Lieutenant Dmitry Rzhevsky - literary, cinematic, theatrical and humorous (folklore) popular in the USSR and Russia fictional character. Initially - the hero of the play in 2 parts by Alexander Gladkov "A long time ago" (1940).

According to its creator A. Gladkov, his character "came out entirely" from one poem by Denis Davydov of 1818 - "Decisive Evening".
He became widely known in the USSR thanks to Eldar Ryazanov's comedy "The Hussar Ballad" (1962), which in turn was based on the play by Gladkov. In the film, Ryazanov, the lieutenant was played by Yuri Yakovlev.
Yuri Yakovlev believes that “lieutenant Rzhevsky became, as it were, real face- there are jokes about him, like about Chapaev, and recently in Rzhev they even decided to erect a monument to him.

In the original source - the play - it has both negative (a tendency to drink, boasting, swearing), neutral (the ability to dance), and positive qualities: courage, dexterity, gullibility, straightforwardness, frankness, ability to handle weapons, love for the motherland, dislike for "light", reliability, fidelity to duty, word and friends. According to the play and the film, Rzhevsky is not a real womanizer (at least twice he boasts of success with women), but it is the “sexual” theme that is the main component in later jokes, sketches and films about the lieutenant. The lieutenant in modern (1980s - 2010s) Russian folklore is a "brutal" alpha male, a poorly educated womanizer, from the pressure of which women are lost.
The lieutenant is a hereditary military man, the nephew of the brigadier (brigade commander) Rzhevsky.
IN classical works(in the play and film) the place of service of Lieutenant Rzhevsky is not directly named. In the play by A. Gladkov, the commander partisan detachment Davyd Vasiliev says, referring to Rzhevsky: "Pugnacity, brother, yours has become a proverb for a long time in the Akhtyrsky regiment." This phrase can mean both the fact that Rzhevsky previously served in the Akhtyrsky regiment, and the fact that Lieutenant Colonel Denis Davydov himself actually served in the Akhtyrsky regiment in 1812.
In the film “The Hussar Ballad”, a lieutenant in the uniform of the Mariupol Hussar Regiment, and not Lubensky, Sumy or Pavlogradsky, as some sources say - as indicated by the color of the tashka (dark blue, trim or yellow instrument color), in the case of his service in The Lubensky regiment has a blue tashka, white lining. In the Mariupol regiment from January 1808 to April 1811, under the name of cornet Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov, Nadezhda Andreevna Durova actually served as a “cavalry girl”. Thus, the service of a lieutenant in the film in the Mariupol regiment is beyond doubt.
In film " True story Lieutenant Rzhevsky" (2005) a retired lieutenant also in the blue and yellow uniform of the Mariupol Hussars.
In the film "Rzhevsky against Napoleon" (2012), a lieutenant in a red uniform of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment. Contemporary author Dm. Repin in the work “Lieutenant Rzhevsky. Hussar Poem" (2002) also indicates Rzhevsky's duty station is the Hussar Life Guards Regiment (bright red uniforms, D. Davydov also served in this regiment from July 1806 to February 1807).

In various humorous dramatizations that have nothing to do with history, the lieutenant's military uniform is usually fantastic - the one that is in the props at hand. So, G. Kharlamov in the program “What are our years” is dressed in a blue hussar uniform of the color of the Grodno regiment with a yellow lining of the Mariupol regiment. In two programs "Gorodok" Rzhevsky is in a fantastic uniform of the Life Guards of the Hussar Regiment with red and white pantaloons, in the third - in a strange yellow-black separate uniform of the colors of the Mariupol Regiment, in the fourth - in general in a khaki hussar uniform.
Another character in Gladkov's play, Shura Azarova, uses the green uniform of the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment (Rzhevsky says, addressing her: - I see Pavlogradsky's uniform on you), but in the film she wears a light gray uniform of the Sumy Hussar Regiment, which probably was the reason for including Lieutenant Rzhevsky himself to this regiment; - in Pavlograd even a monument was erected to him.

"Rzhevsky, waiting for a young lady."
The author of the sculpture is the famous Belarusian master Vladimir Zhbanov (01/26/1954 - 01/16/2012).
Some local young women believe that if you touch a hussar's mustache with your hand, your husband will have a mustache, and if you hold on to another place, you will get pregnant faster.

