“In order to reach the pinnacle in any field of art, you need to work incessantly and improve your skills. I am convinced that this truth is immutable. But where did Utyosov come from, who, judging by what he knows how to do perfectly, would take two hundred years to work hard on himself?"
N. V. Theological
Leonid Osipovich Utesov was born in Odessa. This event took place on March 21, 1895. The boy, who was born into a Jewish family of the merchant Osip Klementyevich Weisbein and Maria Moiseevna Granik, was given the name Lazar. In fact, on that day, two babies appeared in the family at once. A few minutes earlier, Lazarus was born his twin sister, named Polina. Leonid Osipovich later joked: "I was very well-mannered - as expected, I made way for a woman …" Utesov's father - a gentle and sentimental man - loved a sharp word and a joke. Maria Moiseevna, in contrast to him, was a woman with a strict, confident hand, led the household and taught children to iron discipline, order and the ability to appreciate what little they had. By the way, there were nine children in the Weissbane family, but four of them died in infancy.
Until the age of ten, young Lazar dreamed of becoming a firefighter or sailor. Subsequently, he admitted that he never dreamed of theater and did not even go to it: “The theater was around me - free, original, cheerful. A theater in which only one production was continuously performed - the human comedy. And at times it sounded tragic. Despite the difficult financial situation, Osip Klementyevich dreamed of giving children a good education. Thanks to his efforts, in 1904, young Utyosov was placed in a commercial school of a major Odessa philanthropist Faig. Unlike other real gymnasiums, this institution did not adhere to the permissible three percent norm in relation to Jews. However, there was another original rule in it - Jewish parents, who assigned their child to the institution, were obliged to bring another one - a Russian boy of the Orthodox confession - and pay for the education of both. Thus, a neighbor's son went to study with Lazarus.
There were many representatives of the Russian intelligentsia among the teachers at the Feig School. The director of the same institution was the famous in Odessa professor of the Novorossiysk University Alexander Fedorov - a great admirer of music and the author of the opera "The Fountain of Bakhchisarai". Thanks to his efforts, an orchestra of plucked instruments, a symphony orchestra, a choir and a drama club were organized at the school. In this place, Lazar Weisbein learned to play the violin and piccolo balalaika, he sang with pleasure in the choir. However, he did not manage to graduate from school. The reason was the behavior of Lazarus, who brought the teachers to white heat with his antics. The "farewell benefit" was a trick with the teacher of the Law of God. Closing the curtains and catching the priest in the dark, Utyosov, along with his comrades, smeared him with ink and chalk. This day was the last in Lazarus's student career - with a "wolf ticket" he was deprived of the opportunity to enter other educational institutions, and his education ended in six classes at the Feig School.
Odessa itself became a real school for the future artist. It was at that time that an ineradicable craving for music settled in the boy's soul. In a large port city, where people of various nationalities lived, Russian, Neapolitan, Ukrainian, Greek, Jewish and Armenian songs sounded from all sides. In addition to music, Lazar was fond of gymnastics and football, as well as the popular French wrestling in those years. In this sport, he managed to achieve great results, and even took part in local championships. And soon on the Kulikovo field, a booth circus of the wrestler Ivan Borodanov started working. Young Lazar quickly got to know all the actors, and Ivan Leontyevich invited the young man to work with him. The offer was accepted without delay. Weisbein worked as a barker, clown assistant, gymnast. Before leaving for the tour, Lazar told his parents: "I will become a real artist, and you will be proud of me." However, in Tulchin, a new circus worker suddenly fell ill with pneumonia. Balagan Borodanov went on tour, and the young man, after recovering, moved to Kherson, where for some time he worked in the hardware store of his uncle Naum.
After returning to his native Odessa, Lazar went fishing with the fishermen, and one day he met a local artist, who introduced himself to him as Skavronsky. He said to the guy: "You are undoubtedly an artist, however, how, pray tell, play with your name?" After that, young Weissbein thought about an artistic pseudonym. According to legend, the nickname "Cliffs" came to his mind when he looked at the coastal cliffs with fishing huts. Subsequently, Leonid Osipovich wrote: “Probably Columbus himself, having discovered America, did not feel such joy. And to this day, I see that I was not mistaken - by God, I like my surname. And not just me. " And soon (it was already 1911) Skavronsky invited him to play in miniature called "Broken Mirror". This simple, but surprisingly funny piece was often performed in the circus, and the young man knew it well. In it, the officer's orderly broke the mirror and, fearing punishment, stood in the frame, starting to accurately imitate the facial expressions and movements of his master. This required careful preparation, but Utesov instantly mastered the number, with incredible dexterity reproducing everything that Skavronsky showed.
