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The 33-year-old Chaplin and Anna Pavlova
The 33-year-old Chaplin and Anna Pavlova. How handsome they are! And how well Charlie looks without make-up and moustache
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· 1932 stories
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Archive · Faith · Mores · Saint Petersburg · Humour
Metropolitan Isidore advised an acquaintance in 1888 to take his wife to a spring in Perm
A story comes to mind, told on the word of a participant in the events, which took place in the capital in early 1888. It concerns Isidore, Metropolitan of Novgorod, Saint Petersburg and Finland, who had conducted the funeral service for Alexander II and crowned Alexander III, and who was
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Vladimir Vysotsky's paternal grandparents and Lev Levin, the physician shot in 1938
The paternal grandparents of Vladimir Vysotsky were named Wolf Shliomovich Vysotsky and Dora Ovseyevna Bronstein. Wolf was a schoolmate of Mikhoels and Babel. Dora Ovseyevna's stepfather, Lev Levin, physician in ordinary to members of the government and to Maxim Gorky, was shot in 1938 on a charge of
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Adile Abbas-ogly recalls interrogations and Cell No. 38 in the Georgian NKVD
“All the way there I was tormented by one and the same thought: why was I being taken to the NKVD of Georgia, what had I done, why did they need me? I was not yet nineteen, I held no post, and I had never held any dangerous conversations. I
Archive · The East · Books · Society · People
A few days ago, in her hundredth year, Adile Abbas-ogly, a victim of Stalin's repressions, historian and memoirist, passed away
A few days ago, in her hundredth year, Adile Abbas-ogly, a victim of Stalin's repressions, historian and memoirist, passed away. In 1938 Adile Shahbasovna was declared an "enemy of the people" on account of her family ties to Nestor Lakoba, Chairman of the Central Executive
NB! · Archive · Mores · Humour
American Furniture Company Offers Theatre Seats with Hat Space Under the Seat
Where to put one's hat during the performance? As you see, an ingenious American furniture company has found a solution for gentlemen, allowing them to go to the theatre without disturbing the comfort of those around them.
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The legend of Herzen's family life retold by Chernyshevsky, and the actual facts
It is amusing that as early as the 1860s Chernyshevsky was in the thrall of a tale told about Herzen. Herzen married for great love and on the whole lived a happy family life. But the first years of his marriage to the girl he had loved since childhood, and
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In an 1855 letter, Herzen asks Alexander II for freedom of speech and the abolition of serfdom
Sire, give freedom to the Russian word. Our intellect is cramped, our thought poisons our breast for want of space, it groans in the stocks of the censorship. Give us free speech... we have something to say to the world and to our own people. < > Wash from Russia
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Savings Bank of the USSR advertises cashless payments on the back of a 1990 issue of the Ogonyok Library
1990: Sberbank of the USSR advertises cashless payment (the advertisement itself is on the back of an Ogonyok poetry collection, incidentally). As you can see, the automatic payment of utility bills was invented long before debit cards became ubiquitous and Sberbank Online was ever thought of.
NB! · Archive · People · Pop Culture · Humour
Igor Stravinsky has knocked back a whisky and is delighted with life
Igor Stravinsky has knocked back a whisky and is delighted with life. To your health, naturally
NB! · Archive · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
Santa Claus on a toy-laden sleigh drawn by turkeys in a photograph from 1909
How do you like Santa in a sleigh drawn by turkeys? 1909
Archive · Books · Mores · People · Saint Petersburg
There is a poem by Mikhail Kuzmin called "Theatre"
You will come quite unexpectedly, Clattering loudly down the corridor – Oh, how much meaning is attached To a gait, a smile, a glance! How sweet to be kissed before everyone. With a greeting that seems heartless, To hearken with a shackled heart To dear, indifferent words. Literal translation "Clattering