Yves Montand in the USSR: Cultural Diplomacy and Mixed Messages 3030690474, 9783030690472

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Yves Montand in the USSR Cultural Diplomacy and Mixed Messages Mila Oiva Hannu Salmi Bruce Johnson

Yves Montand in the USSR “Yves Montand, Cultural Diplomacy, and the USSR is a highly original project, bringing together, for the first time, work on East-West relations during the Cold War and the political and cultural role of the singer Yves Montand. A case study focuses on Montand’s tour of the USSR in 1956–57, together with his wife Simone Signoret. The book adopts a rewarding interdisciplinary approach, bringing together political history, star and film studies and work on popular music, and is enriched by an exciting range of archival documentation that shows in great detail the reception of Montand in the USSR, as well as interviews conducted specially for the book. Anyone interested in Cold War culture and politics, as well as French popular culture, will welcome this book.” —Ginette Vincendeau, Professor in Film Studies, King’s College London, UK

Mila Oiva • Hannu Salmi • Bruce Johnson

Yves Montand in the USSR Cultural Diplomacy and Mixed Messages

Mila Oiva CUDAN Open Lab Tallinn University Tallinn, Estonia

Hannu Salmi Department of Cultural History University of Turku Turku, Finland

Bruce Johnson Department of Communications University of Technology Sydney Sydney, NSW, Australia Department of Cultural History University of Turku Turku, Finland

ISBN 978-3-030-69047-2    ISBN 978-3-030-69048-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: ITAR-TASS News Agency / Alamy Stock Photo This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

This book is dedicated to all the Russian fans of Montand, to the ‘amis lointains’.

Acknowledgements

Our journey with Yves Montand already began in 2014, with an observation that he was amazingly popular in the Soviet Union in the late 1950s. Our journey has been long, and we would like to thank everyone who helped us on our ‘long and winding road’. We first tested our ideas in the conference ‘East-West Cultural Relations: Interplay of Arts and Cultural Diplomacy, 1945–2017’ at the University of Jyväskylä on 24–25 February 2017. We would particularly like to thank its main organizer Simo Mikkonen for his kind help and support. Our preliminary findings were published in the volume, Entangled East and West: Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction During the Cold War (De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2018), edited by Simo Mikkonen, Jari Parkkinen, and Giles Scott-Smith. We would like to thank Associate Professor Ekaterina LapinaKratasyuk at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow and the students of the oral history workshop course for conducting the interviews for this book. The students of the course, Daria Artemova, Alexander Bespalov, Ivan Karnaukhov, Elizaveta Karpova, Takhmina Kasimova, Daria Khokhlova, Anna Koliberskaya, Maria Korenko, Anastasia Kurasheva, Sofia Kuznetsova, Maxim Larichev, Lidia Larkina, Ilia Lukhovitskii, Alexandra Mikhailidi, Angelina Naumova, Anna Ostapenko, Yana Parshina, Polina Protasova, Daria Umanets, and Marina Zucconi, did invaluable work in collecting and recording this collective memoir of Montand’s tour in present-day Russia.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The support of Anatoly Pinsky and Dmitry Kozlov has helped us to identify more sources. We would also like to express our gratitude to Olga Vinogradova, who assisted in collecting the archival documents. We would also like to thank the knowledgeable staff of the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts, the Russian State Library in Moscow and the Slavonic Library at the National Library of Finland for their support. We also record our gratitude to Louise Doumerc (Gaumont Pathé Archives), Matthieu Grimault (La Cinémathèque française) and Eric Le Roy (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée), who helped us in tracing the itineraries of Yves Montand.

About the Book

This volume is the first book-length account of Yves Montand’s controversial tour of the Soviet Union at the turn of the years 1956/57. It traces the mixed messages of this internationally visible act of cultural diplomacy in the middle of the turbulent Cold War. It also provides an account of the celebrated French singer-actor’s controversial career, his dedication to music and to peace activism, as well as his widespread fandom in the USSR. The book describes the political background for the events of the year 1956, including the changing Soviet atmosphere after Stalin’s death, portrays the rising transnational stardom of Montand in the 1940s and 1950s, and explores the controversies aroused by his plan to visit Moscow after the Hungarian Uprising. The book pays particular attention to Montand’s reception in the USSR and his concert performances, drawing on unique archival material and oral history interviews, and analyses the documentary Yves Montand Sings (1957) released immediately after his visit.

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Contents

1 Introduction  1 2 1956: The International Background 11 3 The Soviet Thaw and Cultural Diplomacy 25 4 Biography: Ivo Livi and Yves Montand 37 5 Preparations, Hesitations and Decisions 61 6 The Construction and Reception of Montand’s Public Image 77 7 The Film Yves Montand Sings109 8 The Music: Lost in Translation141 9 Conclusions175

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 Appendix A: Discography of Yves Montand’s Soviet-Made Recordings189  Appendix B: List of Yves Montand Postcards Printed in the USSR199 Research Literature209 Index225

About the Authors

Mila Oiva  is a cultural historian and an expert on Russian and Polish history. She is working as a senior research fellow at CUDAN Open Lab at Tallinn University, Estonia. Her research interests focus on circulation of information. She is involved in projects studying the phenomenon through the nineteenth-century global news flows, contemporary Finnish and Russian Internet forum discussions on medieval history and the Cold War era transnational information circulation between Polish, Finnish and Soviet foreign trades. Hannu Salmi  is Professor of Cultural History at the University of Turku, Finland, and was nominated Academy Professor for the years 2017–2021. His research interests focus on the cultural history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, especially media and music history. He is the author of several books, including Nineteenth-Century Europe: A Cultural History (2008) and What Is Digital History? (2020), and the editor of, for example, Routledge Companion to Cultural History in the Western World (with Alessandro Arcangeli and Jörg Rogge, 2020). He was the first chair of the International Society for Cultural History from 2008 to 2013. Bruce Johnson  was formerly a professor of English Literature and holds honorary professorships in Music, Cultural History, Communications and Media in universities in the UK, Finland and Australia. He is an

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award-winning broadcaster and record producer, and is active as a jazz musician. As government advisor on music policy he was also prime mover in establishing the Australian Jazz Archive. He is on the editorial boards of some half dozen of the world’s leading academic music journals. His academic publications number several hundred items, including author/editor of over a dozen books.

List of Figures

Fig. 4.1

Yves Montand with a cowboy hat in 1944. (Source: Studio Harcourt/Wikimedia Commons) 44 Fig. 5.1 Sergei and Olga Obraztsov (on the left) together with painter Otto Nagel and Mayor of the City of Berlin (GDR) Friedrich Ebert at Berliner Festtage in Berlin GDR 15 November 1958. The name of the woman in right is not known. Photo by Rudi Ulmer. Source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-60053-0003 / CC-BY-SA 3.0. Deutsches Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia Commons 63 Fig. 6.1 ‘Yves Montand. A photo reproduction from the book Head Full of Sun,’ LFH 1956. (Source: Meshok) 87 Fig. 6.2 ‘Yves Montand’, Fotoizdat Dinamo, Rostov-on-Don, 1957. and 6.3 (Source: Meshok) 88 Fig. 6.4 Yves Montand. Izogiz, Moscow 1956. (Source: Russian State Library in Moscow) 89 Fig. 6.5 ‘For the expected arrival of Yves Montand in the USSR. When a long-­distance friend sings.’ A drawing by E. Gorohov. (Source: Krokodil No 31, 10 November 1956, 35) 91 Fig. 6.6 ‘A friendly caricature by KUKRYNIKSY.’ ‘For Yves Montand; now that you have acquainted yourself more closely with Moscow, it is very likely that you will be inspired to sing in Paris about the Great Boulevards of Moscow.’ (Source: Krokodil No 2, 20 January 1957) 97 Fig. 7.1 Opening credits of the Montand documentary. (Source: Yves Montand Sings 1957) 123

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Fig. 7.2 Fig. 8.1 Fig. 8.2 Fig. 8.3

The troika ride. (Source: Yves Montand Sings 1957) Yves Montand’s concert programme in Moscow. (Source: Bruce Johnson’s collection) Young man listening to Montand… (Source: Yves Montand Sings (1957)) …and tapping his feet. (Source: Yves Montand Sings (1957))

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction

The year 1956 was a political landmark in many ways, both in Soviet history and in international relations. Regarding the former, it was the year of Khrushchev’s ‘Secret Speech’, which also marked the onset of the ‘Thaw’, the attempt to open up the Soviet Union to the West. But it was also a year of deep political tensions within the Soviet bloc, manifesting themselves most violently in Poland and Hungary. It was a year in which colonialist-style policies were challenged globally, including the Irish Republican Army’s ‘border campaign’ marking the beginning of ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, Morocco’s independence from France and Spain ceding its Moroccan territories, Sudan became an independent republic, and the Gold Coast secured its independence from Britain. The Suez crisis destabilised international relations involving Great Britain, France, Israel and Egypt and, more covertly, the USSR and the US. Yet in the same year, the Americans launched the first of their State Department international jazz packages, with a band led by Dizzy Gillespie touring the Middle East.1 This represented a major step in what has become known as cultural diplomacy, the attempt to manage international relations by means of amicable cultural exchange (see further Chap. 3). And, with the Thaw, it also became Soviet policy, with the planning of a tour of the USSR by singer and actor Yves Montand, at that time perhaps the most 1  Penny von Eschen. 2004. Satchmo Blows up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War. Cambridge Mass, London: Harvard University Press, 27.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Oiva et al., Yves Montand in the USSR, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9_1

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celebrated popular entertainer in continental Europe. It was an event regarded as so significant by the Soviet authorities that they commissioned a feature-length documentary film record of it, Yves Montand Sings (Поёт Ив Монтан, 1957), as a way to exemplify the new doctrine of peaceful coexistence and the benefits of cultural diplomacy, primarily to domestic audiences. This book examines that tour and the documentary film as a case study in Soviet cultural diplomacy during the Thaw. We explore this example of transnational cultural interaction and reception of foreign cultural products and, in so doing, give insights into the dialectics of cultural diplomacy, in general, and the possibilities it offers both for transnational understanding and for misunderstanding. There are various conceptual models by which to frame this study, including that of the circulation of knowledge. A particular message was transmitted through the act of cultural diplomacy, with the aim of influencing those who received it. But rather than a simple ‘transfer’ of knowledge, closer examination suggests instead a process of ‘circulation’ of knowledge in which the message transmitted undergoes modifications arising from different conceptual frameworks, purposeful and non-­ purposeful misunderstandings, adaptations and translations, and the participation of heterogeneous audiences and communities. The cultural, socio-political, material and technological terrains through which knowledge passes are not neutral media which leave it unchanged. The data that constitute that knowledge are transformed by the process.2 Knowledge starts to circulate when people, objects, technologies and documents meet and transform each other through interactions in specific places. In our book cultural diplomacy is interpreted as knowledge circulation that involved elements of the propagandistic use of media, but it also activated diplomatic negotiations in which different views encountered, conversed and became translated. 2  Johan Östling, David Larsson Heidenblad, Erling Sandmo, Anna Nilsson Hammar and Kari H. Nordberg. 2018. ‘The History of Knowledge and Circulation of Knowledge: An Introduction’. In Circulation of Knowledge: Explorations in the History of Knowledge, edited by Johan Östling, Erling Sandmo, David Larsson Heidenblad, Anna Nilsson Hammar and Kari H. Nordberg. Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 12; Camilla Ruud. 2018. ‘Materializing Circulation. A Gigantic Skeleton and a Danish 18th Century Naturalist’. In Circulation of Knowledge: Explorations in the History of Knowledge, edited by Johan Östling, Erling Sandmo, David Larsson Heidenblad, Anna Nilsson Hammar and Kari H.  Nordberg, 197–218. Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 198.

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In the case of Montand’s tour, the circulation of music, films, books, press articles and the understanding of such ideas as ‘peace’ and ‘friendship’ across the Cold War boundaries created simultaneously both some shared understanding and serious misunderstandings. So, for example, Montand’s peace agenda was translated by the Soviet media into approval of the new Soviet policy of peaceful coexistence, although it became the basis of Montand’s critique of the Soviet intervention in Hungary. As discussed further in Chap. 8, the idea of ‘translation’ is thus a useful trope in the analysis of this example of cultural diplomacy, in which, in the process of circulation, the original message became ‘Sovietised’, translated and adapted to the local context through the publicity campaigns in general and the documentary film in particular. The case of Montand’s Soviet tour, and the way it was translated and represented, has broader lessons regarding the domestic and international image of the USSR during the Cold War and the implementation of the policy of the Thaw and peaceful coexistence, but also more generally for the basic assumptions that drive cultural diplomacy. This study embraces a number of overlapping research fields. Clearly, it is framed by the study of politics and, in particular, Soviet politics during the Thaw. Given Montand’s tour was primarily as a singer in the French cabaret tradition, it also falls under the rubric of popular music studies and, because we are also focusing on the film that documented his tour, film studies. There is, of course, a massive literature on each of these, but there is very little on Montand’s tour and its background, and what there is, is disclosed in the citations throughout the following discussion. What this therefore adds to the literature is the specificity of this particular case study, emerging from a moment of significant crisis within the Soviet bloc and internationally. Anna K.  Krasnikova’s 2014 article is an invaluable account of Montand’s music during the tour, but this is the first book-­ length study—certainly the only anglophone one—that situates his work and the documentary film within the larger context of the problematics of cultural diplomacy during the Cold War. It also brings to the field for the first time a large body of primary sources that include unpublished documents and un-republished ephemera such as press reports. These provide a kaleidoscopic view of preparations for the tour, the tour itself, and the making of the documentary film, the tour’s portrayal in the Soviet media, as well as a rarely accessed glimpse of the mixed reception of the tour by Soviet citizens. These primary sources include documents from the Russian State Archive of Literature

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and Arts (RGALI), an online version of a Soviet-made documentary film, and Soviet publications available at the Russian State Library in Moscow and the National Library of Finland. In addition, we have consulted a variety of online sources to identify Soviet-made Montand recordings, postcards and souvenirs, diary entries and other unofficial documents, and conducted interviews that give accounts of the memories of Montand’s tour in present-day Russia. The extracts from Soviet newspapers and journals concerning Yves Montand cover the years 1950–1960. These articles—collected from Pravda, Izvestia, Literaturnaja gazeta, Ogonek, Krokodil, Iskusstvo kino, Smena, Moskovskii Avtozavodets, Leningadskii universitet and Leninets—reveal how and when Montand became known in the Soviet media, how his celebrity identity was constructed, how the press depicted Montand’s tour and its immediate aftermath. For the study of the background of the film Yves Montand Sings, we have used the archives of the Central Studio for Documentary Film that are available at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts (RGALI). These collections include protocols, production plans, letters and, most importantly, all the existing drafts of the film’s script, written by Mikhail Slutsky and Sergei Yutkevich. They are essential sources on the production process as well as on the changing views as to what to include in the final documentary. At the same time, they shed light on the negotiation process framing a particular exercise in cultural diplomacy. For this study, we have used the copy of Yves Montand Sings, provided online at net-film.ru, a website that includes an extensive collection of Russian documentary footage. The film is available as a time-coded MP4 file, which is seventy-three minutes long (twenty-five frames per second). The original film copy was seventy-six minutes (twenty-four frames per second). The website net-film.ru also offers additional film material for research, including Soviet newsreels from the year 1956. Internet-based materials have played a crucial role in this study. Acknowledging the problems of reliability of Internet sources, together with the simultaneous promise of diversity of the source base,3 we utilised web-based portals Discogs (www.discogs.com), Katalog sovetskih plastinok 3  Roy Rosenzweig and Daniel J. Cohen. 2011. ‘Collecting History Online.’ In Clio Wired : The Future of the Past in the Digital Age, edited by Roy Rosenzweig and Deborah Kaplan, 124–151. New York: Columbia University Press, 126–127; Andreas Fickers. 2012. ‘Towards A New Digital Historicism? Doing History in the Age of Abundance.’ Journal of European History and Culture 1 (1), 19–26.

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(https://records.su/) and online market place Meshok (https://meshok. net/) for collecting information on Montand’s recordings and postcards published in the Soviet Union. We also identified various versions of Soviet unofficial samizdat publications through web searches. Being aggregated from music and recording enthusiasts for their own purposes such as collecting, buying and selling old artefacts, much of this falls short of the standards of demonstrable veracity of academic historical research, and we have been careful not to make such sources essential load-bearers in our arguments. Even so, they remain useful in disclosing contemporary opinion and ethos, providing a wider disclosure of, for example, Soviet-made popular culture artefacts and memorabilia, than institutional libraries and archives would have made possible. Unless otherwise indicated, translations from French, Finnish and Russian are by the authors. Access to non-anglophone Soviet sources has been enabled by Mila Oiva’s knowledge of Russian culture and language, which also enabled her to supervise the conduct of twenty-two semi-­ structured interviews concerning both personal memories of individuals who experienced Montand’s tour and younger people who have become part of the collective memory of Montand through hearing their family members’ recollections of the event.4 The interviews were collected by thirty students in autumn 2019 (see Acknowledgements), and all but one of them were conducted in Russia. The collection of interviews is a combination of individual memories and mediated—horizontally, trans-­ generationally or through mass media—narratives shaped by the social context.5 Thus, these stories present a picture of the present-day memory of the tour in Russia, a conglomeration of the lived experiences, anecdotes heard from others, stories transmitted by traditional and social media, and perceptions of the Soviet citizens’ lives during the Cold War seen from today’s perspective. Important sources for this book have also included the memoirs of Yves Montand and Simone Signoret, Montand’s wife, who was a famous actress and accompanied Montand to the Soviet tour. With the help of Jean 4  The interviews for which permission was given have been lodged in the Language Bank of Finland and are available for research and teaching purposes: http://urn.fi/ urn:nbn:fi:lb-2020081501. 5  Barbara Törnquist Plewa, Tea Sindbæk Andersen and Astrid Erll. 2017. ‘Introduction: On Transcultural Memory and Reception.’ In The Twentieth Century in European Memory: Transcultural Mediation and Reception, edited by Barbara Törnquist Plewa and Tea Sindbæk Andersen. European Studies, Volume 34. Leiden ; Boston: Brill, 3–5.

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Denys, Montand wrote his first autobiography Du soleil plein la tête as early as 1955, at the height of his stardom as a singer and an actor.6 This early book precedes his visit to the USSR, but it gives important background information on the formation of his career. It has a link with his tour, however, since the book was quickly translated into Russian, which further increased his fame in the Soviet Union. A more comprehensive memoir by Montand was published in French in 1990 under the title Tu vois, je n’ai pas oublié, published also in English two years later as You See, I Haven’t Forgotten.7 Written with Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman, the book is at the same time a memoir and a biography that carefully represents Montand’s own thoughts but also draws on a wide array of historical sources. Simone Signoret, too, published her memoirs as La Nostalgie n’est plus ce qu’elle était in 1975 and then in English as Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be in 1978.8 She provides a detailed description of the visit to the USSR and also recounts their travels in other socialist countries in spring 1957. Montand’s tour of the USSR and its cinematic representation in Yves Montand Sings are at the heart of this book. As detailed in Chap. 5, the planning of the tour was the subject of bitter controversies, uncertainties and revisions. Montand, Signoret and his entourage arrived in Moscow on 17 December 1956, and yet as late as the beginning of that month, there was still doubt about whether or not he would undertake the tour. There were therefore successive drafts of his itinerary. The version most proximate to his arrival is undated, but probably from early December, and is provided here as a reference point. PLAN of Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union Mon December 17    -      Arrival in Moscow Tue December 18       -    Practice Wed December 19      -      Concert (premiere, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall) 20:00 Thu December 20    -      15:00–16:00 tour in the city. 20:00 concert (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall)

6  Yves Montand. 1955. Du soleil plein la tête. Souvenirs recueillis par Jean Denys. Paris: Les Éditeurs français réunis. 7  Yves Montand, Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman. 1992. You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, transl. Jeremy Leggatt. London: Chatto & Windus. 8  Simone Signoret. 1978. Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be. New York: Harper & Row.

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Fri December 21    -      During the day: practice in Luzhniki. In the evening: visit to the puppet theatre by Obraztsov at 20:00. Sat December 22    -      12:00–13:00 meeting in the hotel with radio correspondents; 20:00 concert (Sports Palace) Sun December 23      -       14:00 concert (Sports Palace); 20:00 concert (Sports Palace) Mon December 24      -       14:00–16:30 visit to Kremlin, 20:00 concert (Sports Palace), 23:00 to vacation home of the Bolshoi Theater employees in Serebriannyi Bor. Tue December 25      -       Holiday in Serebriannyi Bor, meeting with artists at the Central House of Artists. Wed December 26      -      14:30–17:00 visit to the Moscow State University; 20:00 concert (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall) Thu December 27    -        13:30–14:30 meeting with journalists in the Central House of Journalists; 15:00–17:00 visit to the Lenin museum; 20:00 concert (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall) Fri December 28    -       12:00–16:00 visit to the Bolshoi Theater (‘Swan Lake’); 20:00 concert (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall) Sat December 29    -      13:00–16:00 visit to the Mosfilm film  studios; 20:00 concert (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall); 22:30 meeting at VOKS. Sun December 30      -       11:30–15:00 visit to the Likhachev car factory; 20:00 visit to the Satirical Theater (‘Klop’) Mon December 31      -      Free time—rest; in the evening New Year’s reception Tue January 1      -       During the day—rest; 20:00 concert (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall) Wed January 2        -       During the day—visit to the new year’s trees (in Kremlin); 20:00 concert (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall); 24:00 departure to Leningrad (on train).

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Leningrad Thu January 3     -    Tour of the city; practice at the Palace of Industrial Cooperatives, visit to a theatre. Fri January 4        -    Rest. Concert. Sat January 5       -     Visit to the State Hermitage Museum. Concert. Sun January 6       -    Two concerts. Mon January 7    -    Concert. Tue January 8      -     Visit to the ‘Elektrosila’ factory. Concert. Wed January 9    -     Visit to the House of Pioneers. Concert. Meeting with artists. Thu January 10      -    Flight to Kiev.

Kiev Fri January 11       -    Installation rehearsal. Visit to a theatre. Sat January 12      -    Tour of the city. Concert. Sun January 13    -    Two concerts. Mon January 14      -    Rest. Concert. Tue January 15       -     Morning free (visit to the rehearsal of one of the artistic collectives). Concert. Wed January 16     -     Meeting with artists (after the concert). Thu January 17      -     Flight to Moscow. In the evening meeting at the Moscow House of Film with Soviet film people.

Moscow Fri January 18      -     Free time. Meeting at the Soviet Ministry of Culture. Sat January 19      -    Flight to Warsaw.9

* * * The most fundamental question raised by the tour and the film Yves Montand Sings is this: how did these exercises in cultural diplomacy function to send a message to Soviet audiences about the ‘new’ Soviet identity 9  Plan schedule of Yves Montand’s tour by the Soviet Ministry of Culture, no date [~early December 1956]. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 68–70.

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of the Thaw, and how accurately in terms of the actants? There are three overlapping aspects of the film which work towards answering these questions: the use of music, the use of the medium of film and the political propaganda that is the outcome of both. There are therefore several components to our study, each of which cross-references to the others, but also outward to larger discourses. The film, for example, is richly intertextual; it references not just other films but also film narratology and history in general. It exploits film grammar to present its message—the grammar of camera angles and tracking, of narrative structure, of light and shade. Equally rich are the musical cross-references, both to music and music technologies like recordings and film. The arrangement of the following chapters reflects all these considerations. Our book begins with an overview of the political situation in 1956, especially in the context of the Cold War (Chap. 2), and proceeds to shed light on the changes in the Soviet Union after the death of Stalin (Chap. 3). The story then moves back in time to Italy and France, to follow the life of Ivo Livi, the son of a Northern Italian worker, who emigrated with his parents to the suburbs of Marseilles and became known as a crooner from the late 1930s onwards (Chap. 4). Montand also became a celebrity in the USSR, thanks to the puppeteer Sergey Obraztsov, and in a short time, the idea of his visit to the other side of the Iron Curtain was born, although these plans were accompanied by controversies and hesitations (Chap. 5). Montand’s fame as a working-class hero grew in the Soviet Union, from whence he received copious regular fan mail. Montand’s reception prior to his visit is discussed in Chap. 6. The last two chapters concentrate on the documentary film, Yves Montand Sings, that was produced by the Central Studio for Documentary Film to highlight the peaceful relations between France and the Soviet Union. Chapter 7 analyses the film and its production history, while Chap. 8 focuses on the musical programme of Montand’s concerts and the film. Upon his arrival in the USSR, Montand stressed that he was not a politician; ultimately, he was a singer and peace activist who embraced his audiences in both Paris and in Moscow.

CHAPTER 2

1956: The International Background

Post-war 1945–1955 To understand the various meanings associated with Montand’s Soviet tour and Soviet cultural diplomacy, it is necessary to begin our story with an overview of post-World War II international developments. The onset of the Cold War and questions regarding control over Eastern Europe and the colonies of Western countries that materialised in fierce conflicts in 1956 constitute a vivid background to the tour. The Cold War has been customarily viewed as a period of ideological confrontation and the threat of nuclear war between the ideological poles of the capitalist West and the communist East.1 This dualism was heightened immediately following World War II, with the question of who had the right to control a devastated Europe and articulated in Winston Churchill’s speech on the ‘Iron Curtain’. In the early 1950s’ atmosphere of McCarthyism in the US and xenophobic anti-cosmopolitanism in the Soviet Union, both the West and the East restricted the flow of people, ideas and goods across the political divide.2 The picture was not so exclusively black-and-white, however: alongside the member countries of the military alliances of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, there were also  Carole Fink. 2017. Cold War: An International History. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.  Simo Mikkonen. 2013. ‘Winning Hearts and Minds? Soviet Music in the Cold War Struggle against the West.’ In Twentieth-Century Music and Politics: Essays in Memory of Neil Edmunds, edited by Pauline Fairclough. London: Taylor & Francis Group, 137. 1 2

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neutral countries like Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden and Yugoslavia. Some ‘Western’ countries, such as France, Italy and Finland, had strong communist parties, while many ‘Eastern’ countries, like Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary, had stronger ties to Western European countries than to the Soviet Union.3 In fact, recent scholarship has demonstrated that beneath the confrontation of high politics there were myriad interactions between various organisations, corporations and individuals that blurred the strict division, particularly in Europe.4 Transnational networks across the nominal borders began to develop, particularly during the post-­Stalinist years,5 at the time of Montand’s tour. As a consequence of conquered territories in Eastern Europe, and the Yalta Treaty agreed by Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin on 13 February 1945, at war’s end the USSR vastly increased the size of its territories. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were incorporated into the Soviet Union as Soviet republics, while Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Eastern Germany, Romania and Bulgaria (and Yugoslavia and Albania to some extent) remained independent but adopted state socialist regimes (more or less forced by the Soviet leadership). After World War II the Soviet Union was no longer the only communist-led country, and the socialist Eastern bloc was formed. This expansion was a mixed blessing by virtue of the incorporation of populations whose attitudes to the Soviet ranged along a spectrum from support to hostility. For many, the arrival of the Soviet forces in the final days of the war had been both a liberation from Nazi rule and an ordeal of destruction, looting and rape, which left a lasting legacy of fear and suspicion.6

3  Simo Mikkonen and Pia Koivunen, eds. 2015. Beyond the Divide: Entangled Histories of Cold War Europe. New York: Berghahn Books, 14. 4  Mikkonen and Koivunen, Beyond the Divide; Sari Autio-Sarasmo and Katalin Miklóssy, eds. 2011. Reassessing Cold War Europe. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge; Annette Vowinckel, Marcus M.  Payk and Thomas Lindenberger. 2012. ‘European Cold War Culture(s)? An Introduction.’ In Cold War Cultures: Perspectives on Eastern and Western Societies, edited by Annette Vowinckel, Marcus M.  Payk and Thomas Lindenberger. New  York: Berghahn Books, 1–20. 5  Mikkonen and Koivunen, Beyond the Divide, 3. 6  Anne Applebaum, Anne. 2013. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944– 1956. London: Penguin, 25, 32, 35, 268; Norman Naimark. 2010. ‘The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953.’ In The Cambridge History of the Cold War, Vol 1: Origins, edited by Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 175–197.

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Many of the leading communists from these countries had fled to the Soviet Union during the German occupation, becoming known as ‘Moscow Communists’, and returned home after the war where they became significant participants in the new regimes. Bolesław Bierut and Mátyás Rákosi, for example, became post-war leaders of, respectively, Poland and Hungary (Josip Broz Tito, who became leader of Yugoslavia, spent the war fighting along with partisans in his own country). These countries play a particularly significant role in the following overview, very broadly sketched for purposes of context and largely based on Applebaum’s 2015 book, but for further earlier studies, see Tismaneanu 2009 and Naimark 2010. In line with the Yalta Treaty requirement that free elections be held in the Soviet-occupied countries, during the early years opposition parties were in some cases permitted by Stalin, as so-called people’s democracies.7 To the surprise and disappointment of the communist leaders, their parties were generally unsuccessful electorally, partly owing to the resentments already pervasive throughout the populace and also because of post-war economic chaos under the Soviet regime.8 In Poland a 1946 communist-­ sponsored referendum on various political and economic reforms received support from only 25 per cent of the population; similarly, in Hungary’s first post-war elections in 1945, the Communist Party received only 16.9 per cent of the vote.9 Such failures exacerbated Stalin’s political paranoia, which was further intensified by the establishment of NATO in 1949 and the US ‘Truman Doctrine’ of support for those seeking to resist ‘subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures’, a policy underlined through the US funded, Munich-based Radio Free Europe.10 In addition, the first instalment of the Marshall Plan arrived in Eastern Europe in 1948; the Berlin airlift of June 1948 to May 1949 neutralised the Berlin blockade; and Tito successfully resisted Stalin’s interference in Yugoslav internal affairs, leading to the country’s expulsion from the Cominform in June 1948.11

7  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 207; Naimark, ‘The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953’, 176–177. 8  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 209. 9  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 216, 221; Naimark, ‘The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953’, 182–183. 10  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 268. 11  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 269–270; Naimark, ‘The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953’, 189–192.

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Consequently Stalin and his ‘little Stalins’ of Eastern Europe began to deploy more overt forms of coercion, rigging elections, arresting and intimidating competing parties and high-profile anti-Soviet activists.12 By 1953 ‘about a thousand [clerics] were behind bars in Poland’.13 The primary instrument of control was the army of secret police, including members of the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) who arrived with the Red Army, many of whom stayed on to train the local forces; in effect they were answerable to no-one, enjoyed unlimited coercive powers and were encouraged to regard all non-communists and those with contacts in the West as probable enemies of the state.14 Stalin ordered ‘a major wave of arrests in the years 1948-9, comparable to the “Great Terror” of 1937-8’. The Gulags began to refill, reaching their peak between 1950 and 1952.15 Gradually instruments of civil society, such as YMCAs, clubs and any public forum that was not clearly an extension of the communist parties, were extinguished or as, for example, radio stations, controlled by communists.16 Only state-sponsored events were permitted, notably the biennial World Festival of Youth and Students: Prague in 1947, Budapest in 1949 and renamed as the World Festival of Youth, in East Berlin in 1951, arguably marking ‘the zenith of High Stalinism’.17 In summary: By the end of 1948, the Eastern European communist parties and their Soviet allies had … eliminated the most capable of their potential opponents. They had taken control of the institutions they considered most valuable. They had created, from scratch, the political police. In Poland the armed opposition had been destroyed and the legal opposition had been dismantled. In Hungary and East Germany, spontaneous ‘anti-fascist’ movements no longer existed, and genuine opposition parties had been eliminated.18

12  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 285; Naimark, ‘The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953’, 194. 13  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 279. 14  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, xxix, 72, 74, 82, 91, 205; Naimark, ‘The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953’, 183. 15  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 268. 16  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 161, 185. 17  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 348. 18  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 265; see also Naimark, ‘The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953’, 184.

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The post-war imposition of Soviet status on much of Eastern and Central Europe thus laid the foundations for pressures which began to erupt immediately following Stalin’s death on 6 March 1953. Czechoslovakia was riven by industrial strikes and violent anti-Soviet demonstrations; in spite of border security, departures from East Germany multiplied; in Hungary general discontent would lead to the Soviets replacing Mátyás Rákosi as Prime Minister with Moscow communist Imre Nagy.19 Following mass strikes in East Berlin on 16 June 1953, massive anti-government demonstrations were met by the imposition of martial law and the arrival of tanks, resulting in the deaths of around fifty people, with shockwaves spreading throughout the country generating protests in major cities, involving over a million people.20 These events disclosed the fragility of communist control, leading to debates about whether the way forward for Eastern European communism was liberal reform or increasingly brutal repression.21 Under Khrushchev’s leadership, the case for reform won the day, leading to the famous ‘Secret Speech’ which he delivered to a closed session of the Twentieth Party Congress in February 1956, disclosing and denouncing the terrors of Stalin’s regime. This in turn prefigured what became known as the ‘Thaw’. It is difficult at this distance to appreciate how many areas of life this transformed. Internally, as reviewed in Chap. 3, the outcome included the reduction of the Gulag population through amnesties,22 as well as the tolerance of more open political debate. This resonated at every level of the culture, including even scientific enquiry. From the 1930s, a dystopian reaction to Lenin’s death in 1924 had marked the beginning of a new stage in the history of the revolution; as early as 1925, the Central Committee began its campaign against unfettered experimentation in the arts and sciences. Experimentation that was not harnessed to ideology was literally outlawed. In 1948, the first Congress of the Composers’ Union saw its committee replaced by communist apparatchiks, the final nails in the coffin of the experimental spirit of the early post-revolutionary period.  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 463–465.  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 466–471. 21  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 472. 22  Denis Kozlov and Eleonory Gilburd. 2013. ‘The Thaw as an Event in Russian History.’ In The Thaw: Soviet Society and Culture during the 1950s and 1960s, edited by Denis Kozlov and Eleonory Gilburd. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 33. 19 20

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When, for example, the experimental Laboratory for Graphical Sound was finally closed down in 1950, its archive of musical instruments and experimental sound-on-film technologies was discarded as being ‘non-­ functional’, for which read non-functional in terms of the state ideology.23 The researchers themselves suffered parallel fates, suppressed, imprisoned, executed or harnessed to the state. Nikolai Voinov was sacked from the Moscow Film Factory and the laboratory where he had pioneered synthesised film soundtrack music, was shut down in 1950. In 1939 Leon Theremin was arrested for participation in a counter-revolutionary organisation, served time in the notorious Kolyma Gulag before being transferred to the Moscow Sharaga prison for scientists run by the NKVD.24 The Thaw saw the easing of such suppressions, with acceptance and even encouragement of unfettered innovation and critique, as in the challenging of the ‘Lysenko cult’ and a re-assessment of socialist realism.25 Khrushchev also sponsored ambitious programmes to attempt to stabilise the Soviet economy as in the ‘Virgin Lands’ project of establishing vast new agricultural regions in the east, albeit with serious planning deficiencies.26 The Thaw also entailed radical rethinking of the relationship of newly acquired territories to the larger Soviet bloc. Yugoslavia, for example, had been expelled from the Cominform by Stalin, and indeed, the Komsomol even sought to limit the number of representatives from Yugoslavia at the 1949 World Festival of Youth in Budapest to five in case they organised provocations; in the event only one did, though he was arrested on arrival and expelled from the country, ostensibly over visa irregularities.27 Khrushchev sought to heal the breach, and Tito made an extended visit to the USSR in June 1956, publicised as marking a new spirit of amity.28 On the broader international stage, the Thaw brought

23  Andrey Smirnov. 2013. Sound in Z: Experiments in Sound and Electronic Music in Early 20th Century Russia. London: Sound and Music, London/Koenig Books. 24  For a detailed history of such repressions, see Smirnov, Sound in Z, passim. 25  Kathleen E.  Smith. 2017. Moscow 1956: The Silenced Spring. Cambridge Mass. And London: Harvard University Press, 181–196, 225, 302. 26  Smith, Moscow 1956, 199–221. 27  Pia Koivunen. 2013. Performing Peace and Friendship: The World Youth Festival as a Tool of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy, 1947–1957. Doctoral dissertation, University of Tampere, the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, 71. 28  Smith, Moscow 1956, 284.

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with it an opening up to the West, a radical reorientation after decades of xenophobia towards regions outside the Soviet bloc.29 But as such episodes as the outbreaks in East Berlin on June 1953 had exemplified, the risks of the new liberalism of the Thaw included the danger of opening a Pandora’s box of critique and dissent in an empire undergoing serious political, cultural and economic problems and transitions.

1956: A Year of Crises Although the Thaw supposedly signalled the year of ‘peaceful coexistence’, it was accompanied by international crises in which the Soviet Union was directly and indirectly complicit. Among the disruptions that followed the Secret Speech, three in particular have a bearing on Montand’s tour: events in Poland, the Hungarian uprising and the Suez crisis, all of which became background noise to the planning of the tour over 1956 and context for the tour itself in 1957. Poland There was already a strong current of anti-Soviet feeling in Poland by the end of World War II, with memories of the Katyń massacre of 1940, and the refusal of the Red Army to come to the aid of the Warsaw uprising of 1944, all exacerbated by the immediate post-war deportation of members of the Polish Home Army to Siberia and the Moscow trials of members of the Polish underground.30 The underground resurrected itself in various forms including the ‘Second Executive’ of the group calling itself ‘Freedom and Independence’ (known as WiN), which was penetrated by the NKVD who arrested the leaders, leading in turn to the formation of the Third and Fourth Executives. WiN survived, barely, until 1952. At its peak, it boasted between 20,000 and 30,000 members, but over its lifetime ‘Some 10,000 members … were arrested, tortured and jailed. Hundreds were executed.’31 WiN was only one example of anti-Soviet resistance after the supposed 29  Eleonory Gilburd. 2013. ‘The Revival of Soviet Internationalism in the Mid to Late 1950s.’ In The Thaw: Soviet Society and Culture during the 1950s and 1960s, edited by Denis Kozlov and Eleonory Gilburd. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 363. 30  Krzysztof Persak. 2006. ‘The Polish—Soviet Confrontation in 1956 and the Attempted Soviet Military Intervention in Poland.’ Europe-Asia Studies 58 (8): 1288; Naimark, ‘The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953’, 179. 31  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 107.

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pacification of the country, with the region around Lublin virtually bringing Soviet administration to a halt, leading Stalin to send in an extra five NKVD regiments and a motorised force to assist the Polish secret police.32 Scattered resistance groups remained active in the forests until 1956, with the final member not arrested until 1959.33 In the meantime, the fifth Youth and Students’ Festival of ‘World Peace and Friendship’ was held in Warsaw in 1955. Like the other biennial youth festivals, the ostensible objective was to showcase communist youth, but the arrival of young people from all over the world gave the Poles a tantalising image of a more festive, open way of life, that ‘it was possible to be “progressive”, and at the same time enjoy life, wear colourful clothes, listen to jazz, have fun and fall in love.’34 If the secret police represented the stick to beat the refractory Polish populace, the Festival was the carrot holding out promise of a far more liberal, prosperous, unregimented and spontaneous way of life under communism. In the words of one of the Polish participants, the cabaret performer Jacek Fedorowicz, the festival was a ‘propaganda mistake’.35 As elsewhere, Khrushchev’s Secret Speech of February 1956 and the subsequent Thaw, which saw some reforms in Poland including the release of around 9000 political prisoners,36 were seen by the Poles as an implicit tolerance of more open protest against the repressiveness of the regime and its economic failures. Anti-Soviet commentary became more frequent in the media.37 Discontent erupted dramatically in June 1956 when 100,000 workers went on strike in Poznań for better pay, also calling for an end to the Soviet dictatorship, with particular anger directed against Polish-born Soviet citizen, Defence Minister Konstantin Rokossovskii. Tanks and 10,000 Polish troops were called in to break up the riots, with several dozen protesters killed.38 These events were carefully under-­ reported in the Soviet press and claimed to have been caused by  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 108.  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 110. 34  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 475, see further 476. 35  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 475. 36  Persak, ‘The Polish—Soviet Confrontation in 1956 and the Attempted Soviet Military Intervention in Poland’, 1286. 37  Persak, ‘The Polish—Soviet Confrontation in 1956 and the Attempted Soviet Military Intervention in Poland’, 1285. 38  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 484–485; see also Persak, ‘The Polish—Soviet Confrontation in 1956 and the Attempted Soviet Military Intervention in Poland’, 1286, 1288. 32 33

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underground and foreign provocateurs.39 Nonetheless Bulganin visited Warsaw in July and addressed the Seventh plenum of the Central Committee of the Polish Workers’ United Party (PUWP), warning against threats to the international communist bloc by national interests, and the ‘revisionist’ opinions espoused in the Polish press.40 Khrushchev himself arrived in Warsaw in October to prevent the de facto PUWP leader, Władysław Gomułka, from being appointed as First Party Secretary. It was not an amiable meeting. As he arrived, Khrushchev ordered tanks that were stationed in Poland to converge on the capital, and Gomułka with his supporters formed a defensive perimeter. With the added pressure of a veto from China of armed intervention, ultimately Khrushchev gave way and agreed to various terms, including the recall of Rokossovskii, with Gomułka also agreeing to defer to Moscow on foreign policy and to remain within the Warsaw Pact.41 Hungary The outcome of the Polish crisis was also in part the result of Moscow’s having to turn attention to another that was developing in Hungary where, as in Poland, there was a history of significant antagonism to Moscow and for many of the same reasons, including the brutality of the ‘liberating’ Red Army.42 As elsewhere in the immediate post-war Soviet-­ occupied territories, Hungary was nominally a democracy, but its security services were communist controlled.43 From war’s end to 1949, the security police interned around 40,000 Hungarians suspected of Nazi collaboration, though in fact many had been active anti-fascists, but their experience in organised subversion was seen as a threat to the new regime. Likewise their independence of mind, which was also seen to characterise the clergy who therefore came under attack.44 Stalin’s death in 1953 brought hopes of a more liberal atmosphere, though as in Poland, this was in tension with Soviet anxieties about the  Smith, Moscow 1956, 288.  Persak, ‘The Polish—Soviet Confrontation in 1956 and the Attempted Soviet Military Intervention in Poland’, 1287. 41  Persak, ‘The Polish—Soviet Confrontation in 1956 and the Attempted Soviet Military Intervention in Poland’, 1289–1298, 1306–1307; Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 485. 42  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 28–31. 43  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 123. 44  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 119, 121. 39 40

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possible long-term consequences. These tensions were exemplified in the history of the Petőfi Circle. Formed in 1955 as a youth discussion group, originally called the Bessenyei Circle, after the poet of the Hungarian Enlightenment, György Bessenyei. The League of Working Youth, however, suspicious of any such youth group formed outside of their orbit, replaced the leaders and sought to lead the discussion circle towards more ‘politically correct’ topics. They changed the name to the Petőfi Circle, named after the poet of the 1848 revolution Sándor Petőfi. Given that Petőfi fought for Hungarian independence, the name was perhaps ill-­ chosen, and the Circle quickly began to debate issues that were not agreeable to the League and the authorities.45 Originally a relatively small group of intellectuals, it grew to become a forum that also attracted Budapest workers disillusioned by the failure of the system to honour the promises of what was supposedly the ‘workers’ state’.46 Following the Secret Speech of 1956, the Circle participated in the shocked debates that were conducted throughout Eastern Europe. Now numbering 6000, and with other Petőfi Circles proliferating throughout the country, it conducted a forum on press freedom and, encouraged by Khrushchev’s backdown in Poland, called for the ousting of the heavy-­ handed Mátyás Rákosi and the return of Imre Nagy, who had been ousted from leadership in 1955.47 In July Mikoyan flew to Budapest and directed Rákosi to resign, though replacing him with his crony Ernó Geró rather than with Nagy. The measures taken by Geró to defuse the situation included allowing the widow of László Rajk, who had been imprisoned after the show trial and execution of her husband in 1950,48 to have him reburied in a national hero’s ceremony. The occasion, on 6 October, became a massive demonstration attended by tens of thousands.49 Protest reached a climax in late October, when, on 22, a gathering of around 5000 students from the Technical University in Budapest drew up a list of sixteen demands, including the withdrawal of Soviet troops, free elections, freedom of association, economic reform and the restitution of Nagy to the premiership. Next day an assembly of thousands chanted support for Nagy and for the withdrawal of the Russians and later in the night  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 476–477.  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 480–481. 47  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 482. 48  Naimark, ‘The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953’, 193. 49  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 483. 45 46

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demolished a bronze statue of Stalin. Initially reluctant to support the movement, Nagy tried to calm and disperse the crowds, but to no effect and the demonstrations escalated. Throughout the country symbols of Soviet authority were attacked, security police were murdered and workers’ councils were formed to take over factories. At the request of a panicked Gerő, the Soviet forces embarked on intervention to reinforce troops already stationed in Budapest, but were then recalled.50 On the night of 31 October/1 November, Soviet forces began crossing back into the country. By now speaking for what amounted to a revolutionary government, Nagy announced Hungary’s withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact as well as a suite of political reforms. The Soviet forces arrived in Budapest on 4 November and the ‘revolution’ was brutally suppressed under the supervision of the KGB leader Ivan Serov, who had Nagy arrested and later executed. ‘Between December 1956 and the summer of 1961, 341 people were hanged, 26,000 people were tried of whom 22,000 were imprisoned for 5 years or more, thousands lost their jobs or homes, and some 200,000 fled the country.’51 To the eyes of Simone Signoret during the tour in 1957, it seemed that no-one in the Soviet bloc knew about Hungary,52 but it is reasonable to suppose that this was largely because she and Montand were carefully steered away from sections of the community that did, since in fact it was the subject of spontaneous demonstrations, with discussions among students and activists like Revol’t Pimenov.53 Internationally the Soviet invasion of Hungary was condemned. Western communist parties were depleted and alienated from the USSR and the French party ‘fractured’, with Sartre strident in critique.54 It set up complex cross-currents that washed around the programmes of cultural exchange that emerged from the Thaw. Plans for a Soviet/US exchange of art exhibitions that had been planned for 1957 came to a halt,55 and during November/December, European preparations for the 1957 World Federation of Democratic  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 486–488.  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 488. 52  Simone Signoret. 1978. Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be. New  York: Harper & Row, 161. 53  Smith, Moscow 1956, 293–297; Gilburd, Eleonory. 2018. To See Paris and Die: The Soviet Lives of Western Culture. Cambridge Mass and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 49. 54  Applebaum, Iron Curtain, 489. 55  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 241. 50 51

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Youth Festival were suspended.56 In general, Western plans for various programmes of cultural exchange were placed on hold. It is of note in the present context that it was the French resumption of discussions that first broke the boycott on cultural exchange with the USSR in the summer of 1957.57 Suez When the preparations for the 1957 World Youth Festival were disrupted, it was reported that events in Hungary were only one of the causes, according to a report to the Party Central Committee in March 1957. The other was the Suez crisis.58 While Soviet participation in the crises in Poland and Hungary was overt, it is less clear how the Soviet Union and programmes of cultural diplomacy were caught up in the force field of the Suez debacle that came to a head in November 1956, so some background chronicle is useful. The crisis was triggered when Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal on 26 July 1956, in part as a reaction to the US decision to withdraw financial assistance for his Aswan Dam project. Britain responded with a secret meeting with France and Israel, attended also by a representative from the US, held at Sèvres, near Paris on 24 October 1956. The outcome, the ‘Sèvres Protocol’, was a plan for Israel to launch an attack on Egypt across the Sinai desert, offering France and Britain an excuse to intervene militarily. The three nations would then install a new leader more compliant with the needs of the Western powers regarding navigation routes and Egypt’s oil. This was relevant to Soviet interests, because, in the hope that they might secure support from the US, the three nations sought to persuade the Americans that Nasser was cultivating links with the USSR, in order to establish hegemony in the Middle East.59 To give some credence to this claim, in March 1956 UK Prime Minister Anthony Eden sent Eisenhower an intelligence report (of dubious reliability) that appeared to support the thesis, which in fact also appeared to  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 57–58.  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 48–49. 58  Koivunen, Performing Peace and Friendship, 194. 59  Calder Walton. 2013. Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, The Cold War and the Twilight of Empire. London: Harper Press, 296–297. 56 57

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be substantiated by Nasser’s refusal to sign the Baghdad Pact, sponsored by the British, which was ‘designed to provide a buttress against Soviet intrusion in the Middle East’.60 The basis of some kind of involvement of UK/Soviet relations was bolstered by the newsworthily grotesque report of the decapitated body of Secret Intelligence Service frogman Lionel Crabb being found in Portsmouth after he had apparently been trying to attach a listening device to the ship which had recently brought Khrushchev to the UK.61 The US also had a stake in this dynamic that went beyond the broader generalities of Cold War politics to programmes of cultural exchange. While the US was concerned over tensions in the Middle East, it was reluctant to be aligned overtly with such colonial ventures as the Franco-­ British invasion of Egypt. This was particularly so as it was about to embark on its own more benign forms of cultural colonialism in the form of its State Department jazz tours, to be launched by the African-American bandleader Dizzy Gillespie in order also to counter the image of racism that was being circulated through the Civil Rights movement. Diplomatically, the tour sought to shore up the support of allies and persuade those on the fence by distinguishing the United States from European colonial powers. U.S. officials also sought to rebut charges by nonaligned leaders (specifically, Nasser and India’s Jawaharlal Nehru) that America’s racism and imperial ambitions made a mockery of its claims to lead the free world.62 It was as well for the US that it avoided public association with the Suez invasion on 31 October, which was an abject failure, concluding in a ceasefire requested by the British on 6 November, following pressure from Eisenhower two days earlier.63 It added to the growing anti-colonialist movements of the 1950s that, for the British, emerged in Palestine, Malaya, Cyprus, several African countries which gained some form of independence including Sudan and the Gold Coast; for the French, Indochina and Tunisia; and of course for the Soviets in Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia. 60  Walton, Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, The Cold War and the Twilight of Empire, 310. 61  Walton, Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, The Cold War and the Twilight of Empire, 301. 62  Penny von Eschen. 2004. Satchmo Blows up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War. Cambridge Mass, London: Harvard University Press, 33. 63  Walton, Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, The Cold War and the Twilight of Empire, 298–299.

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Through 1956 in particular, there were therefore increasing, and often violent, international movements against ‘colonialist’ enterprises in which France, Britain and the USSR were targets, and in which the US was implicated. So, in the same period in which both the US and the USSR were at one level trying to develop the policy of cultural diplomacy and peaceful coexistence—the Thaw—at another level very serious and complex tensions were bursting to the surface. All of these were in play, with increasing intensity, throughout the planning of Montand’s Soviet tour. In the state-sponsored documentary film of that tour, all was evidently tranquil, prosperous, harmonious, a communist modern utopia. There is not the slightest hint that the USSR was undergoing its most significant crisis since the Russian Revolution.

CHAPTER 3

The Soviet Thaw and Cultural Diplomacy

The Onset of the Thaw If international affairs in 1956 were full of controversies, so was the internal situation in the Soviet Union. Montand’s tour occurred in a very unusual period in Soviet history, the Thaw. The Thaw era’s relaxation of political repression and the opening of the Soviet Union to the outside world was the major factor that enabled the tour. Simultaneously, Montand became an emblem of the Thaw in the Soviet context. Because his songs became ubiquitous in everyday Soviet life during the Thaw, he began to be associated with the period. During later years, singing Montand’s song ‘C’est si bon’ in a theatrical presentation was a way of signalling to the audience that the events being performed took place during the Thaw.1 The Thaw era began gradually after Stalin’s death in 1953, lasting to the early 1960s and taking its name from the famous novel by Ilia Ehrenburg The Thaw (1954). It was a period marked by shifts in Soviet policies and materialised in criticism of the cult of personality and of the mass terror of Stalinism. It also meant changing interpretations of the appropriate means to achieve communism, which led to the increasing role of transnational exchanges and international contacts, the liberalisation of culture and mass media, changes in living conditions, 1  Ja. K.  Markulan, ed. 1968. Akteri zarubezhnego kino. Fourth edition. Leningrad: Izdatelstvo “Iskusstvo”, 49.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Oiva et al., Yves Montand in the USSR, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9_3

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material culture and consumption, daily behaviour, language and generational identities.2 Some developments that have been associated with the Thaw were initiated during Stalin’s period. What made the later period different, however, were the scope and dynamism of the transformations in the mid-1950s compared to the Stalin years.3 The Thaw was a crucial turning point in Soviet culture that paved way for a period often called ‘mature socialism’ from the 1960s to the 1980s, that was in many ways different from the pre-World War II era.4 It launched a diversification of culture that undermined the illusion of stability, uniformity and coherence that had existed during Stalin’s time. Significantly, during the Thaw, social, cultural and intellectual processes of the Soviet Union began to develop parallels with Western Europe to an unprecedented degree.5 The year 1956  in particular was game-changing. As mentioned in Chap. 2, Khrushchev gave his notorious ‘Secret Speech’, in which he condemned the crimes of Stalinism and introduced the policy of peaceful coexistence which, in this context, meant non-violent competition between the communist and capitalist states that would offer the Soviet Union an opportunity to showcase its superiority.6 It became one of Khrushchev’s key doctrines that formalised into a policy the Soviet leadership’s objectives of easing tensions between the Soviet Union and the

2  Denis Kozlov. 2013. ‘Introduction.’ In The Thaw: Soviet Society and Culture during the 1950s and 1960s, edited by Denis Kozlov and Eleonory Gilburd. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 3–5; Simo Mikkonen. 2013. ‘Soviet-American Art Exchanges during the Thaw: From Bold Openings to Hasty Retreats.’ In Art and Political Reality, edited by M.  Kurisoo. Proceedings of the Art Museum of Estonia (8). Tallinn: Art Museum of Estonia – Kumu Art Museum, 57–76. 3  Denis Kozlov and Eleonory Gilburd. 2013. ‘The Thaw as an Event in Russian History.’ In The Thaw: Soviet Society and Culture during the 1950s and 1960s, edited by Denis Kozlov and Eleonory Gilburd. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 27. 4  Eleonory Gilburd. 2018. To See Paris and Die: The Soviet Lives of Western Culture. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 8; Anne E. Gorsuch and Diane Koenker, eds. 2013. The Socialist Sixties: Crossing Borders in the Second World. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 4; Alexei Yurchak. 2005. Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 37, 47, 54–59. 5   Kozlov, ‘Introduction’, 3; Mikkonen, ‘Soviet-American Art Exchanges during the Thaw’, 57–76. 6  Cadra Peterson McDaniel. 2014. American–Soviet Cultural Diplomacy: The Bolshoi Ballet’s American Premiere. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, xxi.