The first official performance of Utesov took place in a summer cottage near Odessa - the theater on the Bolshoi Fontana. Despite the successful debut, new proposals were in no hurry to appear, but Skavronsky soon introduced the young man to an entrepreneur from Kremenchug who had arrived in search of artists. So Leonid Osipovich ended up in this city with sixty-five rubles of his salary. The first performance offered to the guest performers from Odessa was a one-act operetta called "Toy". Utesov was assigned to play the role of an eighty-year-old count in it. Leonid Osipovich recalled: “When I was born I did not see real counts, I generally did not know how to play, there was no experience. I thought as soon as I appeared on the stage, the audience would understand that I was an impostor”. However, Utesov was rescued by talent - the first professional rehearsal in his life was brilliant. He wrote: “As soon as I crossed the threshold of the stage, something picked up, carried. Suddenly I felt old. I have felt all the eighty years I have lived, the feeling when the cursed bones do not want to unbend."
Utyosov played his first major role in the Kremenchug theater in 1912. The play was called "The Oppressed and Innocent", and although the drama of the production itself was not of particular interest, Utesov danced and sang a lot and fascinatingly, and the press noted his brilliant performance. In the life of Leonid Osipovich, the time came to become an actor - from the morning until the beginning of the evening performance, there were rehearsals, he was involved in several productions at once, and there was a lot of work. Later, Utyosov wrote: “The success that unexpectedly fell on my fragile head, the feeling of boundless self-confidence, further strengthened by this success, kept me in some kind of tense, elated state all the time. I was bursting with pleasure, happiness, pride."
In the summer of 1913, the young Utesov returned to Odessa. He returned, by the way, the winner - news about the roles he had played was spread in the theatrical environment, and soon Leonid Osipovich was invited to the Odessa Summer Theater of Miniatures with a salary of sixty rubles. In Kremenchug in recent months he was paid more than a hundred rubles, but this did not bother Utesov, who wanted only one thing - to speak. And Leonid Osipovich plunged headlong into work. By that time, he was already well aware that the stories that viewers are happy to accept today, tomorrow they will be uninteresting and boring. In this regard, Utesov formulated a principle for himself: "Each performance must be either new or renewed." There are stories about Utesov's rehearsals on the streets of the city. Stopping a stranger, the artist took him to some quiet place and showed his new number. If the person did not laugh, then the actor knew - either the story was uninteresting, or the performance was useless.
In 1914, during a short tour to the city of Aleksandrovsk (now Zaporozhye), Utesov met a young actress Elena Lenskaya. They had an affair, and soon they got married. Subsequently, Elena Osipovna abandoned her career as an actress in order to focus on her home and husband. Utyosov sincerely loved his wife, he wrote: "I was always amazed how, with so many blows of fate, this little woman managed not only to maintain good spirits, but also to give everyone her kindness." After the wedding, the newlyweds decided to perform together, and this idea turned out to be successful. Their performances were a huge success, and the fame of the young artists spread throughout the south of the country. And once one entrepreneur from Feodosia suggested Utesov and Lenskaya to leave for Crimea. The couple agreed, Utesov later recalled this time: “In Feodosia, I was happy as never before. Walking with Elena Osipovna along the marvelous streets, I kept repeating: "God, how wonderful it is to live in the world!"
However, their happiness in the sunny and quiet city did not last long - in August 1914, news of the beginning of the war came to Feodosia. Utesov urgently took his wife to Nikopol, and he himself went to Odessa. Life in the city had already changed - the factories and the port did not work, the Black Sea trade stopped. When they learned about Utesov's arrival in Odessa, they began to invite him in great demand to various theaters. Leonid Osipovich got a job in two miniature theaters, and a couple of months later a summons came to his home. There was no talk of evading service, the artist's father told him: “They do not return only from the other world. The war will not reach Odessa, and you will come back - I believe in it. Utesov was very lucky, he served in the rear unit located in a village not far from Odessa. On March 14, 1915, he learned that he had become a father - his daughter Edith was born.
