STUDIES IN RUSSIAN AND SOVIET CINEMA, 2016VOL. 10, NO.1, 62–76http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2016.1151142

The lost post: Mikhail Tsekhanovskii’s sound version of The Post (Pochta, 1930)

Nikolai Izvolov

Scientific Research Institute for Cinema (NIIK) at the State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), ul. Vilgelma Pika 3, 129226 Moscow, Russian Federation

Daniel Kharms’s text published in this issue of Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema was discovered in the summer of 2013 during the making of the documentary film In the Search of the Lost ‘Post’ (V poiskakh utrachennoi ‘Pochty’, directed by Dmitrii Zolotov, scripted by Nikolai Izvolov and Sergei Kapterev, and produced by Master-Film, 2014). It was located in the collection of the Laboratory for the History of Domestic Cinema at the Film Institute VGIK, as part of the editing script [montazhnyi list] of the animated sound film The Post made by Mikhail Tsekhanovskii in 1930.1 It is one of few examples of Kharms’s work for the cinema and, probably, one of the most interesting.

Philologists and film historians knew of the existence of such a text by Kharms. In the book Tsekhanovskii (1973), Vera and Eduard Kuznetsov write that the voice of the ‘conférencier D. Kharms’2 can be heard in the film and, it appears, the poet also appeared on the screen. If that is indeed the case, it would be the only time Kharms appeared on film. Finding this film or the text would therefore be of general interest, certainly also because it is a rare example of the collaboration between two of the most original artists of the time. For Tsekhanovskii, this was not the last time he would collaborate with poets of the OBERIU (Association for Real Art, or Ob''edinenie real'nogo iskusstva, 1928–circa 1931); three years later he filmed The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda (Skazka o pope i rabotnike ego Balde), with the poetic text not at all that of Alexander Pushkin, as one might think, but an adaptation written by the OBERIU poet Aleksandr Vvedenskii. From this most unusual project only a small fragment has been preserved, namely the prologue of the film; however, from it we can guess how

ABSTRACTThis is the first publication of the editing list for the lost sound version of Mikhail Tsekhanovskii’s animated cartoon The Post (Pochta, aka The Mail, 1930), which Nikolai Izvolov discovered in the Film Institute VGIK in 2013. Izvolov introduces the film and its distribution history in the early 1930s, before discussing the peculiarities of Tsekhanovskii’s sound version of the film, which is 10 minutes longer than the silent version and includes a prologue in the form of a cabaret; the text is written by Daniil Kharms. The publication of the dialogue sheets follows this introduction.

© 2016 Taylor & Francis

CONTACT Nikolai Izvolov izvolov@mail.ru

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

STUDIES IN RUSSIAN AND SOVIET CINEMA 63

unusual and complex this film would have been in its organization: the world’s first animated opera with music by Dmitrii Shostakovich.

The sound film The Post (also known as Mail) has been even less lucky. After it was screened with tremendous success not only in the Soviet Union but also in Europe and America, it practically vanished. Even its director Tsekhanovskii, who launched a remake of the film in the early 1960s, noted that the film’s silent version has been preserved, while the sound version is nowhere to be found.

The film’s fate has turned into legend, as much as Kharms’s text. I remember how some 10 or 12 years ago the well-known Kharms scholar Vladimir Glotser contacted me to find out where he might find the film. I had to disappoint him, explaining that the film was con-sidered lost. He told me of the publication of a short summary of Kharms’s text for The Post in Kharms’s Collected Works, published in St Petersburg in 2002.

This is everything that was known about the sound version of The Post, until, when making a documentary about our search for this mysterious masterpiece, we tracked some of the

Figure 1. Table of contents of Dossier 2231, VGIK’s Laboratory for the History of Domestic Cinema. Item 11 is ‘The Post’.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

64 N. IZVOLOV

routes of its journey around the world and found evidence of its huge success in different countries.

Tsekhanovskii was well aware that he was making something unusual, something unique that had no analogy at home or abroad. In a diary entry two months before completing the film’s sound version, he wrote:

28 June, night

The more I get into the editing of The Post, the more trifles I find that need to be adjusted to the score. The work becomes incredibly complicated, but I must do it all to the end, risking even to hold up delivery. Such an opportunity will not turn up again any time soon: all the visual material is ready (except the trifles which I re-shoot), and I just have to put things in place; and since the music is good, I make the film synchronous to the trifles, and I reach a goal that not everyone can achieve. It is unlikely to find something like that today in the whole of Europe and America.