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West.7 The speech, although meant to be secret, circulated in written form among delegations of foreign communists. At the time of the speech, Montand was shooting a film in Italy, and he learned about its contents from his colleagues who were Italian communists.8

Anomalies As in any other period, the Thaw was also full of contradictions, combining several unsystematic individual reforms, both liberal and dictatorial gestures, as the authorities strove to redefine their relation with society. Despite the liberal initiatives of the new policy, the Khrushchev leadership also used methods of the former regime in punishing the disloyal and securing the rulers’ sphere of influence.9 The reception of the reforms by the citizens was contradictory: while many intellectuals and young people embraced the spirit of openness, others mistrusted the sudden ‘slandering’ of Stalin.10 For example, de-Stalinisation gave rise to massive pro-Stalin demonstrations in the Georgian Soviet republic.11 Simultaneously, the students of the Moscow State University began unprecedented complaints and boycotts criticising the unsatisfactory living conditions of their dormitories. Furthermore, the Picasso exhibition in autumn 1956 gave rise to heated debates on artistic freedom, questioning the position of socialist realism in the artistic realm. This led to arrests and a tightening of control over the ‘unhealthy moods’ and verbal attacks on the Soviet system. As 7  Pia Koivunen. 2013. Performing Peace and Friendship: The World Youth Festival as a Tool of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy, 1947–1957. Doctoral dissertation. University of Tampere, the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, 109. 8  Evgenia Gordienko. 1998. Iv Montan. Muzhchina – Mif. Rostov-on-Don: Feniks, 179. This is mentioned by Montand himself in Yves Montand, Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman. 1992. You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, transl. Jeremy Leggatt. London: Chatto & Windus, 257–258. 9  Katalin Miklóssy. 2011. ‘Khrushchevism after Khrushchev: The Rise of National Interest in the Eastern Bloc.’ In Khrushchev in the Kremlin. Policy and Government in the Soviet Union, 1953–1964, edited by Melanie Ilic and Jeremy Smith. New  York: Routledge, 151–152; Iurii Gerchuk. 2000. ‘The Aesthetics of Everyday Life in the Khrushchev Thaw in the USSR (1954–64).’ In Style and Socialism. Modernity and Material Culture in Post-War Eastern Europe, edited by Susan E. Reid and David Crowley, 81–99. Oxford: Berg, 82. 10  Kathleen E. Smith. 2017. Moscow 1956: The Silenced Spring. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 4, 162, 307. 11  Timothy K.  Blauvelt and Jeremy Smith, eds. 2016. Georgia after Stalin: Nationalism and Soviet Power. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

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Kathleen Smith argues, the Secret Speech and the Thaw released free thought, and the Soviet leaders could no longer put the lid back on it completely.12 The Thaw signified a considerable change in the Soviet ruling practices and control mechanisms. Within the Party and state organisations, it meant a shift from direct but arbitrary command towards governance by more or less set rules. For example, the ruling bodies that had not been convening during the late Stalin years, such as the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) congress, the administrations of the Warsaw Pact or the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), began to convene again. Their command mode took a step towards following agreed rules, which clarified the line between the permitted and the forbidden.13 In the society the changes meant a move from mass terror towards selective repression. For example, the censorship of literature changed from the Stalinist arbitrary repression to more precise, and therefore often tighter, peer control.14 At the same time, the level of political violence diminished in the Soviet Union. In the mid-1950s, more than 3.3 million prisoners were released from the camps, colonies and prisons, and the total number of inmates dropped to 800,000, never reaching the Stalin era numbers again. Concurrently the percentage of political prisoners decreased from 22 per cent to 1.6 per cent in 1953–1960.15 The Soviet Union did not become a democracy that respected human rights, but the mode of control changed and the level of repression, violence and fear dropped.

Everyday Life The new policies together with social developments changed the everyday lives of the Soviet citizens. By the end of the 1950s, the urbanisation of the Soviet Union reached the stage where more than 50 per cent of the inhabitants lived in the cities. The Khrushchev leadership initiated mass-­ production of new apartments for the growing urban population, and people began to move from communal housing of several families into  Smith, Moscow 1956, 162, 299–306; 329.  Smith, Moscow 1956, 30; Miklóssy, ‘Khrushchevism after Khrushchev’, 152, 163. 14  Ekaterina Vikulina. 2015. ‘Vlast’ i media. Vizual’naja revoliutsija shestidesiatykh.’ Cahiers du monde russe 56 (2) 2015: 429–66, 437–438. 15  Kozlov and Gilburd, ‘The Thaw as an Event in Russian History’, 32–33. 12 13

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single-family apartments. The push to improve living conditions came partly from Cold War rivalry, by which both the Western and Eastern leaders sought to demonstrate the superiority of their system by providing the best living conditions.16 This also meant increasing the production and importation of consumer goods, and growing emphasis on meeting consumer demand.17 The visual appearance of cities, homes and everyday items began to demonstrate a new kind of socialist modernity.18 The cultural transformation of the Thaw initiated the gradual growth of popular culture that began to bloom in the 1960s.19 Montand’s concert tour in 1956–1957 was one of the first officially and widely popularised appearances of Western popular music performers in the Soviet Union, advancing the development and acceptance of popular music in the Soviet Union. It coincided also with the boom in Western cultures in the Soviet Union. For many Soviet citizens, the defining experience of the Thaw was the encounter with Western culture, as foreign influences became a regular presence in everyday life. From the late 1930s until the early 1950s, Soviet attitudes towards the Western world had been relatively xenophobic, but in the mid-1950s the situation changed, although some residue of Cold War reservations persisted.20 After the mid-1950s the Soviet Union started to engage in cross-Iron Curtain interaction of people, institutions and organisations, and became increasingly integrated with global cultural trends.21  Kozlov and Gilburd, ‘The Thaw as an Event in Russian History’, 42–45.  Anne E. Gorsuch. 2010. ‘From Iron Curtain to Silver Screen: Imagining the West in the Khrushchev Era.’ In Imagining the West in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, edited by György Péteri. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 155. 18  Gerchuk, ‘The Aesthetics of Everyday Life in the Khrushchev Thaw in the USSR (1954–64)’, 81; Susan E. Reid and David Crowley. 2000. ‘Style and Socialism: Modernity and Material Culture in Post-War Eastern Europe.’ In Style and Socialism. Modernity and Material Culture in Post-War Eastern Europe, edited by Susan E. Reid and David Crowley. Oxford: Berg, 2–3. 19  Gorsuch and Koenker, The Socialist Sixties: Crossing Borders in the Second World, 12. 20  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 1; Eleonory Gilburd. 2013. ‘The Revival of Soviet Internationalism in the Mid to Late 1950s.’ In The Thaw: Soviet Society and Culture during the 1950s and 1960s, edited by Eleonory Gilburd and Denis Kozlov, 362–401. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 363; Gorsuch and Koenker, The Socialist Sixties: Crossing Borders in the Second World, 8; Koivunen, Performing Peace and Friendship, 105; Gorsuch, ‘From Iron Curtain to Silver Screen’, 154; Kozlov, ‘Introduction’, 12. 21  Sari Autio-Sarasmo and Katalin Miklóssy. 2011. ‘Introduction.’ In Reassessing Cold War Europe, edited by Sari Autio-Sarasmo and Katalin Miklóssy, 1–15. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2011, 2; Kozlov and Gilburd, ‘The Thaw as an Event in Russian History’, 28. 16 17

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The flow of material and non-material influences from outside the Soviet bloc was reflected in the growing foreign trade. From 1955 the exponentially increasing foreign trade with countries outside the socialist bloc tied the Soviet Union more directly to global trade. Although the reasons behind the earlier low foreign trade exchange numbers were not bound to Marxist ideology,22 the opening of trade had immense material, intellectual and emotional effects on Soviet society in the long term. The proliferating trade agreements expanded the awareness of Western practices and trends, as the Soviet specialists studied them carefully and adapted them to their own systems.23 Khrushchev’s policy of peaceful coexistence resulted in a significant expansion of possibilities for interaction with foreign citizens, as tourism to and from the Soviet Union was re-launched in the mid-1950s. Alongside the political changes, the rising incomes, increasing leisure time and the development of transportation systems contributed to this development globally as well as within the Soviet Union. Select, but increasing numbers of Soviet citizens travelled abroad, and also the less privileged social groups could encounter foreign tourists travelling increasingly to the Soviet Union.24 Tourism gave first-hand experience of foreign countries to ordinary people who, at the same time, were also expected to act as everyday ambassadors representing their country and its policies in the international arena.25 For most Soviet citizens the Western countries remained inaccessible physically, but they could experience them through cinema, newspaper 22  Oscar Sanchez-Sibony. 2014. Red Globalization: The Political Economy of the Soviet Cold War from Stalin to Khrushchev. New York: Cambridge University Press, 21, 81, 91. 23  Larissa Zakharova. 2013. ‘Soviet Fashion in the 1950s–1960s: Regimentation, Western Influences, and Consumption Strategies.’ In The Thaw: Soviet Society and Culture during the 1950s and 1960s, edited by Denis Kozlov and Eleonory Gilburd. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 407. 24  I.B. Orlov and A.D. Popov. 2018. See USSR! Inostrannye turisty i prizrak potemkinskih dereven. Skvoz’ “Zheleznyi zanaves.” Moskva: Izdatel’skii dom Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki, 5; I.B. Orlov and A.D. Popov. 2016. Russo turisto. Sovetskii vyezdnoi turizm 1955–1991. Skvoz’ “Zheleznyi zanaves.” Moskva: Izdatel’skii dom Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki, 35–44; Smith, Moscow 1956, 228–229; Vikulina, ‘Vlast’ i media’, 433; Koivunen, Performing Peace and Friendship, 109; Mikkonen, ‘Soviet-American Art Exchanges during the Thaw’; Gorsuch and Koenker, The Socialist Sixties: Crossing Borders in the Second World, 8. 25  Rachel Applebaum. 2013. ‘A Test of Friendship. Soviet-Czechoslovak Tourism and the Prague Spring.’ In The Socialist Sixties: Crossing Borders in the Second World, edited by Anne E. Gorsuch and Diane Koenker. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 214.

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and journal articles, foreign exhibitions, foreign consumer goods and concerts by foreign musicians more frequently than hitherto.26 In this way, the Thaw marked a democratisation of access to privileged and diverse information regarding foreign cultures.27 The foreign films shown in the Soviet Union introduced foreign cultures, fashion, conduct and deportment to Soviet audiences.28 Many Western influences, such as jazz, gradually became accepted and later adapted to society in ‘Sovietized’ forms.29 The ‘soft’ contact with foreign countries, provided by immersion in foreign culture, allowed audiences to create images and perceptions of foreign countries and their lifestyles.

Cultural Diplomacy In Soviet diplomatic circles the policy of peaceful coexistence and opening up to the world outside the Soviet bloc was manifested in increasing activities related to cultural diplomacy, which refers to the practice of harnessing culture to support foreign policy objectives. It involves the projection of a nation’s image or ‘brand’ abroad, with the aim of positively influencing the policies and public opinion in the target country to the influencing nation.30 As the Soviet Union sought to achieve political supremacy among 26  Pia Koivunen. 2016. ‘Friends, “Potential Friends”, and Enemies: Reimagining Soviet Relations to the First, Second, and Third Worlds at the Moscow 1957 Youth Festival.’ In Socialist Internationalism in the Cold War, edited by Patryk Babiracki and Austin Jersild. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 220; Gorsuch, ‘From Iron Curtain to Silver Screen’, 154; Kozlov and Gilburd, ‘The Thaw as an Event in Russian History’, 47. 27  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 1; Gilburd, ‘The Revival of Soviet Internationalism in the Mid to Late 1950s’, 363. 28  Oksana Bulgakowa. 2008. The Factory of Gestures. Body Language in Film. PP Media & Stanford Humanities Lab, 2008; Kozlov and Gilburd, ‘The Thaw as an Event in Russian History’, 46–47. 29  Gorsuch, ‘From Iron Curtain to Silver Screen’, 155. 30  Sarah Davies. 2013. ‘The Soft Power of Anglia: British Cold War Cultural Diplomacy in the USSR.’ Contemporary British History 27 (3): 297–323, 297; Michael David-Fox. 2012. Showcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union, 1921–1941. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, 14; Graham Carr. 2014. ‘“No Political Significance of Any Kind”: Glenn Gould’s Tour of the Soviet Union and the Culture of the Cold War.’ The Canadian Historical Review 95 (1): 1–29, 3–4; Bruce Johnson, Mila Oiva, and Hannu Salmi. 2019. ‘Yves Montand in the USSR.  Mixed Messages of PostStalinist/Western Cultural Encounters.’ In Entangled East and West: Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction during the Cold War, edited by Simo Mikkonen, Jari Parkkinen, and Giles Scott-Smith. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 242–243.

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the world nations, it was important to demonstrate its cultural appeal and power. Although Soviet officials had already been attentive to the public image of the first communist-led country abroad before World War II,31 during the Thaw the Soviet leaders became increasingly interested in impressing foreign populations. In the mid- to late 1950s, the Soviet government initiated an unprecedented campaign to improve its image abroad and changed its direction from denouncing Western ideology towards promoting Soviet achievements in science, technology, sport and culture. By employing the shared language of culture and art, the Soviet leaders sought to gain influence in the international arena.32 The cultural exchange agreements with Western countries were a practical implementation of the objective of improving the cultural image of the Soviet Union in the international arena.33 The Soviet concept of cultural contacts, kul’turnye sviazy, which was introduced in the inter-war period, incorporated propaganda as a major component and targeted a broad foreign and domestic audience.34 Thus, for the Soviets cultural exchange was about cultural diplomacy. At the Geneva Summit of foreign ministers in 1955, the Soviet Union lobbied for international exchange agreements.35 After the summit, the Soviet Central Committee passed a resolution on expanding cultural ties with various countries, including France. Earlier, the subjects of planning of Soviet cultural relations had been confined to the other socialist countries, but now such relations with non-socialist countries were also cultivated.36 Following the preparatory stages during the visit of the French parliamentary delegation to the Soviet Union in September 1955,37 the Declaration on French–Soviet Cultural Exchange was announced in May 1956 during the visit of French Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Soviet Union. After France, the Soviet Union signed similar agreements with the US, Great  David-Fox, Showcasing the Great Experiment, 1–2, 5.  Mikkonen, ‘Soviet-American Art Exchanges during the Thaw’, 57–76; Gilburd, ‘The Revival of Soviet Internationalism in the Mid to Late 1950s’, 363–364; Kozlov, ‘Introduction’, 13. 33  Mikkonen, ‘Soviet-American Art Exchanges during the Thaw’, 57–76. 34  David-Fox, Showcasing the Great Experiment, 17. 35  Koivunen, ‘Friends, “Potential Friends”, and Enemies’, 219; Koivunen, Performing Peace and Friendship, 4, 34; Carr, ‘No Political Significance of Any Kind’, 8. 36  Gilburd, ‘The Revival of Soviet Internationalism in the Mid to Late 1950s’, 364. 37  Report of Soviet Minister of Culture N.  Mikhailov to the Central Committee of the Communist Party dated 26 September 1955 concerning discussions with French parliamentary delegation visiting the Soviet Union. RGALI f 2329 o 2 e 369, 9–10. 31 32

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Britain, Norway, West Germany, Belgium, Italy, Finland and Iceland between 1957 and 1960.38 In the new political configuration of cultural exchanges, it was no longer appropriate to talk about representatives of the capitalist system as ‘enemies’. The Thaw era thus introduced to Soviet vocabulary the notion of ‘friendship’ with the ‘progressive’ representatives of the West. The concept of friendship, druzhba, was codified to signify cultural exchange and the Soviet promotion of peace. After the Bolshevik revolution, the word friendship had been used to describe the spirit of future internationalist relations and the unity of the nations in the Soviet Union in constructing the Soviet national identity.39 The concept of friendship had also underpinned the organised visits of foreigners to the Soviet Union in the inter-­ war period.40 After World War II, the Soviet friendship policy was applied in building the Soviet-East European contacts and creating unity in the bloc. In post-war Soviet public discourse international friends meant that they were pro-Soviet and shared ‘the Soviet values, political doctrines and goals for the future’. During the Thaw the dichotomy of ‘friends’ and ‘enemies’ gained a new category, ‘a potential friend’, who could also come from a non-communist country. When trying to achieve an internationally recognised position, the Soviet authorities sought to avoid direct references to communist ideology and used more globally acceptable concepts of ‘“internationalism”, “progress”, “peace” and “mutual understanding” as well as slogans, such as “for peace and friendship”’.41 According to the Soviet understanding, the Soviet Union led the way in promoting world peace, a status it had earned by saving the European nations from Nazism and in the fight against (capitalist) imperialism. This posture viewed Soviet imperialism in Eastern Europe through the prism of the promotion of peace and distinguished mass-terrorism as specific to Stalinism, and not the Soviet system itself.

38  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 43; Carr, ‘No Political Significance of Any Kind’, 8; Gilburd, ‘The Revival of Soviet Internationalism in the Mid to Late 1950s’, 365–368; Simo Mikkonen. 2013. ‘Winning Hearts and Minds? Soviet Music in the Cold War Struggle against the West.’ In Twentieth-Century Music and Politics: Essays in Memory of Neil Edmunds, edited by Pauline Fairclough. London: Ashgate, 135. 39  Koivunen, ‘Friends, “Potential Friends”, and Enemies’, 220. 40  David-Fox, Showcasing the Great Experiment, 6. 41  Koivunen, ‘Friends, “Potential Friends”, and Enemies’, 220–221; David-Fox, Showcasing the Great Experiment, 3.

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The launch of cultural exchange between France and the Soviet Union in the spirit of mutual friendship activated several governmental and non-­ governmental organisations, many of which had their own motivations for participating in the exchanges. For example, the French and Soviet Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, the Inter-Parliamentary Group for the French-Soviet rapprochement, the Literary-Artistic Agency for Cultural Exchanges in Paris, the All-Union Society for Cultural Ties Abroad (VOKS) and later the French-Soviet Friendship Association, all took part in implementing cultural exchange. The personal contacts of individual high-profile artists and intellectuals across the Cold War borders were also crucial in activating cultural exchange.42 The cultural rapprochement initiated the flow of French culture to the Soviet Union, and in 1954–1956, France was suddenly visible everywhere. The French Comédie-Française had already performed in Moscow in April 1954. Two subsequent exhibitions of French art were organised in Moscow and Leningrad, one with paintings from Soviet museums and the other with artworks from France. Odessa and Marseilles became sister cities in 1955, the first French film festival was organised in the Soviet Union in 1955 (see also Chap. 8) and the first French-Soviet football match was organised with an audience of 80,000.43 After Montand’s tour, the visits of members of the French film community to the Soviet Union continued. Immediately following his departure, for example, French film director Henri Aisner visited the Soviet Union in March 1957.44 Along with the French, other Western artists also flooded to the Soviet stages starting from the mid-1950s. The British Shakespeare Memorial Theatre performed in Moscow in December 1955, and the Everyman Opera Company from New York in 1955–1956. In addition, in 1956, the British pianist Moura Lympany and American violinist Isaac Stern, the

42  Memorandum of a conversation No 483/100 with Marcel Girard, the Counsellor of Cultural Questions of the Embassy of France, signed by The Attaché of the I European Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union A.T. Buchin, dated 8 April 1957. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 606, 35–37; Carr, ‘No Political Significance of Any Kind’, 13. 43  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 43–44; Gilburd, ‘The Revival of Soviet Internationalism in the Mid to Late 1950s’, 365–366; Carr, ‘No Political Significance of Any Kind’, 2. 44  Documentation of cultural exchange between the Soviet Union and France. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 606, 6–7.

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Boston Symphony Orchestra, and in 1957 Canadian pianist Glenn Gould toured in the Soviet Union.45 While to the ordinary public the cultural exchanges signified enhanced opportunities to see foreign art and foreign theatre or hear music played by foreigners, for the Soviet cultural elite they meant increased opportunities to socialise with foreign artists. The tour programmes of the visitors included countless meetings, soirées and parties with Soviet colleagues that served the purpose of strengthening the international friendship between ‘progressive’ artists. The meetings between French and Soviet filmmakers during the French Film Week in autumn 1955 were discussed in the Soviet press as an important way of achieving the objectives of cultural exchanges.46 As the examples from the preparations for Montand’s tour will demonstrate (see Chap. 5), the politics of the Thaw reopened some of the old cultural contacts between the artists and other cultural figures dating back to the 1920s and early 1930s. For some artists the Thaw era opening of East–West interaction meant returning to the social dynamics of their youth. Montand’s tour in 1956–1957 was facilitated by the increased opportunities for cross-Iron Curtain contacts and the influx of French and Western culture to the Soviet Union enabled by the cultural and political changes of the Thaw. In this context, however, Montand’s tour was exceptional in that, unlike many other foreign artists, he represented popular Estrada music instead of the ‘high’ culture of classical music. The reasons for the exceptional circumstance of the Soviet authorities promoting the visit of a Western popular music singer to the Soviet Union are disclosed in Montand’s personal biography.

 Carr, ‘No Political Significance of Any Kind’, 2.  G. Aleksandrov. 1955. ‘The French Film Week.’ Pravda 17 October 1955, 3.

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CHAPTER 4

Biography: Ivo Livi and Yves Montand

From Ivo Livi to Yves Montand When the French-Italian singer and actor Yves Montand and his wife Simone Signoret landed at the Vnukovo airport in Moscow on 17 December 1956, they were transnational celebrities known on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Before their arrival, Montand had appeared in fourteen, and Signoret twenty-nine, long feature films, and Montand was known as an entertainer whose records were sold on every continent, whose soft voice was recognised by millions and whose songs were known to his fans by heart. In 1955, Montand had also published his memoirs, edited by Jean Denys under the title Du soleil plein la tête.1 In 1956, the book was published in Polish and Russian.2 Montand’s stardom bridged political and social divides, but he was also a contradictory character. Alain Rémond has described Montand by stating: ‘To talk about Montand is to

1  Yves Montand. 1955. Du soleil plein la tête. Souvenirs recueillis par Jean Denys. Paris: Les Éditeurs français réunis. 2  Yves Montand and Jean Denys. 1956. Solntsem polna golova, translated by M. Kocharian. Moskova: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo ‘Iskusstvo’; Yves Montand and Jean Denys. 1956. Solntsem polna golova, translated by Olga Obraztsova and K. Naumov. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo TsK VLKSM ‘Molodaia Gvardija’; Yves Montand. 1956. Moje życie. Warszawa: PIW.  The Russian title of the book is a literal translation of the French original. The Polish title means ‘My Life’.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Oiva et al., Yves Montand in the USSR, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9_4

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talk about us. Of our time, of the swells that cross it, hopes, disillusions, contradictions.’3 Yves Montand’s life is intertwined with the passions and aspirations of Europe in the twentieth century. It extends from the aftermath of World War I to the dawn of the post-Cold War era. He was born on 13 October 1921  in the province of Tuscany in Italy, in the small village of Monsummano Alto, and died on 9 November 1991  in Saint-Paul-de-­ Vence in France. Montand’s real surname was Livi, and his first name was Ivo, which was later gallicised as Yves. His father Giovanni Livi (1891–1968) was a peasant who earned his living from the Tuscan soil. His years in the army took him to Libya during Italy’s expansion into North Africa. After his return, he married Giuseppina Simoni (1893–1971), just before the outbreak of World War I. In all, Giovanni and Giuseppina had three children, Lydia in 1915, Giuliano, later known as Julien, in 1917 and Ivo in 1921.4 In their Montand book Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman note that Ivo was a rare name at the time. Giovanni thought his son could become a lawyer, and Ivo was the patron saint of the defenders of justice.5 Giovanni Livi was fascinated by socialist ideas, which so deeply influenced Montand in later life as to become central to the theme of this study. His political views were fostered and radicalised by his experiences of the war. Italy suffered unbearable losses during the Great War, 450,000 military deaths and almost 550,000 civilian deaths, caused by malnutrition and diseases such as influenza.6 Amidst this carnage, the October Revolution in 1917 seemed to demonstrate that individuals were able to bring about social changes and that political participation was vital for the future. Friedrich Engels argued famously that ‘history is the cruellest of all goddesses, and she drives her triumphal car over heaps of corpses’.7 Giovanni Livi was a witness to this cruelty. His response was the launching of a communist cell in his hometown Monsummano Alto.

 Alain Rémond. 1977. Montand. Paris: Éditions Henri Veyrier, 9.  Richard Cannavo and Henri Quiqueré. 1981. Le chant d’un homme: Yves Montand. Paris: Éditions Robert Laffont, 9–10; Setni Baro. 2016. Positiver la crise avec Yves Montand. Paris: Baro Editions; Rémond, Montand, 9. 5  Yves Montand, Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman. 1992. You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, translated by Jeremy Leggatt. London: Chatto & Windus, 8. 6  Alan Kramer. 2007. Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 130, 367. 7  Gustav Mayer. 1936. Friedrich Engels: A Biography. London: Chapman & Hall, 262. 3 4

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Soon everything was to change. Fascism was quickly gaining popularity at the turn of the 1910s and 1920s, and in May 1921 Benito Mussolini won election to the Chamber of Deputies in Italy. Ivo was born into a world that was undergoing rapid political changes. After 30,000 blackshirts had marched to Rome in October 1922, Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister of the country. The situation became hostile in Tuscany too, and Mussolini’s supporters directed violence against the communists of the region, Giovanni Livi among them. Giovanni, who had left his peasant life behind and become a manufacturer of brooms, one day found his workshop attacked, with a sign A morte Communisti!, ‘Death to the Communists!’8 By the end of 1923, the Livi family was ready to escape from Italy. In January 1924 Giovanni began to prepare for emigration. By night he fled over the mountains between Italy and France and headed to Marseilles. He had probably planned to prepare visas for emigration to the US, but this proved to be impossible. The only option left was to stay in France. In May 1924 everything was ready, and together with all three children, Giuseppina took the same route over the mountains. The Livi family settled in the neighbourhoods of Marseilles, where Giovanni continued his broom business.9 They lived a life of poverty, and Lydia and Julien had to earn their living as soon as possible. In 1929 the family members became French citizens, and Ivo was renamed Yves, but the Livis were nonetheless seen for a long time as Italian immigrants. The feeling of being an outsider characterised Yves Montand’s childhood. At the same time, however, there was a high percentage of foreigners in Marseilles. It has been estimated that by 1932, one-third of the population of Marseilles came from abroad, most of them from Italy.10 The early 1930s were particularly hard for the Livi family. In the turmoil of the Great Depression, Giovanni Livi became bankrupt in 1932 and had to struggle with debts. Julien became increasingly radical and, in February 1933, joined the Communist Youth Movement.11 In Germany, Adolf Hitler had just seized power. The days of Yves Montand’s childhood were overshadowed by these turbulent events that also touched the Livi  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 9–11.  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 13–15. 10  Mary Dewhurst Lewis. 2004. ‘The Strangeness of Foreigners: Polling Migration and Nation in Interwar Marseilles’, Race in France: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Politics of Difference, edited by Herrick Chapman and Laura L. Frader. New York: Berghahn Books, 82. 11  Montand, Hamon, and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 31–38. 8 9

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family through the growing radicalism of Julien. Even so, the 1930s was also a decade of entertainment, of the rise of French record industry, radio stations and sound cinema, which had a lasting impact on Yves. He became fascinated by Hollywood musicals and their glamorous stars, especially Fred Astaire.12 In his 1955 memoirs, Montand wrote: I had a madness for cinema. I do not think that this passion overtook me tyrannically, in a way that you can be seized for example by the demon of gambling or drugs. It was the open door to a universe where hope was the law, or where fantasy takes its heroes into a contagious euphoria. It was good, after the film, to walk on the streets shadowed by the night, with the smoothness of a cowboy, with the winged ease of Fred Astaire.13

Later, Yves Montand remembered his youthful experiences and his Hollywood fever in the 1930s: It was Hollywood’s golden age. What I liked best was the musical comedies. I adored Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell. Tap-dancing numbers in particular excited me. I even took lessons from an Armenian who taught me that in order to go tap-tap with your feet you have to move your whole body. I wanted to dance like Fred Astaire. And when I saw Gary Cooper, I thought I really was Gary Cooper. I practised smiling the way he did. It was a dream life.14

According to Montand, this interest was not just an expression of fandom, but it also had political undertones: And behind this fascination with American movies was the attraction of the United States. It was strange for a kid brought up in a Communist household, but to me America represented democracy, justice, the pursuit of happiness, freedom. It was the Roosevelt era, and the ideals of the New Deal impregnated every American film. My love of movies and my love of America were mutually reinforcing.15

 Cannavo and Quiqueré, Le chant d’un homme: Yves Montand, 15–19.  Montand, Du soleil plein la tête, 129. 14  Quoted in Montand, Hamon, and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 45. 15  Quoted in Montand, Hamon, and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 46. 12 13

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Montand’s observation accurately reflects the extent to which Roosevelt’s influence was present in Hollywood’s productions of the 1930s.16 It was visible for Europeans too, and this probably explains the appeal of Hollywood productions in Europe following the depression. Roosevelt had particularly close contacts with the producer Jack L. Warner.17 Montand admired Astaire, in particular, and his sister Lydia later remembered that her brother used to tap dance while helping her as a hairdresser. Soon, the young Yves, at the age of seventeen, was seen on stage as well. The nearby Bar des Mûriers offered a music hall programme every Saturday evening, and encouraged by his brother, Yves decided to try out. The owner Francis Trottobas responded positively, and Yves was advised to rehearse three songs with a pianist. In 1938, Charles Trenet was one of the most famous French singers, and Yves decided to perform his hits ‘Boum!’ and ‘La Vie qui va’. As the third song, he picked up Maurice Chevalier’s ‘On est comme on est’. When the time came to print the name on the music hall poster, Trottobas considered that the real surname Livi was not a good idea. It was now that the name ‘Montand’ appeared. Yves Montand later explained: ‘Since I was born in Monsummano, I kind of blended my native village with my mother’s Italianized French. It came out as Montand.’18 In his 1955 memoirs, he said that ‘Montand’ actually referred to the saying of his mother who was never fluent in French and said: ‘Yvo, monta! Yvo, monta!’19 The venue for his debut performance was Vallon des Tuves in the Saint Antoine suburb of Marseilles. Afterwards, Montand did not remember anything about the show, but Trottobas was satisfied and promised to promote him in the future. Soon, Montand began to appear on different stages in his hometown. Payment was modest, but he was able to leave his work as a hairdresser. In Christmas 1938, Montand performed at the movie theatre Ritz on the rue Saint Antoine. The film was Test Pilot (1938), directed by Victor Fleming and starring Clark Gable and Myrna Loy. The poster mentioned that ‘by popular demand’ Yves Montand would perform during the intermission.20  Giulana Muscio. 1997. Hollywood’s New Deal. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.  Paul Buhle and Dave Wagner. 2002. Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America’s Favorite Movies. New York: The New Press, 59. See also Thomas Doherty. 2013. Hollywood and Hitler, 1933–1939. New York: Columbia University Press, 110. 18  Montand, Hamon, and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 48–50. 19  Montand, Du soleil plein la tête, 83, 146. 20  Montand, Hamon, and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 51–53. 16 17

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This was the kick start for a career that made Yves Montand an international celebrity as a singer and an actor. The early phase of his career was during the tragic years of World War II and the French Occupation. He first performed mainly in Marseilles, occasionally also in Narbonne and Toulouse. He also had the chance to sing on the stage of the most famous concert venue in Marseilles, Alcazar. Charles Humel wrote for him two original songs ‘Y’a du swing partout’ and ‘Dans les plaines du Far-West’, which was his first success and which he also recorded in 1945 (Odéon 281662).21 Both songs established Montand’s early profile as a star: his persona referred to American culture, and he was comfortable with country and Western songs. Montand’s concert in Alcazar on 21 June 1939 was a triumph, but world events intervened. International tensions produced turbulence everywhere in Europe, causing anxieties about the future. When war broke out, Montand later remembered clearly the moment when he heard that France had declared war against Germany on 3 September 1939. The early years of the war were catastrophic from the French perspective: Germany attacked France on 10 May 1940 and had already occupied Paris by 14 June. After the outbreak of the war, Montand had started to work at the Marseilles shipyard to help in the war effort, but he continued singing in cafés, cabarets and cinemas during the intermissions. After the German occupation, the French government was forced to move to the city of Vichy in central France. Headed by Marshal Pétain, the Vichy government was only nominal and remained under German control. Marseilles was located in Vichy France, where Montand continued to live. In 1941, he returned to his work as an entertainer fulltime.22 Yves Montand was now twenty years of age. He performed in southern France, and one of his great triumphs was the Un Soir de folie show, which ran in Nice in late October and early November 1941. Montand was accompanied by the Philippe Brun quintet. The posters advertised the show with the slogan: ‘Yves Montand, de la dynamite sur scène.’23 Nice was a centre of the arts scene in Vichy France, and Montand quickly became known among film makers, actors and musicians.24 Soon he made

 Rémond, Montand, 12.  Montand, Hamon, and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 57–65. 23  Cannavo and Quiqueré, Le chant d’un homme: Yves Montand, 33. 24  Montand, Hamon, and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 71–72. 21 22

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his first appearance on screen, an uncredited appearance as a ‘guy in the café’ in Marcel Pagnol’s film La Prière aux étoiles (1941).25 Montand still lived in Marseilles together with his parents. During the years 1942 and 1943, the situation became more difficult for many reasons. In January 1943, the Vichy government launched a compulsory labour service for young men which also included work in Germany. Furthermore, because of Montand’s original surname, Livi, its resemblance to Lévy placed him under suspicion of being of Jewish background. In 1944 Montand finally decided to try to get to Paris which was in the occupied region, but to do so he had to cross the demarcation line which was risky. Everything went well however, and Yves Montand arrived at the Gare de Lyon station in Paris on 17 February 1944.26

Paris Supported by Harry Max, his partner in Un Soir de folie, Montand soon performed at the famous ABC theatre. With the help of Émile Audiffred other venues also opened their doors, and Montand not only made a successful introduction in Paris but also got to know people who could help him in finding his place in the public eye. One of these figures was the singer Édith Piaf (1915–1963), who was at the height of her career. Piaf introduced Montand to many of his future collaborators, and before long Piaf and Montand became friends and lovers. ‘His personality was terrific,’ said Piaf. ‘His hands were eloquent, powerful; his face handsome and tormented, his voice deep and, miraculously, with little trace of the Marseilles accent.’27 Piaf’s biographer Carolyn Burke goes on to say that ‘Montand needed just one thing—songs to replace his “impossible cowboy refrains”. His recent success would evaporate unless he found something more profound to say than “yippee-yi-yay”’ (Fig. 4.1).28 Under the influence of Piaf, Montand abandoned his southern accent and started to build up a new repertoire.29 When the liberation of Paris 25  La prière aux étoiles (1941), Internet Movie Database, https://www.imdb.com/title/ tt0289409/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast, accessed 30 March 2020. 26  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 82–91. 27   Quoted in Carolyn Burke. 2011. No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf. London: Bloomsbury, 97. 28  Burke, No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf, 97. 29  Montand comments on this already in his 1955 memoirs, see Montand, Du soleil plein la tête, 198–199.

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Fig. 4.1  Yves Montand with a cowboy hat in 1944. (Source: Studio Harcourt/Wikimedia Commons)

began on 25 August 1944, Piaf and Montand together watched General Leclerc’s tanks rolling down the Champs-Elysées.30 In his memoirs Du soleil plein la tête, Yves Montand reminisced: When the crazy bells of the Liberation rang, even though I had only recently become a Parisian, the city seemed to burst. I knew that I loved her, and that she had ceased to be this tight-lipped capital, where I had confronted tragedy on so many occasions. She was resuming her youth. Like many, I found myself with a gun in my hands and cartridges in my pockets. I was assigned a fixed point, including the peristyle of the Comédie-Française, today the French Theatre, near the Louvre. I stayed there, exchanging winks with Musset and his Muse. My gun was not used, the men in green passing by. I felt confident this time. I saw a rosy future.31

Montand’s last sentence ‘Je voyais l’avenir en rose’ (‘I saw a rosy future’) reminds us of Édith Piaf’s signature song ‘La Vie en rose’, composed by Louis Guglielmi alias Louiguy and written by Piaf herself in 1945. It captures the intoxicating optimism of the time, the sense of freedom after the liberation of Paris and the gradual end of the horrors of war. Montand saw the future as roseate, and certainly, the end of the war paved the way for his further success. In February 1945 he performed at the Théâtre de l’Étoile, together with Piaf, who had written him several songs, such as ‘Elle a …’. In May, they presented a show in another classic venue,

 Burke, No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf, 98–99.  Montand, Du soleil plein la tête, 202. This passage is also quoted in Cannavo and Quiqueré, Le chant d’un homme: Yves Montand, 34–35. 30 31

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Odéon.32 Both these venues became sites of many of his triumphs in the late 1940s and early 1950s. L’Étoile was in fact where Montand in 1954 performed before Sergey Obraztsov, the Russian puppeteer who was visiting Paris and who became his advocate in the Soviet Union. As discussed below, Obraztsov would become the leading figure behind Montand’s tour of the USSR.33

Recording and Film Stardom The years after the war were decisive for Montand in two respects, both of which contributed to his becoming a transnational star. On the one hand, he became a regular visitor to the recording studios, and his voice would be heard not only in shows but wherever there were to be found radio receivers and gramophones. At the same time, Montand gradually became known as a movie actor playing larger parts year by year. In 1945, Montand recorded two singles for the label Odéon. The first one included ‘Dans les plaines du Far-West’ and ‘Luna Park’ (Odéon 281662), the second one ‘Elle a…’ and ‘Il fait des…’ (Odéon 281661). Subsequently Montand’s recordings appeared every year, and the number of releases skyrocketed in 1948 with such songs as ‘C’est si bon’ (Odéon 281936), ‘À Paris’ (Odéon 281963) and ‘Maître Pierre’ (Odéon 282031). Releases in the years to come included a series of hits that remained in his repertoire for decades and that were heard also by the audiences in Eastern Europe: in 1949 ‘Les Feuilles mortes’ (Odéon 282066) and ‘Barbara’ (Odéon 282067), in 1951 ‘Grands boulevards’ (Odéon 282419) and ‘Une Demoiselle sur une balançoire’ (Odéon 282418), and in 1952 ‘Quand un soldat’ (Odéon 282577) and ‘Les Routiers’ (Odéon 282577).34 After Montand’s brief appearance in Marcel Pagnol’s film in the early 1940s, he returned to the silver screen in Star Without Light (Étoile sans lumière), directed by Marcel Blistène in 1945. This was still a minor role, but the real breakthrough came with Marcel Carné’s Gates of the Night (Les Portes de la nuit), based on Jacques Prévert’s scenario and premiered  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 112–139.  A.K. Krasnikova 2014. “‘Kogda poet dalekii drug…’ Pesni Iva Montana v Sovetskom Sojuze serediny 1950-kh godov (K 90-letiju so dnia rozhdenija Iva Montana).” Observatorija Kul’tury 2:86–97. 34   Yves Montand’s discography at https://www.discogs.com/artist/147141-YvesMontand?filter_anv=0&subtype=Singles-EPs&type=Releases and https://fr.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Discographie_d%27Yves_Montand, accessed 30 March 2020. 32 33

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on 3 December 1946. Drawing on poetic realism, this often forgotten but impressive film is set in post-war Paris and blends semi-documentary images with compelling visuals, typical of other Carné/Prévert collaborations. The opening scene introduces a mysterious character who seems to represent destiny (Jean Vilar) who foresees the love story of Jean Diego (Yves Montand) and Malou (Nathalie Nattier). Montand played the leading male role, a romantic hero, for the first time. His singing was not heard in the film, but the main melody, composed by Joseph Kosma, became later known as ‘Les Feuilles mortes’. Montand recorded the song, with Prévert’s lyrics, three years later. Originally, Kosma had used the melody in his ballet Le Rendez-vous (1945).35 ‘Les feuilles mortes’ became one of the essential Montand songs regularly heard in his concerts, also during his tour of Eastern Europe. The song became well known by audiences across Europe, through radio programmes and via record players. In fact, since Montand did not record the song immediately after the film, there was almost a competition to adopt ‘Les Feuilles mortes’ as his/her signature song. In France, Cora Vaucaire and Lucienne Delyle recorded it in 1950. The international success was huge: the melody was interpreted by Jo Stafford in the US in 1950 as ‘Autumn Leaves’, by Henry Theel in Finland in 1951 as ‘Kuolleet lehdet’ and by Gelena Velikanova in the USSR in 1956 as ‘Osennye list’ia’.36 Montand who felt comfortable with musicals in the style of Fred Astaire, and the American vaudeville tradition with pantomime and humorous gags, could develop his career as a romantic crooner. In this development, ‘Les Feuilles mortes’ became an important addition to his profile. After his breakthrough in Gates of the Night, Montand was often seen on screen, and the audience came to know him as a talented star who could also act. This can also be viewed in a larger context: in many countries, the record and movie industries had overlapping interests after World War II and could widen their audience by joining forces. Singers were often seen as leading stars of film productions, but also actors appeared on record. In Hollywood, Elvis Presley made his film debut Love Me Tender in 1956. Of course, France also had its own tradition of film and record 35  Edward Baron Turk. 1989. Child of Paradise: Marcel Carné and the Golden Age of French Cinema. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 353–354, 440. 36  On Jo Stafford’s interpretation, see Billboard 14 October 1950, 49. On the Finnish cover, see https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuolleet_lehdet, accessed 30 March 2020. On the Russian interpretation, see https://www.discogs.com/release/2853400, accessed 30 March 2020.

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stars, such as Maurice Chevalier (1888–1972) and Fréhel (Marguerite Boulc’h, 1891–1951). Chevalier had performed in Alcazar in Marseilles in the 1910s, like Montand two decades later.37 Fréhel, like Montand, came from a poor background. She appeared in the 1930s in such films as Anatole Litvak’s Cœur de lilas (1932) and Julien Duvivier’s Pépé le Moko (1937). Yves Montand’s early films drew on his fame as a singer. An interesting example is the Italian comedy Paris Is Always Paris (Parigi è sempre Parigi), directed by Luciano Emmer in 1951. The film incorporated stereotypical views of Paris in the early 1950s. It describes an Italian perception of Paris by telling a story of Italian soccer fans who arrive in the French capital to follow a match but soon discover other entertainments, from peep shows to dancing venues and vaudeville. In the film, American tourists are a strong presence in the city. Montand plays himself as a celebrated star who is obviously worshipped by Italians who acknowledge his Italian background. The film was Italian made, but it was widely released in Europe, and the audiences had the chance to enjoy Montand singing his hits ‘À Paris’ and ‘Les Feuilles mortes’.38 Another film appearance by Montand, based on his singing career, was Claude Autant-Lara’s black comedy The Red Inn (L’Auberge rouge, 1951), starring Fernandel and Françoise Rosay. Here, Montand is a singing narrator which in itself is rare in film history: he does not appear on screen, but his voice weaves the story together.

Simone Signoret Both these films came out in 1951, which was a decisive year also for Montand’s personal life. He was married to Simone Signoret (1921–1985), one of the most famous French film stars. Signoret had been born in Wiesbaden, Germany. Her father was a French officer André Kaminker, who had a Polish-Jewish background. Her mother was Georgette Signoret, and later Simone adopted her mother’s maiden name as her stage name. Signoret became known as an actress during the German occupation and appeared regularly on screen from 1942 onwards. She was an uncredited 37  In fact, Montand often imitated Chevalier in his shows; see, for example, Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 68. 38   The whole film is available on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=4q7aVqEyQCE, accessed 30 March 2020.

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extra, for example, in Marcel Carné’s The Devil’s Envoys (Les Visiteurs du soir, 1942), based on Jacques Prévert’s original script. Signoret was also drawn into French film circles after her marriage with the director Yves Allégret in 1944. She divorced Allégret five years later. At the time of Montand’s Soviet tour, Signoret was at the height of her career. Her particularly successful period started in 1950, as a prostitute in Max Ophüls’s acclaimed La Ronde, and her artistic triumphs continued in Jacques Becker’s Golden Marie (Casque d’or) in 1952, Marcel Carné’s The Adultress (Thérèse Raquin) in 1953 and Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Fiends (Les Diaboliques) in 1955. By the mid-1950s, Simone Signoret’s fame was equal to that of Yves Montand in the limelight of European film culture.39 In her memoirs Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used To Be, originally published in French in 1976, Signoret describes how she met Montand. She remembered the exact time: it happened on 19 August 1949 in Saint-Paul-de-­ Vence at the restaurant Colombe d’Or, at about 8:30  in the evening. Montand was on his summer tour, together with the pianist Bob Castella and guitarist Henri Crolla. Allégret and Signoret had already been acquainted with Crolla in the 1940s, but hadn’t really met Montand. On that day, Montand had a day off and came to a dinner, which Signoret also attended: And the next day he came to lunch, and in the evening I went down to Nice to hear him sing. And then he came back up to Saint-Paul, and I went down to Cannes to hear him sing. Finally he left with Crolla and Castella to sing somewhere else… And it was dreadful. That’s the way it was.40

Signoret continues: ‘In those four days we had been struck by lightning, and something indiscreet and irreversible had happened.’41 Signoret was still married to Allégret, but after the feeling of ‘irreversibility’, there was no return. She divorced her husband and decided to share her life with Montand. Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman have pointed out that while 39  On Signoret’s life and career, see Huguette Bouchardeau. 2005. Simone Signoret. Paris: Éditions Flammarion; Patricia A.  DeMaio. 2014. Garden of Dreams: The Life of Simone Signoret. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. 40  Simone Signoret. 1978. Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be. New York: Harper & Row, 83. Cf. the description by Montand, in Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 112–139. 41  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 83.

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‘a divorcée in 1950 was far from being a rarity’, the sudden dramatic change nonetheless aroused public anxiety. Allégret’s and Signoret’s daughter was only four years old at the time. At the same time however, as Hamon and Rotman stress, Signoret was already a towering symbol, especially for female audiences, and her independent decision was also admired. Soon, Montand and Signoret became a couple whose opinions were sought by both right- and left-wing newspapers and whose activities were closely followed.42 They were opinion leaders of their time. At the time of their marriage, Montand had not yet established his position in the film industry, unlike Signoret who was wanted by major studios and collaborated with such auteurs as Ophüls and Carné. Howard Hughes had offered her a contract to make one film per year.43 In fact, Hollywood studios had been after Montand too, obviously on the basis of his successful career as a singer. In 1948, he signed a seven-year contract with Warner Bros., but after realising that the agreement would tie his hands and limit his freedom to choose what to do, he broke the contract. Warner sued him and, according to Signoret, ‘the whole thing created a stir in Paris’.44 It appears that this episode was interpreted in light of the contemporary political situation in France. After World War II, American culture was a very strong presence in France and in Europe in general. In 1948, the Marshall Plan was initiated, to support economic recovery after the war. This was also regarded as a threat, especially by the left-wing politicians and intellectuals. The journalist and author Georges Soria, who later became influential for Montand as the organiser of the Soviet tour, was one of the French communists who saw the Marshall Plan as an ulterior agenda to increase American influence in France. Soria also published his book La France deviendra-t-elle une colonie américaine in 1948 and argued that ‘today every aspect of national life is subject to American pressure’, not only the economy but also culture.45 The very title of the book  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 194.  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 82–83. 44  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 91–92. 45  Georges Soria. 1948. La France deviendra-t-elle une colonie américaine. Paris: Éditions du pavillon. The quote is translated into English in Brian A.  McKenzie 2005. Remaking France: Americanization, Public Diplomacy, and the Marshall Plan. New  York: Berghahn Books, 193. The first pages of the book can be viewed at: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/ bpt6k3385570f/f17.image. The book was also reviewed in Cahiers du communisme: organe théorique du Parti communiste (Juillet 1948). 42 43

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discloses Soria’s alarmist view that France was in danger of becoming an American colony. Montand’s refusal to continue with Warner’s contract thus converged with these sentiments, which again strengthened the leftist profile of Montand’s persona among the public. Newspapers reported that Montand had said no to the Americans and declined the generous financial offers.46 Anti-Americanism in Europe was a generational issue. Historian Tony Judt has pointed out that older generations resented that young Europeans ‘pepper their conversations with real and imagined Americanisms’.47 Judt maintains that anti-Americanism ‘was typically confined to cultural elites whose influence made it appear more widespread than it was’.48 Anti-Americanism also united political opposites, since it was promoted by both cultural conservatives like André Siegfried and radicals like Jean-Paul Sartre.49

International Stardom In this situation, Montand’s film career developed within the European framework. In the aftermath of World War II, the European movie industry looked for opportunities to collaborate across borders. This was fostered by the general development of economic co-operation, which culminated with the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951 and the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957. It appears that the level of film collaborations between France and Italy, in particular, increased throughout the 1950s. There were economic reasons for this, since labour costs were lower in Italy. In this business context, Yves Montand was well placed, since he had Italian ancestry but was also a Parisian celebrity. Paris Is Always Paris was an Italian-French co-production, with an explicitly ‘Italian’ perspective that was also meant to amuse French viewers. A much more successful co-production was the film The Wages of Fear (Le Salaire de la peur), premiered simultaneously in France and Italy in April 1953. Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, it became the most famous of all Yves Montand films in the 1950s. Based on the novel by Georges Arnaud, it was scripted by Clouzot and Jérôme Géronimi. The  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 91–92.  Tony Judt. 2010. Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945. London: Vintage Books, 352. 48  Judt, Postwar, 353. 49  Judt, Postwar, 353. 46 47

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adaptation was consciously based on Yves Montand’s biography since the character he plays is named Mario Livi, the actual surname of Montand, which was obviously known by the audience too. The story is, however, set far from Northern Italy and Southern France, in South America where poor, working-class men who are hired to transport nitroglycerine. It begins with two Frenchmen, Mario (Yves Montand) and Jo (Charles Vanel), the German Bimba (Peter van Eyck) and the Italian Luigi (Folco Lulli) in the village of Las Piedras in an unidentified South American country. The regional economy is dominated by an American oil company which offers the only opportunities for employment. The setting is strongly political, which explains the success of the film in Third World countries as well as in the Soviet bloc. The main characters are oppressed by the economic regime and have to accept the dangerous task of driving, without any safety measures, a truck that could at any moment explode. At the outset it is clear the Frenchman Mario had been an Italian immigrant in France, although later it is revealed that he does not come from the native area of Montand himself but from Corsica. Even so, The Wages of Fear powerfully shaped the star persona of Montand. The film not only presented him as a male working-class subject to be identified with but also offered a transnational production environment for his key role on screen. Mario Livi is a nomad who tries to find his place in the world of social barriers and harsh economic forces. He had been an immigrant in his own country, France, and now he is travelling in South America as a complete stranger. His attitude to life is reminiscent of what the German historian Alf Lüdtke has described as working-class Eigen-Sinn, self-will, stubbornness:50 together with his friends, he undertakes the dangerous task and completes it, despite the many difficulties. It is important too that the construction and promotion of this star image is realised through a transnational film production. If Mario Livi in the film was a character between borders, seeking out his place in the world, Yves Montand was also presented as an emerging transnational film star who found his home in international collaborations, like The Wages of Fear, co-produced by French and Italian companies. Because of his ethnic and class background, Montand was also a useful template for a transnational star since he could

50  On Alf Lüdtke’s concept, see, for example, Alf Lüdtke. 1993. Eigen-Sinn: Fabrikalltag, Arbeiterefahrung und Politik vom Kaiserreich bis in den Faschismus. Hamburg: Ergebnisse Verlag.

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be promoted both to multi-ethnic audiences and with an international appeal to working-class audiences.51 The Wages of Fear was also seen in the Soviet Union. The film director Grigori Aleksandrov wrote a review of the French Film Week in Moscow and Leningrad for Pravda on 17 October 1955 and also mentioned The Wages of Fear (in Russian Plata za strakh) by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Aleksandrov points out that Montand plays the main role in the film and continues: ‘Our audiences know Montand as a wonderful singer of French songs, whom we hear often in the radio. However, in this film he does not sing, but plays a difficult dramatic role concealing his varied talent.’ In the same article, Aleksandrov also mentions Simone Signoret, for her role in Marcel Carné’s The Adultress (Thérèse Raquin) which had also been screened during the film week. Aleksandrov notes that Signoret is not only an excellent artist but also ‘a progressive and socially active person’.52 Thus, through Pravda the Soviet audience was informed about the activities of the couple Montand/Signoret as well as their political standing. The French Film Week also received attention in other Soviet newspapers and magazines, as, for example, in Smena and Iskusstvo kino. Smena paid particular attention to Gérard Philipe, who was well known in the USSR, but it also mentioned The Wages of Fear and The Adultress, and the performances of Montand and Signoret. The article concluded by declaring that the Soviet audiences happily welcome ‘the humanitarian art’ of the French people, art that is full of the joy of life.53 Iskusstvo kino described the close relationship between the French and Soviet people with stronger political overtones, by quoting the Soviet Vice-Minister of Culture V. Surin who had given the opening speech at the French Film Week. Surin emphasised how the film screenings would familiarise two nations and their peoples with each other, strengthen cultural ties and also establish peace among nations. Again, Montand and Signoret are mentioned as exemplifying these acts of cultural diplomacy.54

51   On transnational stardom, see Russell Meeuf and Raphael Raphael, eds. 2013. Transnational Stardom: International Celebrity in Film and Popular Culture. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; Sabrina Qiong Yu and Guy Austin, eds. 2017. Revisiting Star Studies: Cultures, Themes and Methods. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 52  G. Aleksandrov. 1955. ‘The French Film Week.’ Pravda 17 October 1955: 3. 53  P. Borisov. 1955. ‘Authors of the films that we will see.’ Smena 18 October 1955: 3. 54  B. Mikh. 1955. ‘The French Film Week.’ Iskusstvo kino 11/1955 (November): 113–117.

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Left-Wing Peace Activism As Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman have pointed out, Yves Montand and Simone Signoret became public intellectuals, often interviewed by the French media in the early 1950s. As the Soviet press coverage of the French Film Week reveals, they were also famed as a progressive couple on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Many factors contributed to this. First, Yves Montand was already known as an Italian immigrant who had a working-class background and whose father had been a Tuscan Communist and escaped Mussolini. Montand was also very close to the French Communist Party since his brother Julien Livi was a party member. Julien had already joined the Communist Youth Movement in 1933 and participated in the strikes in Marseilles in 1934–1936. Following clashes with the police, he was arrested for several days. When World War II broke out, Julien was mobilised and taken prisoner by the Germans.55 After captivity, and the war, he returned to Marseilles in 1945 and continued his political activity. Julien Livi came to Paris later than his younger brother, in 1950. He worked for the national trade union CGT (Confédération Générale du Travail) and became the Federal Secretary for the food industry in 1956. In their short biography of Julien Livi, Antoine Olivesi and Claude Pennetier have emphasised that Julien ‘remained a Communist until the end of his life’, and also his seriousness and militant mindset.56 He looked very much like Yves Montand and had a Marseilles accent.57 To understand the political dynamic that framed Montand’s upbringing and career, it is necessary to comment briefly on the history of French socialism and communism, a long and complex story, including many rival parties and overlapping organisations. The array of left-wing politicians and intellectuals has been an essential ingredient in the French political ecosystem throughout the twentieth century. Several parties were founded early on, such as the Revolutionary Socialist Worker’s Party (1890), the French Socialist Party (1902), the Socialist Party of France (1902), the French Section of the Workers’ International (1905) and the French Communist Party (1920). A decisive moment in French history occurred 55  On Julien Livi’s captivity, see Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 62, 82, 99, 125. 56  Antoine Olivesi and Claude Pennetier. 2018. ‘Livi, Julien.’ Le Maitron. Mouvement ouvrier, mouvement social. Dictionnaire biographique, https://maitron.fr/spip. php?article118680, accessed 30 March 2020. 57  Olivesi and Pennetier, ‘Livi, Julien.’

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in 1936 when the left-wing movements united forces and formed the Popular Front, which had a strong impact on the arts, literature and cinema. It lasted only a few years but left a deep impression. The left-wing parties returned to power after the war, when the Communist Party participated in the provisional government after the Liberation in 1944–1947.58 In France, public intellectuals have been prominent since the Dreyfus Affair and Emile Zola’s impact on public discussion. After World War II, such intellectuals as Louis Aragon, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre became strong opinion leaders. While Yves Montand has often been counted among the left-wing intellectuals,59 he never joined any party. The shifting dynamics of the Cold War had an impact on socialist and communist movements in every European country. The Budapest uprising was one of the events that created growing doubts among socialists and communists. The historian Tony Judt has pointed out that many intellectuals abandoned communism after 1956 and shifted their attention from the Soviet Union to Third-World revolutionary movements. Judt argues that the shift of focus did not result in any serious reflection on Marxist or utopian perspectives that had previously been embraced.60 Yves Montand grew up in surroundings that were influenced by his father’s and older brother’s anti-Fascism and open support for communism. It appears that his attitude to the heated political debate was already ambivalent in the later 1940s and the 1950s. Politics deeply influenced the Livi/Montand family dynamic, since Yves’s and Julien’s pathways began to diverge. The actual crisis came in the late 1960s. According to Julien Livi, he had struggled in spring 1968 to keep the Paris region supplied with food. Suddenly, as Livi recalls, ‘a comrade came and told me that Yves had attacked [Communist trade union boss Georges] Séguy on the radio’.61 Yves and Julien had already had political disagreements earlier,

58  On the history of French Socialism and Communism, see Tiersky, Ronald. 1974. French Communism, 1920–1972. New  York: Columbia University Press; Christofferson, Michael Scott. 2004. French Intellectuals Against the Left: The Antitotalitarian Moment of the 1970’s. New York: Berghahn Books. 59  Christofferson, French Intellectuals Against the Left, 267. 60   Judt, Tony. 1992. Past Imperfect: French Intellectuals, 1944–1956. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 282–290. 61  Quoted in Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 357.

