosted by Yuri Antonov, Philip Kirkorov, Alexander Serov, Vyacheslav Malezhik, Ekaterina Semenova, Alena Apina, Andrey Derzhavin and many other famous and unknown artists. And all this time they were led by the creator and permanent author of the program Olga Molchanova.
– The program “Wider Circle” was created in the editorial office of folk art of the Central Television, – Olga Borisovna began. – Our boss Kira Veniaminovna Annenkova then visited Austria. She really liked the TV show “The Motley Cauldron” there, in which different genres were combined – folklore, pop music, circus. And she offered to do something similar.
We planned to show not accomplished professionals, but talented aspiring artists, mostly amateurs, who themselves could not get on the TV screen. And the presenters were initially chosen quite traditional for those years. Except how to announce the participants with the set votes, nothing was required of them. We only wanted that, like the participants of the program, they were fresh faces that had not yet soaked the eyes of the viewers.
A young handsome announcer of Central Television Nikolai Streletsky, an actor who starred in the films “Big Amber” and “Paradise Apples”, was invited. He was paired with the soloist of the Moscow Operetta Theater Inara Guliyeva.
The first time they all suited. But Guliyeva did not always succeed in filming – she was busy in the theater. And for Streletsky, work on television turned out to be temporary. Soon the question arose about their replacement.
Beautiful, but “a little retarded”
– In principle, from the very beginning we were going to periodically change the hosts. And then circumstances arose by themselves that contributed to this, ”continues Molchanova. – Sagittarius and Guliyeva were replaced with another couple – the artist of the Leningrad musical comedy theater Viktor Krivonos and the amateur singer Nadya Kusakina, whom I found in the pop orchestra of the ZIL Palace of Culture.
They were the perfect leaders. The text bounced off my teeth! The scenes were performed flawlessly. And most importantly – both were singing. These are the leaders I always wanted to see in our program. But after some time they also had to look for a replacement, since it was difficult for Krivonos to come to the shooting from another city.
At one time, the “Wider Circle” was led immediately by a whole singing brigade – the still unknown Sasha Serov with Olya Zarubina and Yura Okhochinsky with Tanya Kovaleva. They performed the song “Lovely Eyes” with a quartet.
But not all singers got to be leading. I had such a sad experience with Yaroslav Evdokimov. He was very handsome. The girls were just dying! And I thought: “It is necessary that this beauty be observed not only during one song, but throughout the entire program.” I put it as a host paired with actress Nina Maslova, who I really liked in the film “Afonya”. They ran a couple of programs. But it was a terrible pain. Evdokimov did not differ in eloquence. He said to himself that he was “a little retarded.” At the first rehearsal, when it was just necessary to read the text from the sheets, he even read clumsily and incorrectly emphasized. One of our operators could not stand it and sarcastically told me: “Where did you find such a Levitan?” Nina had to show miracles of patience and endurance. Of course, during editing, all Evdokimov’s mistakes were cut out. And there is very little left on the screen.
“Can you at least speak?”
“Seeing their colleagues as the hosts of our program, some artists began to ask themselves to lead the Wider Circle,” Molchanova noted. – Once I spoke on the phone with Yura Antonov, whom I had already filmed as a singer. And he suddenly gave a hint: “Why don’t you take me as a leader?” “Good idea! Let’s try!” I agreed. But then she cursed everything in the world. His partner was Tanya Kovaleva. Both of them didn’t read the text. During the shooting, they began, looking at the sheets, to correct and reproach each other. And they quarreled so much that obscene language was already used by Yuri Mikhailovich. All this happened in front of the audience. I had to film the concert numbers without the presenters, let the audience go, and only after that record the leads to the numbers with Antonov and Kovaleva.
Himself asked for the role of host and Philip Kirkorov. He filmed with us with a Bulgarian song. And the backing vocalist of Leva Leshchenko, Sveta Menshikova, with some partner, was supposed to lead the program. But this partner was late for some reason. I started to get nervous: “Where the hell can I get a host?” This attracted the attention of Kirkorov. “Don’t worry, Olga Borisovna! he said. – Leading in front of you! “Can you at least speak?” I doubted. “As well as I can! he assured. “You just don’t know me.”
And I decided to go for an experiment – I entrusted him to conduct a “Wider Circle” with Menshikova. The Ovechkin family ensemble took part in this program. The very ones who, a few years later, staged the hijacking of an aircraft with a large number of victims. And it fell to Kirkorov to turn to their mother with heartfelt words inscribed in the script by our boss: “A huge thank you from everyone for raising such wonderful sons!”