Here are the pluses:

a. the humour is well interwoven with romanticism;

b. a high level for a drawn film;

c. good editing (for a cartoon);

d. a great variety of frames;

e. a variety of special sound methods:

1) the cabaret: a poodle, a siphon, sneezing, tricks. The general engagement of the cabaret-studio!

2) the musical introduction and interval, edited in exemplary manner and well filmed, instruments and conductor. Especially the drummer in a zoom;

3) synchronism of music and drawn figures: the postmen walking, dialogues;

4) recital and singing.

P. S. I’m in some nervous, ‘crazy’ delight over my own work, or rather the process of work. (Kim and Deriabin 2001, 229; emphases in the original)

It is interesting to note that among the special, new sound methods, Tsekhanovskii notes in the first instance the episode of the cabaret, written by Daniel Kharms for the sound version, which would become an independent and very important part of the new film.

The result more than justified the expectations: immediately after the film’s acceptance in Moscow, the author of The Post acquired great fame. In his diary entry for 5 September 1930, he wrote:

The ‘triumph’ of The Post continues in Leningrad. Smiles, handshakes, compliments. Now it has to move around the screens of the Union, cross the border and conquer Europe and America. It is hardly possible that there is such a perfect sound film abroad. All this is not my imagination, but the absolute reality. […]

All these triumphs, compliments, praises effectively touch me very little: I don’t take them to heart. However, the praise of Viktor Shklovskii, Pudovkin and other ‘coryphes’ have given to me unexpected pleasure […].

I forgot: these days in Moscow I also feel how The Post has raised me to the level of the masters of cinematography.

The name of Tsekhanovskii sounds no worse than Eisenstein or Pudovkin. (Kim and Deriabin 2001, 231)

The press immediately praised the novelty of sound in The Post. In his article, Ippolit Sokolov notes the innovative working methods with sound:

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

STUDIES IN RUSSIAN AND SOVIET CINEMA 65

Tsekhanovskii’s inventive animation is rhythmical, musical. […] Parts of various rhythm, harmony and form work as dramatic subjects. The sharp juxtaposition of orchestral groups and registers is very dynamical. […]

In The Post each moment is carefully and creatively thought through in terms of subject-matter, both graphically and musically. (Sokolov 1930, 9)

Sokolov is echoed by a critic writing under the pseudonym S. Str.This is real art, which is original and without comparison or competition.

First of all, the principle of the sound recording for this film is very curious. Having refused syn-chronism, probably because the ‘mute’ material of the film was already in existence, the authors used an approach which could be called a cinema of ‘equirhythmics’. This approach consists in the fact that each editable piece, each editing combination, has a specific sonorous and rhythmic equivalent. Almost everywhere the composer has achieved this perfectly. (Str. 1930, 2)

But the discussion was not limited to these articles. In Tsekhanovskii’s diary entry for 13 December 1930, there is the following record:

13 December, 3 am

The ‘success’ of The Post does not let me live in peace. Today ‘the entire house’ read I. Sokolov’s article and a letter from Moscow with ‘flattering’ suggestions from a certain Attasheva [sic]. (Kim and Deriabin 2001, 240)

Figure 2. Illustrations from the silent version of The Post in Close Up 4 (April) 1930, p. 263.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

66 N. IZVOLOV

What exactly Pera Atasheva (later Eisenstein’s wife) offered Tsekhanovskii as she was travel-ling through Europe we do not know. But at the time she was the Moscow correspondent for the English-language magazine Close Up, published in Switzerland. It is likely that the frames from the silent version of The Post appeared in the journal’s April issue (1930) with her involvement in the publication. It is also quite probable that she initiated the enthusiastic response about the sound version of The Post in Harry Alan Potamkin’s article in the magazine in March 1931, in which he places The Post much above Walt Disney in the art of animation (Potamkin 1931, 70). It is hard to tell whether Potamkin had at that time seen Tsekhanovskii’s film. In any case, the director’s surname is spelt as ‘Sehenovski’, which may speak to the fact that Potamkin had only heard it.

