How the Nazi Reichsmarshal Goering became a fairy-tale character loved by millions. Everything ingenious is accidental

"- I asked Carlson if he was a fiction... - Well, what did he answer you? - asked my mother. - He said that if he were a fiction, it would be the best fiction in the world. But the fact is that he is not a fiction. - And the Kid took another bun." Astrid Lindgren. "The Kid and Carlson, who lives on the roof."

The hypothesis that Astrid Lindgren, when creating the image of the children’s favorite, restless and prankster Carlson, used Reichsminister of the Imperial Ministry of Aviation Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering, the second person of the Third Reich, as a prototype, is not at all without meaning, as it may seem at first glance. This stuffing was made in 2010 by one LiveJournal user, who has now deleted the magazine, and, allegedly, he was exposed in the comments at the same time. To support the version, it was stated that Lindgren “in the 30s and 40s was a member of the far-right National Socialist Party of Sweden (Nationalsocialistiska Arbetarpartiet), an analogue of the German NSDAP,” and was familiar with Goering.

The idea of ​​this struck the Internet community so much that an article on this topic entitled “Duck with a propeller” appeared in the official newspaper of the Russian Government, Rossiyskaya Gazeta - Nedelya. For comment, RG turned to Schell Åke Hansson, director cultural center Astrid Lindgren in Vimmerby, the writer’s hometown.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Is it true that Hermann Goering could have been Carlson’s prototype?
Schell Åke Hansson: We checked everything in the archives together with our daughter Astrid Lindgren - she is one of the best experts on the biographical interpretation of the works of Astrid Lindgren. We looked at the material on the site and believe that everything written there is fiction.
RG: Was Astrid Lindgren a member of the National Socialist Party of Sweden?
Schell: She was never a member of any political party, but in the elections she voted for the Social Democratic Party of Sweden. We have no evidence that she ever supported the National Socialists.


Hermann Goering began the First World War as an adjutant of an infantry battalion, but, having achieved a transfer to aviation, he ended it as an ace pilot, commander of the 1st Richthoffen fighter squadron, the most famous elite air force of the German army. He has 22 enemy aircraft shot down and was awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class and orders.
The fact that Lindgren and Goering met is very likely, and this could have happened much earlier than the 30s. Goering's biography is connected with Sweden much more closely than we know. In the 1920s, Goering served with the Swedish airline Swenska Lufttrafic. In addition, the war hero was repeatedly invited to perform demonstration flights over Stockholm and the surrounding area. In 1923 he married a Swedish aristocrat. At that time, Goering was “in the prime of his life,” as Carlson liked to say about himself.


During the Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923, Goering walked alongside Hitler and was seriously wounded by two bullets in the head. top part thighs and groin, but he managed to avoid arrest. The wound festered and blood poisoning began. In serious condition, his wife took him to Austria, from where he was then transported to Sweden. At the same time, Goering, in order to avoid severe pain, began taking morphine and heroin, to which he quickly developed a severe physical dependence. Subsequently, precisely at Goering’s request to produce a completely synthetic drug that would replace heroin and not cause withdrawal symptoms, German chemists created a monster in their laboratories called methadone. The drugs caused Goering to have a mental disorder, and for some time he was first in one, then in another. psychiatric clinic, from where he was discharged untreated under constant medical supervision. He was able to recover from this addiction only after the war, while being captured by the Allies. In a radical way, access to drugs has ended. In addition, due to a wound in the groin, his metabolism was disrupted and he began to rapidly gain weight.
Goering remained in Sweden until 1927. Astrid Lindgren was 20 years old at that time, Goering was 34.


