According to Alexander Kanevsky, humor is a character trait. His younger brother, known to most Soviet viewers as Major Tomin, Leonid, is sure that Alexander’s sense of humor erupted along with his milk teeth.
Due to the restless nature of their sons, the mother of the Kanevsky brothers was often called to school. The eldest son was especially distinguished by arranging weekly raffles. At first, “women”, that is, girls, fell into disgrace of a junior class student, and from a high school student Alexander (a seventh grade student), teachers, head teachers and the director already got it.
Biography of Alexander Kanevsky
The future satirist was born on May 29, 1933 in Kiev. Mom studied in the second year of the Kiev Conservatory when she met her future husband and, to the horror of the teachers, dropped out of school, traveling with him to the Caucasus. Then they returned to Kiev and lived in a communal apartment.
The Kanevsky family was considered the most respectable among the rest of the residents, since they had two rooms and … their own toilet, which could only be entered by side. Alexander Semenovich Kanevsky from childhood was distinguished by the character of a leader. In kindergarten, he put together a small team, posing as Chapaev. The girl Lala became Anka the Machine Gunner, and Petk was portrayed by Marik Kudlo, the smallest but most active boy. With the slogan "Long live the revolution!" they rushed around the yard, scaring fear at the rest of the little ones.
The Kanevsky family was hospitable, and since his father had many friends in the Caucasus, they often organized feasts with songs and dances.
gold medal
The creative abilities of Alexander Kanevsky revealed at the age of seven, when he began to write poetry. Anyone and anything could inspire the boy in this matter. For example, grandfather, who could not find suspenders for a long time, Phil's cat, stealing food, and a neighbor chasing the cat unsuccessfully. He could even sing a toilet bowl, which was especially appreciated by household members and caused black envy among neighbors who line up every morning in front of a shared toilet.
At school, Alexander Kanevsky studied conscientiously. In all subjects he had fives, except for a mark on behavior. Due to satirical newspapers, the editor and inspirer of which was Alexander, he could not get a commendation sheet. But the director offered the parents a compromise: if they transfer their son to another school, he will give an excellent characterization and diploma to the student. Parents have complied with this requirement. And so Alexander Kanevsky, moving from school to school, finally finished secondary education with a gold medal.
Road Institute
Throughout his conscious life, he wanted to become a writer, but the road to glory lay through a thorny path. Despite the gold medal, he was not accepted to the faculties of journalism and the Romano-Germanic language. Anti-Semitic revelry reigned in Kiev then. Having learned the reason why the road to the university was closed, Alexander threw a marble ashtray into the vice-rector, fortunately, not falling into it. But he had to sit in the police.
Mom, being the guardian angel of her son, slowly took his documents to the road institute. All five years of study, Alexander Kanevsky honestly published the Osa wall newspaper, and during the distribution he decided to show off with humor and asked that he be sent to a city with a double name. But since Monte Carlo, Buenos Aires or Baden-Baden did not “shine” for him, the witty student decided to try his hand at Kzyl-Orda.
In Kzyl-Orda, he worked out the required time, even built a bridge, the location of which, according to Alexander Semenovoch, he indicates only to enemies, and returned to Kiev.
Alexander Kanevsky. Personal life
Alexander met his future wife Maya at a party with friends. She did not immediately attract his attention, as she behaved quite restrained. But, noticing her beautiful gray eyes and a charming smile, the womanizer Kanevsky began to look after her. So he courted for three whole years, realizing that sooner or later he would have to ring himself, although the very concept of family life was alien to him.
Maya fell in love with his friend and called to the crown. Only after exhausted by Alexander’s vacillations, she agreed to become the wife of Tolya (a friend of Kanevsky), did Alexander Semenovich finally understand what treasure he could lose, and rushed to her house early in the morning with the words that he would not give it to anyone.
They lived a difficult but happy life thanks to Maya's patience and wisdom, which became his best friend and assistant. In a joint marriage they had a daughter, Maria, and a son, Mikhail.
Maya passed away in 2001. Along with her departure, Alexander Semenovich lost support, his guardian angel, his muse. Thanks to the children and brother Leonid and other relatives, he was able to get out of depression and is now writing books. Kanevsky dedicated a number of works to his wife.
Stage and dramaturgy
His first creative love was