At the end of 1916, Utesov was diagnosed with heart disease, and Leonid Osipovich received a three-month vacation. He spent this time with benefit - he got a job in the Kharkov theater of miniatures with a huge salary at that time of one thousand eight hundred rubles. The artist showed his old repertoire - humorous stories, miniatures, couplets. He played with inspiration, enjoying the opportunity to do what he loved. He did not have to return to the barracks, one fine morning Utesov was awakened by the sounds of the Marseillaise - Kharkov met the February Revolution. After the end of the contract, Leonid Osipovich returned home. Joyful changes also took place in the family. His wife's brother, an ardent revolutionary, returned from hard labor, and Leonid Osipovich's sister returned from exile with her husband. There was one more news - the abolition of the Pale of Settlement. From now on, the "geography" of Utesov's acting activities has expanded. In the summer of 1917 he received an invitation from Moscow to perform in a cabaret at the Hermitage restaurant of the famous chef Lucien Olivier. And, of course, he went. In the capital, the Odessa artist performed with stories and couplets. Despite the fact that the audience liked the performances, the artist himself felt uncomfortable. After Odessa, the city seemed to Leonid Osipovich too balanced, insipid. At the end of the summer tour, Utyosov moved to the Struisky Theater, which turned out to be another mystery for him. The theater hall was filled with workers, artisans and small merchants. Utesov was received with frank chill, and what always caused laughter or cheerful animation in his hometown did not meet with any response here. Leonid Osipovich wrote: “I confess that I could not stand this competition - without finishing the season, I returned home to the Bolshoi Richelieu Theater. The thought of the Muscovites not understanding me sat like a nail in my head. The first time I ran into this. For the first time, the audience seemed to me more complex than I thought about it. By the way, in the Richelieu Theater everything returned to its place - both understanding, and success, and begging for extra tickets for Utesov's concert.
After October 1917, a change of government began in Odessa - the Ukrainian Central Rada was replaced by the Germans, followed by the French interventionists along with the Greeks and Italians, and then by the troops of the White Army. Despite this, the city itself was relatively calm. The coups had little effect on the artists, especially on the artists of the "light genre". Utyosov gave performances for the Volunteer Army, and a little later - for the Red Army. He was listened to by Admiral Kolchak, who personally thanked him after the speech, and the legendary Kotovsky, who was in charge of the cavalry detachment at that time. At one time, Utesov, dressed in a black leather jacket, worked as an adjutant for his wife's brother, who was an authorized representative of the Special Food Commission of the North-Western Front. Recalling Odessa during the civil war, Leonid Osipovich wrote: “Thoughts of how to live on, did not torment me. I knew that well. My cheerful disposition, my thirst for constant renewal, my spontaneous unity with those who work, prompted me to further my direction."
During the Civil War, Utyosov, together with actor Igor Nezhny, organized a small creative team and, driving around on a propaganda train, performed with him in front of the Red Army on different fronts. They gave concerts day and night, in large cities, and at small stations, and just in an open field. At this time, Utyosov, no longer a beginner, saw the true power of art - during the performances, "people who were tired in battles straightened their shoulders in front of our eyes, gained good spirits and burst into reviving laughter." Leonid Osipovich wrote: "I have never received such applause before, never before have I experienced such pleasure from performances."
Finally, the civil war ended, and the time of the NEP began. The shops of the eternally trading Odessa quickly filled with goods. Cultural life also took on a new breath - new establishments were opened, in which local and visiting entertainers, dissimilar to each other, performed. It seemed that a starry time had come for Leonid Ospipovich in his hometown, but at the end of 1920 he decided to make a second attempt to conquer Moscow. In January 1921, the artist left the building of the Kievsky railway station and immediately went to a place called Terevsat or the Theater of Revolutionary Satire. It was located in the current building of the Theater. Mayakovsky, and its director was the famous theatrical figure David Gutman. Very soon Utesov found himself in David Grigorievich's office. He himself described this meeting as follows: “I was met by a short, somewhat hunched man. Humor shone in his eyes.