When analyzing a particular work, you should never forget under what conditions and in what era it was created. Interestingly, Lindgren began literary activity quite late, in the forties, and Carlson was born only in 1955. What could the Swedish writer’s attitude towards Nazism be like at that time?
At the beginning of World War II, Sweden, which supported Finland during the Finnish-Soviet War, officially declared neutrality. However, despite this, it provided Germany with all sorts of privileges and made almost any concessions that were requested by the German side. There was a transit of weapons through Swedish territory during the war. German army in the north. Sweden actively armed Nazi Germany, providing it with loans, supplying it with its own weapons and being the largest supplier of iron ore for the needs of the German military industry. Thanks to its careful policy of double standards, Sweden was able to easily endure the war period, political life the country remained calm. Therefore, it should not be surprising that the Swedes have a slightly different attitude towards the Third Reich than the Russians. Sweden, by the way, is the same country that has not repealed the law “On Racial Purity” for the longest time (it was repealed only in 1976, in accordance with it, over 63,000 people were sterilized in Sweden).
Therefore, there is no need to even find out whether Lindgren personally knew Goering. The fact that she knew about him, could admire him, and that he was for her a more iconic figure for Germany than Hitler himself seems more than likely to me. Nowadays young girls like Ramsay Snow or the Hound from Game of Thrones, the villains are often more attractive than the hero-lovers. Norwegian serial killer Breivik is now so popular that women are sending him love letters in prison.
But in the case of Carlson, who lives on the roof, it's not a matter of admiration. We, as always, misinterpreted what we read; We don't read books carefully. We transmit information without understanding its meaning.


Let's get closer to the text.
The title is my favorite part! "The Kid and Carlson, who lives on the roof." The baby is originally called Lillebror - little brother. In the symbolism of the name, Carlson can be safely regarded as the brother of the “big one”. No, not the one who is watching you, but... although... wait... hmm.
The one who lives on the roof. Luftwaffe, Goering's creation, for a long time in German propaganda fraternal peoples was presented as nothing less than “a roof over your head”, “a heavenly shield”, “an eagle protecting you with its wings”. Didn't Carlson fly from that roof?

What do we even know about Carlson?
Carlson is described as a "small, plump, self-confident man." He himself introduces himself as “a handsome, intelligent and moderately well-fed man” (however, Carlson’s age is not mentioned anywhere in the book).
Carlson can fly.

“As soon as he presses a button on his stomach, a clever motor immediately starts working behind his back.
For a minute, until the propeller spins properly, Carlson stands motionless, but when the engine starts working at full speed, Carlson soars up and flies, swaying slightly, with such an important and dignified look, like some director,
- of course, if you can imagine a director with a propeller behind his back."

Director. Not the Reichsmarshal, no!..

In means mass media, intrigued by Carlson’s phenomenon, he was first called the “flying barrel.” It is interesting that the same name (Tunnan - flying barrel) was held in 1950-65. The Swedish Air Force is armed with the SAAB 29 jet fighter. Comparisons between Carlson and an airplane appear repeatedly in the book.
Carlson has a strong sweet tooth, his favorite food is cake with whipped cream, he takes all the sweets from the Kid, pretending to be sick. Carlson is just crazy about this white crumbly substance called sugar. And he also smokes a pipe, which is mentioned only once in the book, at the very beginning. Important detail to describe Carlson's image, right? Did you know that one of the most popular ways to take opiates is by smoking through a pipe?


How does Carlson appear in the book? “Suddenly he heard a faint buzzing. It became louder and louder, and then, strange as it may seem, a fat man flew past the window. It was Carlson, who lives on the roof. But at that time the Kid did not know him yet. Carlson looked at the Kid with an attentive long look and flew on. Having gained altitude, he made a small circle above the roof, flew around the pipe and turned back to the window. Then he increased the speed and flew past the Kid, like a REAL SMALL PLANE. Then he made a second circle. Then the third. The kid stood, motionless, and waited for what would happen next. He was simply breathless with excitement and goosebumps ran down his back - after all, it’s not every day that little fat men fly past the windows. And the little man outside the window, meanwhile, slowed down and, Having reached the window sill, he said: “Hello! Can I land here for a minute?” Carlson is the best flyer in the world, as he immediately declares.


