Abstract
It appears that the idea of Montand’s possible Soviet tour was first raised with Russian cultural broker Sergei Obraztsov during the latter’s visit to Paris in 1954. From that encounter to the departure of Montand and his wife Simone Signoret for the Soviet Union, preparations for the event were subject to hesitations and tergiversations against the dynamic backdrop of international events throughout 1956. Together with Georges Soria, acting on behalf of the French L’Agence Litteréraire et Artistique and the Soviet tour office Gastrolbureau, Obraztsov played a major role in the preparations for the tour, with the latter also active in raising Montand’s profile in the Soviet Union. A contract was signed in early 1956, but over that year the events in Poland and Hungary led to Montand’s plans becoming the subject of bitter controversies in France. Montand himself expressed anger at the Soviet actions, and in November he announced he was postponing the tour. Sartre advised the singer that whichever decision he made, he would be condemned by one side or another, and so it transpired. Notwithstanding the postponement, Montand continued to be attacked and threatened, and finally, defiant, he rescheduled and departed for the Soviet Union on 16 December.
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Notes
- 1.
Litlife: https://litlife.club/authors/51225, accessed 14 April 2020.
- 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.
- 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.
- 10.
Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 260.
- 11.
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.
- 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.
- 21.
Gilburd, To See Paris and Die, 38–39.
- 22.
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 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.
- 30.
Gordienko, Iv Montan, 182–183.
- 31.
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.
- 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.
- 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 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.)
- 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 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 Vice-Minister 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.
- 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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Oiva, M., Salmi, H., Johnson, B. (2021). Preparations, Hesitations and Decisions. In: Yves Montand in the USSR. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9_5
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