Загадочное Письмо (Голубой Oгонёк)

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

Загадочное Письмо (Mysterious Letter) is a sketch included in the Russian TV program Голубой Oгонёк (Little Blue Light) (1) released on New Year's night 1981-1982. The series of programs "Little Blue Light" was broadcasted in USSR (and then in Russia) since 1962. 3 minutes 37 seconds.

Two Russian actors, Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin, who played the main characters in Russian TV series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson" (1980-1988), play their own role again. But they did it with their modern outfits (Livanov with moustaches and glasses, Solomin without his Watson moustache). They used with good effect their likeness with actors (that is to say with themselves) in the beginning of the sketch.


Video

Full sketch


Photos

Cast

  • Vasily Livanov / Sherlock Holmes : Vasily Livanov (Василий Ливанов)
  • Vitaly Solomin / Dr. Watson : Vitaly Solomin (Виталий Соломин)


Transript

By Oksana Shishkina-Korolenko (10 april 2025)

"Mysterious Letter" ("Загадочное письмо")

  • Watson : I beg your pardon, this table is taken.
  • Holmes : Happy New Year, Watson!
  • Watson (laughing) : The Devil takes it, Holmes! And I took you for actor Livanov (Ливанов).
  • Holmes : Watson, why you shaved off your moustaches?
  • Watson : But you yourselves ordered me to come here unrecognizable.
  • Holmes : Yes, indeed. Without moustaches you a few resemble to actor Solonin (Соломин).
  • Watson : You don't mean say so! Not at all. I know perfectly well Yury Solomin (Юрий Соломин). (2)
  • Holmes : No, not to Yury, to Vitaly.
  • Watson : Well, I don't know... don't know, you know better. What? Do we have a new case, Holmes?
  • Holmes : Perhaps. Our landlady Mrs. Hudson received an invitation on "Blue Small Light".

[ Inset from the TV-serial. Mrs Hudson: Well, this is indeed too much. ]

  • Holmes : Here, look at this. What can you say about its author?
  • Watson : Judging by handwriting, he is a sportsman. At least, he interesting in sport.
  • Holmes : Why did you decide that?
  • Watson : The handwriting is energetic. Letters clean skip. A temperamental person. There are many exclamation marks. With good taste, otherwise he would not have chosen as his lady our dear landlady.

Holmes nods.

  • Holmes : What about the signature? Does the signature mean anything to you?
  • Watson : No, name and surname are not familiar to me.
  • Holmes : You have mastered my deductive method quite well, Watson! Permit me, I will continue. (Sighs). The invitation most likely was written by the actor.
  • Watson : Why do you think so?
  • Holmes : Uh! There are usually many actors on "Little Blue Light". Besides, he is a famous actor.
  • Watson : Are you sure?
  • Holmes : Elementary, Watson! If he were unknown, he himself would not have been invited to the "Little Blue Light".
  • Watson : M! Amazing!
  • Holmes : That's not all. I am almost convinced that this is a courageous man with an aquiline nose, burning black eyes and a fast, characteristic speech with a slight accent.
  • Watson (laughing) : Where did you get all this from, Holmes?
  • Holmes : The signature, Watson... The signature. The invitation signed: Kote Makharadze (Котэ Махарадзе). And if you, Watson, had read my brochure on the classification of surnames in your time, you would have understood immediately, that behind this signature a Georgian was hiding.
  • Watson : Hm. What do you intend to do?
  • Holmes : I want to see bold spirit, who decided to deprive us of Mrs. Hudson's company in New Years Night.

[ Inset from the TV-serial. Mrs Hudson: Mr. Holmes, the gunner said that he won't have 38-caliber rounds until Tuesday. ]

  • Holmes : Wait for Tuesday.
  • Watson : An intuition prompts me that the man, who is talking to barman could be that man. (3)
  • Holmes : Brilliant, Watson! I don't know what I'd do without you, my friend!