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but this incident finally ruptured their relationship, which was only restored just prior to Montand’s death in 1991.62 Montand did not join his father and brother in becoming a party member. Nonetheless, he was known by the public as a star with leftist sympathies. It has to be noted that Montand himself also fuelled public opinion on his political standing. For example, in his 1955 memoirs Du soleil plein la tête, he recalls, ‘The Marxist works that I read helped me a lot.’63 The assumptions regarding Montand’s supposed communism were based on several other factors. In addition to his family’s sympathies, they were influenced by his working-class star persona, emphasised by such films as The Wages of Fear, his social networks in France, and also his activism. Montand’s social networks broadened after he began to share his life with Simone Signoret. According to Signoret, her network included eminent figures of French communism, such as the poet Louis Aragon (1897–1982) who was a party member and an influential editor and publisher.64 Aragon had also contacts at the Soviet Embassy, as Signoret’s memoirs reveal.65 In 1976, Signoret declared openly ‘their’ supposed communism. It is noteworthy here that, in her memoirs, Signoret does not describe her own views, or Montand’s, but she often uses the plural form ‘we’, underlining the idea that the couple Montand/Signoret was inseparable and shared the same political views. She writes: Neither Montand nor I was a member of the Communist party, though we were in agreement with the majority of its options. A great many people believed we were card-carrying Communists. But it was a time when sending a denial to a newspaper that ‘claimed’ you were a Communist—the quotes are intentional—gave the impression of denying an accusation. We didn’t think it was wrong to be a Communist.66

Signoret argues that ‘we were in agreement with the majority of its [the French Communist Party] options’. There were, however, also reasons for not joining the party. In a compelling passage in her memoirs, Signoret shifts the focus to Montand’s career as a singer and especially on how the French communists saw his repertoire. On this occasion Signoret stresses  Olivesi and Pennetier, ‘Livi, Julien.’  Montand, Du soleil plein la tête, 223. 64  On Louis Aragon, see for example Judt, Postwar, 224, 353. 65  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 147. 66  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 94. 62 63

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that Montand’s views on culture were simply different. She writes (verbatim): We didn’t join the Party because we were often dismayed by its cultural positions. … We talked things over with the Communists. They were always patient and understanding. Of course, we couldn’t understand! “A song about miners, that’s very important.” “It’s important if it’s a good song about miners,” Montand would answer. ‘It’s better if it’s good,’ they replied, ‘but what’s important is that it’s about miners. … Now, ‘Luna Park’ is fun, but do you really think that these are times for fun? The working class has other fish to fry at the moment than to spend their Saturdays on a scenic railway. … ‘C’est si bon’ is charming, of course, but don’t you think the beat is very American?” “Yes, it’s rather American, but the American beat is very good. After all, the Negroes invented American rhythm.” “’Sanguine, Joli fruit’ is a bit erotic, isn’t it?” “You people in the Party, don’t you ever make love?” “Oh… he’s so funny!” But when he sang “Quand un soldat” they were pleased. Yes, that wasn’t so bad, singing “Quand un soldat” (which was banned on the radio) at the Étoile theater in the middle of the Indochina was to a full house in which there were always one or two hotheads looking for a fight, or even a whole rowful of them; not bad.67

Undoubtedly the background for these divergent opinions is the fact that Montand had, since the beginning of his career as a singer, always adopted elements from American culture. In the post-war struggle between Americanism and anti-Americanism, Montand seemed to be on the wrong side, refusing to adopt more socially committed programme for his shows and even challenging the political position that was continuously imputed to him by the press. In the early 1950s, the Cold War situation produced and fostered dichotomies. Signoret’s words suggest that already the conscious choice to sing with an ‘American beat’ was interpreted as an anti-Soviet action. The feeling was ambivalent, since at the same time she expresses sympathy for people she had met: The Communists I met during the war, when I didn’t always know at the time that they were Communists, were people I respected enormously. In 1950, while America waged war in Korea, we were pursuing ours in Vietnam—that is, Indochina. At that time the Communist sailor Henri Martin was in prison in Melun for having refused to point his ship’s cannons in a direction he had not foreseen when he had volunteered for service in  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 97–98.

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1944. That direction was not Japan. The militant Communist Raymonde Dien—she was then nineteen years old—had laid across the railroad tracks in the Saint-Nazaire station to prevent an arms convoy from making its delivery.68

World War II was still very fresh in the collective memory and equally so were those feelings of sympathy that many French people harboured for anti-totalitarian activities during the German occupation. Signoret also makes a reference to the fact that, in the 1950s, France was by no means a non-participant in warfare. The war in Indochina had began in  1946, starting  the process that finally led to the collapse of France’s colonial presence in Asia. This was also a prelude to the Vietnam War that strongly influenced Montand’s and Signoret’s generation. In the context of the Cold War, France was an ally of the US in its fight against Soviet impact on the global scale. On many occasions in the 1950s, and also later in their memoirs, Montand and Signoret emphasised how important for them it was to fight, not against the US or the USSR, but against war. Both became signatories of the so-called Stockholm Peace Petition, calling for nuclear disarmament and approved by the World Peace Council on 15 March 1950. It actually had French roots since its initiator was the French Nobel Laureate Frédéric Joliot-Curie, who was known not only as a physicist but also as an active communist. The US dismissed the Stockholm Peace Petition as mere propaganda since the ‘peace offensive’ was seen to be only against American nuclear supremacy and not a bipartisan international initiative. Finally, the Petition received as many as 500 million signatures from seventy-nine countries by the end of 1950.69 Hamon and Rotman call it ‘one of the biggest public-opinion operations ever launched on the world by Communism’.70 It was signed by numerous distinguished figures in global cultural life, including Jorge Amado, Louis Aragon, Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Thomas Mann, Pablo Neruda and Dmitri Shostakovich. Many French actors, film makers and writers became

 Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 94.  Allan Taylor. ‘Story of the Stockholm Petition: Two Views on the “Peace Petition”.’ The New York Times 13 August 1950; Lawrence S. Wittner. 1993. The Struggle Against the Bomb. Vol. 1: One World or None: A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement Through 1953. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 183. 70  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 230. 68 69

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involved as well: Marcel Carné, Maurice Chevalier, Pierre Brasseur, Gérard Philipe, Jacques Prévert, Serge Reggiani and Pierre Renoir.71 Regarding the Stockholm Peace Petition, Signoret noted that it included many people who had no particular political alignment behind their decision to join: The Stockholm [Peace] petition was a pacifist text issued by the international peace movement to ban nuclear weapons. There were Communists in the peace movement. There were also a great number of non-Communists. There were ministers and priests, upper-class and working-class people, and intellectuals. It was massive refusal of the atomic bomb. When people refused to sign it, the usual question asked was: “So you’re for the atomic bomb?” They never said yes; they always said they were apolitical… They were lying; because it was taking a political stand simply to avoid getting in wrong with the Americans, who at the time were the only ones to have the bomb and to have used it. It would have been hard to say “Oh, yes, I like it very much,” after you had seen photographs of Hiroshima. So you see, it was difficult not to sign …72

The overall number of signatories, of course, supports Signoret’s view. In the tense international situation, five years after the end of World War II, it was only natural that millions of people expressed their love of peace, Montand and Signoret among them. The communist press in France, however, used the situation for its own advantage. Although there were many signatories in France, numerous notable artists and politicians, L’Humanité, an organ of the French Communist Party, brought Montand into the limelight and wrote on 2 May 1950 that the popular singer had signed the Stockholm Peace Petition. It added also Montand’s own comment: ‘I sign so that I may continue to sing for a long time.’73 Later, L’Humanité also listed other signatories, but clearly it wanted to capitalise on Montand’s fame and popularity, as though his decision to sign would have signalled a gradual shift into the ideological realm of L’Humanité.

71  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 232. See also the list of notable signatories, The Stockholm Appeal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_ Appeal, accessed 30 March 2020. 72  Signoret, Simone. 1978. Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be. New  York: Harper & Row, 93. 73  L’Humanité 2 May 1950. Quoted in Montand, Hamon, and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 232.

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Hamon and Rotman summarise: ‘From that day on, Montand’s name was on the Communist mailing list for petitions and propaganda.’74 After this, and after the huge international success of The Wages of Fear in 1953, Yves Montand was seen as a valuable instrument for any project of cultural diplomacy between East and West. This was the situation when Montand met the director of the Moscow Marionette Theatre, Sergey Obraztsov, in Paris in 1954, and the preparations for Montand’s tour in Eastern Europe began.

 Montand, Hamon, and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 232.

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CHAPTER 5

Preparations, Hesitations and Decisions

Beginnings Montand’s recordings had been available, played and discussed in Russian media through 1954, but became more extensively accessible after Russian puppeteer Sergei Obraztsov (1901–1992) had heard him perform at a concert at L’Étoile in 1954, and had all the available recordings taken to Moscow, where they received extensive radio play (see further, Chap. 6). It seems to have been the 1954 meeting between Montand and Obraztsov that marked the beginning of the preparations for the tour, since Obraztsov held considerable cultural authority. Together with his wife Olga Obraztsova (1902–1989), they were a high-profile artistic-intelligentsia couple who acted as ‘brokers’ in Soviet cultural exchanges with foreign countries. From 1950, Olga and Sergei Obraztsov worked together, as Olga was officially appointed as Sergei’s personal secretary and helped her husband in his literary work.1 It appears that they collaborated in maintaining transnational contacts and circulating information to foreign countries, though it was often the husband who was acknowledged for this work. As a high-profile Soviet artist, Obraztsov could contact foreign artists and travel abroad, and these foreign travels enabled the Obraztsovs to play a role as mediators and popularisers of foreign cultures to Soviet 1

 Litlife: https://litlife.club/authors/51225, accessed 14 April 2020.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Oiva et al., Yves Montand in the USSR, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9_5

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audiences. By the 1920s, Obraztsov had already travelled in Western Europe and the US, and he resumed frequent visits in the mid-1950s.2 He wrote books about his travels to Great Britain and France, published articles and organised public lectures, radio programmes and documentary films on foreign cultures.3 Olga Obraztsova, a widely educated actor and literary figure with experience in film and radio work, translated Western fairy tales and children’s prose into Russian.4 She also used her personal contacts in bringing about the publication of Montand’s memoirs in the Soviet Union by acquiring the French version of the book, making the translation with her colleague and obtaining the illustrations to the book from France (Fig. 5.1).5 The Obraztsovs were active networkers between Soviet and foreign artistic figures; their unofficial personal contacts were important in mediating Soviet culture abroad and foreign artistic visits to the Soviet Union. They maintained an extensive transnational network through correspondence and face-to-face meetings. The Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts (RGALI) archives contain hundreds of letters they exchanged with artistic individuals—Montand among them—from the 1930s to the 1970s.6 Their correspondence reveals that the couple had active contacts with France, to theatres, and other cultural institutions, as well as the French parliamentary committee for improving Soviet-French relations.7 They invited, for example, high-level representatives of the French museum administration for a dinner party at their home and showed them 2  Eleonory Gilburd. 2006. ‘Books and Borders. Sergei Obraztsov and Soviet Travels to London in the 1950s.’ In Turizm. The Russian and East European Tourist under Capitalism and Socialism, edited by Anne E. Gorsuch and Diane P. Koenker. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 227. 3  Gilburd, ‘Books and Borders’, 228-230; Pia Koivunen. 2016. ‘Friends, “Potential Friends”, and Enemies: Reimagining Soviet Relations to the First, Second, and Third Worlds at the Moscow 1957 Youth Festival.’ In Socialist Internationalism in the Cold War, edited by Patryk Babiracki and Austin Jersild. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 227; Maksim Rylskii. 1955. ‘Noble duties.’ Pravda 13 December 1955, 3. 4  Litlife: https://litlife.club/authors/51225, accessed 14 April 2020. 5  Letter of A.R. to Olga Aleksandrovna Obraztsova from Riga to Moscow including translation of a letter of Obraztsova to Montand into French, dated 1 July 1956. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 1440, 2. 6  See fond 2732 at RGALI. 7  A Christmas and New Year card from M. Debû-Bridel and Jacques Debû-Bridel (Jacques Debû–Bridel, the President of the inter-parliamentary group for the French-Soviet rapprochement) to Sergei and Olga Obraztsov, sent in December 1955. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 1230, 1–3.

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Fig. 5.1  Sergei and Olga Obraztsov (on the left) together with painter Otto Nagel and Mayor of the City of Berlin (GDR) Friedrich Ebert at Berliner Festtage in Berlin GDR 15 November 1958. The name of the woman in right is not known. Photo by Rudi Ulmer. Source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-60053-0003 / CC-BY-SA 3.0. Deutsches Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia Commons

pictures of Soviet art during the evening. Later they sent pictures of the paintings to the guests8 and disseminated awareness of Soviet art in foreign countries. In this position they were ideal promoters of the idea of Montand’s tour in the Soviet Union. It is worth noting that the Obraztsovs were not the only ones brokering cultural exchanges at a personal level, as in the case of Ilia Ehrenburg, an eminent Russian Francophile who had lived in Paris. ‘Ehrenburg’s place in Thaw culture and his authority among Soviet readers of the 1950s and 1960s cannot be overstated,’ as Eleonory Gilburd argued, particularly in the construction of a romanticised mythology of Paris.9 Francophile film maker Sergei Yutkevich, who often travelled to France as a member of 8  A letter from Germain Bazin, the Main Curator of the Department of Paintings and Drawings, French Museum Administration under the Ministry of Education, to Olga Obraztsova, dated in Paris, 1 March 1957. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 1230, 4–5. 9  Eleonory Gilburd. 2018. To See Paris and Die: The Soviet Lives of Western Culture. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 232.

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cultural delegations, sought every opportunity to visit Picasso and, in terms reminiscent of praise for Montand, described the artist as ‘an unassuming man of the people’; he invariably wore a black sweater which Ehrenburg associated with the outfit of ‘dockers, metal workers, or freight drivers’,10 again recalling the appeal of Montand’s plain dark brown stage costume. Given Obraztsov’s enthusiasm for Montand’s work, it is reasonable to suppose that the possibility of a Soviet tour by Montand was raised during that 1954 encounter, and indeed Signoret later (but almost certainly erroneously) recalled that a contract for the tour was signed at about this time; other writers including Montand give the date as early 1956.11 The difference in dates is significant, for as we have seen, beginning with the secret speech, 1956 was to be a turbulent year internationally and for France and the USSR in particular, and Montand and his proposed tour were caught in the centre of that turbulence. The promoter and the contact point between Yves Montand and the Soviet Ministry of Culture of the tour in the French side was Georges Soria, acting on behalf of the French L’Agence Litteréraire et Artistique (Agency of Cultural Exchange). The Agency was a major mediator in the artistic exchanges between France and East European countries including the Soviet Union.12 It had been established in 1953 by Georges Soria, Louis Aragon and Jean Lurçat, all French leftist artists and intellectuals, who had had contacts with Soviet artists from the 1920s onwards.13 The Soviet-French cultural exchanges were of mutual benefit, since not only were the Soviets ‘in need’ of Western contacts, culture and visitors from the West, but some cultural figures in the West were also eager to promote the interaction, enter the Soviet book market and receive performers from the Soviet Union. As Simo Mikkonen points out, the transnational  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 260.  Simone Signoret. 1978. Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be. New York: Harper & Row, 137; Yves Montand, Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman. 1992. You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, translated by Jeremy Leggatt. London: Chatto & Windus, 259; Evgenia Gordienko, Iv Montan. Muzhchina—Mif. Rostov-on-Don: Feniks, 182. 12  Questions of Soria to the Ministry of Culture, no date (summer or early autumn 1956). RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 83–84; Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 137. 13  As Soria plays a significant role in the Montand tour, some background is of use. He was the correspondent of L’Humanité (which represented the French Communist Party) in the Spanish Civil War. After World War II, he wrote the book La France deviendra-t-elle une colonie américaine (see above). There is further information regarding Soria in his obituary in Le Soir:https://www.lesoir.be/art/mort-de-soria_t-19911011-Z04HT3.html. 10 11

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­etworks were about personal and professional motivations on both n sides.14 The foreign performance organisers were eager to invite Soviet high-end performers to perform in their venues.15 The French correspondents were also eager to have their books translated into Russian.16 For the Agency of Cultural Exchange, promotion of exchanges both had ideological roots and provided revenue. The path would have been smoothed by the outcome of a summit hosted by Geneva in 1955, seeking to ease East/West tensions (see further Chap. 3).17 This was followed by an invitation from the Soviets to French Prime Minister Guy Mollet and Minister of Foreign Affairs Christian Pineau to visit the USSR in May 1956. To coincide with this, Soviet radio aired French music and the visit was also ‘framed by two exhibitions of French art in Moscow and Leningrad’.18 The year 1955 had also marked the first French film festival and the first USSR-France soccer match (see Chaps. 3 and 7).19 On 19 May 1956, Soviet and French statesmen signed an agreement calling for greater mutual trust based on commercial and cultural relations, and ‘A Joint Statement by the USSR and France Concerning Cultural Intercourse’ which set out an agreement to exchange ‘films, athletes, students, educational materials, and mass media programs’.20 As discussed in Chap. 3, there were various formal agencies to manage such cultural exchanges, including the All-Union Society for Cultural Ties 14  Mikkonen, Simo. 2013. ‘Soviet-American Art Exchanges during the Thaw: From Bold Openings to Hasty Retreats.’ In Art and Political Reality, edited by M. Kurisoo. Proceedings of the Art Museum of Estonia (8). Tallinn: Art Museum of Estonia—Kumu Art Museum, 57–76. 15  A non-dated letter from Antonio Mucelli, a musician who toured together with Yves Montand in the Soviet Union, to Sergei and Olga Obraztsov, mailed in August 1957 in Paris and arrived Moscow 3 September 1957. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 1230, 7–8; A letter from director of Théatre de l’Étoile to Sergei Obraztsov, dated in Paris on 17 January 1958. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 1230, 15; A letter from director of Théatre de l’Étoile to Olga (and Sergei) Obraztsov, dated in Paris on 21 November 1959. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 1230, 19. 16  A letter from Jacques Debû–Bridel, the President of the inter-parliamentary group for the French-Soviet rapprochement, to Olga Obraztsova, dated in Paris on 4 October 1957. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 1230, 9-10; A letter from Jacques Debû–Bridel, the President of the inter-parliamentary group for the French-Soviet rapprochement, to Sergei and Olga Obraztsov, dated in Paris on 30 October 1957. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 1230, 11–12. 17  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 27. 18  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 43. 19  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 44. 20  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 44.

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with Foreign Countries (VOKS) and the body that replaced it, the Union of Soviet Friendship Societies (SSOD), which was more oriented to ‘mass mobilisation’, personal exchanges and friendship societies, less rigidly mediated through government apparatus.21 It appears, however, that these were not the agencies involved in Montand’s tour on the Soviet side, but rather the tour office Gastrolbureau and the Department of External Connections of the Soviet Ministry of Culture,22 the West European Department of the Soviet Ministry for Foreign Affairs (most likely with the assistance of the Soviet Embassy in Paris).23 The tour plan presented to the Soviet minister of culture also shows that these were the Soviet agencies involved in organising the tour.24

Delays, Obstructions and Controversies The move towards the contract and the tour was expedited also from the Soviet side (see below). The contract was signed in early 1956, for a month-long tour in Moscow/Leningrad/Kiev followed by, as Simone Signoret writes in her memoirs, ‘one week in each of the socialist republics. He was to leave in October 1956 and was to be accompanied by his wife, seven musicians and a couple of lighting supervisors.’25 Montand hoped to be in Moscow in time for the celebration of the October Revolution. He and Signoret, however, were starring in the Les Sorcières de Salem, then in production under the direction of Raymond Rouleau in the German Democratic Republic (it would be released in 1957, and Signoret would win a BAFTA Award for her role).26 For various reasons the  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 38–39.  A letter from the department of External Connections to Gastrolbureau within the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, dated 17 December 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 56. 23  A notice by the Director of the Department of Western Europe (of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs) E. Kachugin, dated 25 (October?) 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 62. 24  Presentation of the organisation of Yves Montand’s tour in the Soviet Union, addressed to Minister of Culture N.A. Mihailov, no date (~early December 1956). RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 66–67. 25  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 137. 26  As an aside, this film had a curious aptness to the political situation and would also later for Montand. The film was based on the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, about a society cleft by (often malicious) denunciations; Miller was inspired by MacCarthyism in the US, but the theme of denunciations could equally have drawn on Stalinist USSR. The issues dealt with in The Crucible remind us that, at this intense period of the Cold War, in many ways the 21 22

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s­ hooting schedule was slowed down. By April these delays led to anxiety on Montand’s part that he would not be available for the tour in time. He called Soria who was able to arrange a new timetable.27 A surviving telegram dated 23 April was sent from the Literary-Artistic Agency (of cultural exchange) in Paris to Mr. Stepanov at the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union in Moscow. It refers to the delay in film production and requests consent that the tour be shifted from 15 September to 30 October, to November to 15 December.28 And there were further delays, as outlined in another letter from Soria to the Ministry of Culture dated 23 October: Yves Montand has asked us to let you know that the difficulties at the tour of his film “Les Sorcières de Salem” has made it impossible for him to arrive to Moscow on the previously agreed date, that is November 5th and to begin the tour on November 9th. These difficulties are a matter of force majeure: one artist is sick, and there are some supplementary plans for the tour. Montand suggests new dates for the tour: he would leave Paris on 12 November, start the tour in Moscow on 15th, in Leningrad on 27 November–2 December, and a concert in Kiev on 4 December. If this new schedule is acceptable for you, the total number of agreed 25 concerts can be held in the Soviet Union, but their number in other countries will be reduced, or the tour should be prolonged. Montand and his group will leave for Prague on 12 November on Aeroflot. Montand will have around one tonne of baggage.29

In the event, the tour did not begin until December. Perhaps partly because of the sense of urgency, and that he had not been performing for a year, rather than develop a new show, together with Henri Crolla in USSR and the US were mirror images of each other. The connection is ironic also because apparently Miller visited the shooting location and in June had married Marilyn Monroe, with whom Montand later conducted an affair. 27  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 259; Gordienko, Iv Montan, 181–182. 28  Translation of a telegram sent from the Literary-Artistic Agency (of cultural exchange) in Paris to Mr. Stepanov at the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union in Moscow, dated 23 April 1956, translated from French into Russian by M. Ienaliev. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 74 (the original telegram in French on page 77). 29  A letter from Georges Soria, the Literary and Artistic Director of the Literary and Artistic Agency in Paris for Cultural Exchanges, to Katchougine at the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, dated 23 October 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 76.

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regular rehearsals when not on the film set, he refreshed his previous repertoire.30 The growing urgency arising from the delays in film production were not the only sources of anxiety in the period between signing the contract in early 1956 and the December departure for the Soviet Union. As we have seen, the international and local political situations during that year became ever more inflamed as the time for Montand’s departure approached. With the political storms of the Polish crisis unfolding from June through to October, the Suez crisis of August/September, and the Soviet invasion of Hungary on 4 November, the plan to tour the USSR by France’s highest-profile entertainer accompanied by his equally celebrated wife made them both lightning conductors in a storm that could not have been foreseen when the tour was first mooted. At a logistical level, the changes in schedule and the continuing uncertainties regarding the tour produced problems, as, for example, the musicians having been booked to commence at the original starting date.31 But while solutions could be negotiated for these difficulties, the political controversies admitted of no resolution. Hearing of the events in Poland in June, Montand angrily threatened to raise the matter while in the USSR: ‘I’ll say a lot once I’m in the Soviet Union, and even more when I get back.’32 Coming from a communist background, learning about the ‘mistakes of communism’ as also reported in November over dinner with Gérard Philipe who had recently returned from Poland, was a source of anguish as well as anger.33 This was especially so given the news about the Soviet invasion of Hungary on 4 November. France itself was divided over the issue. While the press published an article by Sartre defending the Hungarians, for example, the French Communist Party supported the Soviets, and in consequence, many members including Philipe resigned. Crowds attacked the editorial office of the newspaper Humanité.34 Montand would endure sustained attacks from sections of the French press, intensified when,  Gordienko, Iv Montan, 182–183.  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 150. 32  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 262. 33  Gordienko, Iv Montan, 190. 34  A.K. Krasnikova. 2014. “‘Kogda poet dalekii drug…’ Pesni Iva Montana v Sovetskom Sojuze serediny 1950-kh godov (K 90-letiju so dnia rozhdenija Iva Montana).” Observatorija Kul’tury 2:86–97, 90; Krasnikova provides a detailed account of the controversies engulfing Montand. 30 31

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i­mmediately following news of the invasion, Humanité published an article on his planned tour of the USSR.  In conversation with Montand, Sartre pointed out that now the singer would be damned if he proceeded and damned if he didn’t. The press badgered Montand about his intentions and the impending tour became a major topic of public discussion. Consulting his musicians he found that they were opposed to the tour, as was Signoret, and on 11 November, he made a public announcement that he was postponing the visit because of the political situation.35 Yet he continued to agonise. Evidently for some, postponement was not as acceptable as cancellation. Montand was contracted to appear in a forthcoming film Modigliani, to be directed by Max Ophüls (finally, the film was directed by Jacques Becker as Montparnasse 19 in 1958 and, instead of Montand, the main character was played by Gérard Philipe). One morning the film producer Henri Deutschmeister telephoned Montand and warned him that if he should go to any part of the USSR, the contract would be cancelled. Montand replied that he had not intended to go, but in the face of this kind of threat, he was changing his mind. In consultation with Signoret, he immediately wrote an open letter to Obraztsov, dated 3 December 1956, confirming his intention to tour and setting out his reasons. The letter itself can be regarded as a form of cultural diplomacy, an attempt to mediate and satisfy both the French and the Soviets, since he indicated in a separate note that he was sending the letter to the French press for publication and also that he hoped the Soviet press would publish it.36 It was published in some of the Parisian newspapers the following day37 and in Izvestia in the Soviet Union after nine days.38 You have been among the artists together with Moiseiev and the Moscow Ballet who have contributed to the cultural rapprochement of our two countries, and through that to détente, because of your success in Paris. You have also personally introduced me and my songs to the Soviet audiences. If the Soviet people sing my sings, it is thanks to you. That’s why I am now writing to you. I would like you to know that the drama in Hungary confuses many French people, and particularly the members of the Peace 35  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 263–268; Gordienko, Iv Montan, 186–190. 36  Yves Montand’s private note to Sergei Obraztsev, dated on 3 December 1956 in Paris. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 710. 37  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 150; Gordienko, Iv Montan, 192–198. 38  Izvestia 12 December 1956.

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Movement, which is the only organization I belong to. Many French people, who are well aware of the enormous anti-Soviet propaganda, and do not believe this propaganda, have been asking questions. I am one of those persons. Today, the National Council of the French Peace Movement, although not unanimous on how the situation in Hungary should be understood, we agreed that, as concerning the war in Algeria and the adventures in Suez, all of we active members of the Peace Movement, coming from different political opinions, representing different religious and philosophical confessions, both intellectuals and manual labourers, have come to a resolution to oppose by all means the return of the Cold War, and thereby the possibility of total war. Because this concerns also me, I am happy to ask you to announce to the Soviet public my forthcoming visit, and that with that I would like to develop on my side the cultural exchanges, [for strengthening] the Peace.39

In light of later events, it is to be noted that Montand identifies himself not as a fellow-traveller, but as a representative of the peace movement. The letter failed to achieve the reconciliations it evidently hoped for. He would note that although his first concert in Moscow was heavily attended by various political dignitaries, there was no-one from the French ambassadorial delegation.40

Soviet Preparations In the meantime, over the year during which he had been at the centre of such virulent controversies, in the background there was correspondence with, and within, the Soviet Union. Much of this concerned the plans for the tour. Georges Soria maintained a regular correspondence with Soviet officials regarding the coming tour. In October he informed the Soviet Ministry of Culture that he was planning to accompany the tour and also kept the Ministry informed about the changes to the tour schedule.41 A number of internal memoranda within the Soviet bureaucracy also appear 39  Yves Montand’s public letter to Sergei Obraztsev, dated on 3 December 1956 in Paris. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 710. 40  Gordienko, Iv Montan, 198. 41  A letter sent by Georges Soria, the Literary and Artistic Director of the Literary and Artistic Agency in Paris for Cultural Exchanges, to Stepanov, Director of Cultural Relations at the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, dated 15 October 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 75; Questions of Soria to the Ministry of Culture [no date]. Russian translation. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 83–84; A letter from Georges Soria, the Literary and Artistic Director of the Literary and Artistic Agency in Paris for Cultural Exchanges, to Kachugin at

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to be the outcome of representations by Soria, as, for example, requests and stipulations about venues, their setup and equipment, such as the need for a piano and a double bass to be provided in each theatre.42 He also negotiated questions of payment for the performers and various travelling expenses, which involved complex calculations, as exemplified in the following extract: So we need to ask the Ministry of Culture the following: • to cover the living and travelling costs from Prague to Moscow for the above mentioned ten persons; • to pay in French francs 4/5 of the payment 4 000 roubles for the first 18 solo concerts, which is altogether 72 000 roubles. The remaining sum will be used to cover the living costs of Montand and his group. This sum will be withheld by the Ministry of Culture. Therefore, we made the following calculations: If Yves Montand receives 4 000 roubles for each concert in French francs (for official exchange rate 87 francs for one ruble), the overall sum to be paid for Montand is 6 264 000 French francs. From this sum he needs to pay the taxes and professional costs for 5 324 000 French francs. Montand’s group costs him every day, irrespective of whether they work or not, 150 000 francs. They are paid in France. For 23 days, that is the minimum duration of stay needed for accomplishing 18 solo concerts and rehearsals, they cost 3 450 000 francs. For this we need to add the travel costs Paris-Prague and Prague-Paris not only for the members of the group, but also for the equipment (musical instruments, a special projector, a sound device, curtains, a rehearsal stage, and so on), transportation of which costs 600 000 francs to one direction, 1 200 000 to two directions. As you can see, Mr. Montand can give his final consent for the tour in the Soviet Union if you think that it is possible to pay 4/5 of the payment in French francs so that Montand’s personal earning will be 674 000 francs. We need to add that the joy of performing for the Soviet audiences offsets to a certain degree the personal earning of the artist.

the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, dated 23 October 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 76. 42  Tour plan of Yves Montand and his group in the Soviet Union, Paris, 10 July 1956. Russian translation of the French original. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 81–82. (The original French version on pages 87–88.)

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If it is possible to have transfer, as we discussed earlier, even for 2/5 of the payment, the tour will be in balance for Montand with loss of 3,5 million francs. You should consider what you think is a fair deal. We made together with Mr. Yves Montand the schedule of his tour in the Soviet Union. You can find the final dates in the attachment that we ask you to study carefully, since Montand needs to travel after that directly to Poland and the other state socialist countries, with whom we have already agreed the dates. Literary-Artistic Director43

All this correspondence in turn generated inter-ministry memoranda, which also covered a range of other issues, from the registration of passports to the availability of the medication ‘Tezan’ for Montand.44 The question of the tour itineraries was also the subject of numerous memoranda, from as early as July.45 With the delays that plagued the filming of Les Sorcières, these were subject to successive revisions, even into December. Finally schedules were drawn up that listed every concert in every city, together with meetings with the public and members of the government bureaucracies in the couple’s spare time.46 As Montand’s arrival date drew 43  A letter from Georges Soria, the Literary and Artistic Director of the Literary and Artistic Agency in Paris for Cultural Exchanges, to Stepanov and the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, dated in Paris on 10 July 1956. Russian translation of the original letter written in French. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 78–80. (The French original version on pages 84–86.) 44  A letter from Georges Soria, the Literary and Artistic Director of the Literary and Artistic Agency in Paris for Cultural Exchanges, to Stepanov and the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, dated in Paris on 10 July 1956. Russian translation of the original letter written in French. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 78–80; A notice by the Director of the Department of Western Europe (of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs) E. Kachugin, dated 25 [October?] 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 62; A letter sent to V. I. Riazantsev, the director OVIR (the Visa and Passport Registration Department) from E.  Kachugin, the director of the Department of External Contacts of the Ministry of Culture, dated 19 December 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 63; Letter of Medvedovskii, the first vice-director of the I European Division of the Soviet Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the director of External Contacts of the Soviet Ministry of Culture V. T. Stepanov, dated 8 December 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 64. The medication referred to was developed in the early 1950s for the treatment of several conditions including angina; see https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/ CIA RDP80-00809A000700090515-9.pdf, accessed 2 April 2020. 45  Tour plan of Yves Montand and his group in the Soviet Union, Paris, 10 July 1956. Russian translation of the French original. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 81–82. (The original French version on pages 87–88). 46  Plan schedules of Yves Montand’s and Janine Micheau, no date [~September–October 1956], Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 73; Plan schedule

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closer, these arrangements became even more detailed, including the couple’s accommodation, cultural sight-seeing and planned welcome receptions.47 During December directives were circulated for the reservation of block bookings of tickets for officials, and requests went to the Ministry of Culture from various groups for opportunities to meet Montand.48 It raises interesting questions—but with currently available evidence, unanswerable ones—that much of this traffic, based on the supposition the tour would be going ahead, was continuing between 11 November, when Montand publicly announced the postponement of the tour, and 3 December, when he dated the open letter to Obraztsov declaring that he would after all be going. Soviet officials and the public were kept aware of Montand’s situation through 1956. As early as April, Iskussto kino had reported on Montand and Signoret working on Les Sorcières and quoted him as saying that when he had finished, ‘then I will do the trip that I dream most of all in my life: I will do a four-month tour in the Soviet Union and people’s democracies, where I will sing my songs.’49 The same promise was reported regularly in the Soviet press up to July, when he said he would hope to be in Moscow in the coming autumn; the Soviet media of Yves Montand’s tour by the Soviet Ministry of Culture, no date [~early December 1956]. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 68–70. 47  Presentation of the organisation of Yves Montand’s tour in the Soviet Union, addressed to Minister of Culture N.A. Mihailov, (no date, ~early December 1956). RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 66–67; A draft of an invitation letter [to N.S.  Khrushchev?], signed Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union N. Mikhailov, [no date, ~early December 1956]. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 65; A letter from the department of External Connections to Gastrolbureau within the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, dated 17 December 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 56. 48  A letter of the director of the Central Documentary Film Studios V. Golovjan to ViceMinister of Culture Orvid, dated 11 December 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 59; A letter of Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs V. Zorin of the I European division of the Soviet Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the Vice-Minister of Culture Orvid, dated 29 October 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 60; A telegram sent to the Department of External Connections at the Ministry of Culture Slavnov from VTO Cherkasov and the representative of the House of Arts of Stanislavski Makarev in Leningrad, dated (6 December 1956]. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 58; A letter from A. A. Yablochkina, the chairperson of the board of the All-Russian Theater Association, to the Vice-Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union Georgi Antonovich Orvid dated 18 December 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 57; A telegram sent to the Department of External Connections at the Ministry of Culture Slavnov from VTO Cherkasov and the representative of the House of Arts of Stanislavski Makarev in Leningrad, dated [6 December 1956]. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 58. 49  ’Yves Montand shoots a film of De Santis’, Iskusstvo kino 04/1956 (30 April 1956), 113.

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raised the possibility of Montand’s Soviet tour several times between October 1955 and July 1956.50 By December, his imminent arrival was receiving abundant coverage in the Soviet press, including publication of his letter to Obraztsov.51 On 31 November, Krokodil number 31 carried an illustration of Montand at the centre of various groups of Russians he could be expected to meet (see further Chap. 6 and Fig. 6.6). It is notable that this was in the interval between him publicly announcing the postponement of the tour on 11 November and reactivating it on 3 December. Evidently the Soviets were well aware of the situation, because at the end of November the first secretary of the Soviet embassy in Paris came to visit Montand to seek clarification, saying that he understood Montand’s situation very well.52 Montand, however, did not give his definitive response.53 The Soviet public were also certainly aware of the controversies in France surrounding his coming visit. An article in Literaturnaja Gazeta of 15 December described the preparations he and Signoret were making for their departure for Moscow, their packing, Montand’s rehearsals but also the opposition he had faced from various interests in France: It is difficult to imagine for the Soviet audience the anger which Montand caused among reactionaries and fascists for no longer delaying his trip to the Soviet Union. … Yves Montand has progressive feelings, which he doesn’t hide. … Magazine France Soir had not yet published the letter by Yves Montand to Sergei Obraztsov asking him to let the Soviet public to know his wish to visit Moscow, as many French magazines began to criticize Montand. At the same time Montand’s many friends were happy for his decision. Reactionaries and military fascists tried to prevent Montand’s departure. However, it seems that Montand knows that he will be warmly welcomed in the Soviet Union.54

50  Rassadin, G. ‘A warm meeting. Visiting French actors’ Ogonek October 1955, 28-29; ‘Yves Montand shoots a film of De Santis’ Iskusstvo kino 04/1956 (30 April 1956), 113; Andreiev-Krivich, S. ‘Yves Montand tells…’ Literaturnaja gazeta 15 May 1956; ‘To Ivan Vorontsov from Ivan Montand’ Smena 30 June 1956, 3; ‘Meetings behind the pictures’ Ogonek No 31 (July) 1956, 35. 51  ‘See you soon! The letter of Yves Montand.’ Izvestia, Wednesday, 12 December 1956, 4. 52  Gordienko, Iv Montan, 191. 53  Gordienko, Iv Montan, 192. 54  R.  Bergeron. 1956. ‘On the eve of the departure’, Literaturnaja gazeta No 149, 1956, 4.

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Clearly, the Soviet public had been kept informed about Montand’s difficulties. But there appears to be no mention of the postponement of the tour, and the Krokodil coverage was during that period before it was revived. Perhaps that hiatus was not reported, or perhaps the Soviets had faith that he would, after all, be coming. If so, that faith was vindicated. Montand, Signoret and their entourage departed for Moscow on 16 December.

CHAPTER 6

The Construction and Reception of Montand’s Public Image

Pre-tour Soviet Celebrity When Montand finally entered the airplane in Paris in December 1956, his fame had already, long ago, reached the Soviet Union and gained cult-like proportions. Practically all Soviet citizens knew who he was, what he looked like and what kinds of songs he performed. He had thousands of admirers across the country.1 Interestingly, it was the Soviet state-run media system that had made the French singer and actor an admired celebrity in the land of the Soviets. The French government offices were not involved in promoting Montand as a representative of French culture, and as noted in Chap. 5, the French diplomats did not even attend his concerts in Moscow.2 The Soviet mass media had created his fame by importing, domesticating and promoting his films, recordings and photographs, and translating books from the West alongside their own domestic production of radio programmes, newsreels, and newspaper and journal articles. Using a variety of media, they reached practically all Soviet citizens and succeeded in promoting the idea of Montand as a progressive,

1  Eleonory Gilburd. 2013. ‘The Revival of Soviet Internationalism in the Mid to Late 1950s.’ In The Thaw: Soviet Society and Culture during the 1950s and 1960s, edited by Eleonory Gilburd and Denis Kozlov. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 366; Evgenia Gordienko. 1998. Iv Montan. Muzhchina – Mif. Rostov-on-Don: Feniks, 182. 2  Gordienko, Iv Montan, 198.

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pro-Soviet, world-class artist whose viewpoints supported the newly launched policy of peaceful coexistence. The concept of celebrity may sound controversial when talking about the Soviet Union, as celebrity cultures have often been associated with consumerism and capitalism.3 The Soviet mass media, however, created and exploited celebrities—such as Stakhanovite work heroes, cosmonauts, artists, writers, actors, singers and dancers—for the purposes of projecting Soviet ideals.4 The Soviet media depicted idealised versions of celebrity figures for the public, who would then envy the special status and extra benefits the stars enjoyed. The project of the Soviet state in building a cult of celebrity of a Western star may seem even more controversial. For the Soviet regime, Montand was a perfect match of suitable background, talent and already established fame, whose image provided a vehicle to display its cultural politics and to reach out to a global common understanding. His fame traversed the Cold War boundaries by ‘translating’ or ‘Sovietising’ him for Soviet audiences. In the context of the Cold War, transnational stars could also act as key figures in cultural diplomacy, since they functioned as figures to whom both Soviet and Western audiences could relate, while maintaining their different worldviews. Deployment of transnational celebrities was not without risks, however, because of the potential threat that they would function as mediators of cultural and ideological conflicts.5 In addition to promoting their policy domestically, Montand’s tour was a perfect opportunity for promulgating the Soviet rulers’ ideas about international order to foreign audiences. In creating Montand’s celebrity status, the Soviet media system promoted him in conjunction with the new policies of the Thaw, but did not act as a centralised and monolithic agent as is often thought. The main message of the Soviet media was relatively uniform, because the major 3  Sabrina Qiong Yu and Guy Austin. 2017. Revisiting Star Studies: Cultures, Themes and Methods. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2. 4  Kristin Roth-Ey and Larissa Zakharova. 2015. ‘Foreword. Communications and Media in the USSR and Eastern Europe.’ Cahiers Du Monde Russe 56 (2): 273–90, 285. 5  Roth-Ey and Zakharova, ‘Foreword. Communications and Media in the USSR and Eastern Europe’, 285; Russell Meeuf and Raphael Raphael. 2013. Transnational Stardom: International Celebrity in Film and Popular Culture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan; Meri Elisabet Herrala. 2019. ‘Challenges for Soviet-American Collaboration in the Cold War: The Capitalisation of Pianist Sviatoslav Richter for American Musical Markets.’ Cold War History 19 (2): 1–22.

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media outlets were involved in promoting the prevailing policy, and everything published had undergone review by colleagues and censorship.6 At the same time, however, the Soviet media system was not centrally controlled. The different media were controlled by different organisations. For example, the biggest newspaper Pravda functioned under the Communist Party, and the second biggest Izvestia was published by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. Practically all the major organisations, from factories and youth organisations to the military, had their own newspapers. Different newspapers had divergent reader profiles, which were reflected in the content. During the Thaw, the number, print runs and variety of Soviet periodicals targeted to diverse readerships increased. Although the most popular magazines were in short supply,7 the Soviet readers could choose from a variety of women’s, health, automobile, caricature, photography magazines or journals dedicated to foreign literature or wonders of the world.8 In this context, although the main message about Montand as a progressive artist was consistent in all the publications, different media promoted different aspects of Montand’s public image. The most influential channels of Montand’s publicity were radio, cinema and newsreels, with their capacity to carry music and reach the whole population. In the mid-1950s, radio was the major channel for distributing information and educating people regardless of their place of residence or social status.9 Cinema also had a wide reach, since both domestic and 6  Memorandum concerning the propagation of the aims of the sixth five-year plan in newsreels and documentary films of the Central Studio for Documentary Film, undated [early 1956]. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 117, 39–40; Pia Koivunen. 2016. ‘Friends, “Potential Friends”, and Enemies: Reimagining Soviet Relations to the First, Second, and Third Worlds at the Moscow 1957 Youth Festival.’ In Socialist Internationalism in the Cold War, edited by Patryk Babiracki and Austin Jersild. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 226–227; Pia Koivunen. 2013. Performing Peace and Friendship: The World Youth Festival as a Tool of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy, 1947–1957. Doctoral dissertation. University of Tampere, the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, 152. 7  Eleonory Gilburd. 2018. To See Paris and Die: The Soviet Lives of Western Culture. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 107–108. 8  Ekaterina Vikulina. 2015. ‘Vlast’ i media. Vizual’naja revoliutsija shestidesiatykh.’ Cahiers du monde russe 56 (2): 429–66; Saara Ratilainen. 2013. Women´s Print Media and Consumer Culture in the New Russia. PhD thesis, University of Tampere, 73–74. 9  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 234–235; Anna K. Krasnikova. 2014. ‘“When a Distant Friend Is Singing …”: Yves Montand’s Songs in the Soviet Union of the Mid-1950s.’ Observatory of Culture 28 April 2014, 87.

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foreign films were shown even in the remotest peripheries, which familiarised all the citizens with foreign film stars, like Yves Montand and Simone Signoret.10 The newsreels, shown before the start of the feature film of the evening, distributed by word and image the latest news, and documentary films like Yves Montand Sings allowed everyone to experience cultural events such as Montand’s concerts. In 1956, the Soviet TV broadcasting had already started, but the majority of households did not have TV sets at that time and programming time was still brief.11 The Soviet audiences learned about Montand, and other foreign issues, predominantly through the Soviet media. In 1956, the Soviet media system maintained relatively successful control over the flow of foreign cultural influences and thus became for the majority of Soviet citizens the basis of their understanding of it, supplemented by domestic and translated literature as well as stories circulated by their acquaintances.12 However, this conduit was not watertight, because of foreign radio channels directed to Soviet audiences and the circulation of smuggled tamizdat and domestically produced uncensored samizdat publications.13 A growing number of foreign journals publicising particular countries were sold in the Soviet Union also increased foreign influences in the Soviet print media.14 None of these, however, became as crucial a source of Montand promotion in the Soviet Union as the Soviet media. Although the Soviet media system was constructed to ‘protect’ the audiences from foreign or ideologically deviant ideas, it was also efficient in distributing a variety of media products from abroad when useful, as in the case of circulating information regarding Montand. The central Soviet media were interconnected in many ways, and they promoted the message about Montand synchronously: a journal article title would refer to a radio  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 167.  Anikó Imre. 2013. ‘Adventures in Early Socialist Television Edutainment.’ In Popular Television in Eastern Europe During and Since Socialism, edited by Anikó Imre, Timothy Havens and Katalin Lustyik. New York: Routledge, 33. 12  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 103–157; Eleonory Gilburd. 2006. ‘Books and Borders. Sergei Obraztsov and Soviet Travels to London in the 1950s.’ In Turizm. The Russian and East European Tourist under Capitalism and Socialism, edited by Anne E.  Gorsuch and Diane P. Koenker. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 228. 13  Simo Mikkonen. 2010. ‘Stealing the Monopoly of Knowledge?: Soviet Reactions to U.S.  Cold War Broadcasting.’ Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 11 (4): 772. 14  Sarah Davies. 2013. ‘The Soft Power of Anglia: British Cold War Cultural Diplomacy in the USSR.’ Contemporary British History 27 (3): 298–302. 10 11

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programme, several newspapers published the same report by the TASS news agency on Montand’s concert, or various journals published extracts of forthcoming translations of Montand’s memoirs. The Soviet media also reacted to foreign publications by emphasising certain issues in the media, indicating that the Soviet media were conscious of the foreign ‘gaze’, and therefore addressed both the domestic and foreign audiences. In this way, the Soviet media system assumed a double role in conducting cultural diplomacy: at the same time as they informed Soviet citizens about the correct interpretation of the world, they demonstrated Soviet openness and cultural values to foreign observers.

Constructing Montand’s Celebrity with Music and Print Media By the early 1950s Montand’s name was already known to the Soviet public as a peace activist. He was mentioned in various articles among the names of French artists promoting peace and celebrating French-Soviet cultural contacts.15 At this point he was only one among the many others, and it is likely that Soviet readers did not pay much attention specifically to him. It is probable, however, that at this point the personnel of the Soviet Embassy in Paris had identified Montand as an artist with a leftist mindset and a potential Soviet sympathiser. The understanding of the Soviet officials of Montand’s political position and the French-Soviet cultural rapprochement suggested a special avenue for the French leftist artist to the Soviet art scene and public. Montand’s breakthrough to the consciousness of the wider Soviet public took place in 1954 when Sergei Obraztsov made a radio programme about his trip to France. Obraztsov, while visiting Paris in the end of 1953, had been at Yves Montand’s concert and fallen in love with the music. Aired on 15 December 1954 Obraztsov’s radio programme was dedicated to Montand under the title Singer of Paris, to be repeated a number of times through January 1955, including on short wave with a service area extending to Siberia. It presented many of Montand’s recordings together with commentary by Obraztsov on Montand’s life and career. This 15  ‘Fight with the ‘Fifth Film Column’ in France’ Iskusstvo kino No 5/1950 (October), 43–46; ‘The Widening Front of the Protectors of Peace’, Pravda 18 November 1952, 4; ‘The announcement of the Committee for preparing 10th Anniversary of the French-Soviet agreement’ Izvestia 23 December 1954, 4.

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included frequent reference to the singer’s working-class origins and left-­ wing political sympathies, and attracted hundreds of fan letters across the whole social spectrum from across the Soviet Union. Many were signed by several people, families, neighbours, factory workers, school children and students.16 After Obraztsov’s programme, the radio began to play Montand’s songs frequently. According to recollections of present-day Russians, Montand’s music was heard everywhere and ‘all the time’ through radio— at homes, on the streets and workplaces—from 6  a.m. when the daily programme started with the sound of the Kremlin bells, to the close of transmission at midnight.17 His songs became familiar to listeners in Moscow, Stalingrad (present-day Volgograd), Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) and Vorkuta.18 The Soviet newspapers later reported that the ‘friendship between the Soviet audiences and Montand’ began with Obraztsov’s radio programme.19 At the same time as Obraztsov introduced Montand over the radio, Soviet recording companies began to release his singles. Among the first was the Rı ̄ga Skanuplasu Fabrika from Riga, in the Latvian Soviet republic, that had already published ‘Quand un soldat’ and ‘Les Routiers’ in 1954. In 1955, at least thirty different recordings of Montand’s were published in Moscow, Leningrad, Riga, Kaunas, Tashkent, Lublin (Poland), Chernovichi, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov and Stavropol.20 These recordings familiarised Soviet audiences with Montand’s songs including ‘Saint-Paul  Krasnikova, ’Kogda poet dalekii drug …’, 86–87; Gordienko, Iv Montan, 181–182.   Interview with Alexey Veshkin (b. 1961). Interview by Anastasia Kurasheva, 28 September 2019, Moscow. Peer-review of the transcript by Darya Artemova; Interview with Valentina Bogun (b. 1936), 29 September 2019, Shchokino, Tula region, Russian Federation. Interview by Angelina Naumova, peer-review of the transcript by Darya Umanets. 18   Interview with Anna (b. 1999), 8 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Daria Khokhlova, peer-review by Anna Ostapenko; Interview with Alexey Veshkin (b. 1961); Interview with Alexander Kolibersky (b. 1946), Moscow, 28 September 2019. Interview by Anna Koliberskaya, peer-review of the transcript by Alexandra Mikhaylidi; Interview with Natalia Isaakovna Muchinskaya (b. 1945) 30 September 2019, Moscow. Interview by Yana Parshina, peer-review of the interview transcript by Angelina Naumova; Interview with Iya Pavlenina (b. 1944) and Valentin Pavlenin (b. 1941), 18 October 2019, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Interview by Lidia Larkina, peer-review of interview transcript by Daria Khokhlova; Interview with Valentina Bogun (b. 1936). 19  ‘To Ivan Vorontsov from Ivan Montand’ Smena 30 June 1956, 3; Izvestia Friday 21 December 1956, 3; G.  Aleksandrov. 1955. ‘The French Film Week.’ Pravda 17 October 1955, 3. 20  See Appendix 1. 16 17

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de Vence’, ‘Les Saltimbanques’, ‘Le Chemin des oliviers’, ‘Cartes postales’, ‘Il a fallu’, ‘À Paris’ and others (see further Chap. 8). We estimate that there were between 500,000 and 5,000,000 recordings of Montand’s songs circulating in the Soviet Union by the time the singer landed at the Vnukovo Airport. In the major cities, admirers of Montand’s music could acquire recordings, but in many other places, people had difficulty getting hold of his recordings, scores and lyrics.21 How the masters of Montand’s songs reached the Soviet recording companies is not clear. As many of the records produced in different Soviet cities contained the same combinations of songs on A and B sides, it seems that they used the same source.22 It appears that the Soviet recordings were transcribed from the French records brought by Obraztsov or other individuals from France, either with or without the consent of Montand or his recording company or by some kind of leasing rights scheme. In the 1950s, the Soviet Union was not a member of the Universal Copyright Convention, which meant that Western artists could not claim royalties from sales of their music in the Soviet Union.23 In the late 1950s, there were some sporadic exchanges of musical artefacts between Soviet and Western representatives and agreements for publishing Soviet music in France.24 It seems more likely that the Soviet recording companies compensated Montand and his recording company in some way based on a gentleman’s agreement, since in summer 1958 Montand’s record company sent his record to Obraztsov.25 Obraztsov had proved to be an effective promoter of everything relating to Montand in the Soviet Union, and the recording company calculated that the benefits of his popularity were greater than the potential risk of unauthorised circulation of recordings.  Krasnikova, ’Kogda poet dalekii drug …’, 88.  See Appendix 1. 23  The Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) was established in 1952, and the Soviet Union joined the convention in 1973. Evgeniya Kondrashina. 2019. ‘Soviet Music Recordings and Cold War Cultural Relations.’ In Entangled East and West: Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction during the Cold War, edited by Simo Mikkonen, Jari Parkkinen and Giles Scott-Smith, 193–215. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 205; Herrala, ‘Challenges for Soviet-American Collaboration in the Cold War’, 8; David MacFadyen. 2001. Red Stars  : Personality and the Soviet Popular Song, 1955–1991. Montreal: McGillQueen’s University Press, 7. 24  Kondrashina, ‘Soviet Music Recordings and Cold War Cultural Relations’, 197–198. 25  A letter from the director of Art. Technique and Commerce of Disques ‘Odéon’ and disques de ‘La Musique au Vatican’ to Sergei Obraztsov, dated in Paris on 2 July 1958. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 1230, 17. 21 22

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The production and sales of Montand’s records in the Soviet Union made him accessible to audiences. Instead of waiting for the radio to air a song, if they owned a recording the fans could play their favourite pieces whenever they wanted. In the interviews, made for this book in Russia, the respondents recalled that the students and schoolchildren gathered to listen to Montand’s music together and the records were played at dance evenings and students’ study groups, familiarising themselves with French culture.26 Furthermore, Soviet singers helped in making Montand popular: Gleb Romanov covered his songs in French and Leonid Utesov in Russian.27 With Soviet radio airtime and the wide distribution of recordings, Montand became one of the first Western popular singers to occupy so much Soviet public space. The establishment of Montand’s fame in the Soviet Union coincided with the increasing acceptance of popular music genres other than folk music in the Soviet Union. It led to a gradual influx of East and West European and even selected American music performers of pop, jazz and rock to the Soviet music scene starting from the late 1950s.28 Unlike earlier studies that have shown that the tours of foreign artists in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and the 1980s launched sales of their recordings in the Soviet Union,29 Montand’s case demonstrates a contrary development where the wide distribution of music through radio and records prepared the public for his tour. Montand’s recordings and his tour in turn paved the way for wider acceptance of popular music and foreign performers among the Soviet public. Another crucial effect of the recordings of Montand’s songs available to Soviet audiences was that they were important conduits across the Cold War boundaries that opened an ‘audible window’ to foreign culture. As Evgeniya Kondrashina points out, in the Cold War era, music-related transnational interaction, recordings and scores were crucial vehicles of 26  Interview with a person (b. 1945), 8 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Yana Parshina, peer-review of the interview transcript by Angelina Naumova; Interview with Iya Pavlenina (b. 1944) and Valentin Pavlenin (b. 1941); L. Raskin. 1955. ‘A Friendly Meeting’ Ogonek March (No 12) 1955, 29. 27  Gilburd, ‘The Revival of Soviet Internationalism in the Mid to Late 1950s’, 366. 28  Kondrashina, ‘Soviet Music Recordings and Cold War Cultural Relations’, 196, 198, 205–206; Cadra Peterson McDaniel. 2001. American–Soviet Cultural Diplomacy: The Bolshoi Ballet’s American Premiere. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, xix; MacFayden, Red Stars, 10–11. 29  Kondrashina, ‘Soviet Music Recordings and Cold War Cultural Relations’, 205–206, 215.