Rzhevsky himself in the play says: - For me, there is no sweeter blue!, And the color of the Pavlograd uniform is not blue, but light sand-gray. Another fictional character served in the Pavlograd regiment, but already Leo Tolstoy - Nikolai Rostov, the brother of Natasha Rostova, who is usually present in jokes about Rzhevsky along with other characters in the novel War and Peace, based on which in 1967 a film by Sergei Bondarchuk was released. Since those and other characters are contemporaries, they are intertwined in folklore.
Nikolai Aseev's poem "The Blue Hussars", in particular, refers to their participation in the "Southern Society" of conspirators (1821-1825), which was located in Little Russia. The blue hussars were the Mariupol, in which Rzhevsky served in the film, and the Lubensky hussars stationed there.
The only hussar regiment Russian Empire, where in 1812 they wore part blue military uniform, was the Grodno Hussars, who distinguished themselves in the Patriotic War, nicknamed the “blue hussars” in the Russian army for this color. The main color of the uniform of the Lubensky regiment is blue, the Mariupol regiment is dark blue. The Grodno regiment received an award for the 1812 campaign: silver trumpets with the inscription "For distinction in the defeat and expulsion of the enemy from Russia in 1812." The Mariupol regiment received the same award.
Known in Russia noble family Rzhevsky, allegedly descended from the legendary Prince Rurik and who lost princely title at the end of the 14th century. The Rzhevskys, whose surname is named after the city of Rzhev, are mentioned in the annals of 1315 - they were specific princes in Rzhev. Prince Rodion Fedorovich Rzhevsky was killed in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.

Possible prototypes of the hero.

The Rzhevskys lived in nine Russian provinces: Voronezh, Kursk, Tula, Moscow, Oryol, Ryazan, St. Petersburg, Tambov, Tver.
In St. Petersburg, the captain of the Russian Imperial Army Rzhevsky really existed, from whose surname the name of the Rzhev settlement, which he owned, and the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe city (then a suburb) Rzhevka came from. The captain sold this land to the naval department, and the Rzhev artillery range was set up there. Now this toponym is preserved in the name of the railway station of the same name, as well as the nearby residential area "Rzhevka-Porohovye".
The first Rzhevsky, who bore the rank of lieutenant, was Yuri Alekseevich, who studied maritime affairs at the beginning of the 18th century in Italy by decree of Peter the Great, Lieutenant Yuri Alekseevich Rzhevsky was the great-great-grandfather of A. S. Pushkin, after which he was appointed to the rank of lieutenant in the Preobrazhensky regiment. His descendant Nikolai Rzhevsky, brother of A. S. Pushkin in the sixth generation, studied with Pushkin at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.
In the Venevsky district of the Tula province in the middle of the 19th century, there lived a noble lieutenant Sergei Semyonovich Rzhevsky, who "disregarded recklessly", often very vulgarly and whose jokes were often shocking noble society. Stories about the adventures of the "Venev ugly" were described in the Moscow tabloid press. He served in the army for only a year and three months, after which he was expelled from service. He did not participate in the Patriotic War of 1812, since he was not yet born then. This is stated in the memoirs of his niece Nadezhda Petrovna Rzhevskaya (nee Volkonskaya), published by Tulsky local history museum. From the real adventures of lieutenant Rzhevsky, described by the princess and found in the newspapers:
Once, at a masquerade, Rzhevsky dressed himself as a stove. He stuck his head into the pipe, made holes for the legs at the bottom of the furnace. He stripped naked and climbed naked into the stove, which was made of cardboard. There was a flood in the front, an air vent in the back. Around both holes closed so far were large inscriptions: "Do not open the stove, there is a waste in it." In the masquerade, everyone behaved very freely, and such an inscription encouraged everyone to open the stove and look into it. Everyone saw the bare limbs of the man, front and back. Some spat, others laughed, but the whole hall was noisy and crowds began to gather. Sergei Semenovich wanted only this. The police came and he was escorted out in triumph.
Two Rzhevsky brothers participated in the Patriotic War of 1812, but there was no lieutenant among them and they are not the prototypes of the hero.
In the memoirs of the hussar lieutenant colonel Denis Davydov there is a participant Patriotic War Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Rzhevsky, also not the prototype of Dmitry Rzhevsky.
Volgograd writer Yuri Voitov believes that Nikolai Ashinov, a native of Tsaritsyn, who was widely known in late nineteenth century. Ashinov was a desperate adventurer and an equally ardent patriot. It was necessary to think of it - to land more than a hundred years ago on the territory of present-day African Somalia a Cossack landing force, to establish there an “African Cossacks with the village of Moscow” and declare that from now on these lands are under the jurisdiction of the Russian crown. Only a true ... lieutenant Rzhevsky could do this.
Jokes about Rzhevsky appeared in the USSR after the release of the film "Hussar Ballad" and became widespread by the 1980s. Rzhevsky is one of the three most popular heroes anecdotes in the USSR/Russia that came from the cinema; the rest are Chapaev and Stirlitz. In total, more than four hundred "classic" jokes are known on this topic. Most often in jokes, in addition to Lieutenant Rzhevsky himself, his fellow hussars, Natasha Rostova and cornet Obolensky from the 20th century, act.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lieutenant Rzhevsky at the ball - to the general:
- Guess the riddle: without windows, without doors, the upper room is full of people.
- Ass.
- No, that's not right, it's a cucumber. And here's another: seven clothes and all fasteners.
- Ass...
- No! .. It's an onion.
- And when will it be in the ass? ..