We do not know when precisely the sound version of The Post reached Europe and America, but responses to its screenings appeared in the press in Great Britain, France and the USA. Jay Leyda, who would later become a famous American film historian, was at that time the Moscow correspondent for American theatre magazines. He wrote to Tsekhanovskii:

Dear comrade Tsekhanovskii, […], you probably don’t even imagine what a tremendous success The Post has been in America, such a big success that we in America impatiently await the future works of its author. (RGALI [Russian State Archive for Literature and Arts] 2627/2/140)

An interesting piece of evidence can also be found in the biography of Stephen Tallents, the organizer of the GPO Film Unit:

The Fairy of the Phone is an example of the ‘good humoured’ publicity that Stephen Tallents, the GPO Film Unit’s founder, encouraged the post office to produce. Tallents had been inspired by ‘an amusing cartoon film, produced by the Russian Post Office – the story of a caterpillar that was redirected in a postal packet all over the world, and finally hopped out as a butterfly’. (Anthony n.d.)

It is entirely possible that is was precisely the success of the sound version of The Post, which had been screened in March 1933 at Ivor Montagu’s Film Society (where, incidentally, the name is announced as M. M. Kanovski), that led to the making of the well-known series of

Figure 3. Section from H. A. Potamkin’s publication in Close Up 8.1 (March) 1931, p. 70.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

STUDIES IN RUSSIAN AND SOVIET CINEMA 67

Figure 4. Letter by Jay Leyda to Tsekhanovskii, 10 November 1934. RGALI 2627/2/140.

Figure 5. Announcement of Mail by ‘M. M. Kanovski’ in Montagu’s Film Society bulletin, 1933. BFI Library.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

68 N. IZVOLOV

English documentaries, including the most appreciable Night Mail by Basil Wright and Harry Watt (1936), a film with Benjamin Britten’s music and verses by W. H. Auden (Aitken n.d.). The rhythmic-romantic mix of poetry, music and postal travel is surprisingly reminiscent of the basic motives of Tsekhanovskii’s film.

In any case, at this time Tsekhanovskii was already completely absorbed in a new project, The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda, and he was probably less concerned with the advertising of past projects. In his diary, however, he rebuked not without humour The Post being shown in France:

2 April 1933

The Post goes to France, the old hag does the job. (Kim and Deriabin 2002, 307)

The reception of the sound version of The Post was enthusiastic almost everywhere, although the language barrier probably stood in the way of foreign spectators’ full appreciation of the film’s novelty. The playfulness of the prologue composed by Kharms could only be appreci-ated by Russian-speaking spectators, while the rest of the audience had to content them-selves with explanations from commentators and translators (as was the case, for example, with the film’s screening in New York).3

Tsekhanovskii highlighted the cabaret and the interval among the achievements of the sound version of The Post. But only now, armed with the full text of the announcer as preserved in the editing script, can we understand what this action might have looked like when the compère, through his conversation, in turn directs the poodle and the projec-tionist, the image and sound, darkness and silence. In a light, playful and unostentatious form he also manages to explain to the spectator, especially the young one, what sound cinema is.

The editing script also makes it obvious that Kharms did not act in the film. It was not he that played the role of the compère, but Iurii German, the actor of the Leningrad Theatre of the Young Spectator [Teatr Iunogo Zritelia, TIuZ]. It was one of his few roles in cinema.

Figure 6. Certificate for the sound version of The Post. VGIK Laboratory for the History of Domestic Cinema #2231, p. 3.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

STUDIES IN RUSSIAN AND SOVIET CINEMA 69

From the text of the editing list we can also divine why the length of the film extended so significantly – from 550 metres for the silent version to 842 metres for the sound ver-sion, increasing the running time by about 10 minutes. The cabaret prologue turned into a significant part of the film, forming an original ‘tuning fork’, a system of coordinates for the perception of the new and unexpected filmic product, which helped the spectator to easily and naturally adapt to the rather unusual show.

The editing list contains another curious detail that is typical for early sound cinema. It states that the time of the film’s demonstration is 40–44 minutes. The compiler of the editing list obviously applied the standard rule for the projection of a silent film at 16–18 frames per second, when the speed of manual projection could vary and the timescale of the display was quite flux. However, in a sound film the projection speed was constant at 24 frames per second, and the running time therefore would quite clearly be 30 minutes, 40 seconds. This amusing detail testifies that sound cinema was not yet standard, even for studio staff.