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representations of musical works.30 For many listeners the Montand records provided an opportunity to spend ‘half-an hour in Paris’, as the title of a later record suggested,31 and to create a personal link with ‘progressive’ foreign art. Articles published in the Soviet press suggest that the creation of a kind of ‘audio-bridge’ between the Soviet and French people, carrying mutual understanding and sympathy, was the reason for making Montand’s songs so widely accessible in the Soviet Union. Newspaper articles declared that Soviet audiences listened to and adored the same music as people in France and that music brought them together even if most of them did not understand each other’s language.32 Recordings provided a two-way traffic for cultural meanings and mutual understanding, as suggested in an article reporting that Montand and Signoret also became acquainted with Soviet culture through recordings along with books and cinema.33 As Montand’s music became widely accessible in the Soviet Union, it also became necessary to explain to the public what the songs were about and who Yves Montand was. This was achieved by translating the lyrics of the songs and Montand’s memoirs into Russian. The Russian translations of the lyrics of Montand’s songs were published in journals in 1955, subsequently in music folios.34 In addition to the scores, these contained the lyrics in French and Russian, making it easier for Montand fans to learn his songs and sing them both in French and Russian and in so doing make the French singer part of their lives. The translations were thus an important element in domesticating Montand in the Soviet Union. The translations of Montand’s autobiography emphasised the suitability of his background to the public (see Chap. 3). The autobiography, Du soleil plein la tête, was published in Paris in 1955, and already by February 1956, Soviet newspapers and journals were publishing translated extracts

 Kondrashina, ‘Soviet Music Recordings and Cold War Cultural Relations’, 194.  Pol’chasa v Parizhe. Poiut frantsuzskie shanson’e. Leningrad: Akkord, 1961. 32  Nikolai Drachinskii. 1955. ‘Workers’ festival in Paris’ Ogonek September 1955 (No 39), 22; P. Borisov. 1955. ‘Authors of the films that we will see.’ Smena 18 October 1955, 3. 33  G. Rassadin. 1955. ‘A warm meeting. Visiting French actors.’ Ogonek October 1955 (no 42), 28–29. 34  R.  Izmailova. 1955. ‘The Singer of Paris.’ Ogonek March 1955 (No 11), 40–41; Frantsuzskie piesny iz repertuara Iva Montana 1956 and 1957; Poet Iv Montan 1956 and 1957, circulation varying from 15,000 to 50,000 copies. 30 31

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of the book.35 By autumn 1956, two Soviet publishing houses—Iskusstvo and Molodaia Gvardija—published two different Russian translations of Montand’s autobiography.36 The first book was translated by M. Kocharjan, and the latter book by Olga Obraztsova—Sergei Obraztsov’s wife—and K.  Naumov. Sergei and Olga Obraztsov were actively engaged in the translation and publication of Montand’s memoirs into Russian.37 Thus, by the time of Montand’s arrival in December 1956, there were two different translations of Montand’s autobiography, and several shorter versions published in various newspapers and journals, circulating in the Soviet Union. Along with music, cinema and texts, the last instruments in the creation of Montand’s celebrity in the Soviet Union were postcards. Like Western publicity organisations, Soviet printing houses produced a great number of Montand postcards as ‘fan products’ around the time of the tour. In 1956 Printing House LFH printed 25,000 copies of postcards portraying Montand (Fig. 6.1).38 Similarly, in January 1957, a Rostov-on-Don-based photographic printing house Dinamo published at least three different postcards with Montand’s portrait in a huge print run of 100,000 copies of each. Printing of the photographs was completed quickly: the order was made on 7 35  An article published in Literaturnaja gazeta (15 May 1956) refers to the memoirs published in ‘Inostrannaja literatura’; Solntsem polna golova. Biblioteka Ogonek No 37 1956. Izdatel’stvo ‘Pravda’, Moskva. Translation by O.  Obraztsova and N.  Naumov; Maksim Rylskii. 1955. ‘Noble duties.’ Pravda 13 December 1955, 3; ‘Head full of Sun. Yves Montand.’ Komsomolskaja Pravda 7 February 1956, 3; S.  Andreiev-Krivich. 1956. ‘Yves Montand tells…’ Literaturnaja gazeta 15 May 1956; Also Komsomolskaia Pravda 7 February 1956, 3 and Vechernaia Moskva May 1956. Collection of newspaper clippings from Sergei Obraztsov’s collections from the year 1956. The names and dates of the articles are not visible, but the approximate publication dates are in spring 1956. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 1270. 36  Yves Montand and Jean Denys. 1956. Solntsem polna golova, translated by M. Kocharian. Moskova: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo ‘Iskusstvo’; Yves Montand and Jean Denys. 1956. Solntsem polna golova, translated by Olga Obraztsova and K. Naumov. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo TsK VLKSM ‘Molodaia Gvardija’. 37  Draft of a letter from Olga Aleksandrova Obraztsova to Yves Montand and the publishing house Éditeurs français déunis, dated in Moscow 20 April 1956. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 1440; Letter of A.R. to Olga Aleksandrovna Obraztsova from Riga to Moscow, dated 1 July 1956. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 1440, 2; a short note from Obraztsov to Montand [no name of the recipient], dated 21 August 1956. RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 270, 2–3. 38  Image of the both sides of the postcard was accessed through the Internet-based buyand-sell portal Meshok meshok.net in November 2018.

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Fig. 6.1  ‘Yves Montand. A photo reproduction from the book Head Full of Sun,’ LFH 1956. (Source: Meshok)

January, and someone had already bought a card and written greetings on it by 20 January 1957.39 Production of postcards of film stars and singers in thousands of copies was common in the Soviet Union, at least from the mid-1950s onwards.40 They were available at metro stations or at the concerts. On the reverse side, people would write greetings to friends and relatives or they would hang the postcards on the wall at home. According to the common memory of present-day Russians, in every girl’s room there was a picture of Yves Montand—cut from either a journal or a postcard—and ‘kissed into holes’.41 Montand was already a popular film star and singer, and the tour increased the demand for less expensive souvenirs. Again the wide distribution of the Montand souvenirs tells us not just about his popularity but also the positive attitudes of the Soviet authorities to Montand in allowing this kind of production. As with the Soviet reproduction of Montand’s recordings, the postcards disclose well-functioning East-West connections for photograph distribution. The originals of many of the postcards were obviously professionally made promotional photographs, most likely taken originally with the permission of Montand’s manager’s office of the film producer in France. The postcards published by LFH and Dinamo in Rostov-on-Don were clearly based on the same original photograph (see Figs. 6.1 and 6.2, see also Fig. 6.3), which was also published in one of the Russian translations of

39  Image of the both sides of the postcard was accessed through the Internet-based buyand-sell portal Meshok meshok.net in November 2018. 40  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 158, 204. 41  Interview with Alexey Veshkin (b. 1961).

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Fig. 6.2 and 6.3  ‘Yves Montand’, Fotoizdat Dinamo, Rostov-on-Don, 1957. (Source: Meshok)

Montand’s memoirs.42 Thus the photographs the printing house had received from Paris for the book were reused as postcards. Similar copies of promotional photographs circulated among several printing houses in the Soviet Union. Many other postcards portraying Montand, like those printed in Chelyabinsk in 1957 (5000), in Moscow in 1956, 1958 and 1959 (20,000–50,000 copies each), in Gorkii in 1960 (2000 copies) and in Kishniev in 1960 (6000 copies), were based on promotional studio photographs or stills from films. Another source for the Soviet-made postcards was professionally taken photographs of Montand’s concerts (see Fig. 6.4). In 1956 the Moscow-­ based printing house Izogiz published a series of postcards portraying Montand performing his songs. In 1957 it published another series of postcards, photographs which could have been taken during Montand’s concerts in the Soviet Union.43 Although it is possible that the profits from the postcard sales, both originating from France and from the Soviet Union, never reached Montand’s or his representatives’ wallets, it is nevertheless clear that these souvenirs increased his fame. While the introduction of Montand to the  Montand and Denys, Solntsem polna golova, translated by M. Kocharian.  Collection of Montand postcards, the Russian State Library collections in Moscow; Images of the postcards at the Internet-based buy-and-sell portal Meshok meshok.net in November 2018. See Appendix B. 42 43

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Fig. 6.4  Yves Montand. Izogiz, Moscow 1956. (Source: Russian State Library in Moscow)

Soviet public was based on domestication and distribution of imported music, films, a book and photographs, the peak of Montand’s celebrity during the tour was based on the Soviet-made media representations.

Montand’s Tour in the Soviet Media The Soviet newspapers and magazines explained and amplified Montand’s tour to the public using the vocabulary of peaceful coexistence. During the weeks of his Soviet tour, Montand appeared in a variety of publications

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from the serious Pravda to the more culturally oriented Literaturnaja gazeta, a youth newspaper Smena and a factory newspaper Moskovskii Avtozavodets. Interestingly, the major women’s magazines Rabotnitsa and Krestianka did not write anything about the French star during his visit. This suggests that this kind of topic was not considered suitable for the ordinary Soviet woman, a reminder of how the Soviet newspapers chose their content according to the status of the publication and its perceived reader profile. It also suggests that, fundamentally, Montand was predominantly an urban elite and youth phenomenon. While Montand was still in Paris undecided regarding the tour in Paris (see Chap. 5), the Soviet media remained silent on the possible tour and waited. Among the first hints that the tour would go ahead was a drawing published in the caricature magazine Krokodil (Fig.  6.5).44 It portrayed Montand singing surrounded by flowers and people in a variety of places— in an airplane, ice-hockey match, on the street, in the field, at home and on the sea—listening to him. Montand’s song reached out to all these people in different places and connected them. The drawing was accompanied with the caption For the expected arrival of Yves Montand in the USSR.  When a long-distance friend sings, signalling expectations of the tour and referring to the song about Montand performed by popular Soviet singer Mark Bernes. Although the drawing was published at a time when the tour was still uncertain, it undoubtedly raised expectations among the Soviet readers who had been kept largely uninformed regarding the details of the delayed tour. After Izvestia had announced the breaking news about Montand’s tour by publishing his letter to Obraztsov (see Chap. 5), Literaturnaja gazeta reacted quickly with an article on Montand’s tour preparations in Paris. The French author of the article dictated the text by telephone on 14 December and it was published the next day. The article described Montand’s rehearsals for the concerts that he would give during the forthcoming weeks in the Soviet Union and Peoples’ democracies. The article emphasised Montand’s wish to strengthen the French-Soviet cultural exchange and described how the Western ‘reactionaries and fascists’, who tried to prevent the tour, were angry with his decision to go ahead with

44  ‘For the expected arrival of Yves Montand in the USSR. When a long-distance friend sings.’ A drawing by E. Gorohov. Krokodil 10 November 1956, (No 31), 35.

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Fig. 6.5  ‘For the expected arrival of Yves Montand in the USSR. When a long-­ distance friend sings.’ A drawing by E.  Gorohov. (Source: Krokodil No 31, 10 November 1956, 35)

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the tour.45 It implies that the Soviet media believed that the readers had to be informed of the tensions in France regarding Montand’s tour, but the explanation was simplified to a black-and-white confrontation between peace-loving communists and frustrated Fascists. By this schema, the Soviet Union wished to live in peace with the ‘progressive’ and pro-Soviet societies, while peaceful coexistence was of no interest to the anti-Soviet ‘imperialists’. On the day following the arrival of Montand and Signoret in Moscow on 17 December 1956, both major newspapers Pravda and Izvestia published articles announcing that the famous singer and his wife had arrived. The articles reported that they had been met by a crowd of prominent Soviet figures from the art world and the political elite.46 Later Pravda and Izvestia also published short announcements that the representatives of the highest political elite had attended Montand’s concert as a sign of official approval and appreciation of Montand’s music.47 Emphasising this high-profile appreciation of Montand indicated not only to Soviet readers but also to foreign observers that a peace activist Western artist like Montand was warmly welcomed to the Soviet Union. The double role of the Soviet newspapers in educating the Soviet readers and informing foreign observers regarding Soviet positions was even more obvious in an article published by Literaturnaja gazeta. Entitled ‘Queue position number 10,207’, it spoke of Montand’s popularity in the Soviet Union by interviewing Muscovites queueing for the concert tickets and asking for their impressions of Montand. The article described librarian Lilija Shurupova, standing in the lobby of the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, one of the volunteers collecting the names of the people willing to purchase tickets to the concert to make the queueing more organised. The queue numbers in Shurupova’s notebook started from 10,001, indicating the high demand for the tickets, and the lowest queue number she could offer to an elderly man signing up was 10,207.48 The article continues by explaining the positive attitudes that Soviet people had towards Montand:

45  R.  Bergeron. 1956. ‘On the eve of the departure.’ Literaturnaja gazeta No 149, 1956, 4. 46  ‘Yves Montand in Moscow.’ Pravda 18 December 1956, 4; ‘Arrival of Yves Montand to Moscow’ Izvestia 18 December 1956, 4. 47  ‘Yves Montand’s Concerts-’ Pravda 27 December 1956, 1; ‘Yves Montand’s Concerts.’ Izvestia 27 December 1956, 1. 48  Literaturnaja gazeta 18 December 1956, 1.

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The lobby of the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall was like a peculiar club during these evenings. It was possible to see there young schoolboys, students, workers and young men serving in the army, spending many hours in the hall. They discussed the programme of Montand’s concerts, they shared opinions of his old songs, which they already knew by heart, and read articles on him published in the latest newspapers. Here are some of the comments we heard at the lobby: Female student V. Rokotova: ‘I love Montand because he sings not only with his voice, but also with his heart.’ G. Vlasov, who is on a working trip from Kuzbas: ‘Heart, with heart, that’s for sure, but what makes Montand dear to me, is that he is not only a singer, but I feel as if he was my friend, he is so brave and unwavering. As if he was chasen … I would really like to shake his hand …’ Housewife L. Galysheva: ‘That’s how I also feel. Before Montand was [for me] a singer, and an actor, but now that I read his letter to Obraztsov, I understood that he is also a fighter.’ Pharmacist L.  Kopal’skaya: ‘Oh, but how will it be with the tickets?’49

The long queues and testimonies of the Soviet individuals from different social groups demonstrated Montand’s great popularity in the Soviet Union. When the conservative Parisian newspaper Paris-Presse Intransigeant wrote that Montand’s popularity in the Soviet Union was ‘commanded’, implying that his popularity had to be compelled by a totalitarian decree, the Literaturnaja gazeta responded by declaring that ‘the Paris-Press should note our remarks on the genuine popularity of Montand in Moscow. He is welcomed in Moscow with sincere enthusiasm, appreciation, and love for the famous son of France, great artist and great person.’50 The article in Literaturnaja gazeta is clearly a reaction against suggestions in the Western press that Montand was not genuinely popular in the Soviet Union. It is worth noting that the queues for Montand’s concerts were clearly a notable aspect of Montand’s tour for the Soviet people, as they appeared also in several versions of the manuscript for the documentary film Yves Montand Sings.51 The final decision, however, suggests that, ultimately, queues were a delicate and ambiguous issue and showing them could have implied more general shortages of consumer  ‘Turn 10 207.’ Literaturnaja gazeta 18 December 1956, 1.  Literaturnaja gazeta 18 December 1956, 1. 51  Film description of the film ‘Singer of Paris’, version I, dated 15 December 1956 and version II, dated 21 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 37, 45; an early version of the script of the ‘Yves Montand Sings’ documentary film by Mikhail Slutskii and Sergei Yutkevich, no date [February 1957]. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 26. 49 50

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goods or an inappropriate level of admiration of a foreign star (see further Chap. 7). It appears though that for the purpose of making the point to the foreign press, a newspaper could report queues in one article, although they were not otherwise mentioned in media. Although having foreign observers in mind, the main audience of the Soviet media was the Soviet public, which it tirelessly continued educating. Although only a small fraction of those who wished to attend Montand’s concerts could actually acquire tickets, the concerts were accessible to a vast Soviet audience through radio and television.52 The newspapers reported that ‘hundreds of thousands Soviet people watched his concerts on television’, and people also noted in their diaries that they had watched Montand’s concerts on TV.53 The extensive access to the concerts created a need for commentary on what they were about and how they should be understood. Very positive reviews of Montand’s first concerts were published in various newspapers (see further in Chap. 8), which also devoted space to explaining their approved meaning to the readers.54 A particularly careful and politically correct explanation was offered by Sergei Obraztsov in his article published in Pravda. He emphasised that Montand’s main message was to serve friendship and peace through an empathetic approach to ordinary people: ‘Do all the songs of Montand tell about these themes? Is the song about the girl who loves to swing also about friendship between nations or about the horrors of war? … [All the songs are about] the right to happiness for all people. Of all the ordinary, but good people, whoever he is, is a human being.’ According to Obraztsov, Montand’s belief in humanity was the main message of his art.55 Obraztsov referred to a letter he had received from a woman living in Leningrad, who had described the horrors of the Leningrad blockade 52  ‘Yves Montand’s Concert.’ Pravda 3 January 1957, 4; ‘Yves Montand’s Concerts in Moscow Have Finished.’ Izvestia 3 January 1957, 4; ‘Yves Montand visits Leningrad Youth.’ Smena 10 January 1957, 1; Interview with Iya Pavlenina (b. 1944) and Valentin Pavlenin (b. 1941). 53  ‘Yves Montand’s Departure from Moscow.’ Pravda 20 January 1957, 6; Nechkina, Militsa Vasilevna, historian and academic, born 1901—55 years, diary entry on 2 January 1957. https://prozhito.org/note/210831, accessed 10 March 2020. 54  ‘Montand’s First Concert.’ Pravda 20 December 1956, 4; ‘Montand’s First Concert.’ Izvestia 20 December 1956, 4; ‘Singer of simple people.’ Izvestia 21 December 1956, 3; Nik. Smirnov-Sokol’skii. 1956. ‘Sound of Heart’. Literaturnaja gazeta 22 December 1956, 3. 55  S. Obraztsov. 1956. ‘What Montand Sings About?’ Pravda 23 December 1956, 4.

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during the war and demanded an end for such suffering. Obraztsov concluded that Montand fights against war not with words, but by his songs, and that is why he found friends among the Soviet people.56 In this way Obraztsov connected Montand’s pleas for peace and humanity with Soviet wartime suffering, making it both understandable to Soviet readers and acceptable to the official narrative of the Soviet Union as a defender of peace. Thus the message Montand was sending was adapted to the Soviet situation and therefore not precisely the same as what was received. Domestication of the meaning of Montand’s songs elided his critical attitude to the latest events in Hungary, and reflects the way contextual frames and constrained viewpoints in the Soviet media limited the possibility for reaching a genuine understanding of what the French star wanted to emphasise with his tour. The rupture in mutual understanding was not generally visible to the Soviet readers, and the newspaper-mediated friendship between Montand and the Soviet public was further strengthened with human-interest materials. Newspapers published short pieces about a family who (allegedly) spent their New Year’s Eve with Montand, Montand’s hand-written New Year’s greetings to the Soviet readers, and an interview with Montand and Signoret.57 The couple also became ‘real friends with flesh and bones’ to the workers of the Likhachev car factory. The factory newspaper published several photographs of Montand and Signoret, drawings and a poem along with an article describing Montand’s concert at the factory.58 The newspaper showed how Montand, Signoret and the factory workers became friends through an exchange of a series of speeches and artistic performances. In thanks for a concert, the representative of the trade union committee G.P. Sofonov welcomed the guests, a welder from the bus assembly line Konstantin Shablov gave a warm welcoming speech, and an electrician from a foundry, Vladimir Korotkov, read his poem dedicated to the guests. The newspaper reported that Yves Montand and Simone Signoret were deeply moved by the poem, and the film actress thanked the confused poet by kissing him warmly. At the end of the meeting, Yves Montand wrote a note ‘To the workers and female workers of the  S. Obraztsov. 1956. ‘What Montand Sings About?’ Pravda 23 December 1956, 4.  ‘For the First Time in the Soviet Land.’ Pravda 31 December 1956, 6; (Montand’s handwritten greetings to Izvestia readers) Izvestia 1 January 1957, 4; ‘Two Meetings.’ Ogonek 1/1957 (January), 26. 58  ‘Singer of Paris Visiting Us.’ Moskovskii Avtozavodets 4 January 1957. 56 57

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Likhachev factory, a good and happy year!’59 Through a series of newspaper articles the Soviet readers were able to form the impression that Montand and Signoret were visiting ‘them’, and the friendship between the progressive Western artists and the Soviet people became materialised with numerous exchanges of gifts. After the several weeks of successfully touring in Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev, on 20 January 1957, Pravda announced Montand’s departure: Yesterday the representatives of Soviet culture and art accompanied to Warsaw the famous French singer Yves Montand, who had been visiting the Soviet Union. During the month that the French singer spent in the Soviet Union, he gave twenty-five concerts in Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev. All his concerts were sold out. In addition he performed his songs in numerous friendly meetings with Soviet artists, workers and officials of companies, students. Hundreds of thousands Soviet people watched his concerts on television. After his tour in Poland Montand will continue his tour in other people’s democracies.60

The Pravda article summarised the significance of Montand’s concert for the Soviet authorities, noting his fame in the West, his huge popularity among Soviet audiences and transnational friendship strengthened by cultural exchanges. The magazine Krokodil published a farewell drawing of Montand with a wish that on his return to Paris he would start singing about the boulevards of Moscow (Fig. 6.6).

Popular Reactions to the Tour Although the Soviet media succeeded in creating a coherent image of Montand’s Soviet tour, it could not fully control its public reception. Montand’s tour elicited a variety of reactions in the audiences. For the most part, Montand’s tour generated feverish enthusiasm among the people. The arrival of such celebrities as the admired French singer and his famous wife to the Soviet Union was something unheard of at that time, and many people experienced it as a sign of the changed times or a cultural shock caused by sudden access to another world. One interviewee connected the enthusiasm surrounding Montand’s concert to the relaxed and joyful atmosphere of the Thaw:  ‘Singer of Paris Visiting Us.’ Moskovskii Avtozavodets 4 January 1957.  ‘Yves Montand’s Departure from Moscow.’ Pravda 20 January 1957, 6.

59 60

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Fig. 6.6  ‘A friendly caricature by KUKRYNIKSY.’ ‘For Yves Montand; now that you have acquainted yourself more closely with Moscow, it is very likely that you will be inspired to sing in Paris about the Great Boulevards of Moscow.’ (Source: Krokodil No 2, 20 January 1957)

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There were masses of people near the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. It was a revelation! The times had changed so quickly! Just recently we had been following the leader. Moscow had changed in a magical way, Moscow sang, in the literary sense of the word. Everyone who could, sang, everyone who could, listened to [Montand’s music], those who had access to recordings, copied them and spread them further.61

Many people saw Montand and Signoret as an ideal couple, who ‘exploded the whole of Moscow with their appearance and manners. … When they arrived, it was like a mental revolution, as people suddenly saw a different reality in front of them. Their appearance was a cultural shock!’62 Although the Soviet media emphasised the familiarity of the Soviet public with French culture, for the Soviet audiences, Montand and Signoret were something very different from the Soviet cultural environment. Their appearance signified a possibility of another kind of life and way of thinking outside the Soviet Union. The opportunity to experience something foreign attracted many people and provoked a range of reactions. The streets around the concert venues in Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev were crowded with girls waiting for a glimpse of the stars. One respondent recalled how Montand’s and Signoret’s visit was reflected on Moscow streets: My mother worked at that time in the centre of Moscow, she was a young girl then. She drove by the Hotel Sovetskaya on a trolleybus and saw the huge number of girls who squeezed together because of the cold—it was December—they were like a flock of sparrows around the entrance of the hotel wishing to see Yves Montand and his wife.63

The recollections of present-day Russians reveal that girls and women in particular were ecstatic, and young men tried to copy his style. People rushed backstage or waited to see a glimpse of him near hotels.64 Outside 61  Interview with Zoya Alexandrovna Fedotova (b. 1926), 7 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Ilya Lukhovitskiy, peer-review of the transcript by Jana Parshina. 62  Interview with Olga Isaakovna Amosova (b. 1946), 19 and 22 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Darya Umanets, peer-review of the transcript by Anastasia Kurasheva. 63  Interview with Elena Dellanoy (b. 1966) 21 September 2019, Lille (France). Interview by Maria Korenko and Marina Zucconi, peer-review of the transcript by Ilya Lukhovitskiy. 64  Interview with Anna (b. 1999); Interview with Elena Dellanoy (b. 1966); Interview with Yakov (b. 1998), 10 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Alexander Bespalov and Sofia Kuznetsova, peer-review of transcription by Maksim Larichev; Interview with Tatiana

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the major cities young men organised Montand concerts, with lectures on French culture and playing recordings of Montand’s songs.65 People would name their newborn babies after the foreign stars,66 and youngsters established fan clubs distributing information about Montand’s songs and studying his biography. The members of the clubs were called Montandiards.67 Soviet composers dedicated songs to Montand, as, for example, Boris Mokrousov’s ‘When a distant friend sings’ performed by Mark Bernes.68 The Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts contains several photographs of Yves Montand and Simone Signoret posing with Muscovites at various occasions like concerts and meetings.69 Montand’s Soviet tour was a deeply memorable event in which people wanted to participate and commemorate. Montand’s appeal was to a wide range of people in Soviet society. One respondent remembered that his Communist Party activist grandmother could listen to Montand and go to his concert, because of his worker background and leftist views—‘the ideological people took him as “their own”,’ as he explained. Simultaneously the respondent’s father, who was at the time of the tour a teenage stilijaga, was interested in Montand’s songs as a new kind of Western music and style.70 The people’s desire to get close to Montand could be connected to the special aura surrounding everything Western in the Soviet Union, as well as the fact that Montand was publicly presented as a ‘good’ foreigner advancing the important policy of peaceful coexistence. Along with ordinary citizens, the political elite was also in a fever about the visit. When the rumour of the confirmation of Montand’s tour reached the highest echelons of the Soviet society, the Soviet Ministry of Culture, particularly the Vice-Minister of Culture Georgi Orvid, began to receive requests for concert tickets and visits from various organisations. For Chaykovskaya (b. 1941), 2 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Maria Korenko, peerreview of the transcript by Ivan Karnaukhov. 65  Gilburd, ‘The Revival of Soviet Internationalism in the Mid to Late 1950s’, 366. 66  Interview with Fedotova b. 1926; Krasnikova, ‘Kogda poet dalekii drug …’, 92. 67  Gordienko, Iv Montan, 203. 68  Interview with Iya Pavlenina (b. 1944) and Valentin Pavlenin (b. 1941); Krasnikova, ‘Kogda poet dalekii drug …’, 94. 69  See, for example, RGALI f 2732 op 2 e 522; f 3068 o 3 e 1889; 1890; 1893; 1894; 1896; 1901; 1905; 1908; f 2620 o 1 e 856; 1050; f 2932 o 3 e 1504; 1505; f 3002 o 1 e 630; f 3043 o 1 e 177; f 3058 o 1 e 508. 70   Interview with Oleg Arkadievich Dmitriev (b.1968), 3 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Alexandra Mikhaylidi, peer-review of the interview transcript by Maria Korenko.

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example, the Soviet Ministry for Foreign Affairs requested altogether 840 tickets to Montand’s concerts in the Soviet Union.71 The Central Studio for Documentary Film also requested twenty-five to thirty tickets to each concert ‘to ensure the normal working conditions of the film group’.72 Several Soviet organisations wanted to have a block of tickets for distribution to their key personnel and contacts. The distribution of most luxury items—like tickets to a special concert by a French superstar—was given priority for the members of the Party elite. Their closest contacts could also gain access to the desired items through the unofficial system of reciprocal favours called blat. Blat meant the exploitation of personal and informal networks to obtain goods or services in short supply, whether at cheaper rates or of better quality. In the Soviet system, a person could achieve a decent life without using money, and relying only on blat.73 In the blat system, rare concert tickets were a highly valued currency. Giving a ticket to Montand’s concert to someone made it easier to ask for big favours later, although the blat system did not require direct ‘payments’ for the favours. Access to rare goods, services and influence on decisions made a person a desirable contact and strengthened his contacts—and through that, his ability to solve problems and access goods. The tickets to Montand’s concerts were therefore not just ordinary concert tickets. They were tickets to power, social success and a better life. Accordingly, Montand’s concert audiences were predominantly either officials—like ministers, diplomats and officers—or their relatives, friends or acquaintances.74 One interviewee’s grandmother attended Montand’s concert, thanks to her Party activist background and high-level friends. In her youth during the war, she had worked with evacuees in Chelyabinsk region together with people who later reached high positions in the Party, such as the Minister for Foreign Trade Patolichev and vice-representative of the Council of Ministers Martynov. She therefore frequently travelled

71  A letter of Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Zorin of the I European division of the Soviet Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the Vice-Minister of Culture Orvid, dated 29 October 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 60. 72  A letter of the director of the Central Studio for Documentary Film V. Golovjan to ViceMinister of Culture Orvid, dated 11 December 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 59. 73  Alena V. Ledeneva. 1998. Russia’s Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking, and Informal Exchange. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 31–34. 74  Interview with Alexey Veshkin (b. 1961); Gordienko, Iv Montan, 198.

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to Moscow to attend events and concerts.75 Another interviewee’s grandmother’s friend had was able to attend Montand’s concert because her father was in a position of influence, and a third interviewee, who was a teenager during the tour, was able to attend an evening party organised for Montand and Signoret, thanks to her uncle who occupied a high position at the Ministry of Culture.76 In addition to the high demand for tickets among elites, the organisers of the tour also received numerous requests from various organisations to arrange meetings with Montand and Signoret. The All-Russian Theatre Association, for example, asked the Vice-Minister of Culture to include a visit to the Central House of Actors in Montand’s and Signoret’s tour programme, and the House of Arts of Stanislavski Makarev in Leningrad sought a meeting with Montand.77 Sergei Obraztsov also received a letter from the representative of veteran artists of Leningrad, where the author of the letter used all her means—including both flattery and threats of never forgiving Obraztsov if he denied her request—to include a visit to their house of culture in Montand’s programme.78 Success in organising a meeting with Montand and Signoret for a house of culture or a professional association was a sign of social importance of the group. Arranging a private meeting with the foreign stars also increased the blat status of the organisers, who could select whom to invite to the event. In such a situation, it was not surprising that it was extremely difficult to acquire tickets to the concerts for ordinary people with no high-level contacts. Several interviewees recalled that it was practically impossible to get tickets because they were in short supply and extremely expensive. ‘We did not have the verb “to buy”. We only could “arrange” tickets, and to

 Interview with Oleg Arkadievich Dmitriev (b.1968).  Interview with Anna (b. 1999); Interview with Tatiana Kinzhalova (b. ~early 1940s), 15 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Elizaveta Karpova and Maxim Larichev, peer-review of the transcript by Lidia Larkina. 77  A letter from A.A. Yablochkina, the chairperson of the board of the All-Russian Theater Association, to the Vice-Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union Georgi Orvid dated 18 December 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 57; a telegram sent to the Department of External Connections at the Ministry of Culture Slavnov from VTO Cherkasov and the representative of the House of Arts of Stanislavski Makarev in Leningrad, dated (6 December 1956). RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 58. 78  Letter of Elena Petrovna Agrintseva to Sergei Vladimirovich Obraztsov with attached letter to Yves Montand in French, dated in Leningrad 23 December 1956, RGALI f 2732 o 1 e 312, 1–2. 75 76

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arrange tickets was very difficult,’79 as one respondent explained. People would stand in queues for days, mobilising all their available relatives to wait in turns to obtain tickets, although the tickets arrived to the sales points only after the best places had been distributed to the VIPs. The queues were organised by assigning numbers to the people waiting. Those assigned the highest numbers did not have much chance of buying a ticket.80 In addition, the ticket prices were astronomical: twenty or forty roubles, equivalent to between a quarter and a half of a monthly salary. In the black market, the price could rise two or three times higher (see further in Chap. 8).81 One respondent recalled how her parents had told her how they had acquired concert tickets through a speculator, what are now called ‘scalpers’, because it was impossible to buy tickets in the normal way from ticket offices. Later, the parents used to share their heroic story of the successful acquisition of tickets in kitchen conversations with their friends.82 It is evident that many used the services of scalpers, and those who finally managed to get to the concert could congratulate themselves for being very successful in the art form of ticket acquisition requiring skills, wit and contacts. Those lucky ones who had managed to get tickets enjoyed their concerts with thousands of other Montand enthusiasts. One respondent’s grandmother had stood for several hours in a queue to get tickets to Montand’s biggest concert at Luzhniki. At the concert the crowd of people was bigger than she had ever seen. After the concert she had to again queue for an hour—this time to get in to the metro.83 Despite the general fervour around Montand, not everyone was enthusiastic about the star. Some respondents reported that although they could admire his art, they had other interests and ideals.84 Others opposed the concert broadcasts of Montand’s on radio and TV because they felt that  Interview with Natalia Isaakovna Muchinskaya (b. 1945).  Interview with Elena Dellanoy (b. 1966); Gordienko, Iv Montan, 197–198. 81  Interview with Elena Dellanoy (b. 1966); Interview with Alexey Veshkin (b. 1961); Krasnikova, ’Kogda poet dalekii drug …’, 92; Gordienko, Iv Montan, 198. 82  Interview with Elena (b. 1966) 10 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Alexander Bespalov and Sofia Kuznetsova, peer-review of the transcript by Elizaveta Karpova. 83  Interview correspondence with Karina (b. 1985), 10 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Alexander Bespalov and Sofia Kuznetsova. 84  Interview with Michael Lakshin (b. 1939), WhatsUp/Rostov-on-Don, 6 October 2019. Interview by Darya Artemova, peer-review of interview transcript by Sofia Kuznetsova. 79 80

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the fuss around Montand was already too intense.85 One interviewee recalled that she had arrived from Siberia to visit Moscow at the time of Montand’s tour. While on a bus tour through Moscow for Soviet tourists and visiting the State Department Store GUM, she saw Simone Signoret, Yves Montand and their companions walking in the direction of the Red Square. She had seen some of their films, and therefore, she recognised their faces. She recalled that ‘when I came to Moscow I did not know they were there. I just accidentally saw them … It was just this short episode. When I arrived back to Taiga, I did not tell anyone about this event. I was not interested.’86 The grandmother of one of the respondents was present at a meeting between Montand and Soviet authors at the Writers’ House in Moscow. The respondent’s grandmother recalled how Montand had raged at the audience. Although he spoke in French, the audience could understand him through the emotional gestures and the tone of his voice. It caused ambivalent feelings towards Montand in the respondent’s grandmother.87 Simone Signoret and interpreter Nadezhda Nechaeva also mentioned this incident in their memoirs.88 Montand had accepted the invitation with the stipulation that he would not perform, but simply mingle and chat with the other guests. On arrival, he saw a piano and a microphone, and in due course the call came from the crowd, ‘Yves Montand, one song!’ He began to sing ‘The Parisian Boy’, but after the first verse, he abruptly stopped and went to speak to Signoret. He returned to the microphone and cursed the guests vigorously for their opportunism and the crimes of Stalin, among other things, before storming out. While there appears to be no mention of this incident in the Soviet press, it became the talk of the Moscow intelligentsia.89 Thus, in spite of the unbroken harmony between Montand and the Soviet public in the media, there were clashes arising from different expectations between the visitors and the hosts during the tour.  Krasnikova, ’Kogda poet dalekii drug …’, 93.  Interview with Lydia Korenko (b. 1939), 16 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Maria Korenko, peer-review of the transcript by Polina Protasova. 87  Interview with Yakov (b. 1998). 88  Simone Signoret. 1978. Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be. New York: Harper and Row, 178; ‘I togda Iv Montan sprosil Khrushcheva: Zachem?’ Ogonek No 19, 19 May 2004, accessible through https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2293608; Gordienko, Iv Montan, 204. 89   Krasnikova, ’Kogda poet dalekii drug …’, 11; DTS TV Channel: RTR Planeta Programme: Historical Chronicles with Nikolay Svanidze, at 0:32:07. 85 86

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In addition to the conflicting expectations between the artist and the tour organisers, the Soviet audiences also received mixed messages within the Soviet system. The Soviet newspapers’ emphasis on Montand’s humble working-class origins and his affinity with ordinary people was in striking contrast to the elitism pervading the organisation of the tour. The high price of the tickets, special access for VIPs and concerts for selected segments of Soviet society displayed the inequality in the social hierarchy. Even the concert in a selected high-profile factory, where the workers enjoyed greater privileges than the employees of lower priority production plants, emphasised the inequality. Thus, the general Montand mania and the overtly positive treatment of Montand in the official media, together with the sense of inequality, elicited negative responses among the many members of the public. The unofficial records of private diaries, proverbs and samizdat poems show that the fuss around the visit and the discriminatory hierarchies resulted in both bitter and humorously ironic responses. In his diary in February 1957, the Leningrad-based novelist and literary critic Fyodor Abramov criticised the commercial character of Montand’s tour. The high prices of the tickets for the concerts caused dissatisfaction, and people spread rumours about the high fees Montand would receive from his tour of the Soviet Union: ‘In December there began a huge uproar around the arrival of Yves Montand. People celebrated and were very happy about it. And they say he is doing good business. I can imagine what kinds of money he is making.’90 Abramov also recorded a story demonstrating the lengths to which the Soviet leaders were willing to go in order to create, and even falsify, a positive image of life in the Soviet Union for the foreigners. In Leningrad they tell a story that sounds very much like the truth. A couple wished to name their newborn child after Yves Montand’s wife. They asked for permission. The Montands agreed to be the godparents and even brought their present when they arrive in Leningrad. The leaders started to run around immediately. They renovated the house where the lucky ones lived, they were given a new apartment. Everything was ready for the arrival. That’s how one should arrange his life.91

90  Fyodor Abramov’s diary, 1 February 1957. Accessed at the private archive of Abramov’s widow by Anatoly Pinsky. 91  Fyodor Abramov’s diary, 1 February 1957.

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Along with private diary entries, Montand’s visit also generated new proverbs and that came into public circulation. Students made fun of the high prices of tickets, all the cross-merchandising, and people’s willingness to purchase them nonetheless; the song ‘When a Distant Friend Sings’, performed by Mark Bernes, inspired parodies: ‘When Montand sings in Moscow, a student’s pocket empties’ became popular, together with ‘The costs for food drop when Montand sings in Moscow!’92 meaning that people would have less money for food when they had used all their money for concert tickets and other products. The humour provoked by Montand’s popularity in the Soviet Union could also assume dark colours. One story reports that the well-known Soviet Estrada singer and composer Vadim Kozin, who had been recently released from a Kolyma prison camp, had ambiguously remarked that ‘the one in love with the boulevards of Magadan, loves them more than [Montand] loves his [Parisian Boulevards]’.93 This ironic comparison between the imagined romantic image of a French singer and the reality of a Soviet singer sentenced to a prison camp in Siberia and their ‘affections’ for their cities and home countries, underscored the perceived differences between the Soviet Union and France. In this case, the songs did not create bridges of mutual understanding between nations, but emphasised the harsh disparities between living conditions. In addition to proverbs and sayings, the underground print media of samizdat, illegally circulating type- or hand-written copies of uncensored texts from hand-to-hand, produced commentary on Montand’s visit. The pseudonym Ioann Moskovsky—who allegedly was the Moscow-based dramaturge Vladimir Poliakov—wrote a lengthy poem titled Yves Montand and others, also known as Poem on Yves Montand. The poem draws a caricature of the famous members of the Soviet artistic intelligentsia, mentioning many of them by name, idolising Montand and doing everything in order to get close to him and Signoret. The behaviour of the people at Montand’s reception at the airport, at his concerts, at the scandalous reception at the Writers’ House and a private party, all brought ridicule upon the sycophantic attitude of the Soviet artistic elite. The poem describes how people repeated French words they did not 92  Interview with Iya Pavlenina (b. 1944) and Valentin Pavlenin (b. 1941); Krasnikova, ’Kogda poet dalekii drug …’, 94. 93  Relikva: https://relikva.com/@dmitrii-kozlov/r/poema_iv_montan_i_drugie, accessed 20 February 2017.

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understand: they would say ‘merci Tbilisi’ when they intend to say ‘merci Baku’ (sounds like ‘merci beaucoup’) when attempting to thank the guests. He mocked the newspapers full of Montand and his beautiful Frenchman smiles from all the publicity material, and the distribution of tickets to a soiree with Montand, which ranked artists according to their perceived importance: some were given two, some one and some none.94 Although it was not officially published, the poem did not remain locked in a drawer. While the witty and insulting description of the respected members of the artistic elite of the poem charmed some, it did not please everyone. It provoked at least one poetic response To Ioann Moskovsky from Gavrilo Leningradskii which criticised this harsh satire on the Soviet artistic elite.95 Copies of Moskovsky’s type-written poem were saved in private personal libraries, and today it circulates as electronic copies on the Internet.96 Astonishingly, one of the interviewees still remembered by heart extracts of the poem in 2019, over sixty years after its release!97 It was thus not a trivial and ephemeral samizdat poem, but a widely circulated and influential text that still carries the popular memory of Montand’s tour. Montand’s tour was in many ways created by the Soviet media and interpreted by the Soviet public in a variety of ways. After the tour, the Soviet newspapers continued to refer to Montand to the end of the 1950s. The main newspapers, Pravda and Izvestia, paid little attention to him after his departure, but his name continued to appear in the press, particularly in Iskusstvo kino, and other cultural or general magazines. His name appeared in the lists of new films, and his recordings were mentioned in articles about the Sixth International Youth Festival in Moscow or in short stories published in magazines.98 Montand had become a cultural figure 94   Poema pro Iva Montana, Literary portal ‘Mir poezii’, http://mirpoezylit.ru/ books/5852/1/, accessed 26 March 2020; Username ‘oldporuchik’ at Livejournal, https:// oldporuchik.livejournal.com/14963.html , accessed 26 March 2020, and Coollib, https:// coollib.com/b/365942-vladimir-solomonovich-polyakov-poema-pro-iva-montana/readp, accessed 26 March 2020. 95  Comments by Anonymous on 12 January 2017 at https://oldporuchik.livejournal. com/14963.html. 96  Poema pro Iva Montana; Username ‘oldporuchik’ at Livejournal; Coollib. 97  Group interview with Tatyana Chaykovskaya, Alexandr Zotov, Nadezhda Musina, Ekaterina Korenko and Galina Zotova, 23 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Maria Korenko. 98  ‘From all over.’ Iskusstvo kino 01/1957 (31 January 1957); ‘From all over.’ Iskusstvo kino 03/1957 (31 March 1957); ‘Hello our friends!’ Iskusstvo kino 7/1957 (31 July 1957);

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known to everyone in the Soviet Union. He was in a way part of Soviet culture and the experience of the Thaw for the Soviet people. One of the most enduring representations of Montand’s tour was the documentary film made based on the tour that once again brought Montand’s name into the pages of the Soviet print media, to which we shall now turn.99

‘Filmography.’ Iskusstvo kino 7/1957 (31 July 1957); ‘Filmography.’ Iskusstvo kino 11/1957 (30 November 1957); A. Kovalenkov. 1958. ‘Labzin.’ Ogonek 1 June 1958 (No 24), 28–29. 99  V.  Komissarzhevskii. 1957. ‘Montand Again!’ Iskusstvo kino 9/1957 (30 September 1957), 77–78.

CHAPTER 7

The Film Yves Montand Sings

Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union was a major media event. It was widely discussed by the press beforehand, both in France and the USSR, but it was also a cinematic event. When Montand and Signoret landed at the Vnukovo airport, film cameras were waiting outside the aircraft. The Moscow-based Central Studio for Documentary Film produced weekly newsreels for movie theatres, and on week fifty-one in 1956, the audience throughout the Soviet Union could witness how Montand, amazed by the enthusiastic reception, said how happy he was to be among the Soviet people.1 The newsreel covering Montand’s arrival also included a report that Hungary was recovering from the struggles of October and November 1956 and showed the reconstruction of destroyed homes and the reopening of public transport in Budapest. Obviously, Montand’s tour had great propaganda value for the USSR, to exemplify the strengthening cultural ties with the West. To highlight the visit, the documentary film Yves Montand Sings (Poet Iv Montan, 1957) was produced, clearly with great speed, by the Central Studio for Documentary Film, the same body that was responsible for the regular flow of newsreels. The obviously high production values of the film are 1  Daily News / A Chronicle of the Day 1956 No 51 (Novosti dnja / khronika nashikh dnei 1956 № 51), https://www.net-film.ru/film-10342/. See also Yves Montand, Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman. 1992. You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, translated by Jeremy Leggatt. London: Chatto & Windus, 269.

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not surprising, since the best production team was behind the camera. The director of the film was Mikhail Slutsky (1907–1959), who had already enjoyed a prolific career as a film maker. He had won the Stalin prize three times and was the Honoured Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. Slutsky wrote the script together with Sergei Yutkevich (1904–1985) who, in spring 1956, had just won the best director award for his Othello at the Cannes Film Festival. The camera operators were experienced professionals, Igor Bessarabov, Abram Krichevskiy and Reuben Halushakov. The decision to produce a documentary was probably made with great haste. This is suggested by the fact that when the production plan for the year 1956 was approved by the Soviet Ministry of Culture in December 1955, there was no mention of a possible Montand film.2 This also reinforces the likelihood that the plan for Montand’s visit to the USSR was not yet finalised at that point. The archival documents at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts (RGALI) show, however, that there was an increased interest in documentary production. The protocols of the meeting of the Chief Edition Committee of the Studio, dated 6 February 1956, emphasise the need to ‘portray the success of the Party’s five-year-plan’, the importance of peace, the blossoming of the kolkhozs, the electrification of the country, the adaptation of new technology in factories, as well as the success of the Soviet school system. The meeting also underlined how important it was to describe the growing political, economic and cultural ties with foreign countries.3 This obviously echoes the change in the political climate and, since this was articulated in the film production agenda, Yves Montand’s visit to the USSR was exactly what would meet this demand. Josephine Woll has pointed out that ‘cinema was slow to react to Stalin’s death, in part because movies require time.’4 When Montand entered the USSR, over three years had passed since Stalin’s death. It was a propitious time for a documentary on the French crooner and his fandom on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

2  Thematical production plan of the Central Studio for Documentary Film for year 1956, dated in December 1955. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 117, 102–104. 3   Protocol of the meeting of Chief Edition Committee of the Central Studio for Documentary Film, dated 6 February 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 117, 53–57. 4  Woll, Josephine. 2000. Real Images: Soviet Cinema and the Thaw. London: I.B.Tauris, 3.

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Preliminary Plans for the Documentary The RGALI Archives in Moscow hold a folder that includes several plans, scripts and other documents on the making of the documentary on Montand. They also shed light on the planning and development of the film and also on the thematic motifs of the production. The documents reveal that Slutsky and Yutkevich were involved from the outset. The earliest type-written sketch, entitled ‘a suggestion’, written and signed by Slutsky and Yutkevich, is undated, but it may have already been written in late summer 1956, although considering the pace of the production later, it is probably of later origin. The document includes a confirmation by the studio, but that notice is dated quite late, on 7 December.5 The second document on the production, an early version of the plan, has also no date, but it must have been written before November 1956, since it includes the idea of showing the ceremonies of the October Revolution. This proved to be impossible since the tour was delayed. It seems that after this early plan, there was a break, perhaps since there was a threat that the whole tour would be cancelled following and in the midst of the turbulent political events of the time. There are four more plans and scripts in the same folder, which show that the actual work took clearer shape in December, after Montand’s arrival. Two descriptions or summaries are under the preliminary title Singer of Paris (Pevets Parizha). The name Yves Montand Sings appears in February 1957. All six existing documents can be listed as follows: 1. A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. 2. An early version of the plan of the film Yves Montand Sings, no date [before November 1956]. 3. The description of the film Singer of Paris, version I, dated on 15 December 1956. 4. The description of the film Singer of Paris, version II, dated on 21 December 1956. 5. An early version of the script of the Yves Montand Sings documentary by Mikhail Slutsky and Sergei Yutkevich, no date [February 1957]. 6. Script of the Yves Montand Sings, documentary by Mikhail Slutsky and Sergei Yutkevich, dated on 1 March 1957. 5

 A hand-written note, dated on 7 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560.

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These archival sources shed light on the ideas and motivations behind the whole production. In the undated ‘early version of the plan’ there is a proposal to show ‘Yves Montand and Simone Signoret walking on the Red Square together with their Soviet friends, who have invited them to see the parade honouring the 39th year of the Great Socialist October Revolution.’6 The passage is revealing of the way Slutsky and Yutkevich have stressed the patriotic and propagandistic values of the documentary. They imagine the forthcoming film: The parade of soldiers passing by. Montand watches the faces of the soldiers. Soldiers and officers who have been fighting in the Patriotic War and who have liberated many European states and who also fought for the freedom of France, walk by. In front of Yves Montand and Simone Signoret stands a small boy with a red flag. Yves Montand raises him to his shoulders. The boy gives his flag to Simone Signoret. The demonstration has begun. People carry placards [bearing the words] “We salute the 39th anniversary of the Great Socialist October Revolution”.7

The idea of a scene depicting Montand and Signoret in front of the parade does not appear in other documents or scripts for the film. After Montand had to postpone the visit, it became obvious to the film makers and the organisers that the thirty-ninth anniversary of the October Revolution would be over by the time of the visit. Finally, Montand and Signoret could not come until 17 December. Already in November it was clear that this kind of a scene would be impossible to realise. This anticipated scene was aimed at underlining Slutsky and Yutkevich’s intentions. They clearly wanted to convince the Central Studio for Documentary Film that Montand’s visit would make a powerful documentary. In other documents, further arguments are set out. In an undated ‘suggestion’, they presented several points for the studio. They begin: ‘In connection with the arrival of the famous French singer and actor Yves Montand to the Soviet Union, we suggest using his arrival for making a film, dedicated to the theme of friendship of French and Soviet nations,

6  An early version of the plan of the film Yves Montand Sings, no date [before November 1956]. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 62. 7  An early version of the plan of the film Yves Montand Sings, no date [before November 1956]. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 62.

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and their cultural connections.’8 The most important argument was that the visit would be shown as an example of friendly relations. Montand’s visit would offer a unique opportunity for political appropriation. They continued by stressing that ‘it should not be a story advertising one actor, but his arrival has to be shown in the film as one episode of cultural contacts between the two countries that already have a history.’ Obviously, Slutsky and Yutkevich wanted to avoid the impression that the interest in Montand was driven purely by admiration for his stardom, or that the film could later be interpreted as promoting the capitalist interests of the film and record industry of the West. Nor was it good politics to seek only to increase Montand’s fame in the USSR, which was already at a peak. Moreover, Slutsky and Yutkevich give a hint at a feature that was later included in the film. They write that the cultural contacts between France and the Soviet Union have a long history which should, then, also be expressed in the documentary so as to avoid the impression that Montand’s visit was something extraordinarily exceptional. The film makers refer also to current political interests in the context of the Cold War: ‘It seems to us, that it is particularly important now, when certain reactionary circles abroad use their forces to break this friendship and these connections, and it seems to us that making such a film will be a good response to the slanderers and false rumour-mongers. The film needs to show facts, like the arrival of two French theatre companies to the Soviet Union.’9 Slutsky and Yutkevich continue by listing examples of the cultural exchange between the countries, which includes not only the visit of the Comédie-Française, but also the success of Russian theatre and literature in France.10 Slutsky and Yutkevich also list other elements of the supposed film: an encounter with the singer Mark Bernes, the visit of Montand to both factories and art venues such as Obraztsov’s marionette theatre. It was important to show Montand’s meetings with the common people, and to demonstrate that his visit did not engage only at the level of elites. Slutsky and Yutkevich end with a reference to a peace message:

8  A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 71. 9  A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 71. 10  A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 72.

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Overall, the film needs to be a strong confirmation of the desire of the Soviet people for peaceful coexistence in all spheres of social and cultural life, its interest in keeping and strengthening cultural connections that cannot be destroyed by all those people who wanted to return the World to the conditions of the “cold war”, and prevent the French and Soviet people from coming closer to each other in their joint fight for peace and democracy.’11

Slutsky and Yutkevich’s ‘suggestion’ clearly visualises the proposed film project as an important act of cultural diplomacy between France and the Soviet Union. It also presents the film as something that is more directed to an international than a domestic audience, probably with the aim of giving a favourable view of the USSR in France if the film could later be exported there. The suggestions end with the request by the film makers to get footage from France. Of course, original footage would be taken in the Soviet Union, on the streets of Leningrad and Moscow and in the concert venues, but it was important to include French footage, probably to stress the bilateral relations in the visual appearance of the film. It is ‘necessary to confirm the order from France, sent already a month ago, for the footage illustrating the facts of cultural rapprochement of our countries’.12 The studio agreed with this request, as confirmed by the letter, dated 7 December 1956.13 Slutsky and Yutkevich’s ‘suggestion’ reveals that the film makers did not yet have an exact idea how long the final film would be. They asked for more film stock than usual, probably with the idea that they could shoot lengthy footage of Montand’s and Signoret’s visit and later edit for the final cut. Since the letter by the studio was written on 7 December, only ten days before Montand’s arrival, it is obvious that everything had to be arranged quickly. Certainly, as we have seen, there had also been uncertainty regarding Montand’s visit, caused by the shooting of Les Sorcières de Salem and the Hungarian uprising. Perhaps preparations were, therefore, left to the last minute. On the other hand, the studio knew that Slutsky and Yutkevich were already prolific and experienced film makers who could be trusted to work swiftly.

11  A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 75. 12  A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 76. 13  A hand-written note, dated on 7 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 77.

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Experience Behind the Camera Mikhail Slutsky belonged to the generation of film makers who had been born before the October Revolution and received their education during the early years of the Soviet Union. As is well known, the leaders of the new state saw film as an ideal propaganda tool because of its widespread popularity. Vladimir Lenin regarded film as the most important medium for educating the masses, an idea that was later supported by Joseph Stalin. Newsreels and documentaries became a major form of Soviet cinema from the very beginning.14 One of the earliest pioneers was Dziga Vertov who is known for his newsreel series Kino-Pravda in 1922–1925, including twenty-three episodes or cinematic ‘dailies’. For Vertov, the series became a combination of socialist realism and audiovisual experimentation. It was not long before the avant garde of the 1920s attracted criticism, and figures like Boris Shumiatsky (1886–1938), the director of Soyuzkino, emphasised the use of clear narration that was accessible for wider audiences. This critique paved way for socialist realism as the dominant style in film making. The change happened simultaneously with the breakthrough of sound cinema in the USSR. Mikhail Slutsky started his career as a film maker at exactly the moment of this stylistic change. He graduated in 1932, but two years earlier, in 1930, he had already collaborated with another young film maker, Roman Karmen, in a short-film Factory Kitchen (Fabrika-kukhnia), commenting on the contemporary idea of emancipating women through centralised food preparation.15 Slutsky and Karmen were both Ukrainians by background, Slutsky from Kiev, Karmen from Odessa. Roman Karmen later became a prolific documenter of war, portraying, for example, the Spanish Civil War, the battles for Moscow and Leningrad in World War II, and the First Indochina War. He also became famous for restaging events to be able to achieve the effects he wanted. Slutsky became a pioneer of early sound documentary. One of his first films was In the Name of Lenin (Imeni Lenina, 1932) which was produced to celebrate the opening of the Dnieper hydroelectric plant. In his book Forward, Soviet! History and Non-Fiction Film in the USSR (1999), 14  On newsreels and documentaries of the 1920s and 1930s, see Valerya Selunskaya and Maria Zezina. 1993. ‘Documentary Film—a Soviet source for Soviet historians.’ Stalinism and Soviet Cinema, edited by Richard Taylor and Derek Spring. London: Routledge, 172. 15   Roberts, Graham. 1999. Forward Soviet!: History and Non-Fiction Film in the USSR. London: I.B. Tauris, 118.

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Graham Roberts has noted that ‘Slutsky shows lots of “folklore” activity, rather than concentrating on the “official” formal activities.’16 To draw on Valerya Selunskaya and Maria Zezina’s interpretation of the film, the goals of socialist realism can be identified in the way Slutsky concentrates more on the ‘joyful moment of starting up the power station and all the difficulties of construction are left outside the picture.’17 It can be argued that these two aspects actually converge in the sense that ethnographic footage is deployed in constructing the joyful emotions and the fact that technology in the end serves the interest of the people. As well known as he was in his time, Mikhail Slutsky is today perhaps not included in the canon of Soviet film makers. His filmography on the Internet Movie Database is very incomplete and does not even include his film on Yves Montand. He was, however, a professional who worked as a cameraman from the 1930s to the 1950s and also directed around a dozen films. Slutsky worked as a documentarist of World War II, together with many of his colleagues, and directed the film A Day of War (1942).18 In the 1950s, he also made a fiction film During a Beautiful Day (V odin prekrasnyi den, 1955) set in the Ukraine. After the Yves Montand film and before his untimely death in 1959, he made only one film, a long documentary on the youth festival in Moscow 1957. Stylistically, the film Yves Montand Sings seems to build on the tradition of Soviet documentary film making. It also includes many features typical of Mikhail Slutsky himself. It draws on earlier footage, on previous documentaries and newsreels, on fiction feature film clips, including many works by Montand and Signoret, and presents some strong ethnographic elements. It is important to add that Slutsky also draws on his experience in sound cinema. This is by no means self-evident since in many other countries newsreels were made with a silent camera, without any optical soundtrack recorded on the spot. It appears that sound sequences played a significant role in Soviet newsreel production in general. For example, after Montand’s arrival at the airport, the audience actually hears his words. These shots, which were actually directed by Ilya Kopalin (1900–1976), were included in the Slutsky film. In the case of a singer like Montand, sound technology  Roberts, Forward Soviet!, 107.  Selunskaya and Zezina, ‘Documentary Film—a Soviet source for Soviet historians’, 181. 18  Richard M. Barsam. 1992. Nonfiction Film: A Critical History, revised and expanded. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 208. 16 17

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was particularly important since the audience really wanted to hear the music. In that sense, cinema still served as a means to reach a wider audience, and also present Montand’s performances to those people who could not afford, or were not able to attend, the actual concerts.