Natasha Rostova makes lieutenant Rzhevsky m#no. Natasha: - Lieutenant, something you have a soft member. Lieutenant: - This is not a member, I mean.

In anticipation of the arrival of Natasha Rostov Lieutenant Rzhevsky was engaged in self-control ...

They invited Rzhevsky to a party, treated him to grapes. He takes it in handfuls, chews, snot fly. They say to him: - Lieutenant, shame on you! Don't you know that grapes are eaten by the berry? - Leave it, gentlemen. What is eaten by the berry is called eggplant.

Lieutenant Rzhevsky was a great original, he loved women, vodka and cards.

The lieutenant rides in a cab in Moscow.
Rzhevsky: - Oh! Look, look! Ass!
Izv .: - Yes, this is not an ass, master, but a young lady.
Over time:
Rzhevsky: - Oh-oh-oh! Look! This is ass so ass!
Izv.: -Eco you, sir... It's not an asshole, but a policeman.
Hmmm - after thinking, says Rzhevsky - after all, Moscow is a boring town. Already
We traveled two versts, but never met a single asshole.

Rzhevsky is going to the ball and orders the batman to teach
his some pun.
- Well, listen, your wander. A clipper is floating, a skipper is on the clipper, the skipper has
zipper, clap in zipper.
Rzhevsky comes to the ball, gathers a circle around him and says:
- An original pun, gentlemen! The barge floats, and the barge is full
syphilitic.

At a ball at the Rostovs, the PB comes up to Rzhevsky and asks:
PB: Here you are a lieutenant, as a great connoisseur of women, tell me, do you see this lady?
Does she take it in her mouth or not?
PB points a finger at one of the dancing ladies.
Rzhevsky: Beret!!!
PB: And this one?, and points to another.
Rzhevsky: And this one takes it.
PB: Well, does this one take too???
Says PB, pointing to the third lady.
Rzhevsky: Wait a second, Pierre, the lieutenant answers.
When the lady turns to face Rzhevsky, he says: PB: But lieutenant, let me know how you manage to learn about women like that
Rzhevsky: Yes, everything is very simple, dear Pierre. Does the mouth eat? So it takes!!!

Lieutenant Rzhevsky has a birthday. Natasha informs him that she has a present for him. Strips naked and she has only one bow in the most piquant place!
The lieutenant, rolling up his sleeve to the elbow: "Well, how far is he there?"

Natasha Rostova asks the lieutenant Rzhevsky.
- Tell me, lieutenant, what do you do in the evenings?
- With pleasure, for example, last night I was at the stable and fucked a mare there.
- Oh, what a vulgar lieutenant you are.
She turned around and went to the cornet:
-Tell me, cornet, the lieutenant Rzhevsky, is it really such a vulgar thing or just a naughty one?
- A vulgar, oh no, of course, a scoundrel, last night, when the lieutenant and I were fucking a mare at the stable, the lieutenant all the time dug a stool out from under my feet, certainly a scoundrel.

Lieutenant Rzhevsky rides in the train
Went out to the vestibule to buy, put in no matches. Father stands nearby
-Holy father! won't you have matches?
Batiushka rummaged through his cassock and took out matches.
Rzhevsky lit a cigarette, thought and asked
- Say Father? Why do you need matches, why do you even smoke a sin?
to which the Holy Father replied
-The pocket doesn’t burden you to eat or drink, doesn’t ask, even though Pop doesn’t eat a nun ... but huh .. wears in a pocket
"Cool tale," thought Rzhevsky, "I'll tell you tonight at the Vyazemsky's ball"
In the evening at the ball, the floor is given to Rzhevsky
- Lord!!! today I heard a cool joke, but since here I will replace the Ladies obscene words on ho-ho and ha-ha but the meaning will remain the same
The reserve does not burden your pocket to eat or drink, does not ask for at least Pop a little girl is not a HO HO - but X% in your pocket OH HO HO!

Natasha Rostova is dancing with Lieutenant Rzhevsky:
- Lieutenant, have you ever been in love?
- Of course ***-s!
Natasha faints, the lieutenant picks her up in his arms:
- Excuse me, mademoiselle! x% ynyu-s froze-s!

Lieutenant Rzhevsky is dancing at the ball with Natasha Rostova.
-Fu, Lieutenant, how you smell - go take off your socks!!!
A minute later the lieutenant returns to Hatasha.
- Lieutenant, you still smell the same, have you taken off your socks?
-But how, - said Lieutenant Rzhevsky and pulled them out of his bosom.