And from that moment, “as soon as Carlson arrived, the extraordinary adventures"Let's take a closer look at what kind of adventure these are.
First, Carlson brings fire and explosions to the Kid's house - he takes the Kid's steam engine, and, carelessly filling it with denatured alcohol, sets it on fire bookshelf, and then breaks the car, trying to check the “safety valve” in it. Moreover, the destructive consequences of his actions do not bother Carlson at all: “There are several large ugly stains left on the polished surface of the shelf. - Nonsense, an everyday matter! A few tiny spots on the bookshelf are an everyday matter! Tell your mother so,” - this is how Carlson characterizes consequences of the fire. Well, the destruction of the steam engine is an indication of Carlson’s mediocre use of the equipment given to him. A lot of Swedish equipment, in particular, exploded on the Eastern Front in the forties of the era described. “It exploded,” Carlson shouted in delight, as if he had managed to perform the most interesting trick with a steam engine. Honestly, she exploded! What a noise! That's great!"
The second episode with Carlson is the creation of the tower. “I wouldn’t mind having a little fun now,” said Carlson and looked around curiously. “Have they bought you a new steam engine?”
Carlson receives the Kid's blocks: "It was truly a magnificent building material - multi-colored parts various shapes. They could be connected to each other and build all sorts of things. “Here, play,” said the Kid. “From this set you can make a car, a crane, and anything you want...” “Doesn’t the best builder in the world know,” interrupted Baby Carlson, “what can be built from this?” building material!"
This is the second time Carlson mentions that he is “the best in the world,” and does not tire of repeating this throughout the book. It looks like Carlson considers himself the best a true Aryan.

Carlson builds a very strange tower from Baby's cubes. "There was a tower of cubes on the floor. A very tall tower. And although Carlson could, of course, build from cubes cranes and any other things, this time he simply placed one cube on top of another, so that in the end he got a long, very long, narrow tower, which was topped with something that was clearly supposed to represent a dome: on the topmost cube lay a small round meatball." So, what do you think of the image? Tower of Babel, crowned with a piece of meat instead of a dome. In my opinion, a witty caricature of the entire architecture of the Third Reich is one of the largest manifestations of totalitarian culture in general. According to Carlson, by the way, a fence should have been erected around the tower and ensured that “it would remain standing forever and ever.” He was very angry to find the tower dismantled!

The next episode is "Carlson plays tent." In this chapter, the Kid promises his sister not to come into the kitchen in the evening when she brings home her new friend. But Carlson, who learned that the Kid “couldn’t go wherever he wanted,” declares that he swore “that if he noticed any injustice, then at the same moment a hawk would pounce on it.” “The world’s best master of all sorts of mischief,” completely jesuitically circumventing the terms of the Kid’s oath, persuades him to do nothing more than play Orwell’s “young detectives” and spy on his relatives. And he even comes up with it for the sake of it fun game. It is worth mentioning here that it was Hermann Goering who was the creator of the State Secret Police (Gestapo).
"Carlson bets." The beginning of this chapter is devoted to a philosophical dialogue between Mom and Baby on the topic of whether all issues in life can be resolved using a non-violent method (!). The kid with the more radical opinion wins the argument. (!!)
After this, Carlson appears and behaves strangely: he declares that he has a fever, drinks water directly from the aquarium, and, claiming that he is sick, begs the Kid for the money that he was saving for a dog. But this is not enough for him - he sends the Kid to the store to buy him as many different sweets as possible. And all this against the backdrop of the fact that gnawing sugar is considered indecent in Baby’s family (Baby asks his mother to turn away when he wants to take sugar in order to “comfort”, because his mother “can’t see him gnawing sugar”). When the Kid fulfills all of Carlson's requests, he takes the Kid with him to the roof and finally shows him his house.