Arrival at Moscow The film Yves Montand Sings is structured chronologically so that it follows the itinerary of Montand and Signoret. During the title sequence, the film opens with music, with Montand’s key song, ‘Les grand boulevards’. First the audience sees Montand singing, within a frame, and after the title of the film the screen reveals Montand’s ensemble on stage, without the singer himself. After the title sequence, the narrator takes over and introduces Montand and Signoret who are shown in their supposed Paris apartment, reading postcards received from the Soviet Union.19 This shot must be a staged reconstruction, filmed after their arrival to the USSR. The feeling of authenticity is underlined by cutting directly into documentary footage from Paris as if the opening had already been made before their departure. This footage was evidently part of the order Slutsky and Yutkevich had urged the studio to make from France. From these images the film gradually moves to a more general level, describing the close cultural ties between the French and Soviet people, exactly in the spirit that Slutsky and Yutkevich had promised to follow in their original suggestion for the studio. All this happened rather quickly, in ninety seconds, after which the film cuts into a sequence from René Clair’s early sound film Under the Roofs of Paris (Sous les toits de Paris) of 1930. The insert is illuminating as such: compared to the beginning, it is quite long at forty seconds and portrays the title song of Clair’s film, sung in the street from notes that are being sold to ordinary Parisians as a penny print. The voice-­ over narrator says: ‘French people love freedom, and it is reflected in many French songs. These songs are sung on the streets, as in the film of René Clair. Good songs help people from different countries to understand each other and bring people closer to each other.’20 The Parisian chanson seems 19  The copy of the film can be viewed at the Russian Archive for Documentary Films and Newsreels that holds an open digital collection of footage at http://net-film.ru. The direct link to Yves Montand Sings is https://d1.net-film.ru/web-tc-mp4/fs25423.mp4, accessed 5 May 2020. 20  The film passage at 02:32. Yves Montand Sings is https://d1.net-film.ru/web-tc-mp4/ fs25423.mp4, accessed 5 May 2020.

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to spring from street level, not as an industrial product but as popular culture that represents the people. After this chain of associations, Slutsky and Yutkevich move back to Montand, show his supposed car in Paris and finally, accompanied by Signoret, he sits in the airplane, heading to the Soviet Union. In its lively pace, the scene is reminiscent of a fiction film. Montand seems excited that they are finally approaching Moscow. He gesticulates to his band members sitting behind and seems to ask Signoret if he needs a shave. In the film, the narrator describes events: ‘17 December 1956 Yves Montand and Simone Signoret were already on their way to Moscow, despite the enemies wishing for the continuation of the Cold War—Don’t worry Montand, even unshaven, you are a welcome guest in Moscow.’21 The existing sources do not indicate how and when the airplane interior shot was taken. Since the flight from Paris to Moscow flew via Vilnius, it is possible that the camera group already joined the passengers there to be able to follow the last part of the journey. The scene could also well have been shot after the landing, or at the time of the departure, just before the take-off. On the basis of the film itself, it seems obvious, however, that at least journalists and photographers were accompanying Montand during the flight. In the shot that shows Montand and Signoret walking down the staircase of the airplane, photographers follow them and concentrate on taking pictures of the enthusiastic audience waiting in front of the airplane. The arrival scene is central to Slutsky and Yutkevich’s documentary and its message. At the airport Montand gave a speech for the camera, and this speech was later used also in newsreels. He is surrounded by people and speaks slowly in French, with careful emphasis on each of his words: ‘I am deeply moved. I am not a politician; I am only an artist. I have come here at a time when cultural exchanges are more important than ever, because they serve the cause of peace among peoples.’22 Montand had already stressed his participation in the peace movement in his letter to Sergey Obraztsov, and this letter was published by newspapers both in France and in the Soviet Union.23 In France, it was printed for example by 21  The film passage at 03:16. Yves Montand Sings is https://d1.net-film.ru/web-tc-mp4/ fs25423.mp4, accessed 5 May 2020. 22  Daily News / A Chronicle of the Day 1956 No 51 (Novosti dnia / khronika nashikh dnei 1956 № 51), https://www.net-film.ru/film-10342/. See also Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 269. 23  The letter has been reprinted in Montand, Hamon, Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 267–268.

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France-­Soir, L’Humanité and Libération on 5 December 1956.24 It is obvious that, through the media, Montand wanted to de-politicise his tour that had been politicised by the press. The letter to Obraztsov was not enough, and therefore he had to consider his first words in the USSR extremely carefully. As already discussed in previous chapters, his tour had aroused much concern and public debate in France before his departure, and he knew that every word he said could later be used in French publicity against him. Undoubtedly, he also recognised the fact that his words would circulate in the USSR, they would be printed and reprinted by the newspapers and recorded on sound film for newsreels. In Montand’s memoirs, Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman quote Montand’s words at the airport and refer to the Soviet paper Sovietskaia Rossiya which had echoed Montand’s lines.25 Signoret also described the situation at the airport in her memoirs, the crowds that had come to greet Montand amid the massive interest of the media. She writes: Three hundred journalists were waiting on the airfield, Russians and all the correspondents of the foreign press, newsreel, TV and radio. Obraztsov made a welcoming speech in which he mentioned Montand’s letter. Montand replied, repeating the terms of his letter, and emphasizing the questions he was interested in having answered, which he would not hesitate to ask during his stay. Obraztsov replied that they would be replied to. … It was our introduction to official speeches in this language we didn’t understand and which is the only one in the world that can transform flat clichés into little love songs. But that night, in the light of the projectors, we could see the tears in Obraztsov’s white-blue eyes, and what he said was no cliché.26

An interesting question is, of course, how much these words were planned by Montand himself and to what extent he consulted his friends in France—and possibly his hosts in the Soviet Union. Both Montand and Signoret stress that Obraztsov was the first one to speak at the airport. Obraztsov also mentioned Montand’s letter to him, which was already 24  Letter to Obtaztsov 5 December 1956. Reprinted in Joëlle Monserrat. 1983. Yves Montand. Paris: Éditions Pac, 119. See also Montand, Hamon, Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 267–268. 25  Montand, Hamon, Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 269. Hamon and Rotman refer to Sovietskaia Russiya 18 December 1956. 26  Simone Signoret. 1978. Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be. New  York: Harper & Row, 155.

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known through the media. It is evident that Montand knew what to expect and had planned his own words so that they would respond to Obraztsov. This gave him the opportunity to repeat his peace message. The archival documents in RGALI enable us to judge how much Slutsky and Yutkevich knew what to expect at the Vnukovo Airport. The script of Yves Montand Sings, including a voice-over narration, is type-­ written and dated 1 March 1957, after Montand’s departure. The manuscript also includes hand-written corrections. On the basis of the script it seems apparent that Montand’s short speech at the airport was initially not planned to be part of the documentary film, and it was not scripted beforehand. Montand had just unexpectedly spoken his words, and they were recorded. The script includes a hand-written remark, written in the margin: ‘These words by Montand about peace and friendship are close and understandable also to the Soviet people, who are sincerely aiming at exchange of cultural values between the nations of all the countries.’27 This is very close to the voice-over narration of the final film, as follows: ‘These words of Montand of peace and friendship are well understood and remembered by the Soviet people, who genuinely appreciate the culture of foreign countries.’28 As the archival documents show, for Slutsky and Yutkevich, Montand’s words came as a surprise, but they immediately understood that these lines had particular value for the documentary and its message. They wanted to highlight this also for the studio, as indicated by the hand-written note in the margin. On the other hand, they were prepared to capture sound right from the start, which is not always the case since documentaries and newsreel footage could be made with a silent camera, without an intention to record sound on site. Montand’s words were preceded by Obraztsov’s speech which might have been recorded too, but his appearance was not used in the final film. As a result, Montand’s utterances do not appear as a response to Obraztsov, but as a statement in its own right. Perhaps this was regarded as politically more effective, suggesting that Montand’s words were a spontaneous initiative rather than a response. A further point is that Montand is clearly the star of the show, right from the start, and Slutsky and Yutkevich did not want to highlight Obraztsov too much. 27  Script of the Yves Montand Sings documentary film by Mikhail Slutsky and Sergei Yutkevich, dated 1 March 1957. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 4. 28  The film passage at 03:41. Yves Montand Sings is https://d1.net-film.ru/web-tc-mp4/ fs25423.mp4, accessed 5 May 2020.

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Signoret too remains on the sidelines and is presented only as Montand’s partner. This was noted by Signoret herself, and she later wrote in her memoirs that Russians knew her only through Henri Calef’s film from 1951: ‘As for me, the only thing they had seen me in was Ombres et lumières, racked by my traumas caused by Tchaikovsky concertos. Mostly I was known as Montand’s wife.’29 After the arrival scene, and after Montand’s opening words, the film moves to a prologue that positions Montand’s visit within the context of a longer history of French–Soviet relations. Following the documentary tradition, the film employs voice-over narration that guides the viewers’ attention. In the prologue, the narrator even refers to the Cold War and to the enemies that tried to ruin the planned visit. The film continues by emphasising that there was already a tradition of intellectual connections between the countries going back to the 1920s, and also the tradition of arranging visits to the USSR. For a long time, these connections had been organised through VOKS, referred to above (an acronym for the Russian ‘Vsesoiuznoe obshchestvo kul’turnoi sviazi s zagranitsei’), the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, founded in 1925. VOKS dissolved in 1958 and was replaced by a new friendship organisation (SSOD). For example, between 1951 and 1953, the French delegations included, among others, three authors, two representatives of the film world, nineteen educators and fifteen medical doctors.30 The film Yves Montand Sings tells another kind of story, since its prologue refers first to previous examples of cultural exchange, such as the visit of Comédie-­ Française in Moscow. The film also shows a clip of French actors playing Molière for a Russian audience.

The Film Copy and Its Structure Before analysing Yves Montand Sings and especially its structure further, it is essential to discuss the available copy of the film. This chapter is based on the digital copy that has been released online at net-film.ru, a website that has released vast collections of Russian documentary footage.31 The  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 155.  Sophie Coeuré and Rachel Mazuy. 2012. Cousu de fil rouge: Voyages des intellectuels francais en Union soviétique. Paris: CNRS Éditions, 173, 336, 340. 31   Yves Montand Sings, https://www.net-film.ru/en/film-4886/, accessed 30 March 2020. 29 30

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website offers the film as an MP4 file, which is 1:12:50, that is almost seventy-three minutes long. The copy includes a running time code that has been added to the video. According to the documents at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts, especially one dated on 27 March 1957, at the time of its completion, the film was measured at 2086 metres long. It was released in eight reels, and it was characterised as a ‘full-length, chronicle-­documentary black-and-white film’ (Pol’nometrazhnaia, khronikal’no-dokumental’naia cherno-belaia kinokartinka).32 Also, net-film.ru offers a listing of the content of the film, which is presented according to the eight reels of the film. Usually, in 35 mm films, the length of one reel is twenty minutes, but in this case there have been shorter, ten-minute reels. In the RGALI documents, the length of Yves Montand Sings was presented in metres, which was typical of production companies. In a movie theatre, the frame rate would be twenty-four frames per second, which means that the duration of a 2086-metre film would be seventy-six minutes. In the net-film.ru video, however, the frame rate is twenty-five, which is characteristic of video formats. With this frame rate, the duration is exactly seventy-three minutes.33 This means that in the video file, the narrative is slightly faster compared to the film screening, but the essential point is that the available video copy is completely consistent with the information provided by the archival sources. This supports the conclusion that the video copy is a faithful reproduction of the film that was completed and seen in 1957. On this basis it seems that the available copy is a reliable source for this analysis and presents the film Yves Montand Sings today in a form that corresponds with the work that was edited by Slutsky and Yutkevich in 1957. The second version of the script at the RGALI archives is dated 21 December 1956, which means that it had been finalised only four days after Montand’s arrival. The shooting was obviously proceeding already, but they were only at the beginning. This draft shows that the film makers had a similar structure in mind to that which was finally realised. The film would start with Montand’s arrival and end with his departure. The material in between would consist of Montand’s meetings with the Soviet 32  The folder RGALI f 2329 o 12 e 2653 (Akty ob okonchanii proizvodstva khronikal’nodokumental’nykh fil’mov, 2 February–8 August 1957) contains information on all completed documentary films in February-August 1957. “Poet Iv Montan”, 47–48. 33   See, Film Rate Calculator, https://www.digitalrebellion.com/webapps/filmcalc, accessed 30 March 2020.

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people in concert halls as well as in factories and other locations. Moscow would be the central location for the film but it would also show other places in the USSR. At the heart of the film, there would be Montand’s singing. The script says: ‘The total length of the film will be 1200–1300 metres. This will contain Montand’s songs, which we aim to shoot in detail. For each song we will add film material that reveals the idea and contents of the song. For example, when Montand sings a ballad about Paris, we will show on the screen life in Paris, life of her people.’34 This idea of mixing concert scenes with archival footage was realised in the final film, but it seems that, on 21 December, Slutsky and Yutkevich did not yet have a clear idea of the total duration. The shooting had already started, and they still anticipated the film to be forty-two to forty-six minutes long (this equates to 1200–1300 metres). It may be, of course, that Montand’s performances were just so captivating that the film makers could not resist the temptation to include more material than they originally had imagined. The fact that the final film was much longer than they thought on 21 December supports the idea that they had the strong backing of the studio for the project. Montand’s visit was regarded as such an important event that the film was able to exceed the length that had originally been planned (Fig. 7.1). The final film became an exposition of Montand’s itinerary in the USSR.  After the prologue, it falls into three geographical sections: Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev, with a strong emphasis on Moscow, which is presented as the centre of the country. The film can be divided into the following sections, the lengths of which give an idea of the structure and Fig. 7.1  Opening credits of the Montand documentary. (Source: Yves Montand Sings 1957)

34  The description of the film Singer of Paris, version II, dated on December 21, 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 42.

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balance. In the following description, Montand’s songs have also been listed, to illustrate the category of the documentary as a music film. The music itself will be discussed more in detail in the next chapter. Prologue (1:00–5:56, c. 5 minutes) Opening titles (‘Les grands boulevards’, 1:00–1:50). Images of Paris, sounds of Carmagnole, scene from René Clair’s Sous les tois de Paris, (1930), Montand’s arrival in Moscow, previous French visits to the USSR. Moscow (5:56–48:28, c. 43 minutes) Montand’s first rehearsal. Montand’s childhood in a poor district in Marseilles. Preparations at the Luzhniki Hall. ‘Les Feuilles mortes’ as background music (7:14–7:34). Refence to Signoret’s career: a clip from Henri Calef’s film Ombre et lumière (1951), in which Signoret played the role of a pianist. French Film Week in Moscow. Archival footage on Gérard Philipe and René Clair in the USSR and on Russian film makers, including for example Sergei Bondarchuk, in France. Montand’s concert at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. Several songs follow: ‘Les Grands boulevards’ (9:32–12:15), ‘Quand un soldat’ (12:25–13:58), ‘Les Saltimbanques’ (14:26–16:38). Montand visits Kremlin, the Hall of St. George and the Hall of the Higher Soviet. The audience coming into the Hall of Sports. More songs follow: ‘Les Feuilles mortes’ (19:04–21:15) and ‘Il fait des…’ (‘Le Fanatique du jazz’, 21:30–25:00). Montand performs at the Moscow State University: ‘La Marie-vison’ (25:48–27:54). Visit to the Culture House: Volodya Moskalov and boy choir performed ‘Ami lointain’, Montand sings ‘Un Gamin de Paris’ (31:48–33:44). Concert at the bus factory: ‘Les Routiers’ (35:26–37:54, images of Wages of Fear shown). Montand visits the USSR/France air force memorial (footage from World War II). Central House of Artistic Workers: Mark Bernes sings on friendship, Sergei Obraztsov’s puppet theatre, Montand returns on stage: ‘À Paris’ (41:41–44:13, footage from Paris). Sequence on French/USSR relations in theatre, ballet and opera (Galina Ulanova as Giselle, Soviet circus artists in Paris, Igor Moiseev’s dance ensemble). Troika ride near Moscow.

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Leningrad (48:28–1:02:41, c. 14 minutes) Travelling to Leningrad by train. Arrival. Montand and Signoret stroll in the centre of Leningrad and on the banks of the Neva. The Palace of Pioneers. Montand performs at the Elekrosila factory: ‘Car je t’aime’ (52:33–54:28). Visit to the Hermitage. Exhibition of French books in Moscow. The Culture House of Industrial Cooperative: ‘Les Cireurs de souliers de Broadway’ (56:55–1:00:05) and ‘C’est si bon’ (1:00:11–1:02:36). Kiev (1:02:36–1:13:50, c. 11 minutes) Arrival at Kiev. Montand and Signoret visit the kolkhoz at the village of Kazarovichi and meet the peasant Vasily Petrovich. The Opera and Ballet of Kiev. Policeman whistles ‘Les Grands boulevards’. Montand’s concert in the evening: ‘Une Demoiselle sur une balançoire’ (1:07:03–1:10:18) and ‘C’est à l’aube’ (1:10:36–1:13:23). The film ends with the voice-over narration: ‘The songs of Montand are full of belief in a better tomorrow, and in the artistic power of the common people of France. Therefore, the Soviet people love him so much.’ As these sequences and their duration show, 68 per cent of the film emphasised Montand and Signoret’s time in Moscow. Only 19 per cent of the total length is situated in Leningrad. The Ukranian section is very brief, but the director Mikhail Slutsky has given particular emphasis to it by adding ethnographic colouring to it. Slutsky had Ukrainian roots, which is clearly reflected in the film. In the first outline, written by Slutsky and Yutkevich, it seems already settled that Montand would visit Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev. The text especially emphasises the need to give exposure to the Ukrainian folk music tradition: ‘The singer’s visit in Kiev also needs to be used for introducing him to the rich national music tradition of Ukraine.’35 On the basis of the existing source material, it seems obvious that the film makers did not have much freedom to suggest where Montand should go or where his activities could be filmed: their task was to follow him. They were able, however, to give him some direction, in the manner of a fiction feature film: the scene where Montand and Signoret read fan mail 35  A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 74.

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from the USSR, was obviously shot in the Soviet Union, and also the scene in the airplane was staged for the camera. The temporal proportions of the film reflect closely the way the actual visit was divided. Montand and Signoret stayed most of their time in Moscow. The content of the film can be compared to how the visitors themselves described their stay in the USSR in their memoirs. These literary descriptions, too, stress Moscow as the centre of everything. Furthermore, it is interesting to note how much the documentary foregrounds Montand’s music. If the total length is seventy-three minutes, there are thirty-six minutes of music, almost half of the film, which is quite considerable compared to other music films of the time. Originally Slutsky and Yutkevich estimated that the film would be much shorter than the final result: perhaps this developed during the process of making the film, as they realised that more space should be given to Montand’s musical performances.

Silences and Absences The archival documents and the actual film underline Yves Montand Sings as an instrument of cultural diplomacy. Slutsky and Yutkevich highlighted the friendly relations between France and the Soviet Union, and this was emphasised throughout the film, not only in the beginning but also in the middle (references to the Russian circus in Paris) and in the end (the final words of the narrator). Yves Montand was presented as an apolitical ambassador of peace and as an embodiment of the longue durée history of Franco-Russian comradeship. In relation to this very strong motif, we can examine the contents of the film in the light of what kinds of absences there are in the final cut in comparison to the existing archival sources on the film-making process. Which themes or ideas from original drafts and scripts were deleted or could not be realised? Furthermore, it is possible to compare the content of the film to the ways in which Montand and Signoret themselves portrayed their visit in their memoirs. An obvious ‘silence’ in Yves Montand Sings, which perhaps also reflects its political strategy, is the fact that it isolates Montand’s tour in the Soviet Union from his wider itinerary in the Eastern bloc. The film gives an impression that Montand toured exclusively in the USSR and makes no reference to the bigger picture. If the audience did not know that the visit to Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev was the launch for a larger tour that

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would continue to Warsaw, East Berlin, Prague, Bratislava, Bucharest, Sofia, Belgrade and Budapest, the film would leave them completely ignorant of the fact. In their memoirs, both Montand and Signoret also describe their visit to other Eastern European centres.36 While the film claimed some ownership of Montand, depicting him as an epitome of French/Soviet relations, Montand himself did not want to be remembered only through his visit to the USSR. Therefore, presumably, the tour was planned to end in Budapest, which had been the focus of international attention. It is useful in this connection to comment on how and by whom the tour was organised. The sources suggest that the Agency of Cultural Exchange in Paris made the agreements with each individual country’s representatives—most probably through the Ministries of Culture.37 This means that they communicated with the Soviet, Polish, Czechoslovak, Romanian, Hungarian and other local organisers. In each individual country the ministry (or an office under its control) made the practical arrangements for the tour in that country. The Soviet Gastrolbureau reserved the concert halls, hotels and organised transportation, meetings and interpreters. It also organised the payments and drew up the schedule for the tour.38 Thus the practical arrangements for the whole East European tour were organised by the particular country’s representatives themselves. The most likely reason for the film not discussing Montand’s tour in the Eastern European countries is that it simply was of no interest to them. For them, Moscow was the centre of the world, and the only thing that mattered. While they did give some coverage of Leningrad and Kiev, the ‘little sisters of Moscow’, it was Montand’s time in Moscow that was the most newsworthy part of the tour. After coming from the USSR, Montand had to convince the Hungarians of his good faith. Under the circumstances in the USSR and the Hungarian uprising, there was no reason that the authorities in the USSR would wish to publicise Montand’s concerts in Budapest.

36  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 276–283, Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 184–215. 37  Letter of Geroges Soria to the Soviet Ministry of Culture, no date. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 83–84. 38  Presentation of the organisation of Yves Montand’s tour in the Soviet Union, addressed to Minister of Culture N.A. Mihailov, no date [~early December 1956]. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 66–67.

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This larger geographical itinerary was of course known to the Soviet hosts, because everything was organised through official bodies that managed arrangements for cultural exchange. It is difficult to know how much Slutsky and Yutkevich knew about this, but all their draft scripts concentrate on the Soviet Union and make no reference to Montand’s possible itineraries after his USSR commitments. It is actually their script that led to the categorisation of the Soviet tour as a project of cultural diplomacy, which also became the basic message of the film. The draft script, dated 15 December, suggests that Slutsky and Yutkevich thought Montand would return directly from the USSR to Paris, since the planned voice-over ends with the words ‘Montand sings a song about Moscow, about the boulevards of Moscow. The last two verses he sings in Russian. Farewell. Flowers. Hugs. The airplane takes its course towards Paris.’39 In the final film, no departing airplane is shown for the audience, nor are there any flowers or hugs. It is understandable and, under the conditions of the time, also inevitable, that the film was silent on controversial political issues. During their journey, however, Montand and Signoret discussed politics much more than what appeared in public. After landing in Moscow, Signoret noted that they immediately realised that it would be inadvisable to publicly speak on the Budapest incidents. She writes: ‘Moscow was one of the few cities in the world where no one talked about Budapest.’40 Signoret writes that already in the first concert at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, suppressed emotions could be sensed during the song ‘Quand un soldat’: There were a great many uniforms in the hall, and a slightly chilly wave could be felt when Montand began “Quand un Soldat”. The songs had been translated into Russian in the program, and from where I sat I could see a few heads, their uniformed necks clad in raspberry-colored serge, beginning to realize what was being said in this song, whose martial rhythm in no way predicts the end, which is resolutely antimilitaristic.41

The documentary seems to avoid the world of contemporary politics and confine its scope to culture, portraying Montand and Signoret meeting artists and writers as well as ordinary citizens in factories and in the 39  The description of the film Singer of Paris, version I, dated 15 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 58. 40  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 157. 41  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 159.

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kolkhoz. And it is certainly the case that during the actual visit they met many artists, writers and workers in the cultural field. Signoret describes, for example, how they met the ballerina Galina Ulanova who ‘was a tiny woman, dressed like an English governess’.42 What remains unspoken in the film, however, is the fact that they also conversed with the political elite of the Soviet Union. After Montand’s fourth performance in Moscow, they met Nikita Khrushchev and other leading politicians. Khrushchev was accompanied by Nikolai Bulganin, Georgy Malenkov, Anastas Mikoyan and Vyacheslav Molotov.43 Signoret describes the discussions at length; the following is verbatim from the source: Khrushchev triggered the discussion. ‘It wasn’t easy for you to come here, was it?’ ‘It’s not very easy to come to your country at this moment, Mr. Khrushchev.’ ‘Because of fascist pressure?’ ‘No, because of what happened in Budapest, Mr. Khrushchev. The fascists are really more or less delighted by what happened in Budapest … But let’s forget about fascists.’ We talked to them about the others. All the others, whose existence they seemed not to know about. At first we spoke about ourselves. That was when my good clothes and my trinkets stood me in good stead. Quite honestly, we tried to define ourselves. We tried to explain that our public agreements with Communist positions, when they seemed right to us, came from the heart; our personal interests played no part. My expensive suit and fine jewels, I said, touching my diamond bracelet and my pastel mink hat, were bought with money I had earned in capitalistic countries. Montand continued, describing his lovely house in Autheuil, the results of work freely accomplished. He stressed that he alone reigned over what he chose to choose. By which we meant to say that we personally had no reason to complain about a capitalist regime, but that was no reason to think that it was perfect for a lot of others. We were sentimentalists, not discerning politicians. And since we were sentimentalists, the thing that had shocked us most was pictures of the Red Army shooting in the streets of Budapest. We and many others who were not fascists had had great difficulty in understanding our departure, which, to speak frankly, we would much rather have delayed.

 Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 163.  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 270–271.

42 43

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Just as they had delayed the tours of their own artists. ‘No, it wasn’t easy to come to your country at this moment, Mr. Khrushchev.’44

For their Montand book, which is partly Montand’s memoirs, partly a research-based biography, Hamon and Rotman interviewed Nadezhda (nicknamed Nadia) Nechaeva, the Soviet interpreter who was present at the occasion. Both she and Montand remembered how animatedly Khrushchev spoke of the terror of Stalin’s time. For the French guests, Khrushchev described the horrible fates of the Soviet people under Stalin. According to Nechaeva, ‘the whole time Khrushchev was talking, Yves kept his eyes on his face. Suddenly Khrushchev broke off: “Why are you staring at me like that?” You’re thinking, “And what were you doing all that time, Mr. Khrushchev?” Khrushchev answered: “Because we were afraid, M. Montand. Stalin had changed a lot. He was no longer the same man. When you went to see him toward the end, you never knew if you would come out alive.”45 These discussions obviously could never have been generally made public, and Montand and Signoret reported them only decades later. The tragic history of Stalin and the turbulent political events of the time in Budapest confirmed the importance of the peace message Montand wanted to promote. It should be noted that during Montand’s tour at the turn of the years 1956 and 1957, Khrushchev also discussed the legacy of Stalin in public. After the New Year’s Eve reception, the press agency AFP circulated the news, published by many newspapers in France, including Le Monde, that, according to Khrushchev’s speech at the reception, ‘Stalin was a great marxist. He made mistakes, and we are responsible for the mistakes made at that time.’ But, and this is what Khruchchev particularly emphasised, ‘when it comes to fighting imperialism, we can say that we are indeed Stalinists.’46 Montand and Signoret engaged with the political elite, but it was important for the film makers to stress that Montand was a common man, a man of the people. This was also his star image as a singer and as an actor. The draft scripts by Slutsky and Yutkevich reveal many ideas that they originally considered to illustrate Montand’s direct contacts with the  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 167.  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 272. 46  ‘M. Khrouchtchev: contre les impérialistes nous sommes tous des staliniens.’ Le Monde 3 January 1957. 44 45

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people. In the earliest ‘suggestion’, they set this out explicitly: ‘In general, the film needs to explain Montand’s popularity in the Soviet Union as a genuine interest and sympathy that the ordinary Soviet citizens feel for the French people and their culture’ (That is, they wish to avoid any impression that the ordinary citizens admire Montand as a representative of capitalism or Western film or music celebrity). They continue: ‘In this part, obviously, we will include footage from Montand’s concerts in different halls, his meetings with Soviet cultural figures and common Soviet people.’47 In the draft script, dated 15 December, Slutsky and Montand have included scenes where Montand and Signoret drive around Moscow and get acquainted with people: ‘Montand sits behind the wheel of a ZIM, and gets to know Moscow with his spouse. We drive along the Moscow streets. In one of the cinemas there is a big poster of the film “Plata za strah” (Wages of Fear). Yves Montand looks at it from the car and smiles. /dissolve/. Yves Montand driving a car /footage from the film “Plata za strah”.’48 In the final film, there is no such scene, and the reference to Wages of Fear is made in the sequence that was shot in the bus factory. In this script, there were also other scenes, where Montand was supposed to drive a Soviet luxury car ZIM, for example: ‘Talking to his wife, Montand drives through a red light. The militia man stops him. Montand tries to explain something to the militia man. People gather around. Someone recognises Montand: “It’s Yves Montand, comrade militia man!” Montand nods. The militia man smiles and raises his hand to his cap.’49 These examples indicate that Slutsky and Yutkevich wanted to emphasise encounters with the common people and tried to incorporate such scenes in the draft treatment, but in the end such scenes as these were not included. It is difficult to know the reasons. It might be that the film makers could not logistically organise these scenes because they had no control over the arrangements for the visit. There are many other ideas that, finally, did not make it into the film. For example, in the draft script, dated 21 December, Slutsky and Yutkevich had in mind a much broader geographical representation of the USSR, and the voice-over would have begun: ‘Also in Moscow, in Donbass, far 47  A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 75. 48  The description of the film Singer of Paris, version I, dated on 15 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 49. 49  The description of the film Singer of Paris, version I, dated on 15 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 50.

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away in Vladivostok and in the wintering grounds of the Arctic, people know and love the songs of Yves Montand—the great artist, film actor and singer from Paris.’50 An important detail that was finally deleted from the film relates to the enthusiastic reaction of the Soviet people to Montand’s visit. The contemporary press was very eager to report on how difficult it was to purchase tickets for concerts. As has already been noted earlier, Montand was an exceptionally popular artist in the USSR, known through Obraztsov’s radio programmes, films and many records released under Soviet labels. When Montand arrived, there was a huge demand for tickets. In Paris, France-Soir reported that: a large crowd stood in line for tickets. There were ladies complete with chauffeur and limousine and astrakhan furs, the sons and daughters of the elite taking temporary leave of their institutes of higher learning, flocks of young female fans, old ladies, suffragettes of a century ago, squads of soldiers, young men and women from the factories. People kept all-night vigils.51

Under such circumstances, the making of a film might have been a channel to satisfy the demand for entertainment. The Central Studio for Documentary Film was, however, less likely to be concerned with how a documentary could serve the general public, or how Montand’s stardom could be promoted in the Soviet Union. Rather, as already pointed out, Montand’s visit was an example of friendly relations. He was an appropriate and accessible figure for the documentary because of his working-class reputation and because his artistic character combined entertainment with social consciousness.52 It was not compatible with this image to show people fighting for the tickets. This information, however, was made public in the foreign press, not only in France, and by France-Soir, but through press agencies almost everywhere in Europe. In Sweden, for example, the 50  The description of the film Singer of Paris, version II, dated on 21 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 35. 51  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 269–270. 52  As we have seen in Chap. 5, after the Hungarian Revolution in October and November 1956, he struggled with the decision whether to leave or not. On the French discussion on the Hungarian crisis, see Michael Scott Christofferson. 2004. ‘French Intellectuals and the Repression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956: The Politics of a Protest Reconsideres.’ After the Deluge: New Perspectives on the Intellectual and Cultural History of Postwar France, edited by Julian Bourg. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 253–271.

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working-class paper Arbetartidningen noted on 27 December that ‘big crowds had gathered outside the concert hall to celebrate their French idol. Thousands of people had to return home without hearing the concert since there were no tickets to be purchased.’53 Signoret wrote later in her memoirs: As happens everywhere, the upper crust somehow got seats. The others stood in line. The line curled around huge blocks centered about the Tchaikovsky Theater. A bronze Mayakovski contemplated the stamp of icy feet as the fans queued up for their seats. The Ministry of Culture noticed what was going on and changed the venue for four nights to the Luzhniki Stadium, which can seat twenty thousand people.54

The scripts reveal that queues were problematic for the film makers. In the February 1957 script, there is a passage: ‘Standing in the line for the tickets to Montand’s concert does not yet mean that you would get them. One needs to stand for a long time in the queue, and during that time one can not only read Montand’s book “Solntsem polna golova” but even a thick novel of Balzac, for example the “Lost Illusions”. But for this [female] citizen illusions are already over, she has tickets in her hand. She is going to see Montand!’55 This text for the voice-over narration had remained in place in February 1957, and only the words ‘in the queue’ had been crossed out with a pen, but the whole passage had been deleted from the final film. There was obviously footage from the queues but in the end they were not used. The Soviet fandom of Montand, already discussed in previous chapters, was massive, perhaps to an extent that could not be adequately portrayed in the documentary. Private sources from Russia confirm the great enthusiasm of the general public. In the diary of Fyodor Abramov, there are stories of Montand mania. Abramov writes: ‘In December there started a huge uproar around the arrival of Yves Montand. In Moscow Montand said that he would like to have a ride on a Russian troika with his wife. And they found one. They probably quickly borrowed it from a museum. A painted collar, bells, a lavish (princely) rug—and then they rode to a model 53  ‘Succé för Yves Montand vid första Moskva-framträdandet.’ Arbetartidningen 27 December 1956. 54  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 159. 55  An early version of the script of the Yves Montand Sings documentary by Mikhail Slutsky and Sergei Yutkevich, no date [February 1957]. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 26.

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kolkhoz to get acquainted with the Russian countryside.’56 In this recollection, the troika ride happens because Montand wants it. It is questionable however how much the ride actually was Montand’s own initiative. The ride is a visual component of the documentary where it has a clearly narrative function: the Moscow episode ends with the troika ride that is intercut with Montand and Signoret’s train journey to Leningrad (see Fig.  7.2). The film is emphasising the continuity between tradition and modernity. The ride was most probably organised by the film makers, but it may have been interpreted by some of the contemporaries, like Abramov, as an expression of Montand’s stereotypical view of Soviet culture.

Reception of the Film The available sources do not reveal how the documentary Yves Montand Sings was exactly used and circulated. The Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts holds a folder on all completed films between February and August 1957, a total of seventy-nine. The folder includes documents on their completion, certified by the Deputy Minister of Culture, V. Surin. Yves Montand Sings is among these productions. In the case of almost all the films, the decision has been to give it a Soviet-wide release. In the Montand case, however, this decision was not made, or it was postponed.57 The documents do not offer any explanation as to why this was the case. Fig. 7.2  The troika ride. (Source: Yves Montand Sings 1957)

56  Fyodor Abramov’s diary, 1 February 1957. Accessed at the private archive of Abramov’s widow by Anatoly Pinsky. 57  The folder RGALI f 2329 o 12 e 2653 (Akty ob okonchanii proizvodstva khronikal’nodokumental’nykh fil’mov, 2 February–8 August 1957) contains information on all completed documentary films in February-August 1957. “Poet Iv Montan”, 47–48.

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In the 1950s, the Soviet film industry would also engage in collaborative production with other countries and send its own cinematographers around the world. The industry was also prepared to produce versions in many languages, which was essential for the use of cinema as propaganda. An illuminating example is the letter by the Director of the Central Studio for Documentary Film to the leader of the Department of Film Production at the Soviet Ministry for Culture, dated on 2 April 1957. The studio was producing a documentary on Kliment Voroshilov’s visit to the People’s Republic of Korea, Indonesia and Mongolia. In addition to the Russian version, the idea was also to prepare copies in Arabic, Chinese, English, Hindi, Indonesian and Mongolian.58 This was cultural diplomacy, but also propaganda that could be exploited on a global level. Further correspondence reveals that simultaneous production of different language versions was regarded as difficult. The plan, therefore, was to first produce the Russian-language copy, which then, within a month, could be translated into other languages.59 This raises the question of Yves Montand Sings and its anticipated circulation. Did the Central Studio for Documentary Film plan to develop the documentary into an international product that could further its diplomatic purposes? In a confidential letter to the Deputy Minister of Culture V. Surin, dated on 22 August 1957, five months after Montand’s return to Paris, the Main Directorate of Film Production was considering the possibility of sending a copy of Yves Montand Sings to France to be re-edited. The major concern seemed to be the fact that there was a reference to the Soviet armed forces, and ‘it was not advisable’ to include this footage. After that the film could be distributed further, and later Yves Montand’s agreement could be obtained for the film’s processing and distribution in France.60

58  Letter of the Director of the Documentary Film Studios to the leader of the Department of film production at the Soviet Ministry for Culture, dated on 2 April 1957. RGALI f 2329 o 15 e 8, 36. 59  Letter of the leader of the Department of film production at the Soviet Ministry for Culture to Vice-Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union, dated on 23 April 1957. RGALI f 2329 o 15 e 8, 37. 60  Letter of Deputy Chief A.  Kalashnikov to the Soviet Ministry for Culture, V.  Surin, dated on 22 August, 1957. RGALI f 2329 o 15 e 8, 92.

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Finally, the documentary was also screened in France, having its Parisian premiere in November 1959.61 During their time in the USSR, Montand and Signoret were very conscious of the fact that they were being filmed. Signoret whispered to Montand at the backstage of the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall on 24 December 1956: ‘I feel as if I were in a newsreel.’62 This was really the case, but, curiously, both Montand and Signoret are silent about the long documentary by Slutsky and Yutkevich in their memoirs. Perhaps the tour took place in such a turbulent political situation that ‘the Soviet tour’ was not something to particularly advertise. Later Montand emphasised that he was the first ‘variety artist to visit the Soviet Union’,63 but this should be seen in the context not only of his tour of other Eastern European countries, but also his ever-expanding global success. After his Soviet tour, he travelled more extensively than before. Le Monde wrote in January 1959 that Montand would start a tour of Western Europe in April, covering such countries as Belgium, the Netherlands, West Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and in September he will have his first tour of the United States.64 When the Parisian premiere of the documentary took place in November 1959, Montand had already established a reputation as an artist who wanted to reach audiences everywhere, and who had made a major tour of the West too, almost like a counter-balancing act to his visit to the East. In her book Yves Montand Joëlle Monserrat mentions that Yves Montand chante en U.R.S.S. is ‘rarely seen in France’.65 After the screening in 1959, Pierre Marcabru wrote a sour critique on the film. Compared to the abundance of French and American musicals in the 1950s, Slutsky’s documentary appeared to be ‘filmed music hall’, nothing else. In his review, Marcabru finds the camera work too ‘paralysed by shyness’: the camera ‘dares not to move’, ‘dares not to look around the room attentively’, its eye is ‘fixed on Montand’.66 Marcabru emphasises the ­remoteness 61  Pierre Lherminier. 2005. Signoret Montand: deux vies dans le siècle. Paris: Éditions Ramsay, 223. 62  Quoted in Patricia A.  DeMaio 2014. Garden of Dreams: The Life of Simone Signoret. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 138. 63  Hans Henning Paetzke. 1986. Budapest 30 ans plus tard: entretiens avec les animateurs de l’opposition démocratique hongroise. Paris: Joseph Clims, 8. 64  ‘Yves Montand ira chanter aux États-Unis.’ Le Monde 5 January 1959. 65  Monserrat, Yves Montand, 124. 66  Combat 26 November 1959.

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of Montand from the USSR: ‘Montand on the one hand, the Soviet audience on the other. Unfortunately, if we see Montand, we don’t see the Soviet audience.’ Marcabru concludes: Although Mikhail Sloutsky does everything to dodge the real problem, we can clearly see that Montand is as far from the Russian sensibility as the Earth is from Mars. What he sings, the rhythms which owe everything to America, and the subject matters and anecdotes, escape the Soviet universe….67

While Monserrat is obviously correct that the documentary was rarely seen in France, the film migrated in the francophone world. The digital newspaper archives reveal, for example, that Montand chante en U.R.S.S. was seen in the French-speaking part of Canada in 1960. It was, for example, screened in the small town of Shawinigan in Quebec in December 1960.68 Today, the French film archives, La Cinémathèque française, La Cinémathèque de Toulouse and Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC) have their joint catalogue at http://www.cineressources. net/ which includes no references to the Montand documentary. Neither are there any film copies left in French film archives.69 The records of CNC indicate, however, that the documentary was granted permission in France in September 1959. At that point, the length of the film was 1860 metres and its duration sixty-nine minutes. The title has been a literal translation of the Russian original, Yves Montand chante.70 This record reveals that the French version of the documentary was slightly shortened, but since there are no film copies available, it has not been possible to establish which scenes or shots have been removed. Interestingly, a radio version of the film was made directly after the French premiere. This forty-minute programme was aired on 9 February 1960 in the radio channel Paris Inter.

 Combat 26 November 1959.  Jean-Claude Ménard. 1960. ‘Les films de la semaine.’ La Voix de Shawinigan 28 December 1960. This newspaper is available at the Google Newspaper Archive. 69  This is also confirmed by Matthieu Grimault (La Cinémathèque française) amd Eric Le Roy (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée). Matthieu Grimault’s email to Hannu Salmi 10 June 2020 and Eric Le Roy’s email to Hannu Salmi 11 June 2020. 70  Fiche oeuvre: Yves Montand chante, https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/21034, accessed 12 June 2020. 67 68

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The show has been preserved, and it includes passages of the French voice-­ over as well as numerous musical numbers by Montand.71 In addition to this, a few cinematic traces of Montand’s tour can be found at the collections of Gaumont Pathé Archives. First, the archives include a newsreel clip (01:53) from Montand’s concert in Prague, dated 24 February 1957.72 Gaumont Pathé was prepared to make the French audience familiar with Montand’s tour through newsreels. Interestingly, the Gaumont Pathé Archives show that this clip was never used in the French newsreels. Second, Gaumont Pathé has clearly also received Mikhail Slutsky’s entire film, which is archived under the title Yves Montand chante en URSS. The length of the film is documented to be 01:15:53, which is almost seventy-six minutes and thus corresponds with the length of the original copy.73 This copy is, however, different from the 1959 release copy and was imported to France much later during the 1980s. The company Cosmos distributed French films, such as Louis de Funès comedies and Angélique films, into the USSR and in exchange Sovexport allowed the company to distribute Soviet films in the French market. In this exchange, a copy of the documentary by Slutsky and Yutkevich was also imported for the French audience. When the company closed down in the early 2000s, the copy was transferred to the collection of Cinémathèque Gaumont.74 This copy is thus a reprint of the Soviet version. For this book, it has not been possible to trace the extent in which Yves Montand Sings was finally circulated within and outside the USSR. The film was tailor-made to become a vehicle of cultural diplomacy. It seems that the film was also shown in other countries of the Eastern bloc. For ́ example, the Polish premiere was in 1958 under the title Spiewa Yves Montand, and its colourful poster gives a modernistic impression.75 Since 71  Cinéma pour les ondes—Le film réalisé en URSS en 1956: Yves Montand chante (1ère diffusion: 09/02/1960 Paris Inter), https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/les-nuits-defrance-culture/cinema-pour-les-ondes-le-film-realise-en-urss-en-1956-yves, accessed 12 June 2020. 72  Gaumont Pathé Archives, Yves Montand, 1957 9 21 NU, http://gaumontpathearchives. com/index.php?urlaction=doc&id_doc=37506&rang=47. 73  Gaumont Pathé Archives, Yves Montand chante en URSS, 5700AKDOC02496, http:// gaumontpathearchives.com/index.php?urlaction=doc&id_doc=271972. 74  An email by Louise Doumerc (Gaumont Pathé Archives) to Hannu Salmi on 8 June 2020. 75 ́  The poster of Spiewa Yves Montand (1958), http://gapla.fn.org.pl/plakat/5897/ piewa-yves-montand.html, accessed 10 June 2020. See also http://www.theartofposter. com/poster.asp?id=1947, accessed 10 June 2020.

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television had already been launched in almost all European countries, the documentary could be circulated through the new medium as well. In Finland, television was launched in 1957, but it remained quite marginal until the early 1960s. Yves Montand appears with striking frequency in connection with television broadcasting. Often the TV day started with a tuning image, accompanied by music. In 1958 and 1963, the Finnish programme information included a fifteen-minute slot ‘Tuning music: Yves Montand Sings’.76 This was probably only music played in the background so that the spectator could adjust his/her television set. In 1960, the slot is, however, thirty minutes long under the title ‘Tuning Entertainment: Yves Montand Sings’.77 Since the slot was half an hour long, it is possible that it was part of a longer documentary. Certainly Mikhail Slutsky’s documentary was seen on television, at least, on 11 June 1961, when it was aired by the Estonian television channel in Tallinn. The television signals from Soviet Estonia could also be watched on the other side of the Iron Curtain, on the southern coast of Finland where there were only a few programmes available for TV owners. The Finnish newspapers also regularly published the weekly programme of ‘Tallinn’s TV’, and on 11 June 1961, it included a ‘Film Concert: Yves Montand Sings’ which was shown on Sunday evening at 7.55 pm. According to the newspaper source, the length was only sixty-five minutes, which seems to suggest that something from the original film was left out from the television version.78 This evidence shows that Slutsky and Yutkevich achieved their original goal of addressing foreign audiences: the film was seen by filmgoers and television viewers from Canada to Finland. It is understandable that the film never became a major hit at the movie theatres; documentaries very seldom did, since the global film market was centred on fiction feature films. As the discussion in this chapter has shown, although the film sought to emphasise friendly relations between France and the Soviet Union, in an era of political turbulence there was an ambiguous dynamic in Montand’s tour and his art, that also undermined this message. Since Montand was, first and foremost, a singer, it is necessary to analyse his music, on record and in the film, in more detail.

76  Kansan Uutiset 5 December 1958; Uusi Suomi 12 December 1958; Suomen Sosialidemokraatti 25 January 1963. 77  Etelä-Suomen Sanomat 30 September 1960. 78  The programme of ’Tallinnan TV’, in Uusi Suomi 11 June 1961.

CHAPTER 8

The Music: Lost in Translation

Music as ‘Translation’ In her 2018 study To See Paris and Die: The Soviet Lives of Western Culture, Eleonory Gilburd documents the arrival of ‘hundreds of Western books, films, painting, and sounds’ in the USSR in the mid-1950s, as part of the Thaw. ‘For the next thirty years, cityscapes, pastimes, and relationships would be shaped by an obsession with things Western’.1 This in turn led inevitably to debates about the nature and function of translation, most specifically in relation to literature, and shifting from a linguistic to a cultural point of reference.2 In effect this meant a movement away from emphasis on literal accuracy to the idea that every translation ‘must become a phenomenon of Russian literature’.3 As such, the status of a translator approaches that of a creative writer, tasked with interpreting foreign reality, in the form of literature, ‘in a way that made sense to Soviet readers, emphasizing analogies and themes resonant in RussoSoviet culture’:4

1  Eleonory Gilburd. 2018. To See Paris and Die: The Soviet Lives of Western Culture. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1. 2  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 12, 116. 3  Cited Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 114. 4  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 117.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Oiva et al., Yves Montand in the USSR, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9_8

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Translation became a utopian urge to bridge not only linguistic but also ideological divides, a fundamental tenet of official exchanges, and a key mechanism in purifying capitalist imports. At epistemological crossroads, such as the Thaw, translated texts gain centrality: they step into a cultural vacuum to advance new languages, role models, and behaviors. … Translated texts were packed with Soviet political and cultural connotations.5

Associated with this conception of translation was the need to communicate ‘sincerity’. In 1953 Vladimir Pomerantsev published an article ‘On Sincerity in Literature’ in which he castigated insincerity in socialist realist narratives, in the forms of ‘literary clichés, wooden characters, and politically correct narratives’. Sincerity became a prime virtue in the ‘bond between readers and writers, an emotional fellowship that implied proximity. Truth resided in gesture, voice, and intonation’. On radio and screen also it was important that the actor ‘appeared as “one of us,” and the audience took him for a friend … “Sincerity” during the Thaw was a deliberate aesthetic that recycled Romantic tropes. Its synonyms were immediacy and instinctiveness’.6 It was a characteristic discovered and admired in such otherwise apparently disparate artists as the French Impressionists, US painter Rockwell Kent and Picasso, and in the writers Hemingway, Salinger and Remarque.7 In her study The Silenced Spring (the title is presumably a nod to Rachel Carson’s pioneering 1962 study of hidden pollution and toxicity, The Secret Spring),8 Kathleen Smith notes that sincerity could even redeem an open questioning of state orthodoxy. When Yuro Orlov, representing a group presenting a ‘challenging critique of Soviet politics’, those [who were] critical of his stance nonetheless ‘praised the rebels’ sincerity—a word that had gained special moral weight in the post-­ Stalin years’.9 Rather than the simple notion of propaganda, this concept of translation provides a more supple trope for the interaction between Montand and Soviet society and its ambiguous corollaries. For one thing, the idea of translation resonates with a major preoccupation associated with the Thaw, but it can also be deployed in complex conjunction with the  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 11.  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 105. 7  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 234, 247, 253, 144. 8  Rachel Carson. 1962. The Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 9  Kathleen E. Smith. 2017. Moscow 1956: The Silenced Spring. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 74, 76. 5 6

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‘universalist’ recasting of Western texts, which on first inspection seems to be in tension with ‘translation’. The criterion of sincerity that accompanied the culturalist reconfiguration of translation also, as we shall see, pervaded Montand’s public reception. We may think of the tour as involving two stages of translation; the first is the way that the Soviet public ‘translated’ him and his music into recognisable terms, and the second is the way the makers of the documentary ‘translated’ that interaction into a congenial ideological model. This all frames the way in which the Montand documentary sought both to exploit his foreignness—French/Italian—and make him their own, ‘one of us’, with a recognisable Soviet yet transnational universal human identity. Here is how the tension between universality and Soviet identity was reconciled: he epitomised Paris, but refracted through a universalism that could be ‘translated’ into Soviet. Ironically, as part of the task of the film makers they imposed an identity upon Montand and Signoret that became increasingly estranged from the subjects.

Montand and the Soviet Public As the reception they received, as discussed in Chap. 6, suggests, Montand and Signoret were already known to Soviet audiences with great good will before the tour. In 1950 Soviet media reported that Montand had been a signatory of the Stockholm Peace Petition (see Chap. 4), and his involvement in peace activism was subsequently noted again as, for example, in Pravda in 1952.10 In 1954 Izvestia included the names of Montand and Signoret on a list of the 200 members of the committee preparing for the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the French-Soviet agreement.11 As we have seen earlier, their films had been shown in Moscow cinemas. The first French film festival was held in Moscow in 1955, with massive publicity including French song on the radio.12 ‘The festival introduced names and faces that would become a mainstay of extra-cinematic life for the next two decades’ and included The Wages of Fear in which Montand played the leading role of a truck driver, and Thérèse Raquin starring 10  ‘Fight with the “Fifth Film Column” in France.’ Iskusstvo kino No 5/1950 (October), 43–46; ‘The Widening Front of the Protectors of Peace.’ Pravda 18 November 1952, 4. 11  ‘The announcement of the Committee for preparing 10th Anniversary of the FrenchSoviet agreement.’ Izvestia December 23, 1954, 4. 12  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 166.

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Simone Signoret.13 Discussing both these films in Pravda, a writer spoke in particular of the quality of the Signoret’s performance, a ‘real artistic masterpiece’.14 An article in the Leningrad newspaper Smena announcing the festival, beginning on 17 October, included a photograph of Montand, which referred to the fact that he was already known as a singer in Russia and that he and Signoret were starring in Les Sorcières de Salem.15 Other films with Montand, including those in production, were also given press coverage, including The Idol (dir. Alexander Esway 1948), Heroes and Sinners aka The Heroes Are Tired (dir. Yves Ciampi, 1955) and The Wolves (dir. Giuseppe De Santis, 1957).16 It was also reported that both Montand and Signoret were members of the jury for a film competition in Rome.17 Press coverage of his career also included references to his book of memoirs, A Head Full of Sun, that was published in Paris in 1955, which also gave reviewers the opportunity to talk about Montand’s life, his simple and humble origins, affinities with the working class and love of freedom and peace: ‘Montand writes to the Soviet readers: “The Head full of Sun, what does it mean to me? It means hope, and belief in the wonderful light of friendship and peace.”’18 Extracts from the book were published in several newspapers and journals. By the time Montand arrived in Moscow, the book was available there in two different translations (see also Chap. 6) As we have seen in Chap. 6, Montand’s recordings became widely known in the Soviet bloc, particularly through the activities of Sergey Obraztsov. Signoret later recalled: Obraztsov was responsible for Montand’s enormous popularity in the USSR. He had come to Paris with his marionette theatre … and had seen Montand at the Etoile. He had taken home records and had his marionettes sing them. It was in this fashion, and others, that Montand began having a following in Russia. There were no political reasons. … good Soviet citizens 13  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 167; Wages of Fear, dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953, Thérèse Raquin, dir. Marcel Carné 1953. 14  G. Aleksandrov. 1955. ‘The French Film Week.’ Pravda 17 October 1955, 3; see also Mikh, B. ‘The French Film Week.’ Iskusstvo kino 11/1955 (November), 113–117. 15  P. Borisov. 1955. ‘Authors of the films that we will see.’ Smena 18 October 1955, 3. 16  ‘Head full of Sun. Yves Montand.’ Komsomolskaja Pravda 7 February 1956; ‘Tired Heroes.’ Iskusstvo kino 2/1956 (28 February 1956), 103; ‘Yves Montand shoots a film of De Santis.’ Iskusstvo kino 04/1956 (30 April 1956), 113. 17  ‘Meetings behind the pictures.’ Ogonek No 31 (July) 1956, 35. 18  S. Andreiev-Krivich. 1956. ‘Yves Montand tells…’ Literaturnaja gazeta 15 May 1956.

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whistled the tune “Grands Boulevards” long before they saw The Wages of Fear.19

In addition, numerous recordings of Montand were actually pressed throughout the Soviet bloc in the several years prior to the tour. These could have been produced under licensing agreements with Western record companies.20 According to Montand’s autobiography, the songs ‘Á Paris’ and ‘Les feuilles mortes’ became familiar to millions of Soviet citizens.21 Sheet music of his songs and lyrics was published by State Music Publisher Muzgiz from at least early 1956 onwards. The first collection was issued to print in November 1955 and became available in 1956. The French lyrics came with the music, often with Russian translations. The titles were listed as: • Parizh—A Paris—Translation S. Bolotin • Na rassvete—C’est l’aube—Translation D. Samoilov • Poslednyi izvozchik—Le cocher de fiacre—Translation S. Bolotin • Bolshie bulvary—Grands boulevards—Translation S. Bolotin • Parizhskii gamen—Le gamin de Paris—Translation S.  Bolotin and T. Sikorska • Pesenka shofera—Les routiers—Translation S. Bolotin • Staryi muzikant—Le musicien—Translation T. Sikorska • Pesenka frantsuzkogo soldata—Quand un soldat—Translation D. Samoilov.

19  Simone Signoret. 1978. Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be. New  York: Harper & Row, 155. 20  On such licensing agreements, see further Evgeniya Kondrashina. 2019. ‘Soviet Music Recordings and Cold War Cultural Relations.’ In Entangled East and West: Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction during the Cold War, edited by Simo Mikkonen, Jari Parkkinen and Giles Scott-Smith, 193–215. On Soviet record production, see Pekka Gronow. Forthcoming. ‘Melodiya (USSR)’. In Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 1, Media, Industry, Society, edited by John Shepherd, David Horn, Dave Laing, Paul Oliver and Peter Wicke. Updated edition. London: Bloomsbury Academic; for a discography of these recordings, see Appendix A. 21  Yves Montand, Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman. 1992. You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, translated by Jeremy Leggatt. London: Chatto & Windus, 259; see also A.K.  Krasnikova 2014. ‘“Kogda poet dalekii drug…” Pesni Iva Montana v Sovetskom Sojuze serediny 1950kh godov (K 90-letiju so dnia rozhdenija Iva Montana).’ Observatorija Kul’tury 2: 88–89.

