Friends!

On this day in 1895 was born Lazar Weisbein, whom we know with a loud and very famous name - Leonid Utesov.

The first Ukrainian jazzman, a famous singer and a talented actor was born in Odessa. It seems that it was the place of birth that played a big role in the later life of the guy. The family was large, however, they put their son to the private commercial school Feiga. Guess who became the only student in the history of the institution's existence, who was expelled because of "freethinking behavior"? Lazar Weisbein.

Then he decided not to wait for his parents' anger and just ran off with a traveling circus, which toured throughout Ukraine. They took him because Lazar could write - other artists of the theater were illiterate, and Weisbein could design a poster. The guy quickly learned the circus secrets and became a gymnast, walked the rope under the dome without insurance. Lazar often joked that luck was on his side, because he had neither family nor wealth. But the desperate guy quickly found a bride. From a wandering life Weisbein felt ill, and in the city of Tulchin met a girl named Anna Kolba. The girl's family sheltered the actor, cured him and, of course, got used to him. Beauty had a decent dowry - 100 rubles, a cigarette case and a silver watch. Lazarus was only 15 years old, but he enchanted the girl, promised her a wedding and love for the rest of her life. On the eve of the wedding, he took one ruble seventy kopecks from a future mother-in-law and ... decided to return to Odessa. He said – for a parental blessing, but the truth was: he did not return anymore and did not answer girl’s letters anymore.

In 1912 he settled in the Kremenchug Theater of Miniatures. There he came up with his famous pseudonym. Since then, the guy was known as Leonid Utyosov. Under this name, he continued to perform in other theaters, in particular, in the Bolshoi and Maly Rishelievsky theaters in Odessa, the Kherson Theater of Miniatures, the mobile theater of miniatures "Mosaic".

Once he was resting after a performance in a cafe on Khreshchatyk street, when he saw a girl singing gypsy romances. Utesov decided to treat her and invited the beauty to join the table, although for him this act was a big exception. The girl agreed, and despite the fact that Leonid offered to choose whatever she wanted, she ordered a dish for a ruble seventy kopecks. She ate it silently, and then got up and said: "I'm Anna, your bride. You owed my parents a ruble to seventy Somehow, resting after a performance in a cafe on Khreshchatyk, he saw a girl singing gypsy romances. Utesov decided to treat her and invited the beauty to the table, although for him this act was a big exception. The girl agreed, and despite the fact that Leonid offered to choose whatever she pleased, she ordered a dish for a ruble seventy kopecks. Silently she ate, and then got up and said: "I'm Anna, your bride. You owed my parents ruble and seventy kopecks, now you paid it. "

Utesov was an Odessan heartthrob - he got acquainted with the model, who was a bride of a police bailiff. He learned about the relationship and Utesov had to flee. He moved to Kherson. There he met his future wife - Olena Goldina. She had nowhere to live, so Leonid sheltered a young woman. Soon the pair got married. Olena gave birth to Utesov’s only child - daughter Edith. The man loved her, afterwards they sang together in the orchestra of Utesov.

Olena surrounded her husband with warmth. And Leonid began to make a big success. In 1917, Utesov won first place at the contest of the couplets in Gomel, two years later - his film debut took place. And everywhere he was accompanied by confession. Among the fans of Utesov was even the famous Odessa criminal authority nicknamed "Japonchik." According to the legends, one day, when Utesov’s tailcoat was kidnapped before the performance, he came to the restaurant "Funconi", where Mishka liked to rest. He complained about the theft, and while returning to the theater, Japonchik sent there 18 tailcoats to Utesov, from which he could choose.

He brought jazz to to Ukraine after traveling to France. But already before his death he has been sorry, he did not devote his life to symphonic music.

The wife of Utesov, Olena Goldina, died at 65 years old. Despite the fact that by that time he had already had an affair with Antonina Revels for almost 40 years, this loss greatly influenced him. He did not want to go on stage, he shut himself up. Later, Edith felt seriously ill. She was diagnosed with blood cancer and a brain tumor. Unfortunately, she went to the other world before her father.

The terrible grief caused Leonid Utesov to live every day as if it was the last one. Then he offered Antonina Revels to marry after decades of secret relationships. The registry office workers came straight home to Utesov, because of his venerable age. Women rejoiced that they saw the real star with their own eyes, and did not even know that they were almost the last people who saw him alive - Leonid Utesov died a few weeks after he married for the second time.

The interesting and brightly colored life of Leonid Utesov fully corresponded to his personality. He lived, like a real Odessa, among stories that you cannot imagine, and events that you will never repeat.