What secrets of the USSR are hidden in the popular comedy “Queen of the gas station”

Then, back in 1963, this new comedy caused a serious spectator excitement – including due to the participation of very popular actors Nadezhda Rumyantseva, Yuri Belov, Alexei Kozhevnikov in it. According to the results of the year, “The Queen of the Gas Station” took the honorable 5th place in the Soviet film distribution, it was watched by over 34 million people.

Already from the title of the film it is clear that there are many “motorized” heroes and episodes related to wheeled vehicles in it. But everything is much tougher. The authors of the picture prepared a real exclusive for the audience: in the history of Soviet cinema, there is, perhaps, no other feature film where such unique machines would be shown “live”.

In several mise-en-scenes of the “Queen …”, an experimental bus of “increased comfort” for intercity routes – LAZ “Ukraine-1”, the design of which was developed at the Lviv Bus Plant, participates

The enthusiasts of this very young enterprise, organized only in the late 1940s and “reinforced” by experienced specialists from Gorky and Yaroslavl, managed to create in 1961 a very “advanced” bus even by global standards. In the design of “Ukraine-1” a lot of technical innovations and solutions were used, which have not yet been practically used in the Union in the production of such equipment.

In modern times, with respect to this sample of the bus, they would probably use sonorous anglicism: “concept car”. Even outwardly, he was very different from his other counterparts, produced in the Union. And when compared with passenger cars of the best foreign companies, it is unlikely that they lost to them. According to many connoisseurs of automotive history, Ukraine-1 could well take its rightful place in the list of the most beautiful buses in the world.

The designers designed a very original body with a load-bearing base – that is, this LAZ did not have a frame, like most buses of that time. The body was given rounded shapes and a streamlined “nose” extended forward, adding to the bus an external effect of swiftness. The dual optics of the “Ukraine” looked unusual: its “front” was decorated not with single, but with paired headlights. Seeing this design, many Soviet citizens probably recalled the American exhibition in Moscow that took place a few years earlier, where luxurious overseas Cadillacs, Chevrolets and Buicks with similar four “eyes” to “faces” were shown.

The “stuffing” of the LAZ was also very “advanced”. It was installed only recently mastered in production by a 150-horsepower eight-cylinder V-engine ZIL-130 and a 5-speed synchronized gearbox with a pneumohydraulic drive. The bus could accelerate on the highway up to 100 km / h. Smoothness of walking was provided by an air suspension with double-acting telescopic shock absorbers. It was quite easy to manage the 7-ton “Ukraine”, thanks to the system, which was not widespread even then among domestic cars – the steering wheel is equipped with a hydraulic booster.

The creators of the miracle-LAZ took care of the comfort for those 36 passengers, for the transportation of which the bus was designed. In the cabin were “airplane” chairs with adjustable backrests. In addition, in each back there was a ceiling lamp – an individual lighting device: I wanted to turn it on, I wanted to turn it off. A heater and ventilation system were also provided. So that people on a long journey would not be bored, the LAZ was equipped with a radio and several speakers dispersed throughout the cabin. Among other things, travelers were given an excellent opportunity to admire the beauties that Ukraine-1 passed by. She had large windows, and they were located not only on the sides, but also “crawled” onto the roof of the cabin (and so that the sun did not blind through these transparent panels in fine weather in summer, there were special curtains).

In general, the Lviv residents did not get a bus, but a “candy”. A prototype made at the plant was sent to VDNKh, where it caused a real sensation among visitors. Many simply could not believe that such a “fancy” beautiful car was made not in America, but in our country. The guest book was quickly filled with enthusiastic entries, citizens unanimously expressed the wish that more such buses be made.

Alas! Such prospects turned out to be from the realm of fantasy. It was not possible to establish mass production of “Ukraine” at the Lvov bus station. The plant simply did not have the resources for this, and it was beyond the power of the Soviet industry to provide the Lviv automakers en masse with super-modern systems and components with which they stuffed their LAZ.

However, according to some researchers, it was the successful “benefit performance” of such an experimental bus at an exhibition in Moscow that prompted the high Soviet leadership to decide to create a special design bureau in the country for the design of buses of medium and large capacity – let them, they say, advance the level of development of bus technology in our country.