At home, he shows the Kid the painting “A Very Lonely Rooster.” At the same time, Carlson became so emotional that his voice trembled and he barely restrained himself from crying. During his lifetime, Goering was noted to have an abnormal passion for collecting art, especially paintings. Only Hitler's personal collection could compete with his collection. By the end of the war, Goering had become one of the largest collectors of paintings in the world; he owned over 6 thousand paintings. Please note: “As he flew past the paintings hanging on the walls, he slowed down every time to get a better look at them. At the same time, he tilted his head to the side and squinted his eyes. “Beautiful paintings,” he said finally. “Extraordinary.” beautiful pictures! Although, of course, not as beautiful as mine. - Do you have a lot of paintings on your roof? - asked the Kid. - Several thousand."

In the same chapter, the Kid learns to prepare “sugary powder according to Carlson’s recipe.” “Pour a large dose into me,” Carlson asked.
The chapter ends with Carlson taking away all the remaining sweets and money from the Kid, but the Kid considers this fair. It must be said that most often Carlson takes candy “for charitable purposes,” and “there can only be one charitable purpose - caring for Carlson.”
If we assume that Astrid Lindgren has ever visited Germany, the very roof on which Carlson’s little house with thousands of steam engines and thousands of paintings stands, then I want to tell you that she was clearly not impressed. All of Carlson's steam engines suddenly exploded (the safety valve is to blame), and instead of the promised abundance of paintings, Carlson, gorging himself on "sugary powder", shows only "A Very Lonely Rooster": "On the big, completely clean slate in the bottom corner was a tiny red cockerel. The kid looked at this tiny cockerel. But Carlson talked about thousands of paintings depicting all kinds of roosters, and all this, it turns out, came down to one red, rooster-shaped booger!”
Now I will show you "A Very Lonely Rooster"!


And this is what the picture itself looked like:

Well, are you starting to understand what this book is about? A big, ABSOLUTELY CLEAN world, in which thousands of all kinds of roosters have been replaced by a red (thank you it’s not written “bloody”) rooster-like booger! What's it like?
However, the writer notes that Carlson also has some benefits. The next two chapters are devoted to precisely this issue. Although Carlson took the Kid for a walk along dangerous roofs, from one of which he almost fell, during this walk the Kid found out that Carlson can take care of the children abandoned by their parents (the best nanny in the world steals milk from the balcony for a hungry girl), and at the same time V soft form teach their parents a lesson; can stop thieves from stealing honest people- first, he robs the thieves himself, throwing stolen things to their victims, and in the next episode, after the Kid introduces him to his friends Christer and Gunilla, pretending to be a ghost, Carlson drives away the thieves who got into the Kid’s apartment.
"Nothing beats a ghost when it comes to scaring thieves. If people knew this, they would certainly tie a little evil ghost to every cash register in the city."


The book ends with Carlson coming to the Kid’s birthday party, and he is seen not only by the Kid’s friends, but also by his family - mom, dad and brother and sister. But, seeing him, Baby’s wise dad makes the whole family promise that they will never tell anyone about what they saw. This is the Swedish conspiracy of silence. Like, “he flew away, but promised to return.”


Before moving on to conclusions, I’ll say one more thing: in our country, this story is loved mainly because of the cartoon of the same name, not knowing or forgetting that the cartoon has a number of fundamental differences from the original work. In Lindgren's book, the Kid is a rather spoiled child, loved by both his parents and friends (Christer and Gunilla). In the Soviet cartoon, he appears as a lonely boy who has no friends at all and is deprived of parental attention. Baby's mother in the book is a housewife, and Miss Bok is hired only while she is away for treatment; in the film the same mother, like most Soviet women, goes to work, which increases the hero’s loneliness. Accordingly, the image of Carlson in the cartoon is significantly softened: he looks more like a funny joker who does not want to part with his childhood, than an inveterate prankster. Well, no last element in the charm of the Russian Carlson - everyone's favorite voice acting by Vasily Livanov.