I really liked these ironic eyes. I asked him: "Do you need actors?" He replied: "We have 450, what difference does it make if there will be one more."To which I remarked: "Then I will be the 451st." While working for Gutman, Utesov played many roles. In addition to Terevsat, he performed at the Hermitage Theater, opened in 1894 in Karetny Ryad by Yakov Shchukin. Taught by the failure of the Struysky Theater of Miniatures, he decided that the residents of the capital needed to show either something new or something well forgotten. He chose the second path, playing his old scene about an Odessa newspaper boy. Utesov, jumped out onto the stage of the Hermitage, all hung with the headlines of foreign newspapers, advertisements and posters, and on his chest was a huge duck - a symbol of lies. He found topics for couplets very simply - he just had to open a fresh newspaper. Between the readings of the verses, Leonid Osipovich danced, putting the mood of the message into the dance. The style of the "living newspapers" turned out to be in tune with the mood of the times - in Moscow, Utesov's issue was an overwhelming success. Continuing to be listed in the Theater of Revolutionary Satire, Leonid Osipovich performed there less and less - he did not like primitive propaganda performances, which occupied an important place in the theater's repertoire.
In 1922, Leonid Osipovich once again dramatically changed his life. It began with a love drama that almost destroyed the artist's family. In the Hermitage, he met the actress Kazimira Nevyarovskaya, whose beauty was legendary. Kazimira Feliksovna fell in love with Utesov, and Leonid Osipovich reciprocated her. Despite the fact that Nevyarovskaya tried to keep him, over time, Utyosov still returned to the family. However, the love story was the beginning of a new stage in the artist's work - in the spring of 1922 he went to Petrograd with the intention to try his hand at operetta. Soon after arriving in the city of Utyosov, he got a job at the famous "Palace Theater" located on Italyanskaya Street. The artist's repertoire was extensive - he played in the operettas "Silva", "Beautiful Elena", "Madame Pompadour", "La Bayadere" and many others. Despite the fact that Utyosov had never been a real vocalist, and he often simply uttered arias and couplets, the audience accepted him with pleasure. Simultaneously with his work at the Palace Theater, Leonid Osipovich performed at the Free Theater, created in 1922 by the entrepreneur Grigory Yudovsky. On its stage, the artist played his famous "Mendel Marantz", whose lines quickly spread in aphorisms. In the Free Theater, Utyosov also revived his newspaperman, turning him not so much into a news storyteller as into a songwriter. In addition, it was in Petrograd that Leonid Osipovich became famous as a performer of "thieves songs".
However, this was not enough for the artist. Utesov recalled: “Once a wonderful thought came to me - why not try to show everything that I am capable of in one evening ?! I immediately began to draw up a program. So, the first number - I'm in something dramatic, even tragic. For example, my beloved Dostoevsky. After the most complicated dramatic image, I will go out … Menelaim! A paradoxical neighborhood, almost terrifying. Then I will play a funny sketch about a clever and somewhat cowardly Odessa citizen, then I will give a small pop concert, where different genres, of which I have a lot, will flash, like in a kaleidoscope. After that I will transfer the audience to another state, performing something elegiac, sad, for example, Glinka's romance “Do not tempt”, in which I will take the part of the violin. Then I'll sing a few romances, accompanying myself on the guitar. Classical ballet will follow! I will dance a ballet waltz with a professional ballerina and classical supports. Then I'll read a comic story and sing hot couplets. At the end there should be a circus - I started in it! In the mask of a redhead, I will work out a full range of tricks on the trapeze. I'll just name the evening - "From tragedy to trapeze." Utyosov's fantastic performance lasted more than six hours and was a phenomenal success. Critics noted in the reviews: “This is not even a success - an extraordinary sensation, a furious sensation. The audience raged, the gallery raged … ".
The artist's popularity reached incredible heights, and in the spring of 1927 he went to Riga on tour. A trip to the Baltic States inspired Utesov to new trips. In 1928 he had the opportunity to visit Europe with his family as a tourist, and he took advantage of it. Leonid Osipovich visited Germany and France, visited the Dresden gallery and the Louvre, and visited European theaters. It was during this tour that Utyosov really got carried away with jazz. According to him, he was shocked by the originality of this show and its musical form, the free demeanor of the musicians, their ability to stand out for a moment from the general mass of the orchestra. Returning to his homeland, Leonid Osipovich began to create his own musical group. Since the word "jazz" aroused hostility among the party officials, Utesov coined the term "theatrical orchestra", setting the task of adapting jazz to local conditions. The outstanding trumpet player of the Leningrad Philharmonic Yakov Skomorovsky agreed to work with him. His connections in the musical environment helped Utesov find the right people. The first orchestra was created in 1928. Apart from the conductor, it consisted of ten people - two trumpets, three saxophones, a grand piano, a trombone, a double bass, a banjo and a percussion group. This was the standard jazz band line-up in the west. Leonid Osipovich did not hide from his colleagues any organizational or creative difficulties. In those years, there were still no studios to prepare a new repertoire, and the artists did everything at their own peril and risk in their free time. The team prepared the first six works for seven months, and did not perform at the same time. Some musicians lost faith in success and left, and new ones came to replace them. For the first time, the Utsov Orchestra appeared on the stage of the Maly Opera House on March 8, 1929 in a concert dedicated to International Women's Day. Utyosov wrote: “When the performance came to an end, the dense fabric of silence broke with a crash, and the force of the sound wave from the audience was so great that I was thrown back. Not understanding anything, I looked at the hall in confusion for several seconds. And suddenly I realized that this was a victory. I knew success, but it was on that evening that I realized that I had grabbed "God by the beard." I realized that I had chosen the right path and that I would never leave it. It was the day of our triumph."