A young lieutenant Rzhevsky plays in the theater. His first role
was that the Lieutenant should go on stage, say
"Balabuev, here is your cane" and give it back. Hussars argued
with the Lieutenant that he would be mistaken and instead of the name Balabuev from excitement
says Bala***v. And now the performance is on and Rzhevsky enters the stage.
- Balabuev, - says the lieutenant and looks victoriously into the stalls, - here is your x # d ...

Hussars in the officers' assembly are having a serious conversation. Suddenly the door opens, and a naked girl runs into the officers' meeting, then a second, a third ... Dubrovsky and says:
- As usual, just started a serious conversation! Now naked Rzhevsky will appear!
At this moment, the door opens, Rzhevsky enters, dressed in full dress uniform, and says:
- Imagine, gentlemen, I have been looking for a dress uniform for three years, and then you understand, I undress and ... here it is, like new

A woman with a cart is harder for a mare.
(Lieutenant Rzhevsky)

The lieutenant is almost on his deathbed after drinking. Just in case, the hussars decided to send a priest to him so that he could take communion. However, the priest was busy, so the priest came instead.
Popadya, having heard about the adventures of Rzhevsky from her husband, to whom numerous ladies complained, decided to take a look at the subject. Quietly lifting the blanket and evaluating the size of the penis like a woman, the priest sobbed voluptuously.
At that moment the lieutenant woke up and groaned:
- Here it is, the punishment for my sins ... At the hour of death - a pop pederast ...

Natasha Rostova is dancing at a ball with lieutenant Rzhevsky.
- Lieutenant, your mouth stinks!
- Here are the bastards! Again in the soul shit!

Three ladies argue about what hurts more: giving birth, having an abortion
or lose maiden honor.
-Eh, have you ever been beaten in the balls with a frying pan? -
Lieutenant Rzhevsky intervenes in the conversation.

Somehow Rzhevsky came to the ball, and they ask him to tell some case, to which he agrees.
- I somehow got to Africa to hunt a lion. I am walking through the jungle, chopping vines with a machete, and suddenly I go out into a clearing, and a hungry lion is sitting on it, two meters from me. Lord, I'm pissed off.
Well, everyone rushed to say:
- Well, lieutenant, to see a lion so close. With whom, they say, does not happen.
- No, gentlemen, I just turned around.

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Who was Lieutenant Rzhevsky really?

Lieutenant Rzhevsky. Still from the film "The Hussar Ballad", 1962, dir. E. Ryazanov

Lieutenant Rzhevsky occupies a special place in the line of heroes of folk anecdotes. Incomparable qualities intertwined in Rzhevsky - irrepressible boasting and loyalty to the word, love for the weaker sex and reckless courage on the battlefield, boundless patriotism and a penchant for gambling, ability to dance and dislike for high society. But the gallant lieutenant entered the mass consciousness only half a century ago, when the 150th anniversary of the victory of the Russian army in the Patriotic War of 1812 was celebrated.

Rzhevsky - entry into folklore

With a high degree of probability, it can be argued that the folklore birth of Lieutenant Rzhevsky occurred in 1962 after the release of Eldar Ryazanov's comedy The Hussar Ballad. The film itself was a screen version of Alexander Gladkov's play Once Upon A Time, which was first staged in 1941. The playwright Gladkov, who presented Russia with an outstanding folk hero, recalled that he was inspired by the poem of the hero of 1812, hussar Denis Davydov, for the dashing image of Lieutenant Rzhevsky:

* Abshid - resignation.

A few words about the film. Seventeen-year-old Shura, a pupil of a retired major, is betrothed in absentia to lieutenant Dmitry Rzhevsky, whom she has never seen. Rzhevsky himself is by no means happy about the upcoming meeting with the bride, representing her as a cutesy fashionista who is "fidgety and whiny, smart, but capable of grinding rye with her tongue." However, Shura is not like that at all - she keeps well in the saddle, shoots and knows how to fence. At a masquerade dedicated to her birthday, she puts on a cornet uniform, and the lieutenant takes her for a young military man. Rzhevsky, not feeling a dirty trick, pours out his soul to her, complaining about the upcoming wedding. Then Shura meets with the lieutenant in a woman's outfit, feigning affectation and justifying his worst expectations.

An episode from the film "The Hussar Ballad", 1962, dir. E. Ryazanov

During the ball, couriers arrive at the house with the news of the beginning of the war. The lieutenant, like all the military, quickly leaves - he must return to his regiment. Shura does not intend to stay at home with needlework and runs away from home that very night in a cornet uniform - to fight for the Motherland.

Actor Yuri Yakovlev, who brilliantly entered the role of the protagonist, created an anecdotal image of Lieutenant Rzhevsky with his magnificent game - a dashing braggart, ladies' man, a swindler, prone to gambling and reckless in battle.