Notes

(1) "Little Blue Light" ("Голубой огонёк") is a musical and entertainment television program, which aired on the First Program of the Central Television of the USSR from since 1962 to 1987 and then on the Channel "Russia" since 1998 to this day. TV-historians write that first program was on the 5th or the 6th of April of 1962. The idea of this program arose after the opening of a youth cafe in Moscow on Gorky Street in 1960. It was place of meeting artists and poets, where they show and discuss their works. A creative group from Central Television were interested in such artistic atmosphere. They were going to conduct live broadcasts from the café’s hall, but soon the idea was abandoned in favor of an independent television program. They decides to keep this atmosphere to studio with small tables and chairs, with drinks and fruits on those tables (but not always there were real sparkling wine and food on tables). Initially the program has title "Television Cafe" ("Телевизионное кафе"), then "At the Small Light" ("На огонёк") (from 'set phrase' “to drop in on someone”, means to come at the light, when somebody comes to home of other person seeing light in his (her) window and goes to him without special invitation). Later title was changed on "At the Little Blue Light" ("На голубой огонёк") and finally "Little Blue Light" ("Голубой Oгонёк"). Why the light was light blue is explained according to one version, that the kinescopes of the black-and-white televisions "Record" ("Рекорд") glowed with a bluish colour. Windows of usual Soviet people glowed with light blue colour, when TV-set was switched on. The first program was broadcast weekly on Saturdays. There was the 100th anniversary program on 15th of February in 1964. Popular Soviet theatre and cinema actors, singers, performers of opera, ballet, operetta, circus, folk and pop music and other famous people took part in the programs. They sat at the same tables with honored guests: representatives of science and art, leading workers, Heroes of Socialist Labor, prominent military figures, Heroes of the Soviet Union, cosmonauts, writers, humorists and many others. Fist cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (Юрий Гагарин) and first woman cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (Валентина Терешкова) were honored guests of the program in 1960's. As a hosts the TV-program were famous actors and singers. Then the program was broadcast only on holidays (for example, International Women's Day, May Day and New Year). Some programs included teleconferences (Russian call them "телемосты" ("TV-bridges") with foreign famous people (for example, with Mireille Mathieu and Dean Reed). Since the end of 1963 the New Year program became consists of two parts (before New Year – on 31st of December and after, already on 1st of January of the next year). Of course, shootings were organized several months before the broadcasting. The first broadcasts were more like interviews and sketches interspersed with concert numbers. Later they took the form of a theatrically-concert performance. As to program with sketch with Sherlock Holmes (Vasily Livanov / Василий Ливанов) and Doctor Watson and (Vitaly Solomin / Виталий Соломин). It was New Year program of 1981-1982.

(2) An actor Yury Solomin (Юрий Соломин) is elder brother of Vitaly Solomin. But Yuri really doesn't look like him. He's a brunette with fine features. Moreover, he has a birth-mark on his cheek. Interesting, that brothers played main roles at film based on Johann Baptist Strauss’s operetta “The Bat”.

(3) A man, who associates with barman is Kote Makharadze (Котэ Махарадзе). And role of barman was played by other famous actor and film director Vladimir Basov (Владимир Басов). The next sketch in this program was theirs. To compare how right Sherlock Holmes and Watson are regarding Kote Makharadze (Котэ Махарадзе) by reading the short information below.

Kote Makharadze (Котэ Махарадзе), who allegedly sent Mrs. Hudson an invitation on the program as a guest, was a Soviet and Georgian athlete (in youth he played basketball), sports commentator, TV presenter, theater and film actor, and theater teacher.

Later in 1994, he became a professor at the Tbilisi State Theatre Institute, which he himself graduated from in 1948 and where he taught since 1950. In 2001 he was one of the directors and host of the first ever Georgian International Ballet Art Festival (he graduated from the Tbilisi Choreographic School in 1941).

By the way, there is wife of Kote Makharadze (Котэ Махарадзе) actress Sofiko Chaureli (Софико Чаурели) on photo with popular singer Lev Leshchenko (Лев Лещенко) was one of the hosts of this program. Kote and Sofiko have title of People's Artist of the Georgian Soviet Socialistic Republic. They both starred in detective films. In 2001 Kote Makharadze (Котэ Махарадзе) plays a part of Alfred Hitchcock in TV-serial "The Gatekeeper of the Vice” («Блюстители порока»).





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