At the beginning of the last century, the artistic basement "Stray Dog" became a symbol of both the brilliant and dark era of the Silver Age.
- You see! Great idea! All is ready! It will be great! Only the trouble is - you need money! Well, I think you have 25 rubles. Then everything will be in the "hat"! - in a similar way, the doctor of aesthetics (as he called himself on a business card), a little-known director in the world Boris Pronin collected "voluntary" donations for a new type of cafe - "Stray Dog". Few could resist him. He was such a person: passionate, charming, childishly enthusiastic.
The founder of "Stray Dog" Boris Pronin, his wife Vera Lishnevskaya and their dog Mushka. 1910s.
Creators and pharmacists
The idea of the restless dreamer was as follows: to open a literary and artistic cafe in St. Petersburg, "neither a cabaret, nor a club", "no cards, no programs," "intimate, first of all." In other words, "a place for their own." However, they also did not refuse from strangers, to whom money people belonged, but far from art. And even though in the lexicon of the author of the project they were all squeamishly called "pharmacists", Pronin understood well that bohemians would not be able to keep the establishment afloat. Actually, such, at first glance, a simple business plan formed the basis of the enterprise, which became a real phenomenon in the history of Russian culture of the XX century.
The preparatory period took no more than three months. Longest looking for a place. The author of the project insisted that it should be either an attic or an attic. Still, bohemians are supposed to be closer to the stars. But there was no suitable room. Then, according to rumors, exhausted by a long search, Alexei Tolstoy, to whom the idea of a "doctor of aesthetics" was very sympathetic, muttered wearily: "Do we not now resemble stray dogs looking for shelter?" So, with his light hand, at least a name appeared at an unnamed project. And soon a house was found. And even if not an attic, but an abandoned basement, which was previously used as a wine cellar, but Pronin "was extremely happy, as if he won at least two hundred thousand." The rent was inexpensive. As a gratitude for the pliability, the homeowner was granted free entry to his property and the status of a "friend."
The interior was organized quickly and easily: unpainted wooden tables and chairs with straw seats were installed. A ceiling chandelier was made from a wooden hoop and candles, which was soon "adorned" by the carelessly thrown glove of actress Olga Vysotskaya and a black velvet mask by director Nikolai Evreinov. Colored lanterns were hung on the walls. A small stage was built for the performers. A sideboard was erected. The artist Sergei Sudeikin was asked to paint the ceiling and walls in his own way. It turned out brightly, "like a Tatar's skirt." On New Year's Eve 1912, "Stray Dog" opened its doors to creators and "pharmacists". The latter, according to the poet Georgy Ivanov, "paid three rubles for the entrance, drank champagne and were surprised at everything." There was really something to be surprised at.
Promotional video:
Olga Vysotskaya.
The coat of arms of the "Stray Dog".
We are all hawkers here, harlots …
To get into the "dog dungeon", it was required to wake up a fast sleeping janitor, overcome the gateway, the courtyard-well, another gateway and, "bypassing the cloud of stench that hit right in the nose from the nearby cesspool", turn left. Steep, slippery steps led to the door of the new establishment, sliding down to the leatherette door. Once at the entrance, the guest had to observe a certain ritual - to knock with a hammer on the board, as if announcing his arrival. Then, with wide open arms, the hund-director, manager and “doctor of aesthetics” Pronin appeared in the foreground: “Bah! Whom do I see ?! Long time no see! Where have you been? Go! Ours are already there. " And immediately, without waiting for a response, he switched to someone else.
The Stray Dog was always crowded.
The Stray Dog greeted visitors three times a week: on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. We always gathered for the occasion: for poetry readings, literary disputes, lectures, theatrical performances or improvisations. The room, thickly covered with a veil of tobacco smoke, hummed like a beehive. There they read poetry at the same time, competed in writing, played the piano, danced the "pole", threw insults in the face and swore eternal love. The most interesting thing began, as expected, after midnight and continued, as usual, until morning. Before dawn, one could even hear Velimir Khlebnikov, the most unsolved poet of the Silver Age, recite his poems. In a quiet, barely audible voice. Everywhere, wherever Khlebnikov went, he appeared with a large sack in which he carried all his simple belongings and notes. When he was still able to persuade him to read something, Khlebnikov took out the first sheet he came across and recited. Typically no more than ten lines.
A regular visitor to the “bohemian place”, the symbolist poet Vladimir Piast recalled: “We, thanks to the“Dog”, became nocturnal. Although I got almost daily at two o'clock at the service … Returning home at six o'clock, after dinner I fell asleep, so that sometimes I would get up just by the time it was time to get ready for the "Dog".
