Silver Ball №2179 15.01.1996 (1996)

Angelina Stepanova and Nikolai Erdman, a love affair in letters.

Nikolai Erdman was incredibly famous, he was not even 25 years old when he wrote his first play, "The Mandate", staged at the Meyerhold Theatre, the play was performed 350 times.

He met Angelina Stepanova during the period of his incredible fame, when he and his wife first came to visit the young actress of the Moscow Art Theatre and her husband.

When their affair began, Angelina Iosifovna immediately realized that she would leave her husband, and met with Nikolai Robertovich secretly.

Secrecy was always one of the distinctive features of her character, very few people in the theatre knew about their affair.

In 1933, Erdman was arrested while filming the movie "Jolly Fellows".

Angelina was very shocked by what was happening, she understood perfectly well what kind of time reigned in the country, but she still came to Abel Yenukidze with a request for a meeting with Nikolai, and he gave her permission.

The meeting took place at Lubyanka in the presence of guards and lasted only a few minutes.

Then Erdman was sent to Yeniseisk.

Angelina Iosifovna visited him only once, in August 1934, during her vacation; the rest of the time they corresponded.

Having secured Nikolai Erdman's transfer to Tomsk, Angelina Stepanova decided to end this relationship and broke off the correspondence.

They met again many years later, when each had long ago moved on with their own lives.

However, their correspondence was preserved and published as a separate book.

The program used footage from Soviet newsreels, excerpts from the film "Jolly Fellows" (1934, directed by G.V. Alexandrov), the Satire Theater's play "The Suicide" based on N. Erdman's second play, and television plays featuring Angelina Stepanova "Anna Karenina", "Maria Stuart", "Dear Liar".