Rzhevsky's real and fictional contemporaries, who often accompany him in jokes, require special attention. The great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin often acts as an adviser to the lieutenant, or composes puns for him, which he shamelessly misrepresents. With the heroes of Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" Rzhevsky brought folklore together, since the action of the epic takes place during the heyday of the lieutenant. Rzhevsky is also accompanied by characters from the 20th century - cornet Obolensky and lieutenant Golitsyn, heroes famous romance Mikhail Zvezdinsky.

Prototypes

For the right to be called the birthplace of Lieutenant Dmitry Rzhevsky, as many as nine can compete Russian regions. Nobles with such a surname lived in the Voronezh, Kursk, Tula, Moscow, Oryol, Ryazan, St. Petersburg, Tambov and Tver provinces. For example, the specific princes of Rzhevsky, whose surname is named after the city of Rzhev, are mentioned in the annals of 1315. It is known that Prince Rodion Rzhevsky died in the Battle of Kulikovo.

The captain of the Russian army Rzhevsky, who owned part of the Rzhev settlement, lived in St. Petersburg. It is believed that the captain sold his land to the maritime department, which set up the Rzhev artillery range there, which is still operating to this day.

At the beginning of the 18th century, by decree of Peter I, lieutenant Yuri Rzhevsky was sent to Italy to study maritime affairs. Upon returning to his homeland, the officer was assigned to the Preobrazhensky Regiment. It is noteworthy that Lieutenant Yuri Rzhevsky is the great-great-grandfather of A.S. Pushkin.

It is also known that two Rzhevsky brothers participated in the Patriotic War of 1812, but they can hardly be considered the real prototypes of our hero, since none of them was a lieutenant.

However, the most real prototype lieutenant Rzhevsky can be considered a nobleman second lieutenant Sergei Rzhevsky, who lived in the middle of the 19th century in the Venevsky district of the Tula province. According to his contemporaries, the young rake "disregarded recklessly", often very obscenely and vulgarly, and only the police could calm him down. The antics of the Venevsky revelers often became the property of the Moscow tabloid press. Here are just the most harmless of them, described in the memoirs of his niece Nadezhda Petrovna Rzhevskaya (nee Volkonskaya):

One day the lieutenant went to mass in a convent. He chose a pretty nun, stood behind her so close that, making a cross and bowing, he struck her forehead in the back. The nun moved away, Rzhevsky approached again. This happened several times, until there was nowhere to retreat. The abbess ordered two nuns to take him out. Rzhevsky pressed their hands to his sides and rushed to run with them to the square with the song: “Here is a daring troika rushing!” The audience applauded, the nuns fell, and he dragged them all and sang. The scandal is complete!

Footprint in art

The name of Lieutenant Rzhevsky, in addition to anecdotes, is associated with many works of art and show business. As already mentioned, the playwright Alexander Gladkov was the first to bring our hero to the stage on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. By the way, his comedy "A long time ago" is still being staged with great success at the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army.

Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army

The image of Rzhevsky is regularly exploited in mass art. So, in the well-known film by Dzhanik Fayziev "Turkish Gambit" the attention of the female audience is riveted to the lieutenant-hussar Zurov - a dashing grunt, duelist, gambler and ladies' man.

Lieutenant Zurov. Shot from the film "Turkish Gambit", 2005, dir. Janik Faiziev

The adventures of lieutenant Rzhevsky is a favorite topic of the TV show "Gorodok". Yuri Stoyanov and Ilya Oleinikov sometimes play out piquant moments from the lieutenant's biography in a very original way.

Frame from the TV show "Gorodok"

In the comedy by Marius Weisberg "Rzhevsky against Napoleon", which was released in February 2012, all the truly "hussar" qualities of the lieutenant are revealed. Rzhevsky, performed by actor Pavel Derevyanko, is the focus of debauchery, excitement and brutality. The rollickingness of Rzhevsky goes off scale so much that at times it drives even the most hardened viewers into the paint. The absurdity of the plot (the Russian generals throw Rzhevsky, disguised as a woman, into Napoleon's headquarters, where the French emperor falls madly in love with a temperamental stranger) reveals new features of Rzhevsky, who managed to step over his principles and enter the role of a temptress for the glory of the Fatherland.

Lieutenant Rzhevsky, disguised as a woman, seduces Napoleon and frustrates his plans. Frame from the film "Rzhevsky against Napoleon", 2012, dir. Marius Weisberg

Rzhevsky, unlike Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev and Stirlitz, became the hero of about 10 full-fledged literary works published in 1990-2000. Unlike its cinematic rivals, it boasts the baggage of several theatrical performances and even a separate ballet (The Hussar Ballad by Tikhon Khrennikov).