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For ‘Quand un soldat’ there were also alternative lyrics by Em. Aleksandrova. The French translations at the end of the book allowed the Soviet people to sing the songs in the original language and learn some French. The translations of the lyrics of ‘Grands boulevards’ (also sometimes listed as ‘Les grands boulevards’) also came with additional explanatory notes that helped the Soviet audiences to accommodate Montand within their own politico/cultural environment. It was explained, for example, that Brady is a district in Paris, where many inexpensive shops are located, information that would help to confirm for Soviet buyers the sense of Montand’s shared class status.22 A further collection was signed to print by Muzgiz on 1 December 1956, shortly before Montand’s arrival in Moscow. Bearing the same title as the documentary film that would be produced, Yves Montand Sings, the collection had a print run of 50,000, at eight roubles per copy. The titles were: • Vstrecha so svobodoi—Rendez-vous avec la liberté—Translation Em. Aleksandrova • Na rassvete—C’est l’aube—Translation D. Samoilov • Bolshie bulvary—Grands boulevards—Translation S. Bolotin • Staryi muzikant—Le musicien—Translation T. Sikorska • Parizhskii gamen—Le gamin de Paris—Translation S.  Bolotin and T. Sikorska • Opavshie listija—Les feuilles mortes—Translation T.  Sikorska and S. Bolotin • Devushka na kacheljah—Une demoiselle sur une balançoire— Translation Em. Aleksandrova • Ja liubliu—Car je t’aime—Translation Em. Aleksandrova • Pesenka frantsuzkogo soldata—Quand un soldat—Translation D. Samoilov • Doroga oliv—Le chemin des oliviers—Translation Iu. Sobolenskii • Horosho!—C’est si bon!—Translation Em. Aleksandrova For ‘Rendez-vous avec la liberté’ there were also alternative lyrics by S. Bolotin, for ‘Quand un soldat’ by Em. Aleksandrova and for ‘Le chemin des oliviers’ by S.  Sikorska. What was basically a second edition of this 22  Frantsuzskie pesni iz repertuara Iva Montana. 1956. Moskva: Gosudarstvennoe muzikal’noe izdatel’stvo ‘Muzgiz’.

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collection was prepared on 1 February 1957, suggesting that the first print run of 50,000 copies had already sold out.23 Thus, through a combination of mediations—film, recordings and music folios with notes—and through alternative sets of lyrics by local lyricists, Montand’s repertoire was not only familiar to Muscovite citizens (and beyond), but the process of ‘translating’ him in both the literal and the larger sense articulated by Gilburd was already under way before his arrival. In March 1955, his work and reputation had been discussed at length in an article by R. Izmailova entitled ‘The Singer of Paris’ in the magazine Ogonek, a weekly along the lines of Newsweek, with a median circulation from 1955 to 1957 of one million. The article ran for nearly two pages and included a photograph of Montand. It also included Russian lyrics and Illustrations for three songs, the titles given as ‘Postman’, ‘Grand Boulevards’ and ‘Parisian Boy’. The article reported on the immense popularity of his work in France, with a ‘Gold Record’ award for a million record sales. Particularly popular are the songs ‘At Dawn’, ‘Grand Boulevards’, ‘Amusement Park’, ‘In Paris’, ‘Meeting Freedom’, ‘Postman’, ‘Falling leaves’, ‘Clementina’, ‘Nothing in the Hands Nor in the Pockets’, ‘The Olive Way’ and ‘Parisian Boy’, sung and played all over France, from students in Paris to dockworkers in Marseille. His performance venues range from the most famous theatres in Paris—the ABC, Bobino, L’Étoile and the Empire—to smaller provincial venues where Montand is able to present his music to audiences that cannot afford to travel to Paris. To paraphrase: the author tells of attending a performance package with the National Theatre in a working-class suburb, the programme beginning with a play, followed by Montand singing his latest songs to great applause. In a simple brown shirt unbuttoned at the top, he sings of the streets, amusement parks and markets of Paris in all its moods, the dreams of all Parisians from the rich to the homeless under the bridges. He sings about angry Paris, about the Paris where the spirit of protest lives on and the stones of old buildings hold the memory of revolutions. He sings about the Seine, along which lovers walk. He sings about homesickness and how a Spanish anti-Fascist misses his home and the sad sound of his guitar in a foreign land. The writer emphasises Montand’s working-class background 23  Poet Iv Montan. 1956. Moskva: Gosudarstvennoe muzikal’noe izdatel’stvo ‘Muzgiz’. For the second edition, see Poet Iv Montan. 1957. Moskva: Gosudarstvennoe muzikal’noe izdatel’stvo ‘Muzgiz’.

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and how well he knows the struggles of simple people, their bitter memories of the war, their thoughts about the future and their rare moments of happiness and festivities. He sings truly and sincerely of a life he knows well.24 In October 1955 Ogonek again presented a lengthy feature on Montand and Signoret, based on an interview conducted in their Paris home. Signoret discusses Brecht, and Montand plays the piano and talks about his career and their recent film work including for Les Sorcières de Salem (1957, dir. Raymond Rouleau and screenplay adapted by Sartre), based on Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. When the interviewer remarks upon how popular his songs are in the USSR, Montand speaks of his interest in Soviet culture and his enjoyment of Soviet song: ‘The Russian and French melodies are different, but I am convinced that our national songs have one common feature: they express deep love of life.’25 Along with his work in film, this lengthy and extravagant encomium in a major Soviet journal exemplifies the advance publicity that helped to establish the profile of a simple man of the people, but with a cult-like status that was inevitably enhanced by the tour itself. He became a major exemplar of an entertainer who was a representative of the West yet transnationally ‘translatable’ into Soviet terms in the lead-up to the International Youth Festival that followed in 1957: ‘In addition to authentic ballads and stylized ditties, festival songbooks also printed Montand’s “Les Grands Boulevards.” The song was enormously popular in various versions, thanks to the catchy melody and the people who engaged with it’, including Gleb Romanov (in French), Leonid Utesov (in Russian), Mark Bernes. The lyrics were published, along with “The Anthem of Democratic Youth” as “What we will sing at the festival.”26

Repertoire The various ‘previews’ published of Montand’s work corresponded largely with his French concert repertoire. According to an interview with him published in L’Humanité on 3 November 1956, the USSR tour programmes were exactly the same as he had presented in Paris at L’Étoile, in  R. Izmailova. 1955. ‘The Singer of Paris.’ Ogonek March 1955 (No 11), 40–41.  G. Rassadin. 1955. ‘A warm meeting. Visiting French actors.’ Ogonek October 1955 (no 42), 28–29. 26  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 80. 24 25

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repertoire and in every aspect of stage presentation.27 The pleasures enjoyed by the audiences of the tour thus included that of recognition of material already largely familiar, and it is also significant that they were hearing/‘translating’ a concert repertoire which the performers had in no way adapted for Soviet consumption. A review of the first of his concerts set the template for the general reception throughout the tour: The first concert of Yves Montand, On 19th of December Muscovites met with famous French singer Yves Montand, whose first performance was held in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. The song “Ballades of Paris” started the concert. The repertoire of the singer was very varied. He sang about life, love, happiness and sadness of a simple human being. Especially the song “When a soldier goes to war” [drew] warm sympathies of the audience.28

There followed further description of the songs, including reference to the sympathetic approach to a ‘negro-boy’ and the lyrics of the love songs, together with the information, even if some could not understand the lyrics, that they were explained in the press. There was in addition a concert brochure which, apart from the ticket price, cost an extra 4 roubles and 50 kopecks, a considerable sum (Fig. 8.1).29 It provided background on Montand’s career and explanatory notes on the music and listed all the twenty-three songs in his programme. Popular song titles of course frequently draw on current and local colloquial expressions and slang (e.g. ‘Struttin’ with Some Barbecue’ by Louis Armstrong’s wife Lil Hardin), which can make the titles arcane at the best of times. The problem is complicated further in this case by the fact that they are translated from French into Russian (and then back into English for this study), which often makes it difficult to identify them. Apart from the thirteen titles included in the film, the concert programme is dominated by love songs (of both joy and regret), as well as what appears to be a comic song about Picasso painting an apple, and an elegiac portrait of a Spanish guitarist in Paris (‘Artist, Apple and Picasso’ and ‘Guitar in Exile’, in the English translation). Insofar as we can extrapolate from this, the  Joëlle Monserrat. 1983. Yves Montand. Paris: Éditions Pac, 117.  Pravda 20 December 1956, 4. 29  Ordered by the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, Printing house: ‘Pervaia Obraztsovaja tipografija imeni A.A.Zhdanova’, Moscow, no information print date or number of copies. 27 28

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Fig. 8.1  Yves Montand’s concert programme in Moscow. (Source: Bruce Johnson’s collection)

thirteen titles chosen for the film place emphasis on the evocation of Paris, but also include songs with strong messages about politics and social mores (see below), in ways that are apparently consistent with the film makers’ stated objectives: We are not planning to do an advertisement film of Montand. We do not want to show profiteering around his tour in the Soviet Union. In this film

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we will show Montand as a modest and talented person, and our Soviet people as genuine admirers of everything progressive and talented.30

This includes an allusion to the black market in ticket sales, what is now known as ‘scalping’ (see also Chap. 6). The declaration that this would not be referred to in the film is a reminder that the intention of the film makers was to present the most agreeable image of the tour and the Soviet citizens. Overall, the film needs to be a strong confirmation of the will of the Soviet people to peaceful coexistence in all spheres of social and cultural life, their interest in keeping and strengthening cultural connection, that cannot be destroyed by all those people who wanted to return the World to the conditions of the “cold war”, and prevent the French and Soviet people from getting closer to each other in their joint fight for peace and democracy.31

The songs occupied thirty-six minutes of the seventy-three-minute film, almost half (see further Chap. 7). Included in the documentary were: ‘Les grands boulevards’ (twice) ‘Les feuilles mortes’ (twice) ‘Quand un soldat’ ‘Les saltimbanques’ ‘Il fait des …’ (Le fanatique du jazz’) ‘Un gamin de Paris’ ‘Les routiers’ ‘Á Paris’ ‘Car je t’aime’ ‘Les cireurs de souliers de Broadway’ ‘C’est si bon’ ‘Une demoiselle sur une balançoire’ ‘C’est à l’aube’

30  Description of the film Singer of Paris, version II, dated 21 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 43. 31  A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutskii and S. Yutkevich, no date [~ late November or early December 1956]. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 75.

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Costume and Demeanour As presented in the documentary film Yves Montand Sings, for Montand’s formal concerts he performed alone at centre stage, with his band for the most part in the unlit background, more or less in silhouette. He addressed the microphone dressed casually in basic black shirt with top button undone (though as the reports from the journal Ogonek indicate, what looks black in the documentary is in fact dark brown). He used no props, such as a cane, but matched his performance demeanour to the mood of each song, ranging from a solemn motionlessness to, in more jocular mode, highly athletic gestures and actions that included dance steps, staged walking, pirouettes, leaps, even an apparently effortless cartwheel, made even more striking by his tall, slim frame. The importance to him of this physical agility in performance is indicated in his instructions in his tour plan that the audiences in the front rows should be able to see his legs.32 The meanings and moods of the songs were flagged with elaborate and often slapstick mime and mugging. Together with his informal stage costume, it was a form of stage presentation that prepared Russian audiences for a radical shift in the Soviet understanding of performance demeanour and gesture that was amplified, to the consternation of the authorities, by the Westerners (and particularly jazz musicians), who arrived en masse the following year for the International Youth Festival, which was already in planning during Montand’s tour.33 Much of Montand’s ‘meaning’ was communicated by mime, thus circumventing a verbal order which would also have acted as a potential barrier across languages. Mime presents messages that can be ‘translated’ across linguistic difference; Russian audiences did not have to speak French to understand a staged stagger. One reviewer wrote: ‘I, who barely know a hundred words in French understood all the words of the songs and the miming and clear articulation helped me to understand the songs.’34 Similarly, one Boris Zon recorded in his diary: I was at Yves Montand’s concert. It was very interesting. Like the French people always dazzle with their hands. He sang around 20-25 songs—and there was not a single repeated gesture. He has a wonderful figure, which he 32  Tour plan of Yves Montand and his group in the Soviet Union, Paris 10 July 1956. Russian translation of the French original. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 81–82. [The original French version on pages 87–88.] 33  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 48, 55, 95–97. 34  Nik. Smirnov-Sokol’skii. 1956. Golos serdtsa. Literaturnaja gazeta, 22 December 1956, 3; see further Krasnikova, ‘Kogda poet dalekii drug…’, 93.

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carries with a remarkable dignity, and he moves wonderfully. There was a lot of interesting in the scenic composition. His appearance—we already know his songs from the radio, but often [the music] gains a new meaning when you see, what he does. That’s Estrada!35

Another recalled: All the girls were in ecstasy because of such a man like Montand had arrived, and everybody was happy to see him live. People say that he performed in an interesting manner. He not only sang, but also moved in an interesting manner.36

And similarly: When he arrived, we did not know how he sang, all that was very unusual. First of all the way he dressed. At that time we all paid attention to that. It was very unusual how he was dressed on the stage. He moved a lot and in a beautiful way when he performed. His manoeuvres were very free, and that was very pleasant and unusual to us.37 The people who were in his concerts [told that] his performances were amazing. … He moved on the stage, while our Soviet singers just stood there. … He was very simply dressed when he performed, which amazed our audiences. He did not wear tail coat, he performed in a simple brown shirt and trousers. Therefore all the people who went to his concerts were astounded.38

Apart from transforming the understanding of stage behaviour, Montand’s style of presentation opens up a further line of enquiry into the role of subliminal audience imitation of the physical gestures of the performer in the sharing of meanings and the process of cognition.39 35  Zon, Boris Vul’fovich, actor, theatre director and pedagogue, b. 1898—58 years, diary entry dated on 9 January 1957, https://prozhito.org/note/311296 accessed on 10 March 2020. 36   Interview with Anna (b. 1999), 8 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Daria Khokhlova, peer-review by Anna Ostapenko. 37  Interview with Natalia Isaakovna Muchinskaya (b. 1945), 30 September 2019, Moscow. Interview by Yana Parshina, peer-review of the interview transcript by Angelina Naumova. 38  Interview with Tatiana Chaykovskaya (b. 1941), 2 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Maria Korenko, peer-review of the transcript by Ivan Karnaukhov. 39  See further Bruce Johnson. 2017A. ‘In the body of the Audience’. In Musicians and Their Audiences: Performance, Speech and Mediation, edited by Ioannis Tsioulakis and Elina Hytönen-Ng. New York and London: Routledge, 15–33.

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Content Presenting a repertoire of dramatic and humorous narratives, chansons and sentimental ballads, his concerts were rapturously received and reviewed, with three particular aspects of his presentations prominent in the plaudits. First, much was made of his simple, ordinary ‘of-the-people’ persona. The Soviet newspapers published collective letters of people from various organisations and institutions, which state that the Soviet people love Montand because, coming from a working family, he also lives like a worker.40 The title of one article about Montand was ‘Singer of Simple People’ and the plainness of his stage costume enhanced this persona.41 The commentary to the documentary also played up this aspect of Montand’s appeal, describing him as a ‘great artist with a working class background’ (28:30), showing him presenting an informal concert in a factory, with Montand’s reported comment that ‘[i]f I was happy to sing in Moscow, I’m even happier to sing for workers in a car factory in front of workers’ (34.47), and, referencing the Wages of Fear (of which a brief clip is included), ‘we remember well Montand in a film as a driver’ (37.15). This sense of unaffected working-class ordinariness became compounded with the idea of sincerity, of singing from the heart: ‘There are many heroes in Montand’s songs, but it is not a surprise that all these heroes are representatives of ordinary people. It could not be otherwise because Montand chose them with his heart, he loves them and you can feel it in every song’; one review of a Moscow concert carried the title The Voice of the Heart (Golos serdtsa).42 These terms of praise are as much a reflection of the culture of the Thaw, as of Montand’s performance identity. As we have noted previously, 40  Evgenia Gordienko. 1998. Iv Montan. Muzhchina – Mif. Rostov-on-Don: Feniks, 203; see also Krasnikova, ‘Kogda poet dalekii drug…’, 94. 41  Izvestia No 301, Friday 21 December 1956, 3. 42  Nik. Smirnov-Sokol’skii. 1956. ‘Golos serdtsa.’ Literaturnaja gazeta, 22 December 1956, 3. It is worth noting that far from spontaneous, Montand actually rehearsed every aspect of his performance with, often briefly ill-tempered, fastidious attention to detail, as revealed in Chris Marker’s 1974 documentary on a concert given by Montand at the Olympia. Montand’s own comments are revealing: ‘They think you prepare a gesture, but they’re wrong … When I work on a song, I never say “I will do this, I will do that”. I first let the words take over. And if gradually I happen to make a gesture instinctively, I file it and leave it there’ (Loneliness of the Long Distance Singer 1974, dir. Chris Marker: 5.42–6.05). In view of comments below, it is notable how close this is to a description of jazz improvisation, which includes the accumulation of ‘licks’ that are discovered fortuitously.

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spontaneous sincerity, plainness and unfeigned directness were pervasive in the new values proclaimed from the mid-1950s, as, for example, in the redefinition of literary realism as well as in Soviet cinema.43 Like literary translations, the praise for Montand’s plain-speaking sincerity paralleled the process that, for Soviet readers, ‘ultimately transformed translations into “books about us”’.44

Advocacy for Peace Likewise, the second of the features of Montand’s image that were prominent in the way he was represented: as an advocate for peace. The theme was set in the coverage by the documentary of his arrival at the airport, where he gave a speech (starts 4:04) that included the words: ‘I want to say one important thing. I’m very touched. I’m not a political person, but I know that today cultural connections are more needed than ever. Cultural exchange is important for peace’ (see also Chap. 6). At the conclusion of his first concert, he reiterated the message, as reported in a review that Montand again stated his wish for ‘friendship between nations and for world peace, for which he received a burst of applause’, and similarly in a review of the same concert in Izvestia it was reported that Montand ‘reminds us of the horrors of the past war’.45 Elsewhere he was lauded as a ‘fighter for peace’, and in a written appreciation, Obraztsov summarised Montand’s most important message as ‘to serve friendship and peace’, and as mentioned in Chap. 6, he reported that a woman who had survived the Leningrad blockade had written to him praising Montand for fighting ‘against bombs not with words, but by doing something’.46 As with the ideas of plainness and sincerity, this also struck a powerful chord with the Thaw and the doctrine of peaceful coexistence, seen as an objective shared with Montand’s own country: ‘Yves Montand loves France and Paris, but he loves the same France and Paris that also we love. In his songs he hates the same things which we hate: war and its consequences.’47

 Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 144, 192.  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 155. 45  Pravda 20 December 1956, 4; Izvestia, 20 December 1956, 4. 46  Nik. Smirnov-Sokol’skii. 1956. ‘Golos serdtsa.’ Literaturnaja gazeta 22 December 1956, 3; Pravda 23 December 1956, 4. 47  Nik. Smirnov-Sokol’skii. 1956. ‘Golos serdtsa.’ Literaturnaja gazeta 22 December 1956, 3. 43 44

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Evocation of France This allusion takes us to a third characteristic that added to the Soviet appreciation of the singer. That is, he evoked France, and Paris in particular. Gilburd’s 2018 study sets out in detail the strong affinity the Soviets felt for French culture.48 Student discussion groups and Franco-Russian friendship organisations were formed to discuss French culture, to hear from people who had visited France, look at photographs from France, watch French theatrical pieces and films and listen to French music (in which Montand featured strongly).49 France and things French were regularly reported in the Soviet press. In September 1955, Ogonek carried a report of a workers’ festival in Paris, enthusing over the efforts of the volunteer organisers and the performance groups, and the pervasive spirit of world peace. As was so frequently the case, Montand’s music was mentioned.50 And reciprocally, ‘France was more ready to engage in cultural exchanges with the Soviet Union than perhaps any other NATO country from the mid-1950s onwards’.51 Indeed, the movie on which Montand and Signoret were working, film Les Sorcières de Salem, and which delayed the start of the Soviet tour, was itself a co-production between a French company and DEFA, Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft, an East German Company originally founded in 1946 in the Soviet Occupied Zone. The Picasso exhibition of 1956 was not just a challenge to socialist realism; its message was reinforced by an association with France. Poet Anatolii Naiman later recalled: ‘The artwork itself took second place for those who filled the halls. First in importance was air—the ozone of freedom that blew into the museum straight from the Left Bank and the Right Bank of the Seine.’52 That ‘ozone of freedom’ became associated with the later memories of Montand. Boris Vail’, a member of Pimenov’s circle, referred 48  On the ‘love affair’ with Paris in particular, see Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 278–291; see also Krasnikova, ‘Kogda poet dalekii drug…’, 94–95. 49  L. Raskin. 1955. ‘A Friendly Meeting.’ Ogonek March (No 12) 1955, 29; ‘Meeting of the participants of the festival in the Moscow Film House.’ Iskusstvo kino 8/1955 (August), 78. 50  Nikolai Drachinskii. 1955. ‘Workers’ festival in Paris.’ Ogonek September 1955 (No 39), 22. 51  Simo Mikkonen, Jari Parkkinen and Giles Scott-Smith. 2019. ‘Exploring Culture in and of the Cold War’. In Entangled East and West: Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction During the Cold War, edited by Simo Mikkonen, Jari Parkkinen and Giles Scott-Smith. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenburg, 5. 52  Smith, Moscow 1956, 300.

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to above, would be permitted to emigrate to the West in 1977.53 He later recalled his student days during the thaw with nostalgia in a poem that included the lines: If you’ve got money in your pocket You should hurry to the café There in the café it’s warm and cosy There Montand sings from the radio.

And he reminisced about ‘jazz sweeter than chocolate’.54 In recollection the voice of Montand became identified with the atmosphere of the Thaw, as recorded in a diary entry of Ángel Gutiérrez in September 1957, describing a party at the dormitory of the Stanislavsky theatre, where people drank, sang and danced the whole night. During the night the people discussed the new promises of Khrushchev, the fear the older people still felt, and that all that will never happen again. In the morning the boys and girls walked along the streets hugging each other and they could hear songs of Yves Montand and Robertino Loretti from open windows.55 Paris was the central emblem of romantic, artistic France, and Soviet visitors were already familiar with the city’s streets through reading French novelists.56 Montand was perfectly suited to take on ‘cultic’ status in the Parisian imaginary.57 Responses to his presence were pervaded by the city. Montand’s visit was marked by a long, excessively adulatory poem (but a parody of what some considered to be the hyperbolical reception being accorded the singer—see also Chap. 6),58 by Vladimir Poliakov.59 It opens with a long description of Paris before focussing on the singer. In its  Smith, Moscow 1956, 329.  Smith, Moscow 1956, 330. 55  Diary of Ángel Gutiérrez, Spanish theatre director, born 28 August 1932, 25  years. Diary entry on September 14, 1957, Prozhito, https://prozhito.org/note/518648, accessed 10 March 2020. 56  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 278. 57  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 288. 58  Krasnikova, ‘Kogda poet dalekii drug…’, 93. See also Chap. 6. 59  See these three websites: Poema pro Iva Montana, Literary portal ‘Mir poezii’, http:// mirpoezylit.ru/books/5852/1/, accessed 26 March 2020; Username ‘oldporuchik’ at Livejournal, https://oldporuchik.livejournal.com/14963.html, accessed 26 March 2020, and Coollib, https://coollib.com/b/365942-vladimir-solomonovich-polyakov-poema-proiva-montana/readp, accessed 26 March 2020. 53 54

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earliest treatments the working title of the documentary film had been Singer of Paris and the first version began with a lyrical description of the city: ‘Paris. Her squares, boulevards, and embankments. Lots of cars, people. In the small cafés, situated along the trottoirs, in the tables discussing people, arguing people, and lovers. We can hear Montand’s voice. He sings a song about Paris.’60 A later nine-page draft treatment, dated 21 December 1956, began by referring to Montand as ‘the great artist, film actor, and singer from Paris’.61 The connection was of course reinforced by Montand’s concert repertoire, including ‘Les grand boulevards’ and ‘Á Paris’, as well as songs suffused with the aura of France, such as ‘Les feuilles mortes’ (known in English as ‘Autumn Leaves’), associated also with Édith Piaf who had also been Montand’s early mentor and lover, and whom Jacques Chirac described as ‘this great artist who incarnated with so much passion the truth and the soul of the people of Paris’.62 And like Montand, Édith Piaf’s song repertoire was ‘hugely popular in the USSR’.63 Montand’s songs provided the pleasurable aura of Paris but also satisfied other expectations of Soviet audiences that were fostered by the Thaw, particularly his image as an advocate for peace and social justice, including implied critique of the racialist inequities of the capitalist US, as in his song ‘Les cireurs de souliers de Broadway’ (‘The Shoeshiners of Broadway’) (56:48–1:00:05). Opening with a solemn rubato introduction, it transitions into a slow, bluesy chorus in which Montand mimes strolling along a street, with rubato interludes presented with dramatic gestures and lighting. In the documentary film, the image of Montand is sometimes superimposed over scenes of New York city streets. There is also, unusually, brief footage of the band, who, incidentally, provide jazz-based backing that is in keeping with the moody US cityscape, a point that will gain relevance in the discussion below. The voice-over commentary includes the following: Yves Montand performs a song about a shoeblack in Broadway, a small ‘negro-boy’ who sees the sun only as a reflection in the shoes of his clients. 60  Film description of the film Singer of Paris, version I, dated 15 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 45. 61  Film description of the film Singer of Paris, version II, dated 21 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 35. 62  David Loosely. 2015. Édith Piaf: A Cultural History. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 175. 63  Kondrashina, ‘Soviet Music Recordings and Cold War Cultural Relations’, 206.

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The indifferent passers-by throw him coins, but don’t even look at him. … The carefree boy sings a song about the king of shoe cleaners, who lives in an old house, who can give new shine to the old dancing shoes, which he himself doesn’t have, and who cleans the shoes of all the orchestras in Harlem.

Apart from being further evidence of Montand’s empathy with the common man and concern with social injustice, the song also serves in a larger context as a comment on the issue of race in the capitalist US, a matter of particular volatility at that time, given the conflicted relationship between the US Civil Rights Movement and the high profile US State Department tours which, featuring many black jazz performers, were attempts to promote internationally an image of racial equality.64 At multiple levels, then, the song and its documentary treatment represent a perfect fit between Montand and the ethos of the Soviet Thaw. Yet in other ways, at other times, and for other witnesses, that neat correspondence as constructed by the film is unconvincing. In this connection, and foreshadowing the discussion of the song ‘Il fait des’, discussed at length next, it is suggestive to consider the reference to Montand’s jazz inflected backing, above, in relation to a review re-published from the French newspaper Combat, in which, unconstrained by the Soviet press’ intent on playing up the synergy between Montand and his audiences, the writer objects that ‘Montand is as distanced from the Russian sensibility as from the planet Mars’. Referring to what is revealed by ‘the camera’ (i.e. he is talking about the film and its cameraman Mikhail Slutsky), the reviewer complains that Montand’s singing style ‘owes everything to America’, and has nothing to do with Soviet culture, and that the singer’s gestures and intonation are affectations.65 In assessing this review, it is important to bear in mind the fact that Combat was, broadly speaking, a left-wing publication, but which opposed communism; Albert Camus had been one of its editors. Together with this alignment, the virulent controversies in France over Montand’s tours need to be taken into account in forming an assessment of the review. Even so, it discloses already some credibility problems in the film’s attempt to ‘translate’ Montand into a Russian cultural phenomenon. 64  See further Penny von Eschen. 2004 Satchmo Blows up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War. Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard University Press, 93. 65  Monserrat, Yves Montand, 124.

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But what of the Soviet audiences, presented in the film as uncritically adulatory of the French singer? One of his more overtly political songs was ‘Quand un soldat’ (12:19–13:56). With Signoret, Montand was a high-­ profile peace activist, and he introduced this passionately anti-war song into his repertoire around 1950 during the French-Indochinese war of 1946–1954. It so offended the French government that they banned the broadcast of the song, and Montand became the target of public hostility.66 In the film, Montand sings it to a slightly fast march rhythm, beginning motionless and erect, his expressions ranging from stern to sardonic, bitter, cynical, despairing. The Russian voice-over commentary is a paraphrase of the lyrics. We are shown the audience applauding enthusiastically, a further confirmation of the unity between Montand and the Soviet public in the cause of peace. The review of that first concert, quoted earlier, included this song among those singled out for praise, as having drawn ‘warm sympathies of the audience’.67 But a small gap opens up between these ‘translations’ and Signoret’s report that the song was in fact greeted with a ‘slightly chilly wave’ (see further Chap. 7).68 All is not so straightforward as the film represents. Each of Montand’s songs of course exists within cultural frameworks which are as heterogeneous as his audiences. The film’s objective is to homogenise these as far as possible, into messages which elide differences, especially between Montand and the Soviet audiences, to ‘translate’ Montand into Russian. But the argument in this discussion of his music is that much is lost in translation, and if we focus closely on contextualising one particular song, we gain a much more comprehensive understanding, though by no means total, of just how much appears to be lost.

Dissonance The song is ‘Il fait des …’, also known as ‘Le fanatique de jazz’ (21:21–24:59). Montand’s spoken introduction is accompanied by a Russian voice-over paraphrase: ‘Jazz fanatic. But in our vocabulary, simply a stiliaga. Montand laughs at them, these people exist, unfortunately, also in our country’ (starts 21:26).

 Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 237.  Pravda 20 December 1956: 4. 68  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 159. 66 67

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Then the piano softly backs Montand with Chopin’s ‘Funeral March’, shifting to a jazz intro, with a shot of a young man in the audience with a vivid tie, swaying to the rhythm—presumably representing a stiliaga (on stiliaga, see p. 166)—and then a shot of his feet under the seat, in thicksoled shoes, tapping to the music (21:45–21:49). Copyright restrictions proscribe a full transcription of the lyric, so the following is a paraphrase in English of the French lyric,69 with visuals and voice-over in italic: 21:49–22:09: In a semi-spoken verse, close-up of extravagant gestures and humorous mugging, the lyric describes the jazz fanatic as wearing baggy suits,70 of hostile but distracted ‘faraway’ demeanour, with a harsh voice, a ‘miserable guy’. 22:09–22.28: Fast boogie piano blues, Montand begins motionless then, as though carried away by the music, increasingly extravagant sinuous dance movements reminiscent of a shimmy, the kind of expression that would once have been described as ‘real gone’. As it builds up we hear the sound of the audience applauding. 22:28–22:39: Abrupt stop, then recommences at a slower tempo But as soon as he hears jazz, he goes crazy, he goes …. 22:39–22:56: Montand goes into a Cab Calloway routine of nonsense scat while there is intercut footage of manically jiving youth, often with the film sped up, saxophone, trombone, trumpet players. 22:56–23:07: Music stops, Montand back in shot, silently staggering and looking dazed and dizzy from the jazz frenzy. 23:07–23:26: He rarely sings old love songs like ‘The Pleasure of Love’ (see footnote)—at this Montand goes into a heavily mugging seductive va-va­va crooning routine, reminiscent of Bing Crosby. But no, what the jazz fanatic goes for is the ‘Hi-de-ho-s’. 23:26–23:34: In long shot, Montand resumes the Calloway-style ‘Hi-de-ho’ vocalising. 69  With thanks to colleague Michael Hollington, and Sue Fallon for the translation. They add the following note: ‘1) the title is difficult to translate because it refers to the noises people make with their mouths listening to music. The French say he makes “la” sounds, we have opted for the English “he goes la” and so have “he goes…” as our title. 2) Plaisir d’amour … refers to the famous 18th century song by Padre Martini, sung (amongst others) by Joan Baez.’ 70  Hollington and Fallon have opted for a loose translation of ‘Habits sans Style’ as ‘baggy pants’. That might apply to wartime French ‘jazz fanatiques’, but certainly not to Russian stiliaga, who usually wore very tight trousers. It is worth keeping this in mind as one of the differences between the two stereotypes, as discussed later.

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23:34–23:40: Businessman or intellectual … Intercut shot of a young man in the audience, conservative tie and suit, wearing an expression of disapproval or distaste. He could be that, but he is bored by love songs and seeks something else. He might briefly be moved listening to the classics … ‘Moonlight Sonata’ begins in background. Montand performs mugging routine, alternating between looking bored, puzzled and feigned appreciation of the music. 24:28–24:44: Voice-over commentary: ‘But if the jazz fan is brought to a concert of chamber or symphonic music, see how much this type of music is understandable for him and how close to his heart. … When this expert is asked how he likes classical music, he will reply to you “Oh yes, of course, it is very … wonderful!” … and he will fall asleep.’ But it only lasts a moment before he wants ‘Hi-de-ho, hi-de-ho’. 24:50–25:00: Music livens up again and Montand resumes Calloway vocalisations, finishing with a final gymnastic leap, legs spread.

This song had been a staple of Montand’s repertoire well before the USSR tour. The alternative title indicates its parodied subject, the jazz fan. As we embark on an analysis of this song, it is important to keep in mind that the film in which it occurs is very artfully constructed, nothing happens without directorial design including the choice of songs to include. This raises the question: what statement does the song appear to be making in relation to the film’s objectives? Apart from the voice-over commentary in the documentary, a comment in one review seems to confirm a convergence between the theme of the song and the Soviet ethos: ‘In addition there is a small portion of humour and well-informed irony in his songs. As if he sang to a stiliaga, and wanted to show how funny and ridiculous he is’.71 But how close is that convergence? To understand why this might have found favour with Soviet audiences, we need to briefly review Soviet attitudes to jazz during the mid-1950s. S. Frederick Starr’s 1983 pioneering history of jazz in the Soviet Union traces the fluctuating status of the music from its earliest manifestations in 1917, showing how official attitudes ranged from enthusiastic encouragement (as the music of an oppressed black community) to the most severe proscription (music of the capitalist ideological enemy). Among other factors, these shifts corresponded to the state of relations with the US. Subsequent smaller scale studies have built on Starr’s work, providing  Literaturnaja gazeta 22 December 1956, 336.

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nuanced case studies of specific periods and aspects of the music. During the late Stalinist period, with the onset of the Cold War, to ‘confess that one was a jazz fan was especially dangerous between 1948 and 1953, at the height of the anti-Semitic and anti-Western policy’. But the music was popular with Soviet youth and became ‘the first musical samizdat in the Soviet Union’, its first jazz ‘texts’ were ‘home-made records using X-ray plates’.72 In the years following Stalin’s death, the repressive attitude to the music gradually softened, and a local Soviet jazz scene began to emerge.73 During the mid-1950s, increasing numbers of jazz bands were formed and a jazz band competition was planned for the 1957 International Youth Festival in Moscow; while this proved massively popular,74 it also caused some alarm among the cultural elite.75 The Festival itself saw a significant influx of Western jazz groups, which added further to youthful enthusiasm for the music, and to the anxieties of those opposed to it, setting off ‘the most serious and consequential discussion of jazz yet’.76 From the mid-1950s to the early 1960s was thus very much a transitional period, in which jazz arrived at a position of what Abeßer called ‘partial acknowledgement’.77 Official discourse maintained a level of suspicion about jazz, but ‘the state itself was able neither to exercise a consistent policy on an ideologically appropriate popular music nor to coordinate a consistent policy between various ministries involved in the field’.78 At the same time other forces were working in the music’s favour, including the Thaw itself, and an increasing sense on the part of such organisations 72  Marina Dmitrieva. 2010. ‘Jazz and Dress: Stiliaga in Soviet Russia and Beyond’. In Jazz Behind the Iron Curtain, edited by Gertrud Pickhan and Rüdiger Ritter. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 243. 73  S. Frederick Starr. 1983. Red and Hot: The Fate of Jazz in the Soviet Union 1917–1980. New  York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 235-260; Dmitrieva, ‘Jazz and Dress: Stiliaga in Soviet Russia and Beyond’, 97–98. Abeßer, Michel. 2010. ‘Between Cultural Opening, Nostalgia and Isolation – Soviet Debates on Jazz Between 1953 and 1964.’ In Jazz Behind the Iron Curtain, edited by Gertrud Pickhan and Rüdiger. Ritter Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang: 99–116. 74  Pia Koivunen. 2013. Performing Peace and Friendship: The World Youth Festival as a Tool of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy, 1947–1957. Doctoral dissertation, University of Tampere, the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, 238. 75  Abeßer, ‘Between Cultural Opening, Nostalgia and Isolation’, 108–109. 76  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 97. 77  Abeßer, ‘Between Cultural Opening, Nostalgia and Isolation’, 99. 78  Abeßer, ‘Between Cultural Opening, Nostalgia and Isolation’, 107.

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as Komsomol, in effect the youth wing of the Communist party, that it was important not to lose the younger generation to the attractions of Western consumer culture.79 With the Komsomol’s powerful patronage, jazz cafes, clubs and contests would in due course sprout around the country and flourish80—the first Komsomol-run ‘jazz café’ opened in 1961.81 Yet opposition from the authorities persisted and at the 1959 Moscow Fair they vetoed participation by US jazz groups.82 That this was partly to do with the Cold War posture was disclosed as an argument developed that, while it was not acceptable for Soviet youth to be dancing to US music, the development of a distinctly Soviet jazz form would be acceptable.83 What we seem to be seeing here is the fundamental ‘jazz dilemma’ encountered by totalitarian societies: that is, that while jazz, among other forms of popular culture, was deemed ideologically unsound, the fact was that it had great popular appeal.84 Popular culture in general was regarded with suspicion because it tended to be in tension with the top-down controls dictated by ideology. Within the realm of popular culture, music has a special power, and jazz is particularly important in this dynamic because of its constitutive improvisational component. At least up to the late 1950s, it was the leading innovation in popular music for youth of the twentieth century. It therefore occupied a particularly incandescent position in the arc running between state ideology and popular taste. As a popular music performer, Yves Montand stood close to the borders of transgression in any case, but when his performance referenced jazz either implicitly or explicitly, the limits or forbearance were under stress, the balance between the imperatives of state ideology and a PR exercise in tolerance and openness was most imperilled. The voice-over to Montand’s ‘Il fait des …’ begins: ‘Jazz fanatic. But in our vocabulary, simply a stiliaga. Montand laughs at them, these people exist, unfortunately, also in our country.’ ‘Stiliagi’ (also transliterated as

 Abeßer, ‘Between Cultural Opening, Nostalgia and Isolation’, 100.  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 98. 81  Abeßer, ‘Between Cultural Opening, Nostalgia and Isolation’, 113. 82  Von Eschen, Satchmo Blows up the World, 95. 83  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 97; Abeßer, ‘Between Cultural Opening, Nostalgia and Isolation’, 110. 84  See, for example, Bruce Johnson, ed. 2017B. Jazz and Totalitarianism. New  York: Routledge. 79 80

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‘stilyagi’) or ‘style hunters’85 was a term coined in 1949 by a writer in the satirical magazine Krokodil, originally to describe young men who enjoyed new modern dances, but through the 1950s gradually becoming a broader descriptor for youth attracted to Western lifestyles. The males wore their hair in a high quiff and often sported a pencil thin moustache, dressed in over-sized jackets reminiscent of black US ‘zoot-suiters’ and very tight trousers, brightly coloured ties and socks, with thick-soled shoes.86 Their primary style-models came not directly from the US, but probably ultimately from the wartime zazous in France, ‘the country of fashion’.87 Bearing different names, there were versions of stiliagi throughout the Soviet bloc,88 and in some ways they corresponded to Western versions of youthful soi-disant rebels emerging through the 1950s—but, as we shall see, in significant ways, the Soviet versions were distinctive. One thing they did share with their Western counterparts was the proclamation of their identity through music, but in their case it was jazz, to which they had various forms of access, notably Willis Conover’s programmes on Voice of America; Conover’s status among jazz lovers in the Soviet bloc was godlike.89 While jazz had a broad-based class appeal among the young,90 the characteristic profile of the stiliagi was of children of the ‘new Soviet elite’,91 the professional classes such as lawyers, doctors and diplomats; this is pivotal to the plotline also in the high-budget, award-­ winning 2008 Russian feature film Stiliagi (dir. Valery Todorovsky), where conspicuous, parasitic consumption is regarded by the Komsomol as central to the lifestyle.92 The stiliaga lifestyle presupposed a significant level of affluence since it was hedonistic and sybaritic, as well as defiantly apolitical: 85  Martin Lücke. 2010 ‘The Postwar Campaign against jazz in the USSR’. In Jazz Behind the Iron Curtain, edited by Gertrud Pickhan and Rüdiger Ritter. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 96. 86  Dmitrieva, ‘Jazz and Dress: Stiliaga in Soviet Russia and Beyond’, 245. 87  Dmitrieva, ‘Jazz and Dress: Stiliaga in Soviet Russia and Beyond’, 254. 88  Dmitrieva, ‘Jazz and Dress: Stiliaga in Soviet Russia and Beyond’, 239; Anne Applebaum. 2013. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–1956. London: Penguin: 441–446. 89  See Heli Reimann. Forthcoming. The Tallinn ’67 Jazz Festival: Myths and a SovietAmerican Encounter. Routledge. 90  See a more detailed overview in Dmitrieva, ‘Jazz and Dress: Stiliaga in Soviet Russia and Beyond’, 252. 91  Lücke, ‘The Postwar Campaign against jazz in the USSR’, 97. 92  See further Graham H. Roberts. 2013. ‘Revolt into Style: Consumption and its (dis) contents in Valery Todorovsky’s film Stilyagi.’ In Film, Fashion & Consumption, 2/2: 187–200.

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the antithesis of a model Soviet youth, the loyal builder of socialist society devoted to the collective good, instead of individual pleasure. Stiliagi, as well as other youth subcultures that developed towards the end of the 1950s, such as bitniki (beatniks, enthusiasts of beat music and poetry) and shtatniki (admirers of American culture) presented alternatives to the official culture of the Komsomol.93

As such, they were officially disapproved of, potential threats to state ideology.94 The stiliaga was seen as immoral. He was bypassing the great socialist reality, he didn’t want to be a good worker, a real son (or daughter) of the Soviet heroes. Their world was nocturnal, their locus amoenas was a café or cocktail bar with its “foreign” ambience. Their music was jazz.95

Montand’s portrayal of the ‘jazz fanatic’ thus chimed well with the authorised attitudes towards the Soviet version. In 1957 the author Marina Ignateve described the repertoire of the winner of the International Youth Festival jazz contest as ‘nothing valuable and contains only cheap imitation that is much worse than the original … How boring are their empty stiliagi-like grimaces they show on stage, how unpleasant their constant sitting and jumping!’96 At the same time, however, by the mid-1950s, in the climate of the Thaw, the antagonism between state and stiliaga was softening. Although they were still subject to physical harassment by members of the Komsomol (having their hair and clothing forcibly cut) and regarded as less than ideal Soviet citizens, there was a growing tolerance, and even Khrushchev moderated his opposition.97 As in the case of jazz, the position of the stiliagi was in transition at the time Montand performed the jazz fanatic on stage. But as the disdainful opening voice-over indicates, his portrayal played directly to the official Russian suspicion of, if not outright hostility towards, this subculture and its music. Again, the translation of Montand into a Russian phenomenon appears to be perfect. On the face of it we have a French performer  Koivunen, Performing Peace and Friendship, 177–178.  Lücke, ‘The Postwar Campaign against jazz in the USSR’, 97. 95  Dmitrieva, ‘Jazz and Dress: Stiliaga in Soviet Russia and Beyond’, 247. 96  Abeßer, ‘Between Cultural Opening, Nostalgia and Isolation’, 110. 97  Dmitrieva, ‘Jazz and Dress: Stiliaga in Soviet Russia and Beyond’, 248, 253–254. 93 94

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presenting, and an audience applauding, a parody of a witless jazz fanatic, a further confirmation of the successful convergence between Montand and the Soviet public. But is there really such a convergence here, as suggested in the ridicule of the jazz fanatic? This takes us to Montand’s own attitudes to the music. We can begin by noting that while the lyrics of the song clearly portray the jazz fanatic as a simpleton, the actual music contains no hint of parody. When the pianist breaks into a boogie-woogie, the effect is compelling, and in fact we hear some audience members begin to clap or tap loudly along with the jazz and Montand’s supple dance. The intensity of the jazz feel should not be surprising. Signoret refers to the musicians as the ‘Jazz Band’,98 and it included some of France’s most famous jazz musicians. Documents from the Ministry of Culture confirm that Montand used band personnel with whom he had had extensive experience: Montand needs to pay his musicians and personnel in French francs, as they do not accept any other form of payment. Furthermore, Montand pays for them a daily salary, and not for each performance. Montand works with these musicians all the time, and the artistic value of the concerts depends to a great deal on their professional work.99

In addition to Signoret and a five-piece band, the Montand team included a hairdresser/make-up artist, a maid and stage technician, listed in passport applications as follows:

1. Montand, Yves (born Livi Iv) 2. Signoret, Simone (born Kaminker) 3. Miuselli, Luis-Ferdinand 4. Miuselli, Antonio 5. Castella, Maurice-Francois 6. Soudieu, Emmanuel-Serve 7. Paraboschi, Roger 8. Azzola, Marcel-Jean 9. Crolla, Henri 10. Soria, Georges

 Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 154.  Letter from Georges Soria to Stepanov and the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, dated in Paris, 10 July 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 78–80. [The French original version on pages 84–86.] 98 99

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The artists, who arrived on 17 December 1956 are visiting the Soviet Union by the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, and give concerts there. They will visit Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev. They will leave the country on 19 January 1957 to Warsaw.100

The musicians are Castella (piano), Soudieu (actually Soudieux) (bass), Paraboschi (drums), Azzola (accordion) and Crolla (guitar). The collective jazz credentials here were at the top of the scale in France at that time. Bassist Emmanuel Soudieux had played with Django Reinhardt and with another long-time member of the Reinhardt groups, reed player Hubert Rostaing, who later ‘became responsible for [Montand’s] orchestrations’. Soudieux also participated in the performance/recording of André Hodeir’s experimental Jazz et jazz in 1952.101 Montand also worked with another Reinhardt recording alumnus, Philippe Brun who also led his own jazz group and whose Quintet backed Montand for the singer’s major top billing show in 1941.102 Montand’s musical director since 1947 was pianist Bob Castella, who recalled auditioning for the position simply by playing ‘some jazz’ and that was enough.103 Castella was eminent in jazz circles, had had his picture in an early edition of the magazine Le Jazz Hot and was close with guitarist Henri Crolla, musically ‘the equal of his friend Django Reinhardt’ according to Montand.104 Crolla co-‘wrote’ with Hodeir the music for a short film by Jean-Jacques Languepin, Neige, which used scored music plus solos by trumpeters Roger Guérin and Fernand Verstraete improvised as they watch the movie.105 The three shared Montand’s Paris apartment, as well as musical kinship, and Montand’s recorded version of ‘Les feuilles mortes’ in 1949, with Bob Castella’s Orchestra, went on to sell a million copies in five years.106 100  A letter sent to V. I. Riazantsev, the director OVIR [the Visa and Passport Registration Department] from E. Kachugin, the director of the Department of External Contacts of the Ministry of Culture, dated 19 December 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 63. 101  Tom Perchard. 2015. After Django: Making Jazz in Postwar France. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 62. 102  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 71. 103  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 159. 104  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 164. 105  Perchard, After Django, 125. 106  John Edward Hasse. 2012. ‘“A New Reason for Living”: Duke Ellington in France’. In Eurojazzland: Jazz and European Sources, Dynamics, and Contexts, edited by Luca Cerchiari, Laurent Cugny and Frank Kerschbaumer. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 111.

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With Castella and Crolla as musical collaborators, Montand recalls that he ‘began to create an authentic jazz band’. Montand’s personal love of US jazz is abundantly documented. His early ambition was to be a jazz trumpeter and a publicity photograph from 1941 shows him in a flamboyant jacket modelled on Cab Calloway’s stage outfit.107 On first hearing Édith Piaf sing he declared: ‘I heard in it everything that had ever meant anything to me—rhythm, jazz.’108 This was during the Nazi occupation, when Swing was a ‘hot new craze’ that attracted the ire of Vichy France authorities whose spokespersons attacked the ‘poison of Americanism’, the ‘insanity of Negro jazz and then swing’, and described the ‘disease’ as ‘Americanitis’.109 According to Les Cahiers du Film, those thus afflicted wore ‘wide-brimmed hats, narrow neckties, ultralong jackets, trousers cuffed high on the ankle’. Prominent among the exponents of Swing were Charles Trenet, Django Reinhardt and a real ‘swing’ professional, Yves Montand, whose eccentric gifts are on display in many a major theatre. Having no partner, he grimaces, writhes, yells, slides, and dislocates himself with enough energy for two. He is ‘swing’ from head to toe, and since he’s well over six feet tall his swing-style shimmying and shaking seem to go on forever.110

This could be a description of the dancing and demeanour of the jazz fanatique/stiliaga as represented in Montand’s performance of ‘Il fait des’ in the Russian documentary. The reviews that followed his very successful Paris debut in 1944, commented adversely on his US-jazz inflected repertoire. He was summoned to explain himself at the Propagandastaffel, the censor’s office, where it was suggested that he cut back the US references.111 He was also subjected to similar criticism from the Communist Party in France, which in general he resisted; when an objection was raised to him singing ‘C’est si bon’ because it was too American, his defence was that Louis Armstrong had made it famous.112 So too did Montand; in 1986, Yves St Laurent launched  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 70, 71.  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 108; on jazz influences on Piaf see Loosely, Édith Piaf: A Cultural History, 90. 109  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 73–74. 110  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 74. 111  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 96, 97. 112  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 243-244. 107 108

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its after shave ‘Jazz’ with shots from the 1944 film Jammin’ the Blues, ‘soundtracked by a synth-swing version of Yves Montand’s old hit “C’est si bon”’.113 In the immediate post-war period, Montand performed at various Parisian nightclubs with a jazz reputation, including the Club des Cinq,114 and in 1946 he was referred to in the press as a ‘swing’ Louis Jouvet, ‘a Doctor Knock in love with boogie-woogie’.115 After 1951 Montand stopped performing in larger revues and was thus able to exercise full control over his shows, and as such, in his own words he ‘put together a group of musicians who played jazz the way he liked it’.116 The commitment was durable. During Duke Ellington’s sojourn in Paris in 1960, while he worked on the film Paris Blues, Montand was one of the guests at parties held in Ellington’s honour.117 When he presented his one-man show, An Evening with Yves Montand, on Broadway in the US in 1961, produced by jazz impresario Norman Granz, his US band included leading US jazz musicians.118 Significantly, he performed ‘Le fanatique du jazz’, confirming again that, however the Russian audiences might have interpreted his performance, it was by no means inconsistent with a commitment to jazz. The significant point to emerge from all this is that the message Montand was sending is not the message being received by the Soviet authorities or proclaimed in the documentary. One very important difference is that the jazz fanatic does not have the same political meaning as the stiliaga, even though they appear to be equivalent social phenomena. There is a crucial difference between what the ‘jazz fanatique’ meant in France and what the stiliaga meant in the USSR.119 The stiliaga could be categorised as a threat to the State ideology. The stiliagi were primarily from the privileged backgrounds. As discussed in Chap. 6, only the relatively affluent could afford tickets to Montand’s concerts and the  Perchard, After Django, 235.  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 129. 115  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 147. 116  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 205. 117  Hasse, ‘A New Reason for Living’, 197. 118  See http://www.playbill.com/production/an-evening-with-yves-montand-john-goldentheatre-vault-0000008446, accessed 31 January 2020. 119  Abeßer, ‘Between Cultural Opening, Nostalgia and Isolation’, 210. 113 114

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availability of tickets was also reduced by the Soviet Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ directive that many of them were to be held for the officials.120 Over sixty years later, one of the recurring memories of the tour was that the cost of the tickets placed them out of the reach of most people: It was more than difficult to get tickets to Montand’s concerts. Firstly, only rich people could dream of purchasing the tickets, because they were very expensive. It was ¼ of the monthly salary of the interviewee’s father, 20 roubles. Most likely, out of those people who could go to the concerts, approximately 70% were officials. To the rest, it was practically impossible to get tickets.121 It was very difficult to get tickets, and many who wanted to go could not do it, the tickets were very expensive.122 The concert tickets were very expensive, and not many people could afford to purchase tickets. It cost practically 1/3 of the monthly salary.123

Stiliagi who were able to attend the concerts were therefore likely to be from families wealthy enough for their children to be ‘parasitic’, that is, not in paid work (and also that they made up a large proportion of the youthful section of the audience). In the USSR, ‘parasitism’ was not simply frowned upon, but it was under certain circumstances a crime against the state.124 Montand’s ‘jazz fanatique’ is merely a harmless idiot. The stiliaga is a potential criminal, subverting the state ideology. This was a major semiotic discrepancy that eluded the film, lost in translation.

 A letter of Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Zorin V of the I European division of the Soviet Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the Vice-Minister of Culture Orvid, dated 29 October 1956. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 60. 121  Interview with Alexey Veshkin (b. 1961). Interview by Anastasia Kurasheva (interviewee’s friend’s daughter), 28 September 2019, Moscow. Peer-review of the transcript by Darya Artemova. 122  Interview with Elena (b. 1966), 10 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Alexander Bespalov and Sofia Kuznetsova, peer-review of the transcript by Elizaveta Karpova. 123  Interview with Elena Dellanoy (b. 1966), 21 September 2019, Lille (France). Interview by Maria Korenko and Marina Zucconi, peer-review of the transcript by Ilya Lukhovitskiy. 124   Abeßer, ‘Between Cultural Opening, Nostalgia and Isolation’, 108. See further Ferdinand Joseph Maria Feldbrugge, Gerard Pieter Van den Berg, William Bradford Simons, eds. 1985. Encyclopedia of Soviet Law, 2nd Revised Edition. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 555. 120

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So exactly what is the meaning of Montand’s stardom in relation to this music? When we think of Montand’s vast Soviet audiences, we must remember the heterogeneity of that category. They included conservatives who took unbridled pleasure in the parody of the ‘jazz fanatique’, but on the evidence of the film, the audiences also included stiliagi for whom the parodic representation of themselves is also an opportunity to tap their feet to some full-on jazz. Like similar ‘double coding’ movements in relation to later rock in the USSR, the mocking of jazz culture was also an opportunity to provide the experience of jazz under the guise of ridicule, in keeping with the official line. There is an ambivalence here, relating to the attempt to reconcile Russian tradition with Western modernity, as in the presentation of Leningrad as a union of tradition and modernity (49:24). It emerges also in the portrayal of the sleigh ride (47:51–48.30) discussed in Chap. 7: ‘We Russians don’t use these any more, but we provide them for our visitors.’ This is for the Russian audiences. The ambivalence about ‘Russian-ness’ thus signified is a kind of mirror image of the attitude to jazz. We don’t endorse this, but many do enjoy it. An example of this tension is provided by the image of the stiliagi in the opening of ‘Il fait des’ (Figs. 8.2 and 8.3). On the face of it, the camera has simply picked him out of the crowd and given the accompanying voice-over comments, it is reasonable to assume that he is not complicit in the unflattering message. But as discussed earlier, we also know that the close-ups of smiling audience members were posed and indeed that the film is so carefully constructed that there are no ‘accidents’—everything is in an important sense ‘staged’. Fig. 8.2  Young man listening to Montand… (Source: Yves Montand Sings (1957))

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Fig. 8.3  …and tapping his feet. (Source: Yves Montand Sings (1957))

There are several developing drafts of the treatment.125 The brief footage of the stiliaga was not in the original treatment and only appeared in later versions, suggesting that when it came to the actual filming, he was picked up unexpectedly and happened to fit with the opening lines of ‘Il fait des’. But if this was so, if he was not actively co-operating with the film makers, how did they secure the footage of his tapping feet, which would have required setting up the camera with his knowledge and collaboration? Thus, the superficially anti-jazz message is full of questions and paradoxes. These raise questions that we do not at this time have the evidence to answer, but what we can be certain of is that they disturb the sense of the neat and unproblematic symbiosis between Montand’s attitudes and those of his Soviet audience as represented in the documentary. These are micro-examples of a much more basic dissonance in the message of the documentary, which will be articulated at greater length in the Conclusions.