Moreover, when introducing the actors of the Leningrad TIuZ, the compère Iurii German says that they read and sing under the direction of Boris Zon. He was a well-known Leningrad theatre director and a celebrated teacher, who led to graduation many generations of Leningrad actors before the war. We do not know whether Zon helped Tsekhanovskii with the actors on the set, or whether the actors simply respected Tsekhanovskii. This detail still requires additional research.

In any case, we are dealing here with a most interesting document and hope that its publication will assist researchers of Soviet cinema to extend their acquaintance with film history through this text.

Translated by Birgit Beumers

Notes on contributorNikolai Izvolov is Head of the Department of Domestic Film History at the Scientific Research Institute for Cinema (NIIK) at the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). His publications include the book Fenomen kino. Istoriia i teoriia [The Cinema Phenomenon. History and Theory, 2001] and numerous articles on early Russian and Soviet cinema published both in Russia and abroad. He is particularly renowned for his work in the reconstruction of ‘lost’ films by Aleksandr Medvedkin, Dziga Vertov, Lev Kuleshov and others. He has also appeared in a number of films, among them Chris Marker’s film about Medvedkin, The Last Bolshevik (1993). Izvolov is the editor of Ruscico’s ‘Academia’ series of classic Russian films on DVD with scholarly commentaries in Hyperkino format.

ReferencesAitken, Ian. n.d. “Night Mail (1936).” BFI ScreenOnline. Accessed January 25, 2016. http://www.

screenonline.org.uk/film/id/530415/. Anthony, Scott. n.d. “The Fairy of the Phone (1936).” BFI ScreenOnline. Accessed January 25, 2016. http://

www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1328720.Fomin, Valerii, and Aleksandr Deriabin, eds. 2007. Letopis' Rossiiskogo kino, 1930–1945. Moscow: Materik.Kharms, Daniil. 2002. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii. Zapisnye knizhki. Dnevnik. Vol. 1. St Petersburg:

Akademicheskii proekt.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

70 N. IZVOLOV

Kim, Svetlana, and Aleksandr Deriabin, eds. 2001. “Mikhail Tsekhanovskii: Dykhanie voli. (Dnevniki).” Kinovedcheskie zapiski 55: 216–273.

Kim, Svetlana, and Aleksandr Deriabin, eds. 2002. “Mikhail Tsekhanovskii: Dykhanie voli. (Dnevniki).” Kinovedcheskie zapiski 57: 292–350.

Kuznetsova, Vera, and Eduard Kuznetsov. 1973. Tsekhanovskii. Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR.Potamkin, Harry A. 1931. “The New Kino.” Close-Up 8.1 (March): 64–70.Sokolov, Ippolit. 1930. “Tret'ia programma tonfil'ma.” Kino i zhizn’ 29–30: 7–9.Str., S. 1930. “Zvuchashchaia ‘Pochta’.” Kino-Front 49 (6 October): 2.

Daniil Kharms and Mikhail Tsekhanovskii: The PostLicence for the Silent Version of The Post‘The Main Committee for Repertoire Control under the Main Arts Administration of Narkompros RSFSR confirms that the film “POST”, an animated cartoon in 2 parts, 550 metres, with the rights to exploitation belonging to SOVKINO, has been watched at GRK [Glavrepertkom] on 29 March 1929 (Protocol 2941) and is permitted for screening from 29 March on RSFSR territory for any audience category with the following intertitles.’42 April 1929, approved by Bogdanovich, Bliakhin, Med’nikov.

Licence for the Sound Version of The PostThe Main Committee for Repertoire Control under the Main Arts Administration of Narkompros RSFSR confirms that the film “POST”, a sound film in 2 parts, 842 metres, with the rights to exploitation belong-ing to SOVKINO (Protocol 3852) is permitted for screening on RSFSR territory for any audience category until 25 December 1932. The screening time is 40–44 minutes.5

Sound Film The Post

842 metresEditing list

Director: Artist M. M. TsekhanovskiiSound Director: Composer N. A. TimofeevAssistant Designers: P. P. Sokolov, DruzhininDoP: Kirillov and P. I. ChuliatovSound Operator: M. N. MukhachevMusic: Composer V. M. DeshevovText: MarshakAuthor of the text for the Conferencier: KharmsArtists of the Leningrad Theatre of the Young Spectator (TIuZ) sing and read in the film.