In Sweden itself, Carlson’s image is perceived rather as negative. This “moderately well-fed”, infantile, greedy, boastful, pouting, self-pitying, self-centered, although not without charm, little man lives on the roof of the apartment building where the Kid lives. Being a half-adult friend of the Kid from a half-fairy-tale reality, heenters his life in a very specific way - through the window, and does this every time the Kid feels superfluous, left out or humiliated, in other words, when the spoiled boy feels sorry for himself. In such cases, his compensatory alter ego appears- in all respects, “the best in the world” Carlson, who makes the Kid forget about his troubles.
The leadership of the Third Reich placed its main emphasis on youth. All this outer shell of Nazism: all these secret orders, mystical symbols, torchlight processions, heart-rending cries of loyalty and honor, daggers with the name of God and beautiful shape from Hugo Boss - all this noir-fascism was ideologically oriented specifically towards Younger brother, on the Kid. And the Kid can become interested in him only in those moments when he moves away from his family, when he feels lonely and abandoned. Apart from dubious “adventures,” this friendship does not bring anything good to the Kid’s life. That's what this book is about: the danger of the ideas of National Socialism in early age. About what's through open window Very unpleasant and harmless things may fly into your child’s isolated room.
So the guess that Goering is the prototype of Carlson is essentially brilliant. The premise that Lindgren made him her hero based on National Socialist preferences is incorrect. On the contrary, consistently defending the ideas of social democracy, in the image of Carlson she embodied everything that is not acceptable for the good of the family and the individual.
And the best proof that Carlson is real character, I consider the phrase of the writer’s daughter spoken by her in one interview: “I I remember once my mother was asked: why did you make Carlson such an egoist? She replied: “I didn’t make him selfish, he just became like that.”

A story that appeared several years ago on the RuNet that the world-famous Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren based her charming Carlson on the founder of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Goering, caused a lot of noise in its time. But, as they say, there is no smoke without fire...

1. In the 20s of the last century, the hero of the First World War, combat pilot Hermann Goering lived for some time in Denmark and then in Sweden. There he gave aerial demonstrations. It was in Sweden that he met his future wife.

2. Astrid Lindgren herself allegedly sympathized with the National Socialist Party, voted for it more than once and was even personally acquainted with Goering, the future second man of the Nazi Third Reich. True, there is no evidence of this.

3. Goering in mature age very similar to Astrid Lindgren's character. Same big belly and short stature as Carlson. The Nazi is even credited with the common phrases of a man with a motor “in the prime of life”: “Calm, only calm!” and his favorite “Trivia! It’s an everyday matter.”

Based on these unverified facts, rumors appeared about Lindgren’s close friendship with Goering, her admiration for this man, who became the prototype for the favorite hero of all children. Allegedly, even the propeller behind Carlson’s back is a clear hint at Goering’s passion for aviation.

What really happened

For the first time, scandalous rumors about the children's writer's friendship with a Nazi appeared online around 2010. At the same time, the publication "Rossiyskaya Gazeta - Week" developed this idea in the article "Duck with a propeller." After a couple of months, only the lazy did not discuss latest news about Goering, Astrid Lindgren and her Carlson.

In fact, the article “Duck with a Propeller” refuted these rumors. Correspondent " Russian newspaper» interviewed Schell Åke Hansson, director of the Lindgren Center in her hometown of Vimmerby.

Mr. Hansson completely denied this information based on data obtained from the writer’s archive by her own daughter, Karin Niemann. The latter is the most famous researcher of the life of the Swedish writer and knows almost everything about her. Here's what she said:

1. Astrid Lindgren herself was never a member of the National Socialist Party of Sweden (or Germany), but only voted for it once in an election. And even then, in early youth.

Literary characters are not always the product of the author’s imagination alone; they often have real prototypes. Sometimes a writer makes a very real person the hero of his book, but he just rethinks his character and actions in such a way that “ birth mother won't know." And readers, literary scholars and critics can only build hypotheses: who actually served as the prototype of the book hero, and what ideas the author wanted to convey to the reader. So, even today debate rages about whether one of the main Nazi criminals really became the prototype of Carlson.

