Shurov, Alexander Izrailevich

Beginning of the creative path

In 1925 he graduated from the Kharkov Music and Drama College.

He began to work as an actor in the Blue Blouse propaganda theater, in different branches of which Vladimir Mayakovsky , Demyan Bedny , Alexander Row , Konstantin Listov , Semyon Eidinov and many other now known and then beginning artists also performed. There he met Anatoly Trudler, with whom he soon created a pop comic musical duet. Together they performed topical verses, dialogues, and interludes. Shurov played the piano, Trudler sang and led the conference. Since 1935, they worked in Moscow. At the beginning of the war, Trudler joined the militia and died at the front ^[1] .

Shurov and Rykunin

In 1946, Shurov invited the young actor Nikolai Rykunin to work together in a pop duet, thus replacing Anatoly Ivanovich Trudler, who died in the war. Joint performances were popular with the audience: they performed satirical couplets (usually Soviet satire did not rise above criticism of the sphere of domestic services), humorous remodeling of modern songs, parodies , sketches, funny interludes. After many years, Nikolai Rykunin recalled:

- After the war, joyful content plays were performed in Moscow theaters, and Fakir for an Hour was played in our Satire Theater. I played a role that a young artist could only dream of: Kolya, a photojournalist, with dances and verses. And my partner was the brilliant, charming Vitaly Doronin . Once again, Vladimir Henkin conquered Moscow - he played the role of a doorman in a provincial hotel, his doorman was a stutter, and the audience approved the new work with a laugh to tears. Once, a well-known pop artist Alexander Shurov came to the performance at that time. He suggested that I create a musical and satirical duet with him (he probably liked me). For me, this was an unexpected, but I must admit, pleasant offer. I have long wanted to try myself on the stage. <...> For the first concert we prepared only two numbers: couplets by V. Boboshko and M. Vickers “Migratory birds fly” and the parodies “Dragonfly and Ant”. For the first time we performed on May 2, 1946 in the Central House of the Soviet Army - one of the most prestigious concert halls of the capital ^[2] .

In the mid-1950s, artists created a small variety theater, for which other artists were invited to participate in performances: actors and musicians. For the duet, the authors wrote: Boris Laskin , Emil Krotky , A. Merlin, J. Gray, O. Levitsky, George Terikov , Albert Levin, V. Dykhovichny and M. Slobodskaya and others, composers Nikita Bogoslovsky , David Ashkenazi . Their performances were successful with the audience, they necessarily took part in the festive government television concerts, recorded records of their programs ^[3] .

In 1979, A. Shurov and N. Rykunin were awarded the title of People's Artists of the RSFSR.

Since 1991, Shurov stopped speaking for health reasons. Rykunin for some time continued them alone or in duets with guest actors.

Alexander Izrailevich Shurov died on December 18, 1995, was buried at the Don cemetery in Moscow. ^[four]

• 1963 - The Blue Light of 1963, satirical couplets with Nikolai Rykunin .
• 1969 - Abduction, artist Shurov .
• 1976 - Losers Ensemble (short), Alexander Shurov .

Honored Artist of the RSFSR (10/14/1963)

People's Artist of the RSFSR (09/07/1979)

• Alexander Shurov and Nikolai Rykunin
• "Stuck." Record of the performance of Shurov and Rykunin to the music of David Ashkenazi . 1954 © Aprelevka Plant.
• "Manechka" and "Zaelo" . Records of performances by Shurov and Rykunin.