And “Ukraine-1”, as if justifying its digital designation, remained in a single copy. The subsequent fate of the “piece” bus is not known. To this day, he did not survive, which means that he was decommissioned and sent to scrap. However, we still have the opportunity to see this one of the most beautiful buses in the world thanks to the fact that it was filmed in the movie “Queen of the Gas Station”.

It is “Ukraine-1”, according to the script, that the character of the comedy, played by the famous Soviet actor Yuri Belyaev, Slavka Koshevoy, drives. In several mise-en-scenes, he drives it to the gas station where the main character works. Moreover, viewers see on the “forehead” of LAZ the designation of the intercity route: “Kyiv – Yalta”. Well, of course, where, if not to the festive and resort Crimea, you can ride on such a handsome man!

Another unusual “four-wheeled actor” also starred in “Queen …” – also from among the experimental samples made at the very beginning of the 1960s by Soviet automakers. We are talking about a heavy mining dump truck BelAZ-540A. According to the director’s plan, a four-meter-high machine weighing more than 20 tons taxis up to a gas station, the “queen” of which is the lively girl Lyudmila Dobryvecher (actress Nadezhda Rumyantseva). This “cinematic” BelAZ at the time of the creation of the picture was a “messenger from the future”: after all, the mass production of such giants at a car factory in Belarus began only almost 3 years after the film was shot. And in the frames of the “Queen of the gas station” captured a prototype of the “five hundred and fortieth”, assembled in 1961. Its most noticeable distinguishing feature is the four headlights in front. Serial BelAZs have only two such headlights left.

Of course, a giant truck looks very impressive in the frame next to a regular gas station. But for the sake of such spectacularity, the creators of the comedy had to go to a clear distortion of the truth. After all, a diesel engine is installed on BelAZ, and pouring ordinary gasoline into the fuel tanks of this dump truck would be completely wrong.

And one more – already “near-automobile”, “overlay”, which can be seen upon careful viewing of the comedy. On the general plan of the gas station, which is the main scene of the “Queen …”, its “double” is found: to the right and a little behind the trees, exactly the same gas station pavilion peeps through.

The reason for this “split of reality” is in the problem that arose in the course of work on the film for the film crew. The creators of the film looked for a suitable nature in advance – a gas station in the city of Piryatin, Poltava region. However, when it came to filming mise-en-scenes at this gas station, it turned out that it was impossible to obtain the appropriate permission from the “owner” organization of the gas station: the approved fire safety rules prohibit the placement of powerful electrical equipment, which is used in filming, in the immediate vicinity of containers with gasoline .

I had to build a copy of it in a wasteland not far from a real gas station. Masters of the prop shop of the film studio. Dovzhenko reproduced everything so accurately that, according to the recollections of the participants in the work on the film, during the filming there were cases when cars were taxied to the “cinematic” gas station to replenish the supply of gasoline.

“One morning, when we had not yet had time to deploy the equipment, a truck turned off the road at our gas station, and the driver demanded to fill it up,” one of the filmmakers later said in an interview. – Nadia Rumyantseva, without batting an eyelid, said: “I will not fill your car. She is dirty, the driver is unshaven…” The driver lost his speech. Andrey Sova came up (in the film he played the role of the head of the gas station – A.D.). “Are you the boss?” the driver asked. “Yes, I am,” Andrey Korneevich answered seriously. – “Why did you put this wick here, demanding that I shave?” – “Correctly requires, according to the instructions.” – “I will complain!” Then our “policeman” Pasha Vinnik appeared (this actor in the comedy got the role of a traffic inspector, senior lieutenant – A.D.): “… Show your rights …” The driver of the car was in the end completely angry … “

As the participants of this “improvisation” said, it became clear that the prank had already gone too far. They explained to the driver: they are filming a movie here, and the gas station is not real. But the driver did not believe. Then the director Nikolai Litus pushed the leading lady forward: “Look, this is Nadya Rumyantseva, “unyielding”!” By that time, the artist was already familiar to everyone from the very popular film “Unyielding”. After such a hint, the driver, of course, recognized her and, realizing his mistake, burst out laughing, and then tried to get an autograph from Rumyantseva. The authors of the picture liked this funny incident on the set so much that they even included it in the script, albeit in a slightly modified version.