The folklore heritage of Rzhevsky is incalculable. The researchers counted more than 400 jokes about the dashing lieutenant. Naturally, most of them are very difficult to publish without cuts. However, there are exceptions. So, the critic Pavel Basinsky on the pages “ literary newspaper managed to publish a rather harmless anecdote:

A beautiful sunny morning. Rzhevsky went out onto the porch - ruddy, dashing - and already grunted with pleasure. He jumped into the saddle, galloped a mile, only a column of dust. Suddenly he stopped, looked down and slapped his forehead: “Oh my! And where is the horse? And jumped back.

In addition to everything, Lieutenant Rzhevsky is immortalized in painting and sculpture. In 1979, the artist Vladimir Ovchinnikov presented the world with the painting “Lieutenant Rzhevsky”, and the grateful residents of Pavlograd (Ukraine) erected a real monument to the hero of folk jokes.

Monument to Lieutenant Rzhevsky, Pavlograd, Republic of Ukraine

One way or another, lieutenant-adventurer Dmitry Rzhevsky took his place in the galaxy folk heroes, V different time who stood up in defense of the Fatherland. And let o feats of arms Rzhevsky, we have a vague idea, but his successes in civilian life, of course, raise the spirits of many.

Lieutenant Dmitry Rzhevsky is a literary, cinematographic, theatrical and humorous (folklore) fictional character popular in the USSR and Russia. Initially - the hero of the play in 2 parts by Alexander Gladkov "A long time ago" (1940).

According to its creator A. Gladkov, his character "came out entirely" from one poem by Denis Davydov of 1818 - "Decisive Evening".
He became widely known in the USSR thanks to Eldar Ryazanov's comedy "The Hussar Ballad" (1962), which in turn was based on the play by Gladkov. In the film, Ryazanov, the lieutenant was played by Yuri Yakovlev.
Yuri Yakovlev believes that "Lieutenant Rzhevsky has become, as it were, a real person - there are jokes about him, like Chapaev, and recently in Rzhev they even decided to erect a monument to him."

In the original source - the play - it has both negative (a tendency to drink, boasting, abuse), neutral (the ability to dance), and positive qualities: courage, dexterity, gullibility, straightforwardness, frankness, ability to handle weapons, love for the motherland, dislike for "light", reliability, fidelity to duty, word and friends. According to the play and the film, Rzhevsky is not a real womanizer (at least twice he boasts of success with women), but it is the “sexual” theme that is the main component in later jokes, sketches and films about the lieutenant. The lieutenant in modern (1980s - 2010s) Russian folklore is a "brutal" alpha male, a poorly educated womanizer, from the pressure of which women are lost.
The lieutenant is a hereditary military man, the nephew of the brigadier (brigade commander) Rzhevsky.
In classical works (play and film), the place of service of Lieutenant Rzhevsky is not directly called. In the play by A. Gladkov, the commander of the partisan detachment, Davyd Vasiliev, says, referring to Rzhevsky: “Pugnacity, brother, yours has become a proverb for a long time in the Akhtyrsky regiment.” This phrase can mean both the fact that Rzhevsky previously served in the Akhtyrsky regiment, and the fact that Lieutenant Colonel Denis Davydov himself actually served in the Akhtyrsky regiment in 1812.
In the film “The Hussar Ballad”, a lieutenant in the uniform of the Mariupol Hussar Regiment, and not Lubensky, Sumy or Pavlogradsky, as some sources say - as indicated by the color of the tashka (dark blue, trim or yellow instrument color), in the case of his service in The Lubensky regiment has a blue tashka, white lining. In the Mariupol regiment from January 1808 to April 1811, under the name of cornet Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov, Nadezhda Andreevna Durova actually served as a “cavalry girl”. Thus, the service of a lieutenant in the film in the Mariupol regiment is beyond doubt.
In the film "The True Story of Lieutenant Rzhevsky" (2005), the retired lieutenant is also in the blue and yellow uniform of the Mariupol Hussar Regiment.
In the film "Rzhevsky against Napoleon" (2012), a lieutenant in a red uniform of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment. Modern author Dm. Repin in the work “Lieutenant Rzhevsky. Hussar Poem" (2002) also indicates Rzhevsky's duty station is the Hussar Life Guards Regiment (bright red uniforms, D. Davydov also served in this regiment from July 1806 to February 1807).

In various humorous dramatizations that have nothing to do with history, the lieutenant's military uniform is usually fantastic - the one that is in the props at hand. So, G. Kharlamov in the program “What are our years” is dressed in a blue hussar uniform of the color of the Grodno regiment with a yellow lining of the Mariupol regiment. In two programs "Gorodok" Rzhevsky is in a fantastic uniform of the Life Guards of the Hussar Regiment with red and white pantaloons, in the third - in a strange yellow-black separate uniform of the colors of the Mariupol Regiment, in the fourth - in general in a khaki hussar uniform.
Another character in Gladkov's play, Shura Azarova, uses the green uniform of the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment (Rzhevsky says, addressing her: - I see Pavlogradsky's uniform on you), but in the film she wears a light gray uniform of the Sumy Hussar Regiment, which probably was the reason for including Lieutenant Rzhevsky himself to this regiment; - in Pavlograd even a monument was erected to him.

