Photos from the "old days"

Hear gear, much like any clothing, was in short supply but there was plenty of Pravda. Just don't wear it in the rain because Pravda leaked.

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Georgiy Pinkhasov, the photographer, was walking past a liquor store in 1981 when he saw an argument between two drunks (the USSR didn't have a 100 Ft No-Drinking zone). As he took the shot, something happened but he only saw it later when developing film. The person in an ear- flap hat pulled out a knife and stabbed his adversary in a beret. In a full size print, that's pretty easy to spot. Watch the right hand.

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He was neither an emperor nor a stooge. He actually tried saving the Soviet Union as a concept or an idea but in a different form than he inherited it. In the execution of a plan, he was a disciple of Alexei Kosygin (Soviet prime minister 1964-1980) and Yuri Andrpov (head of KGB, 1968-1982, the head of the USSR 1982-84) . When we left the country in 1978, we didn't think anything would change there. Ever. It changed within half a decade.
 
Technically, somewhere in the old Soviet lands (but not in the USSR) ... and there's no need for a pooper-scooper.

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The great Saveliy Kramarov with a bit role in the 1972 Soviet comedy "Ivan Vasilyevich changes jobs". In the late 1970's, Kramarov asked to immigrate, was banned from acting, had to have Regan intervene on his behalf with Brezhnev and only then was allowed to leave. After coming to the US, he had a number of small roles, mostly playing a dumb Russkie. Which was his forte to begin with.

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Not a photo but a bunch of frames. A clip from the 1980 Oscar winner "Moscow doesn't believe it tears", where Nicolai, a lifelong friend of a George's girlfriend, is trying to find what the heck happened to him after he walked out on her. They never met before.



This is my non-literal translation of their conversation (starts 50 seconds in but worth watching throughout).

George - George

Nicolai - Nicolai

George - So, how's the weather?

Nicolai - Drizzling.

George - Ya? Is there anything exciting in the news?

Nicolai - Hard to say. The world is very topsy-turvy.
 
Another video clip. An actual 2-min mini film from the "satirical video magazine" "Fuse". that was shown as an "educational message" prior to feature films in Soviet movie theaters. This one is called, "A party for three" (a 500 mL bottle of vodka was thought to have enough alcohol to sufficiently inebriate three grown men, which is why these troikas were a standard). What's odd for foreign observers was that this equivalent to a PSA featured three comedy superstars - previously mentioned Saveliy Kramarov, Mikhail Pudovkin and Rolan Bykov.

There is no dialog. It's very Marcel Marceau'ish.

 
Another video clip. From the late 1970's/early 1980's edition of the political review show "International Panorama". Naturally, in order to show the decline of the West, the Soviets went with the Ventures "Vibrations" as their opening theme. Which wasn't all that rare in those times.

 
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