"I remember, yes, you are calling for the third time, and thank you for your interest, although I have to tell you again that no one is interested in what I am talking about anymore." Yes, they listened to me at the pre-election rally, I know that was the first time you called me, but that was something else, I agreed to speak because they asked me, I wanted to help, it is important that those children from the white world return to us , I did all that for the sake of the children. Just promise me something, otherwise I won't talk: please, nothing about politics, nothing, not even in my thoughts."
And, we started.
"WEATHER": U danima comedies u Jagodina decided su da First winner recently established prizes za vital delo "Golden turkey" you will vi. Reward za vital delo - sounds big?
ČKALYA: I have already received two works of my life: from Smederevo Nušićevi dani and from Kruševac, where there is a festival of humor, here is this now. Both of these are big because few comedians win awards and there are few festivals where comedians are awarded. It is somehow avoided, as if it were a lower kind of art. Drama artists are more important than us, and they also receive those state awards. I have been nominated nine times for the October Award and I have not received it, and I have been a Belgrade actor for 55 years, so if anyone should receive the award, then it should be me. Well, I didn't.
Often th spoke da se comedy Code nose considers lower by type art...
It's some kind of complex. All over the world, comedians are incomparably more valued, where I have been, in France, Switzerland, Germany, comedians are adored there and their salaries and fees cannot be compared to drama. I read that it is the same in America. And our people are complex, they are afraid of being told by a comedian, they will immediately think that he is not some primitive, that he is not some kind of people's man. In fact, it is a complex. At the same time, comedy is very difficult to play, I changed my shirt after each act. Because, you know, you mustn't let go of the viewer for a single moment, he mustn't look at the clock for a single moment, he can only look at you, if he looks at the clock you can leave the stage freely.
How se becomes comedian?
If you mean great comedians, he must be born. No one can teach him. I had colleagues and colleagues who came to the theater to be the first comedians, but they couldn't do anything. It can't be like that, it's God given.
As a child, behind the house in Kruševac, I built a theater. We did three hundred miracles there, we played what we learned in school, Kosovar buoy and things like that. And to be a comedian, that just came out. I had a good teacher, Uncle Boro Mihajlović, he was the manager of a semi-professional theater in Kruševac, and he was also my class teacher, he taught German. And, as soon as he felt it in me, he followed me closely, first giving me small balls, then bigger and bigger ones. Then I came to Belgrade to study veterinary medicine. In the third year, near the end, I see that I have no bread, my parents can't send me money to pay for an apartment and food, and there was an audition at Radio Belgrade, they were looking for actors for the Drama Studio. I applied, they accepted me, and I left my studies - I couldn't go to practice because I had rehearsals. I was in Radio Drama for several years, in 1946 I came to Radio, Cheerfully night started in 1949, then I also wrote skits and acted. I received 300 dinars from a skit, so the people at the radio thought that I received a lot and appointed me as a journalist. Cheerful evenings, and part-time to play in Radio Drama. So when they saw that I play a lot, which means I earn a lot, come on, bring him back to Radio Drama and pay him for skits. Then in 1951 I transferred to the Humorist Theater.
So od beginning career su VAM responsible limited earnings. Known je case kad th morals da stop Recording series "Better life" da VAM ne bi failed exceptional pension, house VAM je later taken away.
Yes, as soon as they arrived, they immediately canceled it... And you know what the conditions were for that exceptional pension, you must not earn more than half of the pension, so if you do, it is taken away from you, so you do not receive it for two years. God be with us, no one here can catch what happened.