"Rzhevsky, waiting for a young lady."
The author of the sculpture is the famous Belarusian master Vladimir Zhbanov (01/26/1954 - 01/16/2012).
Some local young women believe that if you touch a hussar's mustache with your hand, your husband will have a mustache, and if you hold on to another place, you will get pregnant faster.

Rzhevsky himself in the play says: - For me, there is no sweeter blue!, And the color of the Pavlograd uniform is not blue, but light sand-gray. Another fictional character served in the Pavlograd regiment, but already Leo Tolstoy - Nikolai Rostov, the brother of Natasha Rostova, who is usually present in jokes about Rzhevsky along with other characters in the novel War and Peace, based on which in 1967 a film by Sergei Bondarchuk was released. Since those and other characters are contemporaries, they are intertwined in folklore.
Nikolai Aseev's poem "The Blue Hussars", in particular, refers to their participation in the "Southern Society" of conspirators (1821-1825), which was located in Little Russia. The blue hussars were the Mariupol, in which Rzhevsky served in the film, and the Lubensky hussars stationed there.
The only hussar regiment of the Russian Empire, where in 1812 they wore a partially blue military uniform, was the Grodno Hussar Regiment, which distinguished itself in the Patriotic War, nicknamed the “blue hussars” in the Russian army for this color. The main color of the uniform of the Lubensky regiment is blue, the Mariupol regiment is dark blue. The Grodno regiment received an award for the 1812 campaign: silver trumpets with the inscription "For distinction in the defeat and expulsion of the enemy from Russia in 1812." The Mariupol regiment received the same award.
In Russia, the noble family of the Rzhevskys is known, allegedly descended from the legendary prince Rurik and lost their princely title at the end of the 14th century. The Rzhevskys, whose surname is named after the city of Rzhev, are mentioned in the annals of 1315 - they were specific princes in Rzhev. Prince Rodion Fedorovich Rzhevsky was killed in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.

Possible prototypes of the hero.

The Rzhevskys lived in nine Russian provinces: Voronezh, Kursk, Tula, Moscow, Oryol, Ryazan, St. Petersburg, Tambov, Tver.
In St. Petersburg, the captain of the Russian Imperial Army Rzhevsky really existed, from whose surname the name of the Rzhev settlement, which he owned, and the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe city (then a suburb) Rzhevka came from. The captain sold this land to the naval department, and the Rzhev artillery range was set up there. Now this toponym is preserved in the name of the railway station of the same name, as well as the nearby residential area "Rzhevka-Porohovye".
The first Rzhevsky, who bore the rank of lieutenant, was Yuri Alekseevich, who studied maritime affairs at the beginning of the 18th century in Italy by decree of Peter the Great, Lieutenant Yuri Alekseevich Rzhevsky was the great-great-grandfather of A. S. Pushkin, after which he was appointed to the rank of lieutenant in the Preobrazhensky regiment. His descendant Nikolai Rzhevsky, brother of A. S. Pushkin in the sixth generation, studied with Pushkin at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.
In the Venevsky district of the Tula province in the middle of the 19th century, there lived a noble lieutenant Sergei Semyonovich Rzhevsky, who “disregarded recklessly”, often very vulgarly, and whose jokes often shocked the noble society. Stories about the adventures of the "Venev ugly" were described in the Moscow tabloid press. He served in the army for only a year and three months, after which he was expelled from service. He did not participate in the Patriotic War of 1812, since he was not yet born then. This is stated in the memoirs of his niece Nadezhda Petrovna Rzhevskaya (nee Volkonskaya), published by the Tula Museum of Local Lore. From the real adventures of lieutenant Rzhevsky, described by the princess and found in the newspapers:
Once, at a masquerade, Rzhevsky dressed himself as a stove. He stuck his head into the pipe, made holes for the legs at the bottom of the furnace. He stripped naked and climbed naked into the stove, which was made of cardboard. There was a flood in the front, an air vent in the back. Around both holes closed so far were large inscriptions: "Do not open the stove, there is a waste in it." In the masquerade, everyone behaved very freely, and such an inscription encouraged everyone to open the stove and look into it. Everyone saw the bare limbs of the man, front and back. Some spat, others laughed, but the whole hall was noisy and crowds began to gather. Sergei Semenovich wanted only this. The police came and he was escorted out in triumph.
Two Rzhevsky brothers participated in the Patriotic War of 1812, but there was no lieutenant among them and they are not the prototypes of the hero.
In the memoirs of the hussar, Lieutenant Colonel Denis Davydov, there is a participant in the Patriotic War, Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Rzhevsky, who is also not the prototype of Dmitry Rzhevsky.
Volgograd writer Yuri Voitov believes that Nikolai Ashinov, a native of Tsaritsyn, who was widely known at the end of the 19th century, could become the prototype of Rzhevsky. Ashinov was a desperate adventurer and an equally ardent patriot. It was necessary to think of it - to land more than a hundred years ago on the territory of present-day African Somalia a Cossack landing force, to establish there an “African Cossacks with the village of Moscow” and declare that from now on these lands are under the jurisdiction of the Russian crown. Only a true ... lieutenant Rzhevsky could do this.
Jokes about Rzhevsky appeared in the USSR after the release of the film "Hussar Ballad" and became widespread by the 1980s. Rzhevsky - one of the three most popular joke characters in the USSR / Russia, who came from the cinema; the rest are Chapaev and Stirlitz. In total, more than four hundred "classic" jokes on this topic are known. Most often in jokes, in addition to Lieutenant Rzhevsky himself, his fellow hussars, Natasha Rostova and cornet Obolensky from the 20th century, act.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Newspapers of the forties and fifties of the XIX century often wrote about the "jokes" of Sergei Semenovich Rzhevsky, who comes from the nobles of the Venevsky district of the Tula province. He found a place and time to mess around. To understand this man, let's look at the records preserved in the archives.