Part I1. Comrades

2. (A poodle barking)

3. My dog. It’s called Kus.6Kusik… So, comrades….

4. (The poodle barking)

5. Quiet, quiet, quiet… be silent.

Be silent… that’s right. …So, dear comrades…

6. (The poodle barking)

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

STUDIES IN RUSSIAN AND SOVIET CINEMA 71

7. Quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet. This is a mess.I talk to you kindly, and you don’t let me say a word.So, come here… come here. Kusik, come, come here.So come here. Come on. …Hop, here, come here, come here. Here.That’s it. … That’s good. … Here you have a piece of sausage, there we are… here… Eat and be quiet. … You know how to be quiet… That’s it. … There… That’s it … That’s it…

8. So, comrades…(drinks water).

Figures 7a and 7b. Negative frames from the cabaret scene of The Post (1930), showing the poodle and, in the frame and with his back to the camera, Mikhail Tsekhanovskii. Courtesy of Nikolai Izvolov.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

72 N. IZVOLOV

So, comrades, now you will see and hear the film “The Post”. “The Post”. The verse was written by Marshak. You all know Marshak’s book “The Post”. … The picture was made and staged by the artist Tsekhanovskii, and the artists Druzhinin and Sokolov helped him. The music was written by the com-poser Deshevov, the author of the opera “Ice and Steel”. The film was shot by the cameraman … (he sneezes and blows his nose).

9. (A sound in answer)

10. The film was shot by the cameramen Kirillov and Supiatov. The engineer Shorin invented a machine that could record not only the image, but also the sound.So now you can see me and hear me, but we can also do it so that you will only hear me and not see me.Comrade technician, take away my image and leave just my voice.Yes, yes, please.

11. So now you can only hear me, but not see me. But we can also do it the other way round. You will see me but not hear me. Comrade technician, put me back in the picture.

12. So, now you can see me again. And now… comrade technician, switch off my voice and leave only my image.

13. (A silent piece)

14. Yes, go on, yes… The audience is waiting, comrade technician.So that’s what this sound film is all about.Now you all know what sound film is.(The poodle barks).

15. (Female voice). That’s clear.

16. Did you hear that? Even the poodle can talk now.So, comrades: all the voices, the music, and all other sounds for the film have been recorded by the sound operator comrade Mukhachev. And the sound director Timofeev has made sure that the music sounds good and comes always in the right place. He is a composer and knows how to work with sound. Apart from the music, there are artistes from the Leningrad State Theatre of the Young Spectator, who read and sing in the film:

Vakkerova

Volkova

Volokhonskaia

Okhotina

Pugacheva

and Solianinova

and the artist German – that is, me.Under the general management of the director Boris Zon.All the work has been done at the Leningrad studio “Soiuzkino” in the first ever Soviet sound laboratory. And now I shall show you that very first SOUND LAB.Look at the lab.

17. (Sound and lab)

18. Listen, the orchestra is getting tuned in.Now the conductor Rabinovich will appear.Watch and listen to the film “The Post”.Wait, wait.Wait, wait, wait…. I forgot…the most important thing.The best role in the film, I forgotis Kusik, this one here, this…

19. (Sound of the orchestra tuning its instruments. The tapping of the conductor’s baton. The orchestra falls silent)

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

STUDIES IN RUSSIAN AND SOVIET CINEMA 73

20. (Music)

21. (Voice). The characters…

22. The artist Prutkov.

23. His neighbour.

24. The poodle, the poodle, the poodle.

25. Cherviak.

26. The letter.

27. (Music)

28. (Voice).Who’s that knocking on my doorWith a large shoulder bagWith the number 5 on a copper plaque,In a blue uniform with a cap?

29. It’s him. It’s himThe Leningrad postman

30. A recorded letter from RostovFor comrade Prutkov!

31. A recorded for Prutkov?I’m sorry, he is off.

32. Where did the citizen go?

33. He left this morning for Berlin.

34. (Music)

35. (Declamation against background music).While Prutkov is abroad,Flying through the air,The land is all green beneath him.