The uniqueness of Utesov's theatrical jazz was that each musician had an independent character. The orchestra members entered into musical and human relationships with the help of words and instruments, arguing, talking, swearing, reconciling. They were not chained to their place - they got up, approached the conductor and each other. The program was full of witticisms and jokes. Thus, not just an orchestra, but a certain company of cheerful and cheerful people appeared before the audience. Subsequently, Utesov's "Tea-Jazz" showed the people such famous performances as "Two Ships", "Much Ado About Silence", "Music Store". Leonid Osipovich unmistakably chose among the songwriters and composers people who were able to give birth to hits. And from each song he made a theatrical performance, a full-fledged performance with the participation of the musicians of the orchestra. Its popularity in the country in the thirties was enormous. Every day, from all over the Soviet Union, he received dozens of enthusiastic letters - from collective farmers, workers, students, even criminals. Alexei Simonov wrote: "Utesov sang so many songs that they will be enough for a whole people to remember an entire era." The artist was also loved by those in power. It is believed that the all-powerful Lazar Kaganovich was his patron. Iosif Vissarionovich himself loved to listen to many of Utesov's songs, especially from a number of "thieves". An interesting fact, Leonid Osipovich was the only leader of the pop orchestra who managed to save his musicians from arrest and exile.
After cinematography gained sound, the question arose about the release of a musical comedy. The initiator of the creation of "Merry Fellows" was the head of the Soviet film industry Boris Shumyatsky, who specially came to Leningrad to watch Utesov's theater-jazz performance "Music Store". After the performance, he went into Leonid Osipovich's dressing room and announced to him: “But you can create a musical comedy from this. This genre has existed abroad for a long time and is quite successful. And we don't have it. " On the same evening, negotiations started, as a result of which the film "Merry Guys" was shot. It was directed by Grigory Alexandrov, who returned from America, and Utesov himself played one of the main roles. Maxim Gorky was the first to view "Merry Fellows" and liked the film very much. It was he who recommended it to Stalin, and he, laughing enough, praised the picture. As a result, the premiere of the first Soviet musical comedy took place in November 1934. It was a huge success not only in our country, but also abroad, where it was held under the title "Moscow laughs". At the second Venice International Film Festival, the film received an award for music and direction and was among the six best films in the world.
Leonid Osipovich was extremely happy about the success of the film, but he could not help but notice that his contribution to the creation of the "Merry Fellows" is stubbornly hushed up. He wrote: “At the time of the premiere in the capital, I was in Leningrad. Having bought Izvestia and Pravda, I read with interest the articles devoted to the Merry Fellows and was amazed. Both contained the names of the composer, poet, director, screenwriters, there was not only one - mine. " It really wasn't accidental. In May 1935, at the celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of Soviet cinematography, along with other workers in the industry, the merits of the creators of the first Soviet musical comedy were noted. The awards were distributed as follows - Grigory Aleksandrov received the Order of the Red Star, the title of Honored Artist of the Republic - his wife Lyubov Orlova, the FED camera - to one of the main roles, Utesov, together with his musicians. One of the reasons for this attitude towards the artist lay in the director of the film, Aleksandrov, with whom Leonid Osipovich had a strained relationship.