The Rzhevsky family had three sons. The eldest son became a diplomat, the middle son became a military man, rising to the rank of colonel, and the youngest became a "shameful guardsman." Sergei Rzhevsky began his "exploits" while still a cadet. His mother, the general's daughter of the Golovin family, managed to get him into a cadet school in St. Petersburg. He graduated with great difficulty, often went out in the evenings in the company of other cadets, dressed in civilian clothes, and then had fun:

They tore off hats from passers-by, sometimes it turned out to rip off a fur coat;

Creeping up from behind, they poured ice water down the collars of the young ladies - they squealed loudly and fervently from the unexpected water treatment, some even fainted, which greatly amused the young people;

They went into taverns and overturned the tables, took refreshments from the tables without permission, and then left the premises;

They threw mud at passing carriages;

With special enthusiasm they smeared the gates of the houses of famous people with mud;

They wrote obscene poems on the walls;

Were making our way into Mariinskii Opera House in the dressing room of actresses, joking, stealing their clothes, adding soot to their makeup;

Ballerinas were scared by dressing up as devils and other evil spirits.

During this period, young people had not yet fallen into the hands of the police, the city newspapers wrote about the "exploits" of the merry fellows the next day. They were ambushed, but these ambushes were easily figured out, passing in places of future entertainment, dressed in cadet uniforms - they did not pay attention to the junkers. Only after changing into civilian clothes, the youth began their pranks. A special apartment was rented for changing clothes, where outfits for “jokes” were kept. Before going out for entertainment, young people put strips of soot on their faces, so no one could remember their faces, they remembered only dirty stripes on their faces.

At the end of the cadet school, Rzhevsky was given the rank of second lieutenant, in which he remained for life (in the film "The Hussar Ballad" he was given the rank of lieutenant). Rzhevsky was sent to serve in the hussar regiment. But Rzhevsky served for a very short time, after a year and three months he was dismissed. The mother blushed for a long time for her unlucky son when she was called to the general. What did Rzhevsky do? He decided to test in practice how brave his general was.

The young man had necessary knowledge to make a cracker (explosion package). Rzhevsky managed to hide the whole device inside walnut. On the parade ground before the formation and march, Rzhevsky calculated and threw a nut in the place where the general should command the formation. The daily march of the regiment's mouth began. The general, shifting from foot to foot, managed to step on the joker. She jerked loudly under the general's feet.

The general was already quite an elderly man. From an unexpected strong pop between his legs, he made a puddle, and then fainted. Everyone laughed loudly and cheerfully at the event. The general arranged a trial, as a result of which the intruder was identified. Military career Rzhevsky ended with expulsion from the military ranks.

Rzhevsky did not drink or play cards; he was interested in ladies as an object of entertainment. Constant mistresses didn't have. Once upon a time convent joined behind a pretty nun, became so close to her that, beating prostrations, punched her in the back. She tried to move away, but Rzhevsky pursued her during the service. When they began to take him out of the church, he grabbed two girls by the arms and ran out into the street together with them. The girls couldn't get rid of young man forced to flee with him. He ran and shouted: “Here is the daring troika rushing ...”.

Observers around applauded the merry fellow. He managed to drag the girls into the carriage, the further events of this incident remained a mystery, but the nuns, after this joke, prayed for their sin for a long time.

Attempts to rein in Rzhevsky did not lead to anything. Once he himself was embarrassed in front of his bride that he remained a bachelor for the rest of his life. At the age of 25 he returned to Venev, where locals Rzhevsky was remembered for a long time as a great ugly.