 An early version of the plan of the film Yves Montand Sings, no date. RGALI f. 2487 op. 1 ed. hr. 560; a suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutskii and S. Yutkevich, no date [~ late November or early December 1956]. RGALI f. 2487 op. 1 ed. hr. 560, 71; Film description of the film Singer of Paris, version I, dated 15 December 1956. RGALI f. 2487 op. 1 ed. hr. 560; Film description of the film Singer of Paris, version II, dated 21 December 1956. RGALI f. 2487 op. 1 ed. hr. 560; an early version of the script of the Yves Montand Sings documentary film by Mikhail Slutskii and Sergei Yutkevich, no date [February 1957]. RGALI f. 2487 op. 1 ed. hr. 560; script of the Yves Montand Sings documentary film by Mikhail Slutskii and Sergei Yutkevich, dated 1 March 1957. RGALI f. 2487 op. 1 ed. hr. 560. 125

CHAPTER 9

Conclusions

Montand’s Soviet tour provides an exemplary case study in the dialectics of cultural diplomacy, the inherent tensions which work against its own objectives. The chronicle begins with a strong synergy between the parties to the diplomatic project. Prior to the tour, Montand and the USSR enjoyed a relationship of mutual respect and admiration. Montand had become a cult figure for Soviet youth, reinforced by his socialist sympathies. When Komsomol’skaja Pravda published extracts of his book Du soleil plein la tête (A Head Full of Sun), Montand began to receive thousands of letters from his Soviet readers including requests for one of his songs, to be featured at the forthcoming International Youth Festival to be held in Moscow in 1957.1 On Montand’s side, as we have seen, although sympathetic to communism, he was not a party member, but was drawn to the new policy of peaceful coexistence, and felt that in the Soviet Union he could find an effective forum as an advocate for world peace. It was largely as such, however, that we find a growing irritation in his attitude to Soviet politics and society. Even before he departed France, he had registered his anger at the invasion of Hungary: ‘I’ll say a lot once I’m in the Soviet Union, and even more when I get back’.2 In the course of the tour itself, two events in particular were early signals of his increasing  Evgenia Gordienko. 1998. Iv Montan. Muzhchina – Mif. Rostov-on-Don: Feniks, 182.  Yves Montand, Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman. 1992. You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, translated by Jeremy Leggatt. London: Chatto & Windus, 262. 1 2

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Oiva et al., Yves Montand in the USSR, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9_9

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v­ exation. The first was on 19 December, when the couple were invited to a private official supper with Khrushchev, Molotov, Bulganin, Malenkov and Mikoyan, discussed in Chap. 7. To the dismay of their hosts, Montand and Signoret made it clear that the invasion of Hungary was, in their words, ‘unspeakable’.3 The second was his angry departure from the reception at the Writers’ House on 31 December, described in Chap. 6. These events reflect a growing unease in both Montand and Signoret regarding the tour and its purpose. Gradually they began to sense that although he had seen the tour as an opportunity to reinforce the message of peace, his tour was being ‘translated’ into a propaganda weapon in the Cold War. This was in parallel with an increasing disillusionment with the Soviet communist experiment. While Montand felt an affinity with the general populace, Gordienko records many occasions when the singer was shocked by the inequities between the common people and those at the top of the political and social hierarchy. In spite of the attempts to shepherd the couple away from evidence of hardship, when they managed to escape the ‘sanitary cordon’ of their escorts as they encountered scenes of poverty and winter misery they realised that they were being permitted only a carefully chosen view of Soviet life.4 Signoret also heard dissonances in the harmonious music that their hosts were trying to present. As noted earlier, although Soviet press reviews of Montand’s performances reported applause for his anti-war song ‘Quand un soldat’, Signoret’s recollection is that there was some chilliness in its reception.5 She asked at one point if Salt of the Earth, a film made about anti-corporate strikers, by anti-McCarthyists Michael Wilson, Paul Jarrico and Herbert Biberman, was showing in Moscow, but she was fobbed off with excuses until she realised that the authorities ‘would rather not let Soviet citizens know that in America there were people who took risks’.6 Such experiences persuaded the couple that the authorities were careful to circulate sanitised information to the public; it seemed to Signoret that news about Hungary for example, was generally suppressed among the people they were permitted to encounter.7  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 164–166.  Gordienko, Iv Montan, 205. 5  Simone Signoret. 1978. Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be. New  York: Harper & Row, 159. 6  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 158. 7  Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 161. 3 4

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In the wake of the tour, Montand was angered by evidence that his explicitly proclaimed mission as a peace activist had been (strategically?) underplayed in the way the Soviets later represented his visit. Having read an article on international cultural exchanges with Russia printed in April 1957  in Nouvel de Moscou, Montand wrote a letter to Nikolai Danilov, vice-Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union: Mr. Vice-Minister I read with great interest your article on international cultural contacts in the “Nouvel de Moscou”. I was a bit surprised that I did not find my name among the several names of international artists you rightfully listed as having strengthened peace and friendship among nations. It’s a pity if you forgot about me. If you did it purposefully, I am sorry for that. I only need to wish that my visit in Moscow left a more stable memory among the Muscovites, than in your heart. Please, Mr. Vice-Minister, accept my highest considerations. Yves Montand.8

Danilov’s response was extremely vague on detail: Dear Mr. Montand Unfortunately your letter arrived to Moscow when I was in Finland. This caused the delay in my response to you. I understand the feelings of confusion and disappointment that you felt when reading the article in “Nouvel de Moscou”. But I ask you not to believe that I would have deliberately left your name unmentioned. This happened due to misunderstanding. With feelings of respect to you, N. Danilov9

It is difficult to know what kind of ‘misunderstanding’ might have led to the omission from a list of visiting peace advocates, of such a highly

8  Letter of Yves Montand to Nikolai Danilov, vice-Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union, Russian translation of the original in French, dated Paris March 30, 1957. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 606, 103. 9  A letter of Nikolai Danilov, vice-Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union, to Yves Montand, dated April [18], 1957. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 606, 107. See also Gordienko 1998: 62.

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publicised tour by a performer whose first words on landing in Moscow, and whose constant theme throughout the tour, were of peace. In complete contrast to the idealised presentation of his tour in the documentary, Montand later recorded the effects of that momentous year on him: ‘The events of 1956 and 1957 meant the loss of faith for me’10 and he publicly condemned the execution of Imre Nagy in February 1957, resulting in a violent argument with his communist brother Julien.11 This disaffection, both ideological and personal, widened. The sense of social justice that had driven him leftwards in his youth, now drove him, not rightwards but to anti-totalitarianism,12 to bi-partisan human rights activism, for which he became one of France’s leading spokesmen, against both right and left. Along with Bourdieu and Foucault, he later publicly spoke out against the French government’s inaction in the face of the suppression of Poland’s Solidarity movement in 1981, ironically receiving the accusation from Mitterand of being a ‘right-wing anarchist’.13 And finally the rupture with his brother Julien became absolute.14 On the Soviet side, although his tour was remembered fondly as a symbol of the new liberalism of the Thaw, there was nonetheless also a sour residue. Many anecdotes circulating still today in Russia manifest problems in cross-Iron Curtain understanding. An example of the stories told by the interviewees manifested the various challenges in transnational communication: according to the story, related by a respondent who was a teenager at the time of Montand’s tour, during their visit to the car factory, Simone Signoret had seen how young women carried heavy items in very difficult conditions. Later at the party with Khrushchev and other party leaders, Signoret had asked Khrushchev why young women needed to do such a physically heavy work, and how were they going to have children if they need to do that. The interpreter, who was for the first time interpreting for the highest leadership, did not know how to translate such a frank and direct speech to a leader. Therefore, she tried to translate as diplomatically as possible and ended up translating the question in a way that sounded like ‘What do you think about motherhood in the Soviet Union?’ Khrushchev’s response was something about the good conditions  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 282.  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 283. 12  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 407. 13  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 409. 14  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 404–406. 10 11

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of mothers in the Soviet Union. The interpreter understood that it was not a response to Signoret’s original question, but translated Khrushchev’s words as if they were.15 Montand’s and Signoret’s interpreter Nadezda Nechaeva recalled in her interview, published in Ogonek journal in 2004, that Signoret had seen women working hard at the factory, and after the visit she had tears in her eyes because she felt so sorry for these poor women. However, although mentioning her anxiety when she had to translate the direct questions of Montand and Signoret to Khrushchev, she did not tell this particular story that probably circulated as a rumour.16 The story, truthful or not, reflects the misunderstandings and difficulties in attempting to negotiate those differences in the Cold War era. Another anecdote that was widely repeated in the interviews made for this book—altogether eight of the twenty-three respondents tell it in one form or another—is the story of Montand and/or Signoret purchasing Soviet made underwear during their tour, and exhibiting it after their return to Paris. In most of the stories the underwear is dreadful and the women’s underwear of very inferior quality, although men’s underwear is also mentioned. This action is seen as a major insult to Soviet women, and in turn to Soviet society in general. In many versions of the story, after the insulting exhibition, the Soviet leadership stopped promoting Montand in the Soviet Union. Some of the respondents deemed the story an urban legend, but some of them believed it, and it affected their attitudes towards Montand and Signoret.17 One respondent, for example, asked indignantly 15  Interview with Boris Yakovlevich (b. 1939), 7 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Polina Protasova, peer-review of transcript by Sofia Kuznetsova. 16  ‘I togda Iv Montan sprosil Khrushcheva: Zachem?’ Ogonek, 2004. http://www.ogoniok.com/archive/2004/4846/19-60-62/. 17  Interview with Zoya Alexandrovna Fedotova (b. 1926), 7 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Ilya Lukhovitskiy, peer-review of the transcript by Jana Parshina; Interview with Valentina Bogun (b. 1936), 29 September 2019, Shchokino, Tula region, Russian Federation. Interview by Angelina Naumova, peer-review of the transcript by Darya Umanets; Interview with Tatiana Chaykovskaya (b. 1941), 2 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Maria Korenko, peer-review of the transcript by Ivan Karnaukhov; Interview with Olga Isaakovna Amosova (b. 1946), 19 and 22 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Darya Umanets, peerreview of the transcript by Anastasia Kurasheva; Interview with Ludmila Anatolyevna Kozlova (b. 1962), 10 October 2019. Interview by Ivan Karnaukhov, peer-review of interview transcript by Takhmina Kasimova; Interview with a person (b. 1945), 8 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Yana Parshina, peer-review of the interview transcript by Angelina Naumova; Interview with Elena Dellanoy (b. 1966), 21 September 2019, Lille (France). Interview by Maria Korenko and Marina Zucconi, peer-review of the transcript by Ilya Lukhovitskiy;

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‘How could he do such a thing? France gave Hitler the key, figuratively speaking, and laid down to him! Perhaps if Europe had opposed him a little, Hitler would not have devastated half of our country. And he goes and exhibits our underwear!’18 This respondent is referring of course to the enormous sacrifices made by the Soviet Union during World War II when fighting against Nazi Germany, and in the process saving occupied France. In her view, the French celebrities, instead of showing gratitude to the Soviet Union for saving Europe from Nazism, insult Soviet citizens by publicly ridiculing such intimate details. The story of Montand arranging an exhibition of Soviet underwear in Paris seems to be an urban legend born after Montand’s tour. In the 1960s there circulated in the Soviet Union other urban legends about a dangerous foreigner who could harm the reputation of Soviet citizens by publicising matters that were meant to remain private. In some of the legends the dangerous foreigner was Yves Montand, and in some it was Gérard Philipe. The foreigners of the stories had the power to cause the citizens feelings of either pride or shame, thus possessing a power comparable to the Soviet authorities. According to Arkhipova and Kriziuk, the underwear exhibition did not actually take place. But because it was based on one of the fundamental phobias of Soviet people, for many, the story seemed very real.19 In other versions of the story, after his return to France Montand published critical remarks about the Soviet Union based on his experiences there, and this caused a rift in his relations with the Soviet leadership and audiences, or caused the French government to prohibit his return to the Soviet Union.20 More important than the actual veracity of such stories, is the question of what Montand’s tour and the transnational cultural diplomacy activities for which it provided a platform, mean to Russians today. These widely Interview with Alexander Kolibersky (b. 1946), Moscow, 28 September 2019. Interview by Anna Koliberskaya, peer-review of the transcript by Alexandra Mikhaylidi. 18  Interview with a person (b. 1945). 19  Aleksandra Sergeevna Arhipova and Anna Andreevna Kirziuk. 2018. ‘Krasnaia plenka, chernye ochki i vsevidiashchee oko vlasti.’ Folklor i antropologia goroda No 1 (2018): 134–56, 141–141. 20  Interview with Elena (b. 1966), 10 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Alexander Bespalov and Sofia Kuznetsova, peer-review of the transcript by Elizaveta Karpova; Interview with Elena Vasilieva (b. 1976), 13 November 2019, Moscow. Interview by Anna Ostapenko, peer-review of the interview transcript by Daria Khokhlova; Interview with Boris Yakovlevich (b. 1939).

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circulated stories can contain seeds of the collective understanding of the past, and how we see ourselves and our place in the contemporary world.21 The stories reveal that Montand is still part of the present-day Russian understanding of their past. The Montand tour left a mark that is indelible to this day. His music is still present in the new forms of Russian culture. For example, the widely used social media platform VKontakte contains Montand’s music, and there people can find him again. It seems that finally, with all the ambiguities, Montand became part of the Soviet culture and currently he is remembered as a figure from the Soviet past, a reminder of the Thaw era culture. Montand’s enduring popularity and his role as a bearer of Soviet nostalgia are exemplified, for example, in the publication of extensive collections of Montand’s songs in the 1990s and 2000s based on recordings during the Soviet tour, and others from the 1950s and the 1960s.22 The interviews with Russian citizens in autumn 2019 show that many people do still remember Montand’s tour in the Soviet Union, and for some of them it was a unique manifestation of the new spirit of the Thaw. Younger generations born after the visit also know about the singer and his tour, either from the stories of their parents and grandparents, or through social

21  Barbara Törnquist Plewa, Tea Sindbæk Andersen and Astrid Erll. 2017. ‘Introduction: On Transcultural Memory and Reception.’ In The Twentieth Century in European Memory: Transcultural Mediation and Reception, edited by Barbara Törnquist Plewa and Tea Sindbæk Andersen, 1–23. European Studies, Volume 34. Leiden: Brill, 2017; Pertti Grönholm and Heino Nyyssönen. 2019. ‘Historian käyttö ennen ja nyt – faktana ja fiktiona.’ Kosmopolis 49 (3): 7–27, 9. 22  ‘When a Faraway Friend Sings’, Russian Disc 1991. Discogs: https://www.discogs. com/%D0%98%D0%B2-%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B4%D0%B0-%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%B5%D1%82-%D0%9 4%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9%D0%94%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B3/release/3596411, accessed 21 February 2020; ‘Yves Montand. Grand Boulevards’, Rosmen 2001. Discogs: https://www.discogs. com/%D0%98%D0%B2-%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD-%D0%9 1%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%88%D0%B8%D0%B5-%D0%91%D1%83%D0%BB%D1% 8C%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%8B/release/2307109, accessed 21 February 2020; ‘Yves Montand. The Actor and the Song’, Vostokhim 2001. Discogs: https://www.discogs. com/%D0%98%D0%B2-%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD% D 0 % 9 0 % D 0 % B A % D 1 % 8 2 % D 0 % B 5 % D 1 % 8 0 %D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BD%D1%8F/release/11275939, accessed 21 February 2020.

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media platforms.23 Interestingly, even the interviewees born decades after Montand’s tour ‘remember’ the times through the stories heard from the family, relatives and friends, and based on what they have learned from elsewhere. Montand continues to live his Soviet life. Yet, as we have seen, there were dissonances in the apparent harmony of the tour. Although Montand managed to conquer the Soviet Union— with the help of the propagation of the Soviet image of him—there were differences in understanding that could not be reconciled, that led to disillusionment on both sides. Following the tour, Montand was irreversibly alienated from the Soviet experiment, and many Soviets felt that on his return home he had insulted them. The perfect harmony between the visiting celebrities and the Soviet culture portrayed in Yves Montand Sings was thus itself ultimately a fiction. Montand had been a life-long sympathiser with the left, and was represented in the film as a political ‘trophy’ of the USSR, a celebrity endorsement of the new Soviet order. Yet ironically he concluded the tour irrevocably disillusioned with the regime. What was intended as a form of cultural diplomacy and rapprochement was in fact intersected by confused and confusing political messages. As reported in Le Figaro 27 February 1958, Montand said: ‘I feel all too clearly that I’ve been exploited, just like a shampoo or a drink’.24 Given the USSR’s objectives for the tour, it is ironic that its effect on Montand was, by his own account, to turn him completely away from communism.25 This split widened over the years and, as seen above, he became a bi-partisan human rights activist.

23  See, for example Interview with Alexander Kolibersky (b. 1946); Interview with Alexey Veshkin (b. 1961). Interview by Anastasia Kurasheva, 28 September 2019, Moscow. Peerreview of the transcript by Darya Artemova; A narrative by Alexey Derevyakin (b.1983) recorded by the narrator based on the questions sent by Darya Umanets. October 2019, Moscow/Skype. Transcription of the narrative by Darya Umanets, peer-review of the transcript by Lidia Larkina; Interview with Anna (b. 1999), 8 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Daria Khokhlova, peer-review by Anna Ostapenko; Interview with Iya Pavlenina (b. 1944) and Valentin Pavlenin (b. 1941), 18 October 2019, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Interview by Lidia Larkina, peer-review of interview transcript by Daria Khokhlova; Interview correspondence with Karina (b. 1985), 10 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Alexander Bespalov and Sofia Kuznetsova; Interview with Oleg Arkadievich Dmitriev (b.1968), 3 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Alexandra Mikhaylidi, peer-review of the interview transcript by Maria Korenko; Interview with Zoya Alexandrovna Fedotova (b. 1926). 24  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 283. 25  Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 275–276.

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This narrative thus brings together many critical moments in the history of twentieth-century culture and politics, including the first great crisis in state socialism, a crisis of global significance. Montand’s tour and his music lie at the central moment of these shifts and expose all the contradictions they entail. When he sings about the jazz fanatic to the Soviet audiences, they are all hearing the same song, but the complex, multi-­ layered meanings of the jazz fanatic mean they are all receiving very different messages. In this exercise in cultural diplomacy, the semiotic dissonance could hardly be more jarring. The message of the documentary Yves Montand Sings was of the rich mutual benefits of cultural diplomacy. The film presents a smooth-flowing narrative of an untroubled Soviet Union welcoming Montand and Signoret, who eagerly embrace the host culture. But it was framed and traversed by hidden tensions, contradictions and unforeseen consequences. As such, Montand’s tour was a prototype of the ambiguous outcomes of the International Youth Festival of the following year, which itself cross-­ referenced back to Montand: Lolita Torres and Yves Montand had only recently appeared on the screens, radio waves, and in the press—and were immediately recycled and reinterpreted in festival scripts. They were the models for film titles, the characters in documentaries, the exemplars of deportment in the stage and in the street. … The festival thus illustrates the process by which foreign cultural products, embraced and domesticated, became the interpretive context for the reception of later imports.26

The conflicting undercurrents that swirled around the Montand tour, surfaced more clearly in the International Youth Festival the following year. There were various dilemmas that faced the Festival organisers. For one thing, the International Youth Festival had to reconcile ‘how to represent Russia while striking universal recognition’.27 While ‘bygone Russia’ was important, the head of the Komsomol, Aleksandr Shelepin also wanted to dispel ‘the image of Russia and her bears’ as ‘no longer the essence of the Russian “national character.” They were a joke. The serious content was this: “We must show [Russia] [sic] as an advanced, mighty power with one 26  Gilburd, Eleonory 2018. To See Paris and Die. The Soviet Lives of Western Culture. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 101. 27  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 65.

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of the greatest cultures that any country could envy.”’28 When culture is harnessed to politics in a diplomatic exercise, how do you project local identity in conjunction with internationalism, folk tradition with modernity? This same dilemma had faced the makers of the Montand documentary: how to present Montand in a ‘bygone Russia’ that was also the acme of cosmopolitan modernity, as for example in the commentary on the couple’s sleigh ride (see Chap. 8). A further dilemma that has grown ever more urgent with the trajectory of globalisation, grew out of the encounter between cultural authenticity and foreign influence. Pia Koivunen has documented in detail the anxieties felt by the Soviet authorities at the possibility that the massive influx of youth from all over the globe would lead to contamination. Foreign delegates would inevitably cross the boundaries, and compromise acceptable standards, of Soviet conduct that could well ‘infect’ the locals.29 In the leadup to the Festival, members of Komsomol and trade unions warned Moscow youth of the dangers of being seduced by decadent Western culture and the authorities came to understand that they needed to review their tactics in the cultural education of Soviet youth.30 Conclusions would then be drawn about the unforeseen negative potential of such cultural diplomacy exercises. In light of the discussion relating to Montand’s music, it is significant to note that it was jazz in particular that became an example of the Trojan Horse for Western cultures and values. Jazz was featured at the Festival, and became the subject of vigorous debate, as for example between the Komsomol and the Composers’ Union.31 The anxieties about the susceptibility of Muscovite youth were well-founded: an international competition for jazz groups attracted fifteen bands from over half a dozen countries (and three from the Soviet Union), and was so popular that the hall could not accommodate all who wished to attend, and the police had to calm the overflow crowd outside.32 From distant Australia the Southern Cross Jazz Band was popular enough to record an album, and appear on television

 Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 65–66.  Pia Koivunen. 2013. Performing Peace and Friendship: The World Youth Festival as a Tool of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy, 1947–1957. Doctoral dissertation. University of Tampere, the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, 20, 151. 30  Koivunen, Performing Peace and Friendship, 175, 326. 31  Koivunen, Performing Peace and Friendship, 178; see further 179–181, 248–250. 32  Koivunen, Performing Peace and Friendship, 237–238. 28 29

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and in a short film.33 In the discussions within the Soviet establishment about policy on youth and culture that followed the Festival, jazz was a central topic.34 They recognised the ‘jazz dilemma’ that had also been encountered in totalitarian Nazi Germany: that is, that while the music was regarded with suspicion by the state apparatus, it was irresistibly attractive to the young.35 As such it required a tactical adjustment of official policy, leading to the fostering of a distinctive ‘Soviet jazz’.36 The unintended outcome of the Festival was profound, producing a powerful sense of popular empowerment, so much so that, ‘remembering the feeling years later, some people consider the festival to have been one of the Soviet government’s fatal mistakes for opening the country to the world’.37 The effects were also long-lasting. Fifty years later, the writer Anatolii Makarov declared in Izvestia, ‘In thoughts, emotions, in the songs and dances of the festival my generation regenerated during the festival days. All Russian free-­thinkers, all the specialists of jazz and modern art, the fashion-conscious and the polyglots have their roots in the summer of 1957’.38 Given all this, it is ironic that the festival, like the Montand documentary, ‘was meticulously scripted, including the crowds in the streets, the flowers, even the hugs’.39 Both events illustrated one of the dangers of cultural diplomacy: that of a fundamental conflict between the political and cultural agenda.40 The Montand tour and the International Youth Festival of which it was a precursor in the problems of cultural ‘translation’, echo other problematics in cultural diplomacy such as the US State Department jazz tours. Beginning, significantly, in the same year as Montand’s tour, with a band led by Dizzy Gillespie, these frequently featured African-American jazz musicians. The intention was to advertise the US to the world (or more specifically to those regions in which the US had strategic and economic interests), as a racially integrated society, through what was presented as its own unique contribution to music. At one level  Koivunen, Performing Peace and Friendship, 238–239.  Koivunen, Performing Peace and Friendship, 102–105. 35  Bruce Johnson 2020, Jazz Diaspora: Music and Globalisation, New York and London: Routledge: 67. 36  Koivunen, Performing Peace and Friendship, 104–105, 323–324. 37  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 56. 38  Cited in Koivunen, Performing Peace and Friendship, 327. 39  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 56. 40  Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 61. 33 34

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these tours were a major triumph of cultural diplomacy, rather as Montand’s tour was represented in the documentary film. But, against the background of the Civil Rights movement at home, they often found that their musical diplomats were not the most amenable mouthpieces. Louis Armstrong had been an early choice, but amid great publicity, he refused: ‘The way they are treating my people in the South … the Government can go to hell’.41 And those musicians who did accept the invitation were not always reading from the same page as the State Department. The African-­ American performers often made announcements, speeches and cultivated connections and networks that reflected their own personal agenda.42 ‘When the State Department inaugurated these exercises in US propaganda, they did not foresee that one effect would be to contribute to a pan-Africanism that would eclipse the US and in fact set up what could be seen as a competing militant state based on global blackness’.43 In 1970, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company toured the USSR, an encounter between two countries committed to cultural diplomacy. The junction resulted in an exquisite tangle of political and cultural agenda that compounded the problems we have been reviewing. One of the items on the Ailey programme represented the plight of South African people under apartheid; his dancer Judith Jamison spoke of it as being also ‘a reflection of the frustrations you have as an African-American living in the United States’. One the one hand, Soviet officials might have welcomed the implied criticism of the United States. But on the other, they might have understood the universal application of the dance all too well. Ailey’s audiences, like Armstrong’s, responded to the yearning for freedom that was so evident in Ailey’s choreography. For the Soviets, that could be inconvenient, and even dangerous.44

Here, as in the case of Montand’s tour, the two particularist discourses attempting mediation through the universalist, pull in different directions. 41  Penny von Eschen. 2004 Satchmo Blows up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War. Cambridge Mass, London: Harvard University Press, 63. 42  Bruce Johnson. 2020. Jazz Diaspora: Music and Globalisation, New York and London: Routledge: 71–72. 43  Bruce Johnson. Forthcoming. ‘Blackness, Jazz and Globalization’, in Oxford Handbook of Global Popular Music, edited by Simone Krüger Bridge. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 44  von Eschen, Satchmo Blows up the World, 201.

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The result is an attempt at cultural exchange in which the meanings of a performance spin wildly out of control. The meanings are lost in translation. This book has been an exploration into Yves Montand’s tour of the Soviet Union but also into those webs of significance that surrounded it. The tour itself remains an illuminating chapter in the history of cultural diplomacy, encapsulating the tensions of the Cold War era and the difficulties in cultural exchange. Simultaneously, Montand’s itineraries speak to us on the construction of transnational fame. In the politically turbulent twentieth century, Yves Montand was able to transgress borders: in his youth between Italy and France, later between Vichy France and Paris, and the working-class and the intelligentsia. In 1956 and 1957, as we have seen, he traversed both sides of the Iron Curtain, not only in the Soviet Union but also in other countries of the Eastern bloc. Subsequently his peripatetic life continued and, in 1959, he toured widely in West Europe and Scandinavia, and finally in the United States. The culmination of his transnational career was the year 1960: only three years after his concerts in Moscow, he appeared on Broadway and starred in George Cukor’s Let’s Make Love in Hollywood together with Marilyn Monroe. In the era of the Cold War, Montand embodied the East/West dualism of the world, the attempt to bridge the gap through cultural encounter, but also the inherent contradictions, deficiencies and perils of cultural diplomacy.

Appendix A: Discography of Yves Montand’s Soviet-Made Recordings

Sources used for collecting the data • Discogs (www.discogs.com) • Katalog sovetskih plastinok (https://records.su/) • Meshok (https://meshok.net/) • Russian Records (https://www.russian-records.com/index.php) The dates indicated in the list are based on the information on the websites, which are composed by platform users’ uploaded images and information on the recordings. In those cases, where we have doubts concerning the publication year we have inserted a question mark. The names of the songs are in Russian, and we added the French titles for those that we could identify, and the ones that we were unable to identify we provide the Russian name with an asterisk (*). It is very likely that not all the Montand recordings published in the Soviet Union are in this list.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Oiva et al., Yves Montand in the USSR, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9

189

Riga Moscow Leningrad Riga Moscow Leningrad Leningrad Moscow Riga Tashkent Moscow Leningrad Moscow

1954 1955 1955? 1955 1955 1955 1955 1955 1955 1955 1955 1955 1955

Pesenka frantsuzskogo soldata / Shofery Pesenka frantsuzskogo soldata / Shofery Pesenka frantsuzskogo soldata / Shofery Pol de Vans / Brodiachie akrobaty Pol de Vans / Brodiachie akrobaty Pol de Vans / Brodiachie akrobaty Doroga oliv / Pochtovye kartochki Doroga oliv / Pochtovye kartochki Doroga oliv / Pochtovye kartochki Doroga oliv / Pochtovye kartochki Ulitsa Lepik / Devushka na kacheliakh Ulitsa Lepik / Devushka na kacheliakh Parizhskii mal’chishka / Kulechek zharennogo kartofelia

Place

Date

Soviet recording name Latin alphabet

Aprelevskii zavod

Leningradskii zavod

Aprelevskii zavod

Tashkentskii zavod

Rizhkii zavod

Aprelevskii zavod

Leningradskii zavod

Leningradskii zavod

Aprelevskii zavod

Rizhkii zavod

Leningradskii zavod

Aprelevskii zavod

Riga Skanuplasu Fabrika

Producer

Saint-Paul de Vence; Les Saltimbanques Saint-Paul de Vence; Les Saltimbanques Saint-Paul de Vence; Les Saltimbanques Le Chemin des oliviers; Cartes postales Le Chemin des oliviers; Cartes postales Le Chemin des oliviers; Cartes postales Le Chemin des oliviers; Cartes postales Rue Lepic; Une Demoiselle sur une balançoire Rue Lepic; Une Demoiselle sur une balançoire Le Gamin de Paris; Cornet de frites

Quand un soldat; Les Routiers

Quand un soldat; Les Routiers

Quand un soldat; Les Routiers

Songs in French

190  APPENDIX A: DISCOGRAPHY OF YVES MONTAND’S SOVIET-MADE…

1955?

1955?

Khorosho / Doroga oliva

Iv Montan—Podsolnechnik / Parizhskii mal’chishka

Dnepropetrovsk

Odessa

Kharkov

1955

Moscow

1955?

Leningrad Moscow Tashkent Stavropol/ Pjatigorsk

Moscow

1955

1955 1955 1955 1955

Riga

Moscow

1955?

1955

Leningrad

1955

Nado bylo / V Parizhe Nado bylo / V Parizhe Nado bylo / V Parizhe N. Nikitinskii—Mari Bizon / Iv Montan—Pesenka frantsuzskogo soldata Khorosho / Doroga oliva

Parizhskii mal’chishka / Kulechek zharennogo kartofelia Vstrecha so svobodoi / Podsolnechnik Vstrecha so svobodoi / Podsolnechnik

Parizhskii mal’chishka / Kulechek zharennogo kartofelia Parizhskii mal’chishka / Kulechek zharennogo kartofelia

Dnepropetrovsk Oktjabrskii Raipromkombinat Oblmesttopprom

Odessa Primorskii Raipromkombinat

Mestnaja promyshlennost g. Moskvy; Trest ‘Mosgorplastmass’, Fabrika plastmass No 1 Leningradskii zavod Aprelevskii zavod Tashkentskii zavod MMP Stavropolskii Kraimestprom; Pjatigorskii proizvodsvtennyi kombinat URSR Kharivskii Radnargosp

Aprelevskii zavod

Mestnaja promyshlennost g. Moskvy; Trest ‘Mosgorplastmass’, Fabrika plastmass No 1 Rizhkii zavod

Leningradskii zavod

(continued)

Il a fallu; À Paris Il a fallu; À Paris Il a fallu; À Paris Performances by N. Nikitinskii and Yves Montand. By Montand: Quand un soldat Performances by N. Nikitinskii and Yves Montand. By Montand: Le Chemin des oliviers Performances by N. Nikitinskii and Yves Montand. By Montand: Le Chemin des oliviers Tournesol; Le Gamin de Paris

Rendez-vous avec la liberté; Tournesol Rendez-vous avec la liberté; Tournesol

Le Gamin de Paris; Cornet de frites

Le Gamin de Paris; Cornet de frites

Le Gamin de Paris; Cornet de frites   APPENDIX A: DISCOGRAPHY OF YVES MONTAND’S SOVIET-MADE… 

191

Liublin

Kaunas

Kaunas

1955

1955

1956 1956

Pesni v isp. Iva Montana

Moscow

Moscow

Moscow

1955?

1955

(Ukraine)

1955

Iv Montan—V Parizhe / Opavshie list’ia Iv Montan—Pesenka frantsuzskogo soldata / Doroga oliv Iv Montan—Pesenka frantsuzskogo soldata / Doroga oliv Nado bylo / Ulitsa Lepik

Chernovchi

1955

Iv Montan—Pesenka frantsuzskogo soldata / Parizhskii mal’chishka Iv Montan—Nado bylo / Ulitsa Lepik Iv Montan—V Parizhe / Opavshie list’ia

Place

Date

Soviet recording name Latin alphabet

 (continued)

Kauno Miesto Tekstilės Galanterijos Kombinatas Aprelevskii zavod

Kauno Miesto Tekstilės Galanterijos Kombinatas

MMP Metalloplastmass, Liublinskogo GPK

Mestnaja promyshlennost g. Moskvy; Trest ‘Mosgorplastmass’, Fabrika plastmass No 1 Aprelevskii zavod

Ukrpromsovet Oblpromsovet Artel ‘Chervona Zirka’ g. Chernovchi (no data)

Producer

Les Grands boulevards; Fleur de Seine; Une Demoiselle sur un balançoire; Sensationnel; Rue Lepic; Il a fallu; À Paris; Vel’ d’hiv; Amour mon cher amour; Ninon, ma Ninette

Il a fallu; Rue Lepic

Quand un soldat; Le Chemin des oliviers

Quand un soldat; Le Chemin des oliviers

À Paris; Les Feuilles mortes

À Paris; Les Feuilles mortes

Il a fallu; Rue Lepic

Quand un soldat; Le Gamin de Paris

Songs in French

192  APPENDIX A: DISCOGRAPHY OF YVES MONTAND’S SOVIET-MADE…

Leningrad Tashkent Moscow

1956 1956 1956 1956?

1956?

Riga

1956

Opavshie listia / Zimnyi velodrom Opavshie listia / Zimnyi velodrom Opavshie listia / Zimnyi velodrom Opavshie listia / Zimnyi velodrom Opavshie listia / Zimnyi velodrom

Opavshie listia / Zimnyi velodrom

Moscow

1956

Truvog

Tbilisi

Riga

1956

Pesni v isp. Iva Montana

Leningrad

1956

Pesni v isp. Iva Montana

Mestnaja promyshlennost g. Moskvy; Trest ‘Mosgorplastmass’, Fabrika plastmass No 1 Gosudarsvennyi Dom Zvukopisi

Tashkentskii zavod

Leningradskii zavod

Rizhkii zavod

Aprelevskii zavod

Truzok UPP

Ligo

Leningradskii zavod

(continued)

Les Feuilles mortes; Vel’ d’hiv

Les Feuilles mortes; Vel’ d’hiv

Les Feuilles mortes; Vel’ d’hiv

Les Feuilles mortes; Vel’ d’hiv

Les Feuilles mortes; Vel’ d’hiv

Les Grands boulevards; Fleur de Seine; Une Demoiselle sur un balançoire; Sensationnel; Rue Lepic; Il a fallu; À Paris; Vel’ d’hiv; Amour mon cher amour; Ninon, ma Ninette Les Grands boulevards; Fleur de Seine; Une Demoiselle sur un balançoire; Sensationnel; Rue Lepic; Il a fallu; À Paris; Vel’ d’hiv; Amour mon cher amour; Ninon, ma Ninette; Two performers, by Montand: Les Feuilles mortes Les Feuilles mortes; Vel’ d’hiv

  APPENDIX A: DISCOGRAPHY OF YVES MONTAND’S SOVIET-MADE… 

193

Dnepropetrovsk

Moscow

1956

1956

1956

Estradnoe obozrenie (mezhdunarodnyi kontsert)

Iv Montan / G.M. Velikanova—Ulitsa Lepik / Malen’kaia Mari Edit Piaf, Iv Montand— Mastera zarubezhnoi estrady

Moscow Moscow

1956 1956 1956

Estradnyi kontsert No 29

Iv Montan—Muzyka / Pesenka Kontsert Iva Montana

Moscow

Tashkent

1956

Edit Piaf, Iv Montand— Mastera zarubezhnoi estrady

Leningrad

1956

Edit Piaf, Iv Montand— Mastera zarubezhnoi estrady

Tashkent

Moscow

1956

Estradnoe obozrenie (mezhdunarodnyi kontsert)

Place

Date

Soviet recording name Latin alphabet

 (continued)

Aprelevskii zavod

Aprelevskii zavod

Aprelevskii zavod

Akkord; Leningradskii Sovet Narodnogo hoziaistvo— Upravlenie khimicheskoi proizvodstva Tashkentskii zavod

Aprelevskii zavod

Proizvodsvennyi kombinat U.T.O Dnepropetrovsk

Tashkentskii zavod

Aprelevskii zavod

Producer

Rendez-vous avec la liberté; Saint-Paul de Vence; Les Saltimbanques; Quand un soldat; Tournesol; Cartes postales; Le Chemin des oliviers; Le Gamin de Paris; Cornet de frites; Les Routiers

Several performers, by Montand: [Kareta]*; [Mireille]*; Luna Park; [Gaste]* Several performers, the first song by Montand: [Fantasy]* La Musique; La Chansonnette

Songs by several performers, by Montand: La Marie-vison; C’est si bon Songs by several performers, by Montand: La Marie-vison; C’est si bon Performances by Y. Montand and G.M. Velikanova. By Montand: Rue Lepic Several performers, by Montand: [Kareta]*; [Mireille]*; Luna Park; [Gaste]* Several performers, by Montand: [Kareta]*; [Mireille]*; Luna Park; [Gaste]*

Songs in French

194  APPENDIX A: DISCOGRAPHY OF YVES MONTAND’S SOVIET-MADE…

1961

1961

1961

Estradnoe obozrenie (mezhdunarodnyi kontsert)

Estradnoe obozrenie (mezhdunarodnyi kontsert)

Pol’chasa v Parizhe. Poiut frantsuzskie shanson’e

Leningrad

1961

Leningrad

Moscow

Leningrad

Tashkent

Riga

1964

1961

Leningrad

1958

Estradnoe obozrenie (mezhdunarodnyi kontsert)

Riga

1957

Doroga oliv / Pochtovye kartochki Doroga oliv / Pochtovye kartochki Iv Montan—Muzyka / Pesenka Estradnoe obozrenie (mezhdunarodnyi kontsert)

Riga

1956

Kontsert Iva Montana

Songs by several performers, by Montand: La Marie-vison; C’est si bon

Rendez-vous avec la liberté; Saint-Paul de Vence; Les Saltimbanques; Quand un soldat; Tournesol; Cartes postales; Le Chemin des oliviers; Le Gamin de Paris; Cornet de frites; Les Routiers Le Chemin des oliviers; Cartes postales Le Chemin des oliviers; Cartes postales La Musique; La Chansonnette

(continued)

Songs by several performers, by Montand: La Marie-vison; C’est si bon Melodija—Leningradskii zavod Songs by several performers, by Montand: La Marie-vison; C’est si bon Melodija—Aprelevskii zavod Songs by several performers, by Montand: La Marie-vison; C’est si bon Akkord; Leningradskii Sovet Songs by several performers, by Narodnogo hoziaistvo— Montand: Ami lointain Upravlenie khimicheskoi proizvodstva

Melodija / Rizhskii zavod gramplastinok Akkord; Leningradskii Sovet Narodnogo hoziaistvo— Upravlenie khimicheskoi proizvodstva Melodija—Tashkentskii zavod

Leningradskii zavod

Rizhkii zavod

Ligo

  APPENDIX A: DISCOGRAPHY OF YVES MONTAND’S SOVIET-MADE… 

195

Moscow Moscow

1961 1965

1965?

1965?

Edit Piaf, Iv Montand— Mastera zarubezhnoi estrady

Edit Piaf, Iv Montand— Mastera zarubezhnoi estrady

Moscow

Moscow

Moscow

Moscow

1961?

1965?

Tashkent

1961?

Moscow

Leningrad

1961?

1965

Riga

1961?

Mastera zarubezhnoi estrady (Frantsija) Edit Piaf, Iv Montand— Mastera zarubezhnoi estrady

Riga

1961?

Pol’chasa v Parizhe. Poiut frantsuzskie shanson’e Pol’chasa v Parizhe. Poiut frantsuzskie shanson’e Pol’chasa v Parizhe. Poiut frantsuzskie shanson’e Pol’chasa v Parizhe. Poiut frantsuzskie shanson’e Pol’chasa v Parizhe. Poiut frantsuzskie shanson’e Iv Montan—Muzyka / Pesenka Edit Piaf, Iv Montand— Mastera zarubezhnoi estrady

Place

Date

Soviet recording name Latin alphabet

 (continued)

Melodija

Aprelevskii zavod

Vsesoyuznaja Studija Gramzapisi

Melodija—Aprelevskii zavod

Melodija

Melodija—Aprelevskii zavod

Melodija—Aprelevskii zavod

Tashkentskii zavod

Melodija—Rigas skanu ierakstu un skanuplasu fabrika Melodija—Rigas skanu ierakstu un skanuplasu fabrika Melodija—Leningradskii zavod

Producer

Songs by Edith Piaf and Yves Montand. By Motand: [Kareta]* and Luna Park Several performers, by Montand: [Café]* Several performers, by Montand: [Kareta]*; [Mireille]*; Luna Park; [Gaste]* Several performers, by Montand: [Kareta]*; [Mireille]*; Luna Park; [Gaste]* Several performers, by Montand: [Kareta]*; [Mireille]*; Luna Park; [Gaste]*

Songs by several performers, by Montand: Ami lointain. Songs by several performers, by Montand: Ami lointain Songs by several performers, by Montand: Ami lointain Songs by several performers, by Montand: Ami lointain Songs by several performers, by Montand: Ami lointain La Musique; La Chansonnette

Songs in French

196  APPENDIX A: DISCOGRAPHY OF YVES MONTAND’S SOVIET-MADE…

Leningrad Leningrad Moscow Moscow Leningrad

Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown

*Unable to identify the French title of the song

Moscow

Unknown

Tsvetok Seny / Ninon, moja Ninetta Tsvetok Seny / Ninon, moja Ninetta Brodiachie akrobaty [no data on the other side] V Parizhe—Nado bylo Zimnyi velodrom—Opavshie listija Pol de Vans [no data on the other side]

Riga

1965

Edit Piaf, Iv Montand— Mastera zarubezhnoi estrady

Leningradskii Sovnarkhoz

Aprelevskii zavod Aprelevskii zavod

Leningradskii Sovnarkhoz

Leningradskii zavod

Aprelevskii zavod

Melodija—Rizhkii zavod

Saint-Paul de Vence

Les Saltimbanques (other side, not known) À Paris; Il a fallu; Les Feuilles mortes; Vel’ d’hiv

Fleur de Seine; Ninon, ma Ninette

Several performers, by Montand: [Kareta]*; [Mireille]*; Luna Park; [Gaste]* Fleur de Seine; Ninon, ma Ninette

  APPENDIX A: DISCOGRAPHY OF YVES MONTAND’S SOVIET-MADE… 

197

Appendix B: List of Yves Montand Postcards Printed in the USSR

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Oiva et al., Yves Montand in the USSR, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9

199

Figure 9.4

Figure 9.3

Figure 9.2

Figure 9.1

Image

1956

1956

Izogiz

Izogiz

Izogiz

LFKh

1956

1956

Producer

Date

Moscow

Moscow

Moscow

Leningrad?

City

No info

No info

No info

25,000

Quantity

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1956. Ts. 75 k.

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1956. Ts. 75 k.

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1956. Ts. 75 k.

Iv Montan. Fotoreproduktsija iz knigi ‘Solntsem polna golova’. M-55457 LFKh 1956g. Tir. 25 000 tsena 70 kop.

Text in Latin alphabet

75 kop

75 kop

75 kop

75 kop

Price

Meshok and Russian State Library

Meshok and Russian State Library

Meshok and Russian State Library

Meshok and Russian State Library

Source

200  Appendix B: List of Yves Montand Postcards Printed in the USSR

Figure 9.8

Figure 9.7

Figure 9.6

Figure 9.5

1956

1956

1956

1956

Izogiz

Ukrfoto

Izogiz

Izogiz

Moscow

Kiev

Moscow

Moscow

No info

100,000?

No info

No info

75 kop

75 kop

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1957. Ts. 75 k.

75 kop

In Ukrainian: ‘Poshtova 65 kop kartka. Frantsuzskii spivak i akter Iv Montan’ (do gastroli u Kievi). Redaktor A. Pogorelov, BF foto, 21 5.11-56. r. Fabrika Fotodrukutrestu ‘Ukrfoto’, Kiev. Zam. 834—100 t. Tsina 65 kop.

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1956. Ts. 75 k.

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1956. Ts. 75 k.

(continued)

Russian State Library

Meshok

Meshok and Russian State Library

Meshok and Russian State Library

  Appendix B: List of Yves Montand Postcards Printed in the USSR 

201

Figure 9.11

Figure 9.10

Figure 9.9

Image

 (continued)

1957

Fotoizdat Oblsoveta ‘Dinamo’

Ukrfoto

Izogiz

1956

1956

Producer

Date

Rostov-onDon

Kiev

Moscow

City

100,000

50,000?

No info

Quantity 75 kop

Price

Iv Montan. Fotoizdat 75 kop Rostov n D.—Otkrytoe pis’mo—Fotoizdat Oblsoveta ‘Dinamo’ zakaz no 68. Tirazh 100.000 tsena 75 k, gorod Rostov n D. Tipografija fotoizdata. PK 02009 ot 7-1-57 g.

Text in Ukrainian: 65 kop Poshtova kartka—Iv Montan—Do gastroli v Kieve—VF 01 701 2.1.-56r. Fabrika masovogo fotodruku trestu ‘Ukrfoto’ Zam. 1-50 t.—No 1949 Kiiv Chervonoarmiska 19 tsina 65 kop.

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1957. Ts. 75 k.

Text in Latin alphabet

Meshok and Russian State Library

Meshok

Russian State Library

Source

202  Appendix B: List of Yves Montand Postcards Printed in the USSR

Figure 9.15

Figure 9.14

Figure 9.13

Figure 9.12

1957

1957

1957

1957

Izogiz

Chelyabinskaja dorozhnaia tipografija

Fotoizdat Oblsoveta ‘Dinamo’

Fotoizdat Oblsoveta ‘Dinamo’

Moscow

Chelyabinsk

Rostov-onDon

Rostov-onDon

No info

5000

100,000

100,000

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1957. Ts. 75 k.

75 kop

Kadr iz frantsuzskogo 80 kop kinofilma ‘Idol’, art Iv Montan—FB 13066, 26/ XI—57g. Zakaz No 5627. Tirazh 5000— Chelyabinskaia dorozhnaia tipografija—tsena 80 kop.

Iv Montan. Fotoizdat 75 kop Rostov n D.—Otkrytoe pis’mo—Fotoizdat Oblsoveta ‘Dinamo’ zakaz no 68. Tirazh 100.000 tsena 75 k, gorod Rostov n D. Tipografija fotoizdata. PK 02009 ot 7-1-57 g.

Iv Montan. Fotoizdat 75 kop Rostov n D.—Otkrytoe pis’mo—Fotoizdat Oblsoveta ‘Dinamo’ zakaz no 68. Tirazh 100.000 tsena 75 k, gorod Rostov n D. Tipografija fotoizdata. PK 02009 ot 7-1-57 g.

(continued)

Meshok and Russian State Library

Meshok

Meshok

Meshok and Russian State Library

  Appendix B: List of Yves Montand Postcards Printed in the USSR 

203

Figure 9.19

Figure 9.18

Figure 9.17

Figure 9.16

Image

 (continued)

1957

1957

Izogiz

Izogiz

Izogiz

Ukrfoto

1957

1957

Producer

Date

Moscow

Moscow

Moscow

Kiev

City

No info

No info

No info

50,000?

Quantity

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1957. Ts. 75 k.

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1957. Ts. 75 k.

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1957. Ts. 75 k.

Text in Ukrainian: Poshtova kartka—Iv Montan—VF 01 701 2.1.-57r. Fabrika masovogo fotodruku trestu ‘Ukrfoto’ Zam. 1-50 t.—No 1949 Kiiv Chervonoarmiska 19 tsina 65 kop.

Text in Latin alphabet

75 kop

75 kop

75 kop

65 kop

Price

Russian State Library

Russian State Library

Russian State Library

Meshok

Source

204  Appendix B: List of Yves Montand Postcards Printed in the USSR

Figure 9.23

Figure 9.22

Figure 9.21

Figure 9.20

1957

1957

1957

1957

Izogiz

Izogiz

Izogiz

Izogiz

Moscow

Moscow

Moscow

Moscow

No info

No info

No info

No info

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1957. Ts. 75 k.

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1957. Ts. 75 k.

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1957. Ts. 75 k.

IZOGIZ, Iv Montan, Moskva. 1957. Ts. 75 k.

75 kop

75 kop

75 kop

75 kop

(continued)

Russian State Library

Russian State Library

Russian State Library

Russian State Library

  Appendix B: List of Yves Montand Postcards Printed in the USSR 

205

Figure 9.27

Figure 9.26

Figure 9.25

Figure 9.24

Image

 (continued)

1960

1960

Fotosnimok

Izdatelstvo Moldavskogo teatralnogo obshestva

Izogiz

Izogiz

1958

1959

Producer

Date

Gorkii

Kishinev

Moscow

Moscow

City

2000

6000

20,001–50,000

20,001–50,000

Quantity

75 kop

75 kop

Price

Frantsija. MTs, 024501 g. Gor’kii tip. Art. ‘Kartonazhnik’ zak. 1081 tir. 2000 15b 3-1960 g. Izd. Art. ‘Fotosnimok’, tsena 75 kop.

75 kop

Otkrytoe pis’mo—Iv 8 kop Montan (Frantsija)— Izdatel’stvo moldavskogo teatral’nogo obshestva AB 09564—Kishniev. Tip. MSKh MSSR. 26.12-60 g., z. 1319, t. 6000 tsena 8 kop.

Fotostudija Izogiza. Moskva. 1959. 17-860 tip No 3 Gisla. 3. 906—t 20 001-50 000. Ts. 75 k.

Fotostudija Izogiza. Moskva. 1958. 17-860 tip No 3 Gisla. 3. 128—t 20 001-50 000. Ts. 75 k.

Text in Latin alphabet

Russian State Library

Meshok

Meshok

Meshok

Source

206  Appendix B: List of Yves Montand Postcards Printed in the USSR

Figure 9.30

Figure 9.29

Figure 9.28

No info

No info

1967

No info

No info

Ukrreklamfilm

No info

No info

Kiev

No info

No info

20,000

Iv Montan, 3K 2130 8 st.

Iv Montan ‘Idol’ (Frantsija)

No info

No info

In Ukrainian below the 7 kop picture: ‘Frantsuzskii spivak i kinoartist Iv Montan’, in the other side: ‘Poshtova kartka, tsina 7 kop, BF 00325. 6 IV 1967 r. Kijv, fabrika ‘Ukrreklamfilm’. Zam. 376—20.000. No 4994.

Meshok

Meshok

Meshok

  Appendix B: List of Yves Montand Postcards Printed in the USSR 

207

Research Literature

Abeßer, Michel. 2010. ‘Between Cultural Opening, Nostalgia and Isolation— Soviet Debates on Jazz between 1953 and 1964’. In Jazz Behind the Iron Curtain, 99–116, edited by Gertrud Pickhan and Rüdiger Ritter. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Applebaum, Anne. 2013a. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–1956. London: Penguin. Applebaum, Rachel. 2013b. ‘A Test of Friendship. Soviet-Czechoslovak Tourism and the Prague Spring.’ In The Socialist Sixties: Crossing Borders in the Second World, edited by Anne E. Gorsuch and Diane Koenker, 213–32. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Arhipova, Aleksandra Sergeevna and Anna Andreevna Kirziuk. 2018. ’Krasnaia Plenka, Chernye Ochki i Vsevidiashchee Oko Vlasti.’ Folklor i Antropologia Goroda No 1, no. T I (2018): 134–56. Autio-Sarasmo, Sari and Katalin Miklóssy 2011. ‘Introduction.’ In Reassessing Cold War Europe, edited by Sari Autio-Sarasmo and Katalin Miklóssy, 1–15. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Autio-Sarasmo, Sari and Katalin Miklóssy, eds. 2011. Reassessing Cold War Europe. Abington, Oxon: Routledge. Baro, Setni. 2016. Positiver la crise avec Yves Montand. Paris: Baro Editions. Barsam, Richard M. 1992. Nonfiction Film: A Critical History, revised and expanded. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Blauvelt, Timothy K. and Jeremy Smith, eds. 2016. Georgia after Stalin: Nationalism and Soviet Power. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Bouchardeau, Huguette. 2005. Simone Signoret. Paris: Éditions Flammarion.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Oiva et al., Yves Montand in the USSR, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9

209

210 

RESEARCH LITERATURE

Buhle, Paul, and Wagner, Dave. 2002. Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America’s Favorite Movies. New York: The New Press. Bulgakowa, Oksana. 2008. The Factory of Gestures. Body Language in Film. PPMedia & Stanford Humanities Lab. DVD. Burke, Carolyn. 2011. No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf. London: Bloomsbury. Cannavo, Richard and Quiqueré, Henri. 1981. Le chant d’un homme: Yves Montand. Paris: Éditions Robert Laffont. Carr, Graham. 2014. ‘“No Political Significance of Any Kind”: Glenn Gould’s Tour of the Soviet Union and the Culture of the Cold War.’ The Canadian Historical Review 95 (1): 1–29. Carson, Rachel. 1962. The Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Christofferson, Michael Scott. 2004. ‘French Intellectuals and the Repression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956: The Politics of a Protest Reconsideres’, Julian Bourg, ed. After the Deluge: New Perspectives on the Intellectual and Cultural History of Postwar France. Lanham: Lexington Books, 253–271. Coeuré, Sophie, and Mazuy, Rachel. 2012. Cousu de fil rouge: Voyages des intellectuels francais en Union soviétique. Paris: CNRS Éditions. David-Fox, Michael. 2012. Showcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union, 1921–1941. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Davies, Sarah. 2013. ‘The Soft Power of Anglia: British Cold War Cultural Diplomacy in the USSR.’ Contemporary British History 27 (3): 297–323. https://doi.org/10.1080/13619462.2013.794695. DeMaio, Patricia A. 2014. Garden of Dreams: The Life of Simone Signoret. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Dmitrieva, Marina. 2010. ‘Jazz and Dress: Stiliaga in Soviet Russia and Beyond’. In Jazz Behind the Iron Curtain, 239–256, edited by Gertrud Pickhan and Rüdiger Ritter. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Doherty, Thomas. 2013. Hollywood and Hitler, 1933–1939. New York: Columbia University Press. Feldbrugge, Ferdinand Joseph Maria, Gerard Pieter Van den Berg and William Bradford Simons, eds. 1985. Encyclopedia of Soviet Law, 2nd Revised Edition. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Fickers, Andreas. 2012. ‘Towards A New Digital Historicism? Doing History in the Age of Abundance.’ Journal of European History and Culture 1 (1): 19–26. Fink, Carole. 2017. Cold War: An International History. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Gerchuk, Iurii. 2000. ‘The Aesthetics of Everyday Life in the Khrushchev Thaw in the USSR (1954–64).’ In Style and Socialism. Modernity and Material Culture in Post-War Eastern Europe, edited by Susan E.  Reid and David Crowley, 81–99. Oxford: Berg.

