281. Pravda, March 9, 1936. (Yelena wrote in her diary: “When we read it, M. A. said, ‘the end of Molière is the end of Ivan Vasilevich.’”) Literaturnai gazeta followed suit (March 10). Kerzhentsev summoned Bulgakov on March 16, an encounter that lasted ninety minutes inside the just opened grandiose new Council of People’s Commissars building, on Hunters Row. Elena deemed it a “senseless meeting.” Losev and Ivanovskaia, Dnvenik Eleny Bulgakovy, 116, 118.
282. Losev and Ivanovskaia, Dnevnik Eleny Bulgakovoi, 72, 120–1. Whether the Bulgakovs knew that Kerzhentsev had been the author of the anonymous article against Bulgakov and the ban on his works is unclear. Maksimenkov, Sumbur, 184, 187–90. In Sept. 1936, Bulgakov would resign from the Moscow Art Theater and take a nominal position at the Bolshoi as a consultant-librettist, rewriting the illiterate works submitted by Soviet librettists who retained the credit for them.
283. Stalin inserted “in connection with the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution.” Artizov and Naumov, Vlast’, 295–6 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 163, d. 1101, l. 65–6).
284. Miller, Soviet Cinema, 26–9.
285. Pravda, July 3, Aug. 20, 21, and 25, 1935; Doklad komissii B. Z. Shumiatskogo, 150; Anderson et al., Kremlevskii kinoteatr, 1026–7 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 828, l. 55–56ob.). After Shumyatsky had returned, he wrote to the Council of People’s Commissars, on Sept. 29, 1935, requesting hard currency to purchase copies of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times. Molotov indicated it was for the politburo to decide. (Kaganovich wrote on the document: “I do not object, though we should know its content.”) It turned out to be a smash hit in the USSR. Anderson et al., Kremlevskii kinoteatr, 286–7 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 163, d. 1082, l. 114–5; op. 3, d. 972, l. 14: Oct. 7, 1935); Pravda, Dec. 2, 1935.
286. Stalin, with Svetlana and Vasily present, watched Girlfriends, written and directed by Leningrad’s Lev Arnstham, with music by Shostakovich. Anderson et al., Kremlevskii kinoteatr, 1031–3 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 829, l. 64–6).
287. Shumyatsky explained the enormous efficiencies of having producers for each film and centralized studios—a single Hollywood studio was outproducing all Soviet cinema—and argued that a single location would enable economies of scale and eliminate the costly trips around the USSR in search of sites for each film. Just 45 Soviet films had been completed in 1935, against a plan of 130, and 46 would be made in 1936, against a plan for 165. For its Hollywood, the government settled on the Lapsi valley near Foros in Crimea, with an initial budget of 400 million rubles. Anderson et al., Kremlevskii kinoteatr, 312–14 (APRF, f. 3, op. 35, d. 63, l. 23–6: Shumyatsky to Stalin, March 26, 1936), 327 (RGASPI, f. 82, op. 2, d. 958, l. 15, 16: Shumyatsky to Molotov, July 15, 1936); Taylor, “Ideology as Mass Entertainment,” 215–6; Kino, July 4, 1936: 4.
288. In their letter to Stalin, which he forwarded to Shumyatsky and the politburo, the satirists pointed out that in Hollywood directors did not use natural light anyway, shooting their works on indoor sets. Stalin dismissed their letter as blowing hot air. But Shumyatsky found himself on the receiving end of Kerzhentsev’s denunciations for insubordination. Anderson et al., Kremlevskii kinoteatr, 302–5 (APRF, f. 3, op. 35, d. 63, l. 23–7: Ilf and Petrov to Stalin, Feb. 26, 1936), 1050–1 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 829, l. 94–6); Deriabin, Letopis’ rossiiskogo kino, 1930–1945, 399, 408, 419. Hearsay has Beria learning of the proposed construction in Sukhum of a cinema city, and instigating the Ilf and Petrov opposition letter. On Dec. 26, 1935, Chiaureli had screened The Last Masquerade for Stalin, Beria, Svetlana, and Vasily. Anderson et al., Kremlevskii kinoteatr, 1033–4 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 828, l. 67–8); Fomin and Deriabin, Letopis’ rossiiskogo kino, II: 391–2; Minchënok, Isaak Dunaevskii, 302–19 (no citations).