What is a prototype

Usually several people or characters become the prototype of one image. The author is free to “take” any features of appearance, character and actions from each person, mixing them in proportions known to him alone. So looking for prototypes of characters is an exciting, but ineffective task. If the author did not directly write who he “copied” his character from, then fans of his work have a lot of material for guessing. And guesses are sometimes very unexpected.

Hermann Goering: from Reichsmarshal of the Air Force to a fairy-tale hero

Hermann Goering was called the second man after Hitler, and in 1941 he was officially named his successor. He was the organizer of the Luftwaffe - Air Force Nazi Germany, Reich Minister of the Reich Air Ministry and Reich Marshal.

Goering participated in the First World War from 1914 as a pilot. Since 1915 he has been a professional fighter pilot. It must be taken into account that in those years aviation was still in its infancy, so he was one of the first. And, by the way, one of the best pilots, you can’t take that away from him.

After the end of the war, Goering performed demonstration air shows in Sweden and Denmark. The show had big success and gathered a lot of people. This is not surprising, in those days aviation was still new, and Goering was a first-class pilot.

And just recently a version appeared that the Reichsmarshal became the prototype of who do you think? Carlson, who lives on the roof!

Version "FOR"

Enough unexpected version! And why not, it’s similar! A propeller behind his back (as a hint of aviation), a man in the prime of his life, quite thin (after being wounded, he gained a lot of weight). It is believed that young Astrid Lindgren may have seen him at an airshow in the 20s. She was really interested in aviation and went to shows. I could share the ideas of National Socialism in the 30s, there is nothing surprising here, these ideas were not the priority of Germany alone, they were shared by many Europeans and even Americans.

Yes, famous Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun was, as they say, a fascist writer who shared many of the views of the Nazis. And the racist theory of eugenics was recognized on the American continent; it was not immediately abandoned, even in the most “democratic” countries.

One has only to read the pre-war diaries of Astrid Lindgren. Second World War for - a duel between two monsters, Bolshevism and Nazism. And if she had to choose the lesser of two evils, she would give preference to Nazism: " A weakened Germany means only one thing for us Swedes: the Russians will sit on our necks. And for that matter, I’d rather shout “Heil Hitler!” for the rest of my life than have Russians here in Sweden. I can't imagine anything more disgusting", Lindgren writes in his diary on June 18, 1940.

It was after the end of the war and the defeat of Germany that it became somehow inconvenient to experience such sympathies, and many abandoned their adherence to fascist ideas.

There is also a version that Carlson’s favorite expressions like “Nothing, just an everyday matter” and “Calm, just calm” were taken from the vocabulary of the German ace himself.

Version "AGAINST"

The version that Astrid Lindgren was a member of the far-right National Socialist Party of Sweden in the 30s and 40s and was friends with Goering was put forward by the Russian blogger anton-tg. Having learned about such an exotic version, experts reviewed all the archives, but did not find confirmation of even a casual acquaintance between the Swedish writer and the German Reichsmarshal. There is no information even about their actual meetings. Strictly speaking, there is no confirmation of this version, but there are a lot of refutations.
To begin with, the date is given when Lindgren met Goering at an air show - 1925. But this year Goering was no longer in Sweden and was busy with other things. In addition, they had a significant difference in age and, most importantly, in social status. Goering was from the family of a high-ranking German official, and Astrid was from a simple Swedish family of farmers. What could they have in common?

About the party. No evidence has been found that the writer was once a member of an ultra-right party. Even if she once shared these ideas, it was for a long time and not for long. In the end, many, having seen how the ideas of fascism turned out in reality, stopped supporting them. But it is reliably known that Lindgren voted for the Social Democratic Party of Sweden all her life. So there is no convincing evidence that Goering was the prototype of Carlson.