And that's only because it's a comedy, I tell you, otherwise it's a drama... And the fact that I'm like any other pensioner, I'm not complaining, if a million and two hundred thousand pensioners can live like that, so can I. That's not why I worked, I worked, that was my bequest to Balšićeva Street in Kruševac, a poor street, that I was going to cheer up the people, that I was going to give them joy. And I succeeded. You know, when you get a letter, when someone writes to you, someone disabled, Thank you VAM na satu life, that cannot be paid for. He forgot about his wheelchair during my show, he was enjoying himself and laughing. I get a letter from Germany, they find my address somewhere and write to me. For example, someone likes Love na rural the way so he writes to me Iron our, kad bi ti knew kako mi je here… Someone loves People i parrots, somebody Black snow, Museum waxy figura, so it writes to me as if I am a character from a series. Ja weak evenings kad I finish job, rest se i can wash, I take off u pajamas, I let go yours series, I lie down i I enjoy it. Sometime i I'm crying. Even today, my greatest reward is when a man passes me on the street and smiles. So where will you get more than that!
Da li you keep letters fans?
I don't keep it, so what would I care, I divided the apartment between myself and my son, I had a bigger one, so I gave half to him, so we all cramped up.
Critics su писали da you play the so-called ordinary man...
They wrote small man, and it is not small, but as you said.
... da se sa yours heroes easy can identify, what je assessment house se retko gives.
Well, that is the most difficult. To achieve that, I had to watch people, in shops, streets, everywhere, I watched how they talked, how they lived. I was filming with Paja (Vujisić, so) for about three months Truckers u Transped, it is on the left towards Niš, a shipping company that transported large cruise ships abroad. We lived with them, ate in their restaurant. I absorbed it all. I took something from each of those people and made a character. I put it together from a thousand parts and I told the director, Milo Đukanović, his name is the same as this one, this one from Montenegro, how would I play Jaret, he told me pa do not mene more nothing da you ask, to je taj man, to je Jare, kao da smo se arranged... Work was done with full strength, honesty and heart. And there was no god there. I come to the editorial office, and there are abusive letters. Bioscobjis write to me, please can you move the show forward or backward because after six o'clock we can't play shows. Because people are starting to leave the cinema. Houses fill up, then people talk about it for days... but that was very nice. You know, they were honest series, and they didn't show anything but ordinary life. You saw it Truckers, the two of us did what 95 percent of people in the country do, we messed around and struggled. I don't know how it is now, I don't even have the nerve for television, they shout a lot so it bothers me.
Da li you get fee od repeated?
Oh no, never. I received the last fee for Better life, and not for the whole, and then never again. They won't play my series. Some tapes of my series are overdubbed, I know that. They say they stole a lot, I don't believe it.
Da li bis again filmed advertising, like advertising za Ktitorov furniture?
That's what my son Chad and I did, it was great, but I don't know how it got interrupted. We also worked Halo here Hiccups na BK until one day someone said pa ovi rade against nose, and they took us off. We have wonderful things, my son wrote such beautiful things, there are 30 episodes In demand night, deco, I'm a certain Dobrić, a retired zoo keeper, so I talk about my adventures with animals. Divine stories! That's what we offered. They gave him back, I don't know why. There is also a divine drama about traveling actors. I play the theater manager. Everyone who read the text, people who understood each other, said it was fantastic, that it would be a fantastic film. And nothing. There is no one to push us.
Often you speak o to the family, important VAM je.
Yes, but what can we do ourselves. I begged, at first, I'm quite old, so out of respect for me I thought people would help, but they didn't.
Da li vessel they call na TV?
No, no. I played for New Year's, Nenad Ristić asked me to, my son Čeda made a half-hour show out of Nušić's anecdote. My granddaughter also played there. You see, Jovana also played in the Yugoslav Drama Theater for five years, and now nothing more.
Mine ime, popularity i reputation Often th used za don't social problems, helped th student, pensioners, participated th na DOS-this M rally, da li...
We said we wouldn't talk about it. I wanted to help my children with that.
Pa it is li im helped?
...
Reward za vital delo can biti cause za recapitulation done.
I am very satisfied with how I spent my working life. I'm sorry that it wasn't valued properly, that I didn't get some things, but I'll regret that too. It was nice for me. It was nice for the people too. And no one can take that away from me.