Anna Akhmatova and Nikolai Gumilyov were frequent guests of the basement at 5 Mikhailovskaya. At that time, they lived in Tsarskoe Selo, therefore, waiting for the first train, they sat in the institution until the morning. Here is how one of the eyewitnesses described the visit of the spouses: "Tied in black silk, with a large oval cameo at the waist, Akhmatova floated in … In a long frock coat and a black regatta, who did not disregard a single beautiful woman, Gumilyov retreated, backing up between the tables." By the way, it was in "Stray Dog" that his passionate romance with the actress of the Meyerhold Theater Olga Vysotskaya began. Vysotskaya was extremely painful in the subsequent breakup with a stranger's husband. She left the capital forever along with her newly born son Orest, whom his father, Nikolai Gumilyov, never saw.
Anna Akhmatova.
Serious passions were in full swing, so to speak, at the next table. There, four were sorting out the relationship at once: the author of the scandalous novel about homosexual love Mikhail Kuzmin, the already known artist Sergei Sudeikin, his wife - an actress, dancer and the first Russian fashion model Olga Glebova - and the poet Vsevolod Knyazev. The intrigue was that during the first year of the existence of "Stray Dog" Kuzmin experienced two fatal passions: for Sudeikin, in fact, destroying his marriage with Glebova, and for Knyazev. The unfortunate poet at first responded to his feelings, but then, probably, he got so confused in a relationship that a year later he shot himself because of his unrequited love for … the actress Glebova.
Painting by Sergei Sudeikin "My Life". At first it was called "Artistic Cafe" or "Comedians Halt".
Sergey Sudeikin.
However, to say that "Dog" was a place where orgies and "nasty things associated with them" took place would be fundamentally wrong. Rather, the dark veil of excessively free morals followed the frequent visitor Pallada Bogdanova-Belskaya, the most famous courtesan of St. Petersburg at the beginning of the last century. She called herself a poetess. Others, however, did not consider poetry to be the greatest strength of the beautiful Pallas. Her poems really turned out so-so:
And I will smile at the jealous doubt, who habitually took me
for captive torment, And to the temple of the Woman, rejoicing frankly, Again I will direct
my bow without arrows.
Nevertheless, Bogdanova-Belskaya was extremely popular, or more correctly, a famous character in the life of the capital of that time. Mainly due to its lifestyle and extravagant appearance. The satirist Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya, better known under the pseudonym Teffi, saw her like this: “A demonic woman differs from an ordinary woman, first of all, in the manner of dressing. She wears a black velvet cassock, a chain on her forehead, an ankle bracelet, a ring with a hole "for potassium cyanide, which will certainly be sent to her next Tuesday, a stiletto behind the collar, a rosary on the elbow, and a portrait of Oscar Wilde on her left garter."
Bogdanova-Belskaya.
Mayakovsky ruined everything
On November 30, 1912, 19-year-old Vladimir Mayakovsky made his first public appearance at Stray Dog. The Moscow visitor often visited the "kingdom of bohemia", behaved rudely and cheekily, as if deliberately opposing himself to the refined society. This did not spoil his relations with the regulars of "Dog" at all, but the present "pharmacists", or rather even their wives, the behavior of Mayakovsky, which went far beyond the bounds of decency, outraged him to faint. A grandiose scandal that leaked into the newspapers turned into a creative evening, where, while reading the poem "You", the poet provocateur in the finale allowed himself a "strong" word. Which one is not known for certain. Numerous eyewitnesses in their memoirs hesitated to provide details, limiting themselves to a statement of fact. Then this strange incident is considered by many to be the beginning of the end of "Stray Dog".
Vladimir Mayakovsky.
The institution was closed by order of the city authorities three weeks after Mayakovsky's scandalous trick. There were two official versions: illegal card games and a violation of Prohibition, introduced during the First World War. To the troubles that had collapsed, debts were immediately added, which the confused inhabitants of the "Dog" could not pay off. The property of the once cult institution was shamefully sold for 37 thousand rubles. "Just like in an operetta," the hund director sighed resignedly.
However, there were other assumptions. Allegedly, Pronin himself deliberately buried his brainchild, following the lead of his young wife, who was more interested in, as they would say now, large-scale projects that bring great profits. Anyway, on March 3, 1915, the doors of the Stray Dog were closed forever.
Author: Nadezhda Madzalevskaya
It is interesting:
"Pork Book" and its authors
The main value of the "Stray Dog" was a book bound in pigskin, in which visitors to the cabaret left their poems, thoughts and wishes. Over time, it turned into a real chronicle of a bohemian institution, the authors of which were Akhmatova and Gumilyov, Balmont and Khlebnikov, Mandelstam and Sasha Cherny, Mayakovsky and Severyanin. Sapunov, Sudeikin, Dobuzhinsky and Petrov-Vodkin left their drawings, sketches and cartoons in it. After the closing of The Dog, the book mysteriously disappeared. Her searches yielded no results.
Nikolay Gumilyov.
Looked at the root
At the evening in memory of Kozma Prutkov, all those present were surprised by a certain Poliksena Sergeevna. Dressed in a "general's uniform, sheared, she held in her hand a large horseradish root and, according to Prutkov's behest," Look at the root, "she looked at him attentively all evening, without saying a word."