And if the Goering-Carlson version raises doubts, then what you can definitely not doubt is that it exists.

I never thought that I would have to refute such selective nonsense... I don’t even know how to do it without being boring, because the whole refutation boils down to the fact that no even remotely similar information exists.

Infamous online character anton_grigoriev , presenting his views as “Orthodox autocracy and right-wing anti-fascism (that is, what is to the right of fascism),” wrote a post in which he claims that Astrid Lindgren was a member of the Swedish National Socialist Party in her youth, and Carlson is “directly copied” from the old Astrid Lindgren's friend (with whom she was friends "throughout the 30s and 40s") Hermann Goering, who supposedly came up with the idea of ​​a propeller behind his back and the saying "nonsense, a matter of everyday life." Along the way, Selma Lagerlöf, allegedly also a Nazi sympathizer, was shitted. There are already links to this post, hundreds of commentators have flocked to it.

All of this, from beginning to end, was sucked out of thin air, at least in relation to Astrid Lindgren (I think also in relation to Lagerlöf). I even suspect that the author of the post himself pulled it out of thin air - Google does not find Lindgren and Nationalsocialistiska Arbetarpartiet (in any language) together, except in his post, and when more sane commentators give him links to how Lagerlöf saved people from Nazism , and to real Political Views Lindgren, about whom there is plenty of material on the Internet, does not provide any of the most boring proof links, even on a fascist website (and he also writes that it doesn’t matter how Lagerlöf justified herself during the war - she died in early 1940, so the answer is " no way").

In fact, Lindgren maintained fairly leftist views throughout her life (except for her quite reasonable and effective opposition to too high income taxes in the 1970s), and in her old age enjoyed great moral authority in the country. There is no information about her connections with the Swedish Nazis or her acquaintance with Goering (who had nothing better to do than be friends with a journalist from a local newspaper in Vimmerby / a stenographer at the Machine Bureau, especially the “all 40s” in the middle of which he was hanged). and never suspected her of this; By the way, she became a writer only in the last two years of Goering’s life. It is even doubtful that Goering organized an air show in Sweden in 1925, and in any case there is no information that they met there. He was in Sweden, but he was in a hospital for drug addicts in Stockholm, and Lindgren had just finished school and was starting to work at a newspaper in her Vimmerby (where she was seduced and abandoned by the editor with her first child). As for Carlson, the first book about him was written in 1955, many years after Goering’s death, and how could he be “written off” from him? What common? There is no need to say that Carlson’s favorite sayings are attributed to Goering only by the author of the post. "Lappri, lappri!" ("trifles, a matter of everyday life", in the original), by the way - this is the favorite saying of Charles XII, which I myself did not know about, but, fortunately, the author is pointed out about this in the first comment (type it into Google, a bunch of links will come up) .

This lie is generated by the desire to assign good children's writers to the pantheon of Nazi heroes, as the author and a like-minded person admit here: http://anton-tg.livejournal.com/939702.html?thread=8427446#t8427446 (just in case, I’ll say that about Tolkien is also a lie). It would be a shame if they convinced anyone of this.

Upd.: As particularly vigilant comrades correct me, Goering managed to take poison before he was hanged.

Few people now know that the creator of the famous “Carlson” in the 30s and 40s was a member of the far-right National Socialist Party of Sweden (Nationalsocialistiska Arbetarpartiet), an analogue of the German NSDAP, and Carlson himself was directly copied from the second man of the Third Reich, Hermann Goering, with whom she was friends throughout the 30s and 40s, and met back in 1925, when he, as a hero pilot of the First World War, organized an air show in Sweden.

You probably noticed that in last years no new ones are created domestic cartoons, cartoons that would touch the soul of both adults and children. No, cartoons, of course, they appear, but that's up to the old ones Soviet cartoons they are as far away as the moon.

It is difficult to say specifically what in the new Russian animated films not right, but something is definitely wrong. Some blame this on bad plots, others on incorrect, sometimes overly detailed graphics, and others think that they don’t know how to voice cartoons these days.