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Gilburd, Eleonory. 2006. ‘Books and Borders. Sergei Obraztsov and Soviet Travels to London in the 1950s.’ In Turizm. The Russian and East European Tourist under Capitalism and Socialism, edited by Anne E.  Gorsuch and Diane P. Koenker, 227–47. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Gilburd, Eleonory. 2013. ‘The Revival of Soviet Internationalism in the Mid to Late 1950s.’ In The Thaw: Soviet Society and Culture during the 1950s and 1960s, edited by Eleonory Gilburd and Denis Kozlov, 362–401. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Gilburd, Eleonory. 2018. To See Paris and Die: The Soviet Lives of Western Culture. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Gordienko, Evgenia. 1998. Iv Montan. Muzhchina—Mif. Rostov-on-Don: Feniks. Gorsuch, Anne E. 2010. ‘From Iron Curtain to Silver Screen. Imagining the West in the Khrushchev Era.’ In Imagining the West in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Edited by György Péteri, 153–71. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. Gorsuch, Anne E. and Diane Koenker, eds. 2013. The Socialist Sixties: Crossing Borders in the Second World. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Grönholm, Pertti and Heino Nyyssönen. 2019. ’Historian käyttö ennen ja nyt— faktana ja fiktiona.’ Kosmopolis 49 (3): 7–27. Gronow, Pekka. Forthcoming. ‘Melodiya (USSR)’. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 1, Media, Industry, Society, edited by John Shepherd, David Horn, Dave Laing and Peter Wicke. Updated edition. London: Bloomsbury Academic. Hasse, John Edward. 2012. ‘“A New Reason for Living”: Duke Ellington in France’. In Eurojazzland: Jazz and European Sources, Dynamics, and Contexts, 189–213, edited by Luca Cerchiari, Laurent Cugny, and Frank Kerschbaumer. Boston: Northeastern University Press. Herrala, Meri Elisabet. 2019. ‘Challenges for Soviet-American Collaboration in the Cold War: The Capitalisation of Pianist Sviatoslav Richter for American Musical Markets.’ Cold War History 19 (2): 1–22. https://doi.org/10.108 0/14682745.2018.1551369. Imre, Anikó. 2013. ‘Adventures in Early Socialist Television Edutainment.’ In Popular Television in Eastern Europe During and Since Socialism, edited by Anikó Imre, Timothy Havens, and Katalin Lustyik, 30–46. Routledge Advances in Internationalizing Media Studies 9. New York: Routledge. Johnson, Bruce. 2017a. ‘In the body of the Audience’. In Musicians and Their Audiences: Performance, Speech and Mediation, 15–33, edited by Ioannis Tsioulakis and Elina Hytönen-Ng. New York: Routledge. Johnson, Bruce, ed. 2017b. Jazz and Totalitarianism. New York: Routledge. Johnson, Bruce. 2020, Jazz Diaspora: Music and Globalisation. New  York and London: Routledge.

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Johnson, Bruce. Forthcoming. ‘Blackness, Jazz and Globalization’. In Oxford Handbook of Global Popular Music, edited by Simone Krüger Bridge. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Johnson, Bruce, Mila Oiva and Hannu Salmi. 2019. ‘Yves Montand in the USSR.  Mixed Messages of Post-Stalinist/Western Cultural Encounters.’ In Entangled East and West: Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction during the Cold War, edited by Simo Mikkonen, Jari Parkkinen, and Giles Scott-Smith, 241–61. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg. Judt, Tony. 2010. Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945. London: Vintage Books. Koivunen, Pia. 2013. Performing Peace and Friendship: The World Youth Festival as a Tool of Soviet Cultural Diplom acy, 1947–1957. Doctoral dissertation, University of Tampere, the School of Social Sciences and Humanities. Koivunen, Pia. 2016. ‘Friends, “Potential Friends”, and Enemies: Reimagining Soviet Relations to the First, Second, and Third Worlds at the Moscow 1957 Youth Festival.’ In Socialist Internationalism in the Cold War, edited by Patryk Babiracki and Austin Jersild, 219–47. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­3-­319-­32570-­5_9. Kondrashina, Evgeniya. 2019. ‘Soviet Music Recordings and Cold War Cultural Relations’. In Entangled East and West: Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction during the Cold War, 193–215, edited by Simo Mikkonen, Jari Parkkinen and Giles Scott-Smith. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenburg. Kozlov, Denis and Eleonory Gilburd. 2013. ‘The Thaw as an Event in Russian History.’ In The Thaw: Soviet Society and Culture during the 1950s and 1960s, edited by Denis Kozlov and Eleonory Gilburd, 18–81. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Kozlov, Denis. 2013. ‘Introduction.’ In The Thaw: Soviet Society and Culture during the 1950s and 1960s, 3–17. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Kramer, Alan. 2007. Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Krasnikova A.K.. 2014. “‘Kogda poet dalekii drug…’ Pesni Iva Montana v Sovetskom Sojuze serediny 1950-kh godov (K 90-letiju so dnia rozhdenija Iva Montana).” Observatorija Kul’tury 2:86–97. https://observatoria.rsl.ru/ jour/article/view/34. Ledeneva, Alena V. 1998. Russia’s Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking, and Informal Exchange. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lewis, Mary Dewhurst. 2004. ‘The Strangeness of Foreigners: Polling Migration and Nation in Interwar Marseilles’. In Race in France: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Politics of Difference, edited by Herrick Chapman and Laura L. Frader. New York: Berghahn Books. Lherminier, Pierre. 2005. Signoret Montand: deux vies dans le siècle. Paris: Éditions Ramsay.

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Loosely, David. 2015. Édith Piaf: A Cultural History. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. Lücke, Martin. 2010 ‘The Postwar Campaign against jazz in the USSR’. In Jazz Behind the Iron Curtain, 83–98, edited by Gertrud Pickhan and Rüdiger Ritter. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Lüdtke, Alf. 1993. Eigen-Sinn: Fabrikalltag, Arbeiterefahrung und Politik vom Kaiserreich bis in den Faschismus. Hamburg: Ergebnisse Verlag. MacFadyen, David. 2001. Red Stars: Personality and the Soviet Popular Song, 1955–1991. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press. Markulan, Ja. K., ed. 1968. Akteri zarubezhnego kino. Fourth edition. Leningrad: Izdatelstvo “Iskusstvo”, leningradskoe otdelenie. Mayer, Gustav. 1936. Friedrich Engels: A Biography. London: Chapman & Hall. McDaniel, Cadra Peterson. 2014. American–Soviet Cultural Diplomacy: The Bolshoi Ballet’s American Premiere. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. McKenzie, Brian A. 2005. Remaking France: Americanization, Public Diplomacy, and the Marshall Plan. New York: Berghahn Books. Meeuf, Russell and Raphael, Raphael, eds. 2013. Transnational Stardom: International Celebrity in Film and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan. Mikkonen, Simmo, Jari Parkkinen and Giles Scott-Smith. 2019. ‘Exploring Culture in and of the Cold War’. In Entangled East and West: Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction During the Cold War, 1–11, edited by Simo Mikkonen, Jari Parkkinen and Giles Scott-Smith. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenburg. Mikkonen, Simo and Pia Koivunen, eds. 2015. Beyond the Divide: Entangled Histories of Cold War Europe. New York: Berghahn Books. Mikkonen, Simo. 2010. ‘Stealing the Monopoly of Knowledge?: Soviet Reactions to U.S. Cold War Broadcasting.’ Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 11 (4): 771–805. https://doi.org/10.1353/kri.2010.0012. Mikkonen, Simo. 2013a. ‘Soviet-American Art Exchanges during the Thaw: From Bold Openings to Hasty Retreats.’ In Art and Political Reality, edited by M. Kurisoo, 57–76. Proceedings of the Art Museum of Estonia (8). Tallinn: Art Museum of Estonia—Kumu Art Museum. Mikkonen, Simo. 2013b. ‘Winning Hearts and Minds? Soviet Music in the Cold War Struggle against the West.’ In Twentieth-Century Music and Politics: Essays in Memory of Neil Edmunds, edited by Pauline Fairclough, 135–54. London: Ashgate. Miklóssy, Katalin. 2011. ‘Khrushchevism after Khrushchev. The Rise of National Interest in the Eastern Bloc.’ In Khrushchev in the Kremlin. Policy and Government in the Soviet Union, 1953–1964, edited by Melanie Ilic and Jeremy Smith, 150–70. New York: Routledge. Monserrat, Joëlle. 1983. Yves Montand. Paris: Éditions Pac. Muscio, Giulana. 1997. Hollywood’s New Deal. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

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Naimark, Norman. 2010. ‘The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953’. In The Cambridge History of the Cold War, Vol 1: Origins, edited by Melvyn P.  Leffler and Odd Arne Westad, 175–197. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Olivesi, Antoine and Pennetier, Claude. 2018. ‘Livi, Julien.’ Le Maitron. Mouvement ouvrier, mouvement social. Dictionnaire biographique, https://maitron.fr/spip.php?article118680, accessed 30 March 2020. Orlov, I.B. and A.D.  Popov. 2016. Russo turisto. Sovetskii vyezdnoi turizm 1955–1991. Skvoz’ “Zheleznyi zanaves.” Moskva: Izdatel’skii dom Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki. Orlov, I.B. and A.D. Popov. 2018. See USSR! Inostrannye turisty i prizrak potemkinskih dereven. Skvoz’ “Zheleznyi zanaves.” Moskva: Izdatel’skii dom Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki. Östling, Johan, David Larsson Heidenblad, Erling Sandmo, Anna Nilsson Hammar and Kari H.  Nordberg. 2018. ‘The History of Knowledge and Circulation of Knowledge: An Introduction.’ In Circulation of Knowledge: Explorations in the History of Knowledge, edited by Johan Östling, Erling Sandmo, David Larsson Heidenblad, Anna Nilsson Hammar, and Kari H. Nordberg, 9–33. Lund: Nordic Academic Press. Perchard, Tom. 2015. After Django: Making Jazz in Postwar France. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Persak, Krzysztof. 2006. ‘The Polish—Soviet Confrontation in 1956 and the Attempted Soviet Military Intervention in Poland.’ Europe-Asia Studies 58 (8): 1285–1310. Qiong Yu, Sabrina and Austin, Guy, eds. 2017. Revisiting Star Studies: Cultures, Themes and Methods. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Ratilainen, Saara. 2013. Women’s Print Media and Consumer Culture in the New Russia. PhD thesis, University of Tampere. Reid, Susan E. and David Crowley. 2000. ‘Style and Socialism: Modernity and Material Culture in Post-War Eastern Europe.’ In Style and Socialism. Modernity and Material Culture in Post-War Eastern Europe, edited by Susan E. Reid and David Crowley, 1–24. Oxford: Berg. Reimann, Heli. Forthcoming. The Tallinn ’67 Jazz Festival: Myths and a Soviet-­ American Encounter. Routledge. Rémond, Alain. 1977. Montand. Paris: Éditions Henri Veyrier. Roberts, Graham H. 2013. ‘Revolt into Style: Consumption and its (dis)contents in Valery Todorovsky’s film Stilyagi’. In Film, Fashion & Consumption 2 (2): 187–200. Roberts, Graham. 1999. Forward Soviet!: History and Non-Fiction Film in the USSR. London: I.B. Tauris.

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Rosenzweig, Roy and Daniel J. Cohen. 2011. ‘Collecting History Online.’ In Clio Wired: The Future of the Past in the Digital Age, edited by Roy Rosenzweig and Deborah Kaplan, 124–51. New York: Columbia University Press. Roth-Ey, Kristin and Larissa Zakharova. 2015. ‘Foreword. Communications and Media in the USSR and Eastern Europe.’ Cahiers Du Monde Russe 56 (2): 273–90. Ruud, Camilla. 2018. ‘Materializing Circulation. A Gigantic Skeleton and a Danish 18th Century Naturalist.’ In Circulation of Knowledge: Explorations in the History of Knowledge, edited by Johan Östling, Erling Sandmo, David Larsson Heidenblad, Anna Nilsson Hammar and Kari H. Nordberg, 197–218. Lund: Nordic Academic Press. Sanchez-Sibony, Oscar. 2014. Red Globalization: The Political Economy of the Soviet Cold War from Stalin to Khrushchev. New  York: Cambridge University Press. Selunskaya, Valerya, and Zezina, Maria. 1993. ‘Documentary Film—a Soviet source for Soviet historians’, Stalinism and Soviet Cinema, eds. Richard Taylor and Derek Spring. London: Routledge. Smirnov, Andrey. 2013. Sound in Z: Experiments in Sound and Electronic Music in Early 20th Century Russia. London: Sound and Music, London/Koenig Books. Smith, Kathleen E. 2017. Moscow 1956: The Silenced Spring. Cambridge MA; London: Harvard University Press Starr, S.  Frederick. 1983. Red and Hot: The Fate of Jazz in the Soviet Union 1917–1980. New York: Oxford University Press. Tismaneanu, Vladimir, ed. 2009. Stalinism Revisited: The Establishment of Communist Regimes in East-Central Europe. WHERE? Central European University Press. Törnquist Plewa, Barbara, Tea Sindbæk Andersen and Astrid Erll. 2017. ‘Introduction: On Transcultural Memory and Reception.’ In The Twentieth Century in European Memory: Transcultural Mediation and Reception, edited by Barbara Törnquist Plewa and Tea Sindbæk Andersen, 1–23. European Studies, Volume 34. Leiden: Brill. Turk, Edward Baron. 1989. Child of Paradise: Marcel Carné and the Golden Age of French Cinema. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Vikulina, Ekaterina. 2015. ‘Vlast’ i media. Vizual’naja revoliutsija shestidesiatykh.’ Cahiers du monde russe 56 (2): 429–66. von Eschen, Penny. 2004 Satchmo Blows up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War. Cambridge MA, London: Harvard University Press. Vowinckel, Annette, Marcus M. Payk and Thomas Lindenberger. 2012. ‘European Cold War Culture(s)? An Introduction.’ In Cold War Cultures: Perspectives on Eastern and Western Societies, edited by Annette Vowinckel, Marcus M. Payk, and Thomas Lindenberger, 1–20. New York: Berghahn Books.

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Walton, Calder. 2013. Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, The Cold War and the Twilight of Empire. London: Harper Press. Wittner, Lawrence S. 1993. The Struggle Against the Bomb. Vol. 1: One World or None: A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement Through 1953. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Woll, Josephine. 2000. Real Images: Soviet Cinema and the Thaw. London: I.B. Tauris. Yu, Sabrina Qiong and Guy Austin. 2017. Revisiting Star Studies: Cultures, Themes and Methods. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Yurchak, Alexei. 2015. Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Zakharova, Larissa. 2013. ‘Soviet Fashion in the 1950s–1960s: Regimentation, Western Influences, and Consumption Strategies.’ In The Thaw: Soviet Society and Culture during the 1950s and 1960s, edited by Denis Kozlov and Eleonory Gilburd, 402–35. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Archival Collections1 Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée Fiche oeuvre: Yves Montand chante, https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-­et-­ classification/21034, accessed 12 June 2020.

Gaumont Pathé Archives Yves Montand, 1957 9 21 NU, http://gaumontpathearchives.com/index. php?urlaction=doc&id_doc=37506&rang=47. Yves Montand chante en URSS, 5700AKDOC02496, http://gaumontpathearchives.com/index.php?urlaction=doc&id_doc=271972.

Net-Film Daily News / A Chronicle of the Day 1956 No 51 (Novosti dnia / khronika nashikh dnei 1956 № 51). https://www.net-­film.ru/film-­10342/.

1  The abbreviations for the references of the sources from the Russian State Archive for Literature and Arts (RGALI) are the following: f = fond (archive group); o = opis’ (register); e = edinitsy khranenia (storage units). The number following the comma refers to the page number.

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217

Yves Montand Sings (Poet Iv Montan, 1957), https://d1.net-­film.ru/web-­ tc-­mp4/fs25423.mp4, accessed 5 May 2020.

Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI) Fond 2329—Soviet Ministry of Culture (1953–1992). Fond 2487—Central Studio for Documentary Film, TsSDF (1925–present). Fond 2732—Obraztsov, Sergei Vladimirovich (1901–1992).

Memoirs Montand, Yves, Hamon, Hervé, and Rotman, Patrick. 1992. You See, I Haven’t Forgotten. Transl. Jeremy Leggatt. London: Chatto & Windus. Montand, Yves, and Jean Denys. 1956a. Solntsem polna golova. Translated by M. Kocharian. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo ‘Iskusstvo’. Montand, Yves, and Jean Denys. 1956b. Solntsem polna golova. Translated by Olga Obraztsova and K.  Naumov. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo TsK VLKSM ‘Molodaia Gvardija’. Montand, Yves. 1956. Moje życie. Warszawa: PIW. Montand, Yves. 1955. Du soleil plein la tête. Souvenirs recueillis par Jean Denys. Paris: Les Éditeurs français réunis. Paetzke, Hans Henning. 1986. Budapest 30 ans plus tard: entretiens avec les animateurs de l’opposition démocratique hongroise. Paris: Joseph Clims. Signoret, Simone. 1978. Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be. New  York: Harper & Row.

Diaries Abramov, Fyodor, 1 February 1957. Accessed at the private archive of Abramov’s widow by Anatoly Pinsky. Gutiérrez, Ángel, Spanish theater director, born 28 August 1932, 25 years. Diary entry on 14 September 1957, at Prozhito, https://prozhito.org/note/518648, accessed 10 March 2020. Nechkina, Militsa Vasilevna, historian and academic b 1901—55 years, diary entry on 2 January 1957. Accessed at https://prozhito.org/note/210831 (March 10, 2020). Zon, Boris Vul’fovich, actor, theater director and pedagog, b. 1898—58 years, diary entry dated on 9 January 1957, https://prozhito.org/note/311296 accessed 10 March 2020.

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Interviews Interview with Anna (b. 1999), 8 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Daria Khokhlova, peer-review by Anna Ostapenko. Interview with Olga Isaakovna Amosova (b. 1946), 19 and 22 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Darya Umanets, peer-review of the transcript by Anastasia Kurasheva. Interview with Valentina Bogun (b. 1936), 29 September 2019, Shchokino, Tula region, Russian Federation. Interview by Angelina Naumova, peer-review of the transcript by Darya Umanets. Interview with Tatiana Chaykovskaya (b. 1941), 2 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Maria Korenko, peer-review of the transcript by Ivan Karnaukhov. Group interview with Tatyana Chaykovskaya, Alexandr Zotov, Nadezhda Musina, Ekaterina Korenko and Galina Zotova, 23 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Maria Korenko. Interview with Elena Dellanoy (b. 1966) 21 September 2019, Lille (France). Interview by Maria Korenko and Marina Zucconi, peer-review of the transcript by Ilya Lukhovitskiy. A narrative by Alexey Derevyakin (b. 1983) recorded by the narrator based on the questions sent by Darya Umanets. October 2019, Moscow/Skype. Transcription of the narrative by Darya Umanets, peer-review of the transcript by Lidia Larkina. Interview with Oleg Arkadievich Dmitriev (b. 1968), 3 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Alexandra Mikhaylidi, peer-review of the interview transcript by Maria Korenko. Interview with Elena (b. 1966) 10 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Alexander Bespalov and Sofia Kuznetsova, peer-review of the transcript by Elizaveta Karpova. Interview with Zoya Alexandrovna Fedotova (b. 1926), 7 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Ilya Lukhovitskiy, peer-review of the transcript by Jana Parshina. Interview correspondence with Karina (b. 1985), 10 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Alexander Bespalov and Sofia Kuznetsova. Interview with Tatiana Kinzhalova (b. ~early 1940s), 15 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Elizaveta Karpova and Maxim Larichev, peer-review of the transcript by Lidia Larkina. Interview with Alexander Kolibersky (b. 1946), Moscow, 28 September 2019. Interview by Anna Koliberskaya, peer-review of the transcript by Alexandra Mikhaylidi. Interview with Lydia Korenko (b. 1939), 16 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Maria Korenko, peer-review of the transcript by Polina Protasova.

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219

Interview with Ludmila Anatolyevna Kozlova (b. 1962), 10 October 2019. Interview by Ivan Karnaukhov, peer-review of interview transcript by Takhmina Kasimova. Interview with Michael Lakshin (b. 1939), WhatsUp/Rostov-on-Don, 6 October 2019. Interview by Darya Artemova, peer-review of interview transcript by Sofia Kuznetsova. Interview with Natalia Isaakovna Muchinskaya (b. 1945) 30 September 2019, Moscow. Interview by Yana Parshina, peer-review of the interview transcript by Angelina Naumova. Interview with Iya Pavlenina (b. 1944) and Valentin Pavlenin (b. 1941), 18 October 2019, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Interview by Lidia Larkina, peer-review of interview transcript by Daria Khokhlova. Interview with a person (b. 1945), 8 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Yana Parshina, peer-review of the interview transcript by Angelina Naumova. Interview with Elena Vasilieva (b. 1976), 13 November 2019, Moscow. Interview by Anna Ostapenko, peer-review of the interview transcript by Daria Khokhlova. Interview with Alexey Veshkin (b. 1961). Interview by Anastasia Kurasheva, 28 September 2019, Moscow. Peer-review of the transcript by Darya Artemova. Interview with Yakov (b. 1998), 10 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Alexander Bespalov and Sofia Kuznetsova, peer-review of transcription by Maksim Larichev. Interview with Boris Yakovlevich (b. 1939), 7 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Polina Protasova, peer-review of transcript by Sofia Kuznetsova.

Magazines, Newspapers and Contemporary Literature Aleksandrov, G. 1955. ‘The French Film Week.’ Pravda 17 October: 3. Andreiev-Krivich, S. 1956. ‘Yves Montand tells…’ Literaturnaja gazeta 15 May. ‘Arrival of Yves Montand to Moscow’. 1956. Izvestia 18 December: 4. Bergeron, R. 1956. ‘On the eve of the departure’, Literaturnaja gazeta 15 December: 4. Billboard. 1950. 14 October: 49. Borisov, P. 1955. ‘Authors of the films that we will see.’ Smena 18 October: 3. Combat 26 November 1959. [Concert review] 1956. Izvestia 20 December: 4. [Concert review] 1956. Pravda 20 December: 4. Drachinskii, Nikolai. 1955. ‘Workers’ festival in Paris.’ Ogonek September (No 39): 22. Etelä-Suomen Sanomat. 1960. 30 September. ‘Fight with the ‘Fifth Film Column’ in France.’ 1950. Iskusstvo kino No 5, October: 43–46. ‘Filmography’. 1957. Iskusstvo kino 7, 31 July.

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‘Filmography’. 1957. Iskusstvo kino 11, 30 November. ‘For the expected arrival of Yves Montand in the USSR.  When a long-distance friend sings.’ A drawing by E. Gorohov. 1956. Krokodil 10 November: 35. ‘For the First Time in the Soviet Land.’ 1955. Pravda 31 December: 6. ‘From all over.’ 1957a. Iskusstvo kino 01, 31 January. ‘From all over.’ 1957b. Iskusstvo kino 03, 31 March. ‘Head full of Sun. Yves Montand.’ 1956. Komsomolskaja Pravda 7 February: 3. ‘Hello our friends!’ 1957. Iskusstvo kino 7 (31 July). Izmailova, R. 1955. ‘The Singer of Paris.’ Ogonek March, No 11: 40–41. Izvestia. 1956. December 12. Izvestia. 1956. No 301 (12 299), Friday 21 December: 3. Kansan Uutiset 5 December 1958. Komissarzhevskii, V. ‘Montand Again!’ Iskusstvo kino 1957, 30 September. Kovalenkov, A. ‘Labzin.’ 1958. Ogonek 1 June, No 24: 28–29. Literaturnaja gazeta. 1956. 18 December: 1. ‘Meeting of the participants of the festival in the Moscow Film House’. 1955. Iskusstvo kino 8, August: 78. ‘Meetings behind the pictures’ 1956. Ogonek No 31, July: 35. Ménard, Jean-Claude. 1960. ‘Les films de la semaine.’ La Voix de Shawinigan 28 December. Mikh, B. 1955. ‘The French Film Week.’ Iskusstvo kino 11, November: 113–117. ‘M. Khrouchtchev: contre les impérialistes nous sommes tous des staliniens’. 1957. Le Monde 3 January. ‘Montand’s First Concert’. 1956. Izvestia, 20 December: 4. ‘Montand’s First Concert’. 1956. Pravda 20 December: 4. [Montand’s handwritten greetings to Izvestia readers]. 1957. Izvestia 1 January: 4. Obraztsov, S. 1956. ‘What Montand Sings About?’ Pravda 23 December: 4. Raskin, L. 1955. ‘A Friendly Meeting’. Ogonek March, No 12: 29. Rassadin, G. 1955. ‘A warm meeting. Visiting French actors’. Ogonek October: 28–29. Rylskii, Maksim. 1955. ‘Noble duties’. Pravda 13 December: 3. ‘See you soon! The letter of Yves Montand’. 1956. Izvestia, Wednesday 12 December: 4. ‘Singer of Paris Visiting Us’. 1957. Moskovskii Avtozavodets 4 January. ‘Singer of simple people’. 1956. Izvestia, Friday 21 December: 3. Soria, Georges. 1948. La France deviendra-t-elle une colonie américaine. Paris: Editions du pavillon. Smirnov-Sokol’skii, Nik. 1956. ‘Sound of Heart’. Literaturnaja gazeta, 22 December: 3. ‘Succé för Yves Montand vid första Moskva-framträdandet’. 1956. Arbetartidningen 27 December.

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Suomen Sosialidemokraatti. 1963. 25 January. Taylor, Allan. 1950. ‘Story of the Stockholm Petition: Two Views on the “Peace Petition”’. The New York Times 13 August. ‘The announcement of the Committee for preparing 10th Anniversary of the French-Soviet agreement’. 1954. Izvestia 23 December: 4. ‘The Widening Front of the Protectors of Peace’, 1952. Pravda 18 November: 4. ‘Tired Heroes’. 1956. Iskusstvo kino 2, February 28: 103. ‘To Ivan Vorontsov from Ivan Montand’. 1956. Smena 30 June: 3. ‘Turn 10 207’. 1956. Literaturnaja gazeta No 150, 18: 1. ‘Two Meetings’. 1957. Ogonek 1, January: 26. Uusi Suomi. 1958. 12 December. Uusi Suomi. 1961. 11 June. ‘Yves Montand in Moscow’. 1956. Pravda 18 December: 4. ‘Yves Montand shoots a film of De Santis’. 1956. Iskusstvo kino 04, April 30: 113. ‘Yves Montand visits Leningrad Youth’. 1957. Smena 10 January: 1. ‘Yves Montand’s Departure from Moscow’. 1957. Pravda 20 January: 6. ‘Yves Montand’s Concerts’. 1956. Pravda 27 December: 1. ‘Yves Montand’s Concert’. 1957. Pravda 3 January, source TASS: 4. ‘Yves Montand’s Concerts’. 1956. Izvestia 27 December: 1. ‘Yves Montand’s Concerts in Moscow Have Finished’. 1956. Izvestia 3 January: 4.

Films: Chronological Order Under the Roofs of Paris (Sous les toits de Paris), dir. René Clair, 1930. Lilac (Coeur de lilas), dir. Anatole Litvak, 1932. Pépé le Moko, dir. Julien Duvivier, 1937. Test Pilot, dir. Victor Fleming, 1938. La Prière aux étoiles, dir. Marcel Pagnol, 1941. The Devil’s Envoys (Les Visiteurs du soir), dir. Marcel Carné, 1942. Star Without Light (Étoile sans lumière), dir. Marcel Blistène, 1945. Gates of the Night (Les Portes de la nuit), dir. Marcel Carné, 1946. The Idol (L’Idole), dir. Alexander Esway 1948. La Ronde, dir. Max Ophüls, 1950. The Red Inn (L’Auberge rouge), dir. Claude Autant-Lara, 1951. Paris Is Always Paris (Parigi è sempre Parigi), dir. Luciano Emmer, 1951. Shadow and Light (Ombre et lumière), dir. Henri Calef, 1951. Golden Marie (Casque d’or), dir. Jacques Becker, 1952. Wages of Fear (Le Salaire de la peur), dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953. The Adultress (Thérèse Raquin), dir. Marcel Carné, 1953. The Fiends (Les Diaboliques), dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955. Love Me Tender, dir. Robert D. Webb, 1956.

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Research Literature

The Crucible / Witches of Salem (Les Sorcières de Salem), dir. Raymond Rouleau, 1957. The Wolves (Uomini e lupi), dir. Giuseppe De Santis, 1957. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Singer, dir. Chris Marker, 1974, online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpVAOimGGR0, accessed 9 April 2020. Stiliagi, dir. Valery Todorovsky, 2008.

Songbooks Frantsuzskie pesni iz repertuara Iva Montana. 1956. Moskva: Gosudarstvennoe muzikal’noe izdatel’stvo “Muzgiz”. Frantsuzskie piesny iz repertuara Iva Montana. 1957. Biblioteka akkordeonista 6. Moskva: Gosudarstvennoe muzikal’noe izdatel’stvo “Muzgiz”. Poet Iv Montan. 1956. Moskva: Gosudarstvennoe muzikal’noe izdatel’stvo “Muzgiz”. Poet Iv Montan. 1957. Moskva: Gosudarstvennoe muzikal’noe izdatel’stvo “Muzgiz”.

Recordings Polchasa v Parizhe. Poiut frantsuzskie shanson’e. Leningrad: Akkord, 1961. ‘Yves Montand. Grand Boulevards’, Rosmen 2001a. Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/%D0%98%D0%B2-­%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0% D0%BD-­% D0%91%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%88%D0%B8%D0%B5-­ %D0%91%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%8B/ release/2307109, accessed 21 February 2020. ‘Yves Montand. The Actor and the Song’, Vostokhim 2001b. Discogs: https:// www.discogs.com/%D0%98%D0%B2-­%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82% D 0 % B 0 % D 0 % B D -­% D 0 % 9 0 % D 0 % B A % D 1 % 8 2 % D 0 % B 5 % D 1 % 8 0 -­ %D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BD%D1%8F/release/11275939, accessed 21 February 2020). ‘When a Faraway Friend Sings’, Russian Disc 1991. Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/%D0%98%D0%B2-­%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0% D 0 % B D -­% D 0 % 9 A % D 0 % B E % D 0 % B 3 % D 0 % B 4 % D 0 % B 0 -­ %D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%B5%D1%82-­%D0%94%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B5%D 0 % B A % D 0 % B 8 % D 0 % B 9 -­% D 0 % 9 4 % D 1 % 8 0 % D 1 % 8 3 % D 0 % B 3 / release/3596411, accessed 21 February 2020.

  Research Literature 

223

Radio Programmes Cinéma pour les ondes—Le film réalisé en URSS en 1956: Yves Montand chante (1ère diffusion: 09/02/1960 Paris Inter), https://www.franceculture.fr/ emissions/les-­nuits-­de-­france-­culture/cinema-­pour-­les-­ondes-­le-­film-­realise-­ en-­urss-­en-­1956-­yves, accessed 12 June 2020.

Internet Sources Coollib, https://coollib.com/b/365942-vladimir-solomonovich-polyakovpoema-pro-iva-montana/readp, accessed 26 March 2020. Comments by Anonymous on 12 January 2017 at https://oldporuchik.livejournal.com/14963.html. Discogs discography www.discogs.com. DTS TV Channel: RTR Planeta Programme: Historical Chronicles with Nikolay Svanidze: https://observatoria.rsl.ru/jour/article/view/34/179, accessed 4 April 2020. Information about Georges Soria in his obituary in Le Soir: https://www.lesoir. be/art/mort-­de-­soria_t-­19911011-­Z04HT3.html. Kuolleet lehdet, https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuolleet_lehdet, accessed 30 March 2020. Osennye list’ia, https://www.discogs.com/release/2853400, accessed 30 March 2020. Poema pro Iva Montana, Literary portal ‘Mir poezii’, http://mirpoezylit.ru/ books/5852/1/, accessed 26 March 2020. La prière aux étoiles (1941), Internet Movie Database, https://www.imdb.com/ title/tt0289409/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast, accessed 30 March 2020. Litlife, https://litlife.club/authors/51225, accessed 14 April 2020. Meshok online market place https://meshok.net/, accessed November 2018. Relikva, https://relikva.com/@dmitrii-­kozlov/r/poema_iv_montan_i_drugie, accessed 20 February 2017. The Stockholm Appeal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Appeal, accessed 30 March 2020. Username ‘oldporuchik’ at Livejournal, https://oldporuchik.livejournal. com/14963.html, accessed 26 March 2020. Yves Montand’s discography, https://www.discogs.com/artist/147141-­Yves-­ Montand?filter_anv=0&subtype=Singles-­EPs&type=Releases and https://fr. wikipedia.org/wiki/Discographie_d%27Yves_Montand, accessed 30 March 2020.

Index1

A ABC theatre, 43, 147 Abramov, Fyodor, 104, 104n90, 133, 134, 134n56 Agency of Cultural Exchange (Agénce Litteraire et Artistique), 34, 64, 65, 127 Aisner, Henri, 34 Albania, 12 Alcazar, 42, 47 Aleksandrov, Grigori, 52 Aleksandrova, Em., 146 Algeria, 70 Allégret, Yves, 48, 49 All-Russian Theatre Association, 101 All-Union Society for Cultural Ties Abroad with Foreign Countries (VOKS), 7, 34, 65, 121 Alvin Ailey Dance Company, 186 Amado, Jorge, 57 Americanism, 50, 56, 169 Angélique films, 138

Anti-Americanism, 50, 56 Anti-Fascist, 14, 19, 147 Anti-Semitic, 163 Anti-Soviet, 14, 15, 17, 18, 56, 70, 92 Aragon, Louis, 54, 55, 57, 64 Arbetartidningen (newspaper), 133 Arctic, 132 Armstrong, Louis, 149, 169, 186 Arnaud, Georges, 50 Astaire, Fred, 40, 41, 46 Aswan Dam, 22 Austria, 12 Autant-Lara, Claude, 47 Autheuil, 129 Azzola, Marcel-Jean, 167, 168 B BAFTA Award, 66 Baghdad Pact, 23 Baku, 106 Balzac, Honoré de, 133

 Note: Page numbers followed by ‘n’ refer to notes.

1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Oiva et al., Yves Montand in the USSR, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9

225

226 

INDEX

Bar des Mûriers, 41 Becker, Jacques, 48, 69 Belgium, 33, 136 Belgrade, 127 Berlin, 13, 63 Berlin blockade, 13 Bernes, Mark, 90, 99, 105, 113, 124, 148 Bernstein, Leonard, 57 Bessarabov, Igor, 110 Bessenyei, György, 20 Bessenyei Circle, 20 Biberman, Herbert, 176 Bierut, Bolesław, 13 Bitniki, 166 Blat, 100, 101 Blistène, Marcel, 45 Bobino, 147 Bolotin, S., 145, 146 Bolshoi Theater, 7 Bondarchuk, Sergey, 124 Boston Symphony Orchestra, 35 Boulc, Marguerite, 47 Brady, 146 Brasseur, Pierre, 58 Bratislava, 127 Brecht, Bertold, 148 Brun, Philippe, 42, 168 Bucharest, 127 Budapest, 14, 16, 20, 21, 54, 109, 127–130 Bulganin, Nikolai, 19, 129, 176 Bulgaria, 12 C Cabaret, 3, 18, 42 Calef, Henri, 121, 124 Calloway, Cab, 161, 162, 169 Camus, Albert, 159 Canada, 137, 139 Cannes, 48

Cannes Film Festival, 110 Carné, Marcel, 45, 46, 48, 49, 52, 58 Castella, Maurice-Francois (Bob), 48, 167–169 Central Committee, 15, 19 Central House of Actors, 101 Central House of Artists, 7 Central House of Journalists, 7 Central Studio for Documentary Films/Film, 4, 9, 79n6, 100, 109, 110n2, 110n3, 112, 132, 135 Champs-Elysées, 44 Chelyabinsk, 88, 100 Chernovichi, 82 Chevalier, Maurice, 41, 47, 47n37, 58 China, 19 Chirac, Jacques, 158 Chopin, Frédéric, 161 Churchill, Winston, 11, 12 Ciampi, Yves, 144 Circulation of knowledge, 2 Civil Rights movement, 23, 159, 186 Clair, René, 117, 124 Clouzot, Henri-Georges, 48, 50, 52 Cold War, 3, 5, 9, 11, 23, 29, 34, 54, 56, 57, 66n26, 70, 78, 78n5, 84, 113, 114, 118, 121, 151, 163, 164, 176, 179, 187 Colombe d’Or, 48 Combat (newspaper), 159 Comédie-Française, 34, 44, 113, 121 Cominform, 13, 16 Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), 28 Composers’ Union, 15, 184 Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), 53 Conover, Willis, 165 Cooper, Gary, 40 Corsica, 51 Cosmos (company), 138

 INDEX 

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), 28 Crabb, Lionel, 23 Crolla, Henri, 48, 67, 167–169 Cukor, George, 187 Cultural contacts, 32, 35, 81, 113, 177 Cultural diplomacy, 1–4, 8, 11, 22, 24–35, 52, 59, 69, 78, 81, 114, 126, 128, 135, 138, 175, 180, 182–187 Cyprus, 23 Czechoslovakia, 12, 15 D Danilov, Nikolai, 177 De Santis, Giuseppe, 144 Declaration on French-Soviet Cultural Exchange, 32 Delyle, Lucienne, 46 Denmark, 136 Denys, Jean, 5–6, 37 De-Stalinisation, 27 Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA), 156 Deutschmeister, Henri, 69 Dien, Raymonde, 57 Dnepropetrovsk, 82 Donbass, 131 Druzhba, 33 Duvivier, Julien, 47 E East Berlin, 14, 15, 17, 127 Eastern Europe, 11–14, 20, 33, 45, 46, 59, 127 East Germany, see German Democratic Republic Eden, Anthony, 22 Egypt, 1, 22, 23 Ehrenburg, Ilia, 25, 63, 64

227

Eisenhower, Dwight D., 22, 23 Elektrosila (factory), 8 Ellington, Duke, 57, 170 Emmer, Luciano, 47 Empire, 17, 147 Engels, Friedrich, 38 Estonia, 12 Estrada, 35, 153 Esway, Alexander, 144 European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), 50 European Economic Community (EEC), 50 Everyman Opera Company, 34 F Fascism, 39 Fedorowicz, Jacek, 18 Fernandel, 47 Festivals, 14, 18, 34, 65, 116, 143, 144, 148, 156, 163, 183–185 Finland, 4, 5n4, 12, 33, 46, 139, 177 Fleming, Victor, 41 France, 1, 9, 12, 22, 24, 32, 34, 38, 39, 42, 46, 49–51, 54, 55, 57, 58, 62–65, 68, 71, 74, 81, 83, 85, 87, 88, 92, 93, 105, 109, 112–114, 117–119, 124–126, 130, 132, 135–139, 147, 155–160, 165, 167–170, 171n123, 175, 178, 179n17, 180, 187 France Soir (newspaper), 74, 118, 132 Freedom and Independence, 17 Fréhel, 47 French Communist Party, 53, 55, 58, 64n13, 68 French Film Week, 35, 52, 53, 124 French Occupation, 42 French-Soviet Friendship Association, 34

228 

INDEX

Friendship, 3, 18, 33–35, 66, 82, 94–96, 112, 113, 120, 121, 124, 144, 155, 156, 177 Funès, Louis de, 138 G Gable, Clark, 41 Gare de Lyon, 43 Gastrolbureau, 66 Geneva Summit, 32 Georgian Soviet Republic, 27 German Democratic Republic, 14, 15, 66 German occupation, 13, 42, 47, 57 Geró, Ernó, 20, 21 Géronimi, Jérôme, 50 Gillespie, Dizzy, 1, 23, 185 Gold Coast, 1, 23 Gomułka, Władysław, 19 Gorkii (city), 88 Gould, Glenn, 35 Granz, Norman, 170 Great Britain, 1, 32, 62 Great Terror, 14 Guérin, Roger, 168 Guglielmi, Louis, 44 Gulag, 14–16 Gutiérrez, Ángel, 157 H Halushakov, Reuben, 110 Hamon, Hervé, 6, 38, 48, 49, 53, 57, 59, 119, 130, 145n21 Hardin, Lil, 149 Harlem, 159 Hemingway, Ernest, 142 Hiroshima, 58 Hitler, Adolf, 39, 180 Hodeir, André, 168 Hollywood, 40, 41, 46, 49, 187 Home Army, 17

House of Arts of Stanislavski Makarev, 73n48, 101, 101n77 House of Film, 8 House of Pioneers, 8 Hughes, Howard, 49 Humel, Charles, 42 Hungary, 1, 3, 12–15, 19–23, 68–70, 95, 109, 175, 176 I Iceland, 33 Ignateve, Marina, 166 Imperialism, 33, 130 Indochina, 23, 56, 57 Indonesia, 135 Inter-Parliamentary Group for the French-Soviet rapprochement, 34 Iron Curtain, 9, 11, 37, 53, 110, 139, 187 Iskusstvo kino (journal), 4, 52, 106 Israel, 1, 22 Italy, 9, 12, 27, 33, 38, 39, 50, 136, 187 Izmailova, R., 147 Izvestia (newspaper), 4, 69, 79, 90, 92, 106 J Jamison, Judith, 186 Jarrico, Paul, 176 Jazz, 1, 18, 23, 31, 84, 124, 152, 154n42, 157, 159, 161–172, 161n70, 183–185 Joliot-Curie, Frédéric, 57 K Kaminker, André, 47, 167 Karmen, Roman, 115 Katyń massacre, 17 Kaunas, 82

 INDEX 

Kazarovichi, 125 Kent, Rockwell, 142 KGB, 21 Kharkov, 82 Khrushchev, Nikita, 1, 15, 16, 18–20, 23, 26–28, 30, 129, 130, 157, 166, 176, 178, 179 Kiev, 8, 66, 67, 96, 98, 115, 123, 125–127, 168 Kino-Pravda, 115 Kishniev, 88 Kocharjan, M., 86 Kolkhoz, 110, 125, 129, 134 Kolyma, 16, 105 Komsomol, 16, 164–166, 183, 184 Komsomol’skaja Pravda (newspaper), 175 Kopalin, Ilya, 116 Kosma, Joseph, 46 Kozin, Vadim, 105 Kremlin, 7, 82, 124 Krestianka (journal), 90 Krichevskiy, Abram, 110 Krokodil (journal), 4, 74, 75, 90, 91, 96, 97, 165 kul’turnye sviazy, 32 L Laboratory for Graphical Sound, 16 Languepin, Jean-Jacques, 168 Latvia, 12 League of Working Youth, 20 Le Figaro (newspaper), 182 Le Monde (newspaper), 130, 136 Lenin, Vladimir, 15 Leninets (newspaper), 4 Leningadskii universitet (newspaper), 4 Leningrad, 7, 8, 25n1, 34, 52, 65–67, 73n48, 82, 94, 96, 98, 101, 101n77, 101n78, 104, 114, 115, 123, 125–127, 134, 144, 155, 168, 172

229

l’Étoile, 44, 45, 61, 65n15, 147, 148 L’Humanité, 58, 64n13, 119, 148 Libération (newspaper), 119 Likhachev car factory, 7, 95 Literary-Artistic Agency for Cultural Exchanges, see Agency of Cultural Exchange (Agénce Litteraire et Artistique) Literaturnaja gazeta (newspaper), 4, 74, 86n35, 90, 92, 93 Lithuania, 12 Litvak, Anatole, 47 Livi, Giovanni, 38, 39 Livi, Giuliano (Julien), 53, 54 Livi, Giuseppina (neé Simoni), 38, 39 Livi, Ivo, 9, 37–59 Livi, Lydia, 38, 39, 41 Loretti, Robertino, 157 Louiguy, 44 Louvre, 44 Loy, Myrna, 41 Lublin, 18, 82 Lulli, Folco, 51 Lurçat, Jean, 64 Luzhniki, 7, 102, 124, 133 Lympany, Moura, 34 ‘Lysenko cult,’ 16 M Makarov, Anatolii, 185 Malaya, 23 Malenkov, Georgy, 129, 176 Mann, Thomas, 57 Marcabru, Pierre, 136, 137 Marseilles, 9, 34, 39, 41–43, 47, 53, 124, 147 Marshall Plan, 13, 49 Martin, Henri, 56 Martynov, Nikolai, 100 Marxist, 30, 54, 55 Mature socialism, 26

230 

INDEX

Max, Harry, 43 McCarthyism, 11 Media system, 77–81 Middle East, 1, 22, 23 Mikoyan, Anastas, 20, 129, 176 Miller, Arthur, 66–67n26, 148 Mitterand, François, 178 Miuselli, Antonio, 167 Miuselli, Luis-Ferdinand, 167 Mokrousov, Boris, 99 Molière, 121 Mollet, Guy, 65 Molotov, Vyacheslav, 129, 176 Mongolia, 135 Monroe, Marilyn, 67n26, 187 Monsummano Alto, 38 Montandiards, 99 Morocco, 1 Moscow, 4, 6, 8, 9, 16, 17, 19, 27, 34, 37, 52, 61, 65–67, 65n15, 69–71, 73–75, 77, 79n6, 82, 88, 89, 92, 93, 96–98, 98n61, 98n62, 98n64, 101, 101n76, 103, 105, 106, 109, 111, 114–121, 123–129, 131, 133, 134, 143, 144, 146, 149n29, 150, 154, 163, 164, 168, 175–178, 179n17, 180n20, 182n23, 184, 187 ‘Moscow Communists,’ 13, 15 Moscow Film Factory, 16 Moscow Marionette Theater, 59 Moscow State University, 7, 27, 124 Mosfilm, 7 Moskalov, Volodya, 124 Moskovskii avtozavodets (newspaper), 4, 90 Moskovsky, Ioann, 105, 106 Mussolini, Benito, 39, 53 Muzgiz, 145, 146

N Nagy, Imre, 15, 20, 21, 178 Naiman, Anatolii, 156 Narbonne, 42 Nasser, Gamal Abdel, 22, 23 National Council of the French Peace Movement, 70 NATO, 11, 13, 156 Nattier, Nathalie, 46 Naumov, K., 86, 86n36, 153n27 Nazi, 12, 19, 169 Nazism, 33, 180 Nechaeva, Nadezhda, 103, 130, 179 Nehru, Jawaharlal, 23 Neruda, Pablo, 57 Netherlands, 136 Neva river, 125 New Deal, 40 Newsreel, 4, 77, 79, 79n6, 80, 109, 115, 115n14, 116, 117n19, 118–120, 136, 138 New York, 34, 158 Nice, 42, 48 Northern Ireland, 1 Norway, 33, 136 Nouvel de Moscou (newspaper), 177 O Obraztsov, Sergey, 7, 9, 45, 59, 61–64, 65n15, 69, 73, 74, 81–83, 83n25, 86, 86n35, 90, 93–95, 101, 113, 118–120, 124, 132, 144, 155 Obraztsova, Olga, 37n2, 61, 62, 62n5, 65n15, 65n16, 86, 86n36 Odéon, 42, 45 Odessa, 34, 115 Ogonek (journal), 4, 147, 148, 152, 156, 179 Opera and Ballet of Kiev, 125

 INDEX 

Ophüls, Max, 48, 49, 69 Orlov, Yuro, 142 Orvid, Georgi, 99 P Pagnol, Marcel, 43, 45 Palace of Industrial Cooperatives, 8 Palace of Pioneers, 125 Palace of Sport, 7 Palestine, 23 Paraboschi, Roger, 167, 168 Paris, 9, 22, 34, 42–47, 49, 53, 54, 59, 63, 66, 67, 67n28, 69, 70n39, 70n41, 74, 77, 81, 85, 88, 90, 96, 97, 117, 118, 123, 124, 126–128, 132, 135, 137, 143, 144, 146–150, 155–158, 168–170, 179, 180, 187 Paris-Presse Intransigeant (newspaper), 93 Patolichev, Nikolai, 100 Peace, 3, 9, 33, 52–59, 70, 81, 92, 94, 95, 110, 113, 114, 118, 120, 126, 130, 143, 144, 151, 155, 156, 158, 160, 175–178 Peaceful coexistence, 2, 3, 17, 24, 26, 30, 31, 78, 89, 92, 99, 114, 151, 155, 175 The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), 14, 16–18 People’s Republic of Korea, 135 Pétain, Philippe, 42 Petőfi, Sándor, 20 Petőfi Circle, 20 Philipe, Gérard, 52, 58, 68, 69, 124, 180 Piaf, Édith, 43, 44, 158, 169 Picasso, Pablo, 27, 64, 142, 149, 156 Pimenov, Revol’t, 21, 156 Pimenov’s circle, 156

231

Pineau, Christian, 65 Poland, 1, 12–14, 17–20, 22, 23, 68, 72, 82, 178 Poliakov, Vladimir, 105, 157 Polish Workers’ United Party (PUWP), 19 Pomerantsev, Vladimir, 142 Pop(ular) music, 3, 29, 35, 84, 163, 164 Portsmouth, 23 Portugal, 136 Postcard, 4, 5, 86–88, 86n38, 87n39, 117 Powell, Eleanor, 40 Poznań, 18 Prague, 14, 67, 71, 127, 138 Pravda (newspaper), 4, 52, 79, 90, 92, 94, 96, 106, 143, 144 Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, 79 Presley, Elvis, 46 Prévert, Jacques, 45, 46, 48, 58 Printing House Dinamo, 86 Printing House Izogiz, 88 Printing House LFH, 86 Propagandastaffel, 169 Q Queue, 92–94, 102, 133 R Rabotnitsa (journal), 90 Racism, 23 Radio, 7, 14, 40, 45, 46, 52, 56, 61, 62, 65, 77, 79–82, 84, 94, 102, 119, 132, 137, 142, 143, 153, 157, 183 Radio Free Europe, 13 Rajk, László, 20 Rákosi, Mátyás, 13, 15, 20 Rapprochement, 34, 69, 81, 114, 182

232 

INDEX

Red Army, 14, 17, 19, 129 Reggiani, Serge, 58 Reinhardt, Django, 168, 169 Remarque, Erich Maria, 142 Renoir, Pierre, 58 Riga, 82 Rı ̄ga Skanuplasu Fabrika, 82 Rock, 84, 172 Rokossovskii, Konstantin, 18, 19 Romania, 12 Romanov, Gleb, 84, 148 Rome, 39, 144 Roosevelt, Franklin D., 12, 40, 41 Rosay, Françoise, 47 Rostaing, Hubert, 168 Rostov-on-Don, 86, 87 Rotman, Patrick, 6, 38, 48, 53, 57, 59, 119, 130, 145n21 Rouleau, Raymond, 66, 148 Russian Revolution, 24 S Saint-Paul-de-Vence, 38, 48 Salinger, J.D., 142 Samizdat, 5, 80, 104–106, 163 Samoilov, D., 145, 146 Sartre, Jean-Paul, 21, 50, 54, 68, 69, 148 Satirical Theater, 7 Scalpers, 102 Secret speech, 1, 15, 17, 18, 20, 26, 28, 64 Seine, 147, 156 Serov, Ivan, 21 Sèvres Protocol, 22 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, 34 Sharaga prison, 16 Shawinigan, 137 Shelepin, Aleksandr, 183 Shostakovich, Dmitri, 57 Shtatniki, 166

Shumiatsky, Boris, 115 Siberia, 17, 81, 103, 105 Siegfried, André, 50 Signoret, Georgette, 47 Signoret, Simone, 5, 6, 21, 37, 47–50, 52, 53, 55–58, 64, 66, 69, 73–75, 80, 85, 92, 95, 96, 98, 99, 101, 103, 105, 109, 112, 114, 116–119, 121, 124–131, 133, 134, 136, 143, 144, 148, 156, 160, 167, 176, 178, 179, 183 Sikorska, T., 145, 146 Sinai desert, 22 Sincerity, 142, 143, 154, 155 Sixth International Youth Festival, 106 Slutsky, Mikhail, 4, 110–118, 120, 122, 123, 125, 126, 128, 130, 131, 136, 138, 139, 159 Smena (newspaper), 4, 52, 90, 144 Sobolenskii, Iu., 146 Socialist realism, 16, 27, 115, 116, 156 Sofia, 127 Solidarity movement, 178 Soria, Georges, 49, 50, 64, 64n13, 67, 70, 71, 167 Soudieu, Emmanuel-Serve, 167, 168 Sound cinema, 40, 115, 116 South America, 51 Southern Cross Jazz Band, 184 Sovexport, 138 Soviet bloc, 1, 3, 16, 17, 21, 30, 31, 51, 144, 145, 165 Soviet Embassy in Paris, 66, 74, 81 Sovietized, 3, 31 Soviet Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 66, 72n44, 100, 171, 171n120 Soviet Ministry of Culture, 8, 8n9, 64, 66, 70, 99, 110 Soviet Union, 1, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 17, 22, 25, 26, 28–35, 32n37, 45,

 INDEX 

52, 54, 62–64, 65n15, 67–74, 70–71n41, 71n42, 77, 78, 80, 82–88, 90, 92, 93, 95, 96, 98–100, 101n77, 104, 105, 107, 109, 111–115, 117–119, 126, 128, 129, 131, 132, 136, 139, 150, 151n21, 152n32, 156, 162, 163, 168, 173n125, 175, 177–183, 187 Soyuzkino, 115 Spanish Civil War, 64n13, 115 Stafford, Jo, 46, 46n36 Stakhanovite, 78 Stalin, Joseph, 9, 12–16, 18, 19, 21, 25–28, 103, 110, 115, 130, 163 Stalingrad, 82 Stalinism, 25, 26, 33 State Department, 1, 23, 159, 185, 186 State Department Store GUM, 103 State Hermitage Museum, 8 Stavropol, 82 Stern, Isaac, 34 Stilijaga, 99 Stockholm Peace Petition/Stockholm Petition, 57, 58, 143 Sudan, 1, 23 Suez, 1, 17, 22–24, 68, 70 Suez Canal, 22 Surin, V., 52, 134, 135 Sverdlovsk, 82 Swan Lake, 7 Sweden, 12, 132, 136 Switzerland, 12, 136 T Tallinn, 139 Tamizdat, 80 Tashkent, 82 TASS news agency, 81 Tbilisi, 106

233

Tchaikovsky, Piotr, 121 Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, 6, 7, 92, 93, 98, 124, 128, 136, 149 Technical University in Budapest, 20 Television (TV), 80, 94, 96, 102, 119, 139, 184 Tezan, 72 Thaw, 1–3, 9, 15–18, 21, 24–35, 63, 65n14, 78, 79, 96, 107, 141, 142, 154, 155, 157, 158, 163, 166, 178, 181 Theel, Henry, 46 Theremin, Leon, 16 Tito, Josip Broz, 13, 16 Torres, Lolita, 183 Toulouse, 42, 137 Tourism, 30 Transfer of knowledge, 2 Translation, 2, 3, 5, 37n2, 62, 62n5, 67n28, 70n41, 72n43, 72n44, 81, 85–87, 86n35, 137, 141–173, 177n8, 185, 187 Trenet, Charles, 41, 169 Troika, 124, 133, 134 Trottobas, Francis, 41 Truman Doctrine, 13 Tunisia, 23 Tuscany, 38, 39 Twentieth Party Congress, 15 U Ulanova, Galina, 124, 129 Underwear, 179, 180 Union of Soviet Friendship Societies (SSOD), 66, 121 United States of America (USA), 1, 11, 13, 21–24, 32, 39, 40, 46, 57, 62, 66–67n26, 136, 185–187 Universal Copyright Convention (UCC), 83, 83n23 Utesov, Leonid, 84, 148

234 

INDEX

V Vail’, Boris, 156 Vallon des Tuves, 41 van Eyck, Peter, 51 Vanel, Charles, 51 Vaucaire, Cora, 46 Velikanova, Gelena, 46 Verstraete, Fernand, 168 Vertov, Dziga, 115 Vichy, 42, 43, 187 Vietnam War, 57 Vilar, Jean, 46 Vilnius, 118 Virgin Lands, 16 VKontakte, 181 Vladivostok, 132 Vnukovo airport, 37 Voice of America, 83, 109, 120, 165 Voinov, Nikolai, 16 VOKS, see All-Union Society for Cultural Ties Abroad with Foreign Countries Volgograd, 82 Vorkuta, 82 Voroshilov, Kliment, 135

Warsaw Pact, 11, 19, 21, 28 West Germany, 33, 136 Wiesbaden, 47 Wilson, Michael, 176 World Festival of Youth and Students, see Festivals World Peace Council, 57 World War I, 38 World War II, 11, 12, 17, 32, 33, 42, 46, 49, 50, 53, 54, 57, 58, 64n13, 115, 116, 124, 180 Writers’ House, 103, 105, 176

W Warner, Jack L., 41, 49, 50 Warner Bros., 49 Warsaw, 8, 17–19, 96, 127, 168

Z Zazou, 165 ZIM, 131 Zon, Boris, 152

Y Yalta Treaty, 12, 13 Yekaterinburg, 82, 182n23 YMCA, 14 Yugoslavia, 12, 13, 16, 23 Yutkevich, Sergey, 4, 63, 93n51, 110–114, 117, 118, 120, 122, 123, 125, 126, 128, 130, 131, 136, 138, 139, 151n31, 173n125