Shura Balaganov is one of the central heroes of Ilf and Petrov’s novel The Golden Calf , a crook without imagination, a petty thief and an impostor, Ostap Bender's “dairy brother” and his companion in a money-taking operation from the underground millionaire Koreiko . He held responsible posts: first, flight mechanic Arbatov-Chernomorsk, and then authorized by the hooves of the Black Sea branch of the Arbatovskaya office for the preparation of horns and hoofs.
| Shura Balaganov | |
|---|---|
| Alexander Balaganov | |
 drawing Kukryniksy | |
| Creator | Ilya Ilf Evgeny Petrov |
| Artworks | Golden calf |
| Floor | male |
| Age | presumably about 30 years |
| Family | single |
| Children | not |
| Rank | "The son of Lieutenant Schmidt " |
| Position | authorized by the hooves of the Black Sea Dep. on harvesting horns and hooves |
| Occupation | cheater |
| Role | Leonid Kuravlev , E. Dvorzhetsky , N. Tatarenkov |
Recently, before meeting with Bender, Balaganov was engaged in the fact that he was in the provincial government, called himself the son of Lieutenant Schmidt and received under the name of his “father” revolutionary small goods and subsidies. Balaganov was credited with the conclusion of the “Sukharev Convention”, which ended the competition between thirty-four professional “children of Lieutenant Schmidt”: in the spring of 1928, Balaganov gathered his fellows in the profession in Moscow, in the tavern at the Sukharev Tower , the territory of the USSR was divided into sections, and they were cast by lot , and each of the impostors could calmly cultivate his own cornfield, without fear of misunderstanding. Bender, unwillingly, invaded Balaganov’s precinct and met with his “brother” in the early summer of 1930 in the office of the chairman of the executive committee of the provincial town of Arbatov.
It was Shura Balaganov who told Bender about the existence of Koreiko.
In the autumn of 1930, a millionaire Bender found Balaganov fallen at the Ryazan railway station in Moscow. The great combinator gave 50,000 rubles “for good luck” to his faithful ally, but nature took its toll: Shura on that very day was caught on a cheap pocket theft. His fate is unknown.
Currently, the image has become a household name [1] and is used as a characteristic of close-minded and rustic people who are prone to petty fraud.
Memorial
- A monument to the sons of Lieutenant Schmidt Ostap Bender and Shura Balaganov was opened in Berdyansk (Zaporizhia region, Ukraine) in 2002. In his hand, Balaganov’s cup of kvass, and next to Ostap, an empty chair with the inscription “Beer is released only to members of the trade union”. This monument is located not far from the monument to Lieutenant Schmidt himself , who studied at the Berdyansk gymnasium. Peter Schmidt, father of P. P. Schmidt, at the end of the 19th century was the head of the city of Berdyansk and its port on the Sea of Azov [2] ;
- In December 2012, the sculpture of Shura Balaganov was installed in Bobruisk [3] ;
- Under the pseudonym "Shura Balaganov" stands artist Alexander Krivonosov [4] .
Notes
- ↑ Shura Balaganov served as an example for Kovalenko and Krivokrasov
- ↑ Monument to the children of Lieutenant Schmidt opened in Berdyansk , “Expert-Center”, 05.06.2002. (inaccessible link) . The appeal date is November 15, 2009. Archived July 22, 2003.
- ↑ Established a sculpture of Shura Balaganov
- ↑ Alexander Krivonosov and his project “Shura Balaganov” (Inaccessible link) . The appeal date is November 6, 2009. Archived April 13, 2009.