Figure 8. Still from the silent version of The Post with the reflection of London in the glasses. This frame is not preserved in the extant versions of The Post in circulation.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

74 N. IZVOLOV

Part II1. After Prutkovin the postal trainthe recorded letter follows.

2. (Music)

3. (Declamation against background music).This is the Berlin postman,he has the last mail loaded.He is dressed like a dandy:A cap with a red rim.A jacket with a line of shining buttonHis trousers neatly pleated.

4. The postman goes to the doorAnd bows for an old porter.

5. (Speech without music).A letter for Herr Prutkovfrom number six!

6. (Music)

7. Yesterday, at eleven o’clockPrutkov left for England!

8. (Music)

9. (Music)

10. (Singing).The letter itself doesn’t go anywhere,but dropped in a letter box– It will run. It will run– It will fly. It will flyAnd swim and swimThousands of miles.It is easy for a letter to see the world:It does not need a ticket.For a copper coin it goes around the world,a sealed passenger.On the road it does not drink or eatAnd only says:

11. (Declamation).– Urgent. England. London.West 14. Bobkin Street.

12. (Declamation to music).Through Bobkin Street, through Bobkin StreetMr. Smith walks quicklyThrough Bobkin Street, through Bobkin StreetMr. Smith walks quicklyIn the blue postal capHe looks like a splinter.

13. (Declamation).– For Mister Prutkov.

14. (Music)

15. (Declamation to music).

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

STUDIES IN RUSSIAN AND SOVIET CINEMA 75

The porter looks over his glassesand points at the first name and the last name.And then he says: “Boris Prutkovwent on to Brazil.”

16. (Sound of steamer, edited).(Declamation against the edited background noise).The steamer will depart in three minutes.Suitcases and people are brought to the cabins.But to one of the cabins not suitcases are carried.Here goes this:the postman with the mail.

17 (Music)

18. (Singing).Under the palm trees of Brazil,Weary from the heat,Wanders Basilio,the Brazilian postman.In his hand he holds a strange,crumpled letter.The stamp carries a foreignpost mark…And above the surnamethe note that the recipient…

19. (Declamation).Has left Braziland returned to Leningrad.

20. (Music)

21. (Edited sound. The postman walks across snow)

22. (Voice).Who’s that knocking on my doorWith a large shoulder bagWith the number 5 on a copper plaque,In a blue uniform with a cap?It is him, it is him,The Leningrad postman!

23. He brings againthe recorded letter for Prutkov!

24. For Prutkov? Hey, Boris,Take this and sign for it!

25. Look, that letter followed mearound the globe.

26. (Pause)

27. It raced across the sea in pursuit,rushed into the Amazon.In pursuit of me it was carriedby trains and by ships.

28. (Music)

29. (Singing).Honour and glory to the postmen,Weary and dusty.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6

76 N. IZVOLOV

Glory to the honest postmenWith their large bags on a belt!Honour and glory to the postmen,Weary and dusty.Glory to the honest postmenWith their large bags on a belt!Glory to the honest postmenWith their large bags on a belt!

30. (Music)The End

Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Repertoire Control[signature] P.M.

7 October 1930, Moscow

Notes1. Laboratory for the History of Domestic Cinema [Kabinet istorii otechestvennogo kino], VGIK,

Inventory number 2231.2. ‘Conférencier’ or ‘compère’ are the terms used in European variety theatre of the 1920s for a

Master of Ceremonies (MC); the term konferans has been rendered here as ‘cabaret’ [BB].3. ‘New York. In the cinema “Messa” screenings took place of the film Five-Year-Plan: “Sound

explications in English. Look how the USSR is at work!”. In the same programme screened M.M. Tsekhanovskii’s animated film The Post (History of a Letter). Distribution Amkino.’ Novoe russkoe slovo, 31 October 1931, as quoted in Fomin and Deriabin 2007, 124.

4. VGIK Laboratory File 2231, page 13. This is followed by 159 single-line intertitles for the silent version.

5. VGIK Laboratory File 2231, sheets 79–82; the end date of the licence is crossed out.6. Kus (diminutive: kusik) – from kusat', to bite.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [N

ikol

ai Iz

volo

v] a

t 00:

27 2

9 M

arch

201

6