The last statement is especially difficult to argue with. Previously, everyone knew that the crocodile Gena was Vasily Livanov, the cat Matroskin was Oleg Tabakov, and the cat Leopold was Alexander Kalyagin. Little is known about who voices modern domestic cartoons.

This story is about how one of the most beloved Soviet cartoons, “The Kid and Carlson,” was created and, most importantly, how it was voiced.

Where are you, Carlson?

The director of the cartoon, Boris Stepantsev, was well aware that Carlson was not at all simple, and therefore only very good actor. That’s why I tried famous actors of that time for the roles. So they tried to become Carlsons National artist USSR Mikhail Yanshin, and People's Artist of the USSR Alexey Gribov. They tried, but they couldn't. Stepantsev felt that, despite all the texture of their voices, despite all their talent, they could not be Carlsons.

Having rejected the leading Soviet actors, director Stepantsev was at a complete loss. Accident helped. One fine day, Boris Stepentsev complained about his conclusions to his friend Vasily Livanov, who was working at that time in a neighboring studio.

Livanov was intrigued by the story about an outlandish cartoon character who cannot voice any of the pillars Soviet theater and cinema, and he asked Stepantsev to show him the drawings. Seeing Carlson, Livanov, as an artist, instantly caught the fleeting similarity between the drawn Carlson and famous director Grigory Roshal. He caught it and suggested that Stepantsev try himself for the role of Carlson, parodying Roshal. At first, the director was somewhat skeptical about Vasily Livanov’s proposal, but as soon as they started recording, he realized that he had hit the mark.

So one of the main favorites of Soviet children spoke in the voice of Roshal, a kind man and childishly naive. In any case, this is how people who knew him personally remember Roshal.

It must be said that for some time Vasily Livanov was worried about whether Grigory Roshal was offended by such a parody of himself. But Roshal was not offended. Quite the opposite. He really liked the good-natured little man with the engine who spoke in his voice. On New Year Roshal even sent Livanov a congratulatory telegram, signing it “Roshal, who lives on the roof.”

Not only the children, director Roshal and the creators of the cartoon were pleased with Carlson’s voice; the author of the fairy tale about Carlson, Astrid Lindgren, also liked the Soviet Carlson. The writer was so fascinated by Carlson's speech from Soviet cartoon, that during her visit to Moscow she asked for a personal meeting with the artist who gave Carlson his voice.

Baby and his housekeeper

As for the Kid, everything went like clockwork from the very beginning. The kid spoke in the voice of Klara Rumyanova, an actress who voiced a good half of all Soviet cartoons. But Freken Bock turned out to be a harder stone.

Initially, director Stepantsev planned Faina Ranevskaya for this role. However famous actress I didn’t really want to take part in the dubbing of the cartoon. Moreover, she didn’t like the character. External resemblance the unattractive Freken Bock and Ranevskaya herself (the similarity is by no means accidental) made the task of attracting Ranevskaya to work on the cartoon even more difficult. But everything ended well - in the end, Ranevskaya agreed.

It is very likely that in the process of work, Boris Stepantsev managed to regret that he invited Freken Bok Ranevskaya to the role. After all, like Malysh’s housekeeper, Ranevskaya turned out to be a very domineering lady. She categorically rejected all the director’s recommendations and even recommended, or rather ordered, him to leave the studio and give the artists the opportunity to work independently. Stepantsev was forced to obey.

And yet, it’s hard to learn, but it’s easy to fight. Despite her not-too-soft character, and perhaps precisely because of it, Faina Ranevskaya fit perfectly into the cartoon about Malysh and Carlson. A better housekeeper could not have been imagined.

Everything ingenious is accidental

All catchphrases cartoons (“Jam Day”, “It’s an everyday matter”, “And your milk has run away” and others) were pure water improvisation by actors. This was not in the script.