On June 22, 1941, the Utyosov Orchestra, which was conducting a regular rehearsal on the stage of the Hermitage Theater, heard the terrible news about the beginning of the war. It immediately became clear to Leonid Osipovich that from now on it was necessary to sing completely different songs. However, he did not cancel the evening concert. The artists sang the well-known songs of the Civil War, and the audience sang along with them with inspiration. The next day, all the Utsovites sent a collective application for joining the Red Army as volunteers. The message got to the political department of the Red Army, and from there a reply soon came. It announced the refusal of the request, since the musical group was mobilized to serve the military units. In the first days of the war, Utyosov gave concerts at military registration and enlistment offices, at recruiting centers and in other places from where military units were sent to the front. And soon the musicians were evacuated to the east - first to the Urals, and then to Novosibirsk. In spite of the enthusiastic reception given to the members of the Utsovites in Siberia, in June 1942 the musicians left for the Kalinin Front. More than once the orchestra members found themselves in trouble, more than once came under fire. However, this did not affect either their appearance or the quality of their performances, Utesov wrote: “In the pouring rain we performed in ceremonial clothes. In whatever conditions the performance is held, it should be a holiday, and even more so at the front. " Sometimes the Utsovites had to perform several times a day, for example, in July 1942 they gave forty-five concerts. The stage was most often a hastily knocked down platform, and the auditorium was bare ground. At night, the musicians wrote down the lyrics on pieces of paper in order to distribute them to the listeners at the next concerts. And in 1942, the Fifth Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was presented with two La-5F aircraft, built on the personal savings of the orchestra's musicians. On May 9, 1945, the Utsovites performed on Sverdlov Square. Later, Leonid Osipovich, answering the question about his happiest day, invariably reported: "Of course, May 9, 1945. And I consider that concert the best."
On Victory Day, Leonid Osipovich was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, which was a sign of recognition of his contribution to the Victory. And in 1947, the artist also became an honored art worker. Beginning in the summer of 1936, his daughter Edith took an active part in the performances of Utevsky jazz. Growing up behind the scenes, she sang beautifully, played the piano, was fluent in German, English and French, attended the drama studio of Ruben Simonov. She sang many songs with her father in a duet. Currently, experts have come to the conclusion that Edith was a truly original and talented artist who created her own style of singing. However, in those years, critics scolded her peculiar voice. Utesov's daughter had perfect pitch, but she was stubbornly told about detonation and the ability to perform only under the patronage of her father. Finally, in the mid-fifties, Utyosov received an order from the Ministry of Culture to dismiss Edita Leonidovna from the orchestra. It was a hard blow for the artist. However, he cleverly extricated himself from the situation, offering his daughter to create her own little jazz. Soon, Edith Leonidovna began performing solo performances, accompanied by a jazz ensemble headed by the former Ustovite Orest Kandata.
After the war, Utyosov, together with his orchestra, traveled a lot around the country, recorded on records, performed on radio, and then on television. His orchestra, which received the status of the State Variety Stage in 1948, became a real creative forge, where Nikolai Minkh, Mikhail Volovats, Vadim Lyudvikovsky, Vladimir Shainsky, Evgeny Petrosyan, Gennady Khazanov and many other composers, musicians and pop masters perfected their skills. In 1962, Leonid Osipovich had a terrible grief - his wife Elena Osipovna died. And in 1965 Utesov, the first pop master, was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR. In October 1966, during a concert in CDSA, he suddenly felt bad, and after this incident, Leonid Osipovich decided to leave the stage. In the following years of his life, Utyosov continued to lead the orchestra, but he himself almost did not perform. He also starred a lot on television and wrote an autobiographical book "Thank you, heart!". And on March 24, 1981, the artist made his last appearance on the stage.
When he was retired, Utyosov read a lot, listened to his old records. In the last years of his life, he felt forgotten and alone. In January 1982, Leonid Osipovich married for the second time - to Antonina Revels, who had previously worked as a dancer in his ensemble, and then, for many years after the death of his wife, helped to manage the household. By the way, this marriage, concluded in secret from her daughter, did not bring happiness to the artist - according to the recollections of friends of the Utyosov, his new wife was spiritually very far from each other. The singer's dream of having grandchildren did not come true either. In March 1981, his son-in-law, film director Albert Handelstein, died, and soon (January 21, 1982) Edith died of leukemia. Many pop connoisseurs came to her funeral, and Leonid Osipovich, overwhelmed by the loss, said bitterly: "Finally, you have gathered a real audience." After the death of his daughter, Utesov lived only a month and a half. At 7 o'clock in the morning on March 9, 1982, he was gone. The artist's last words were: "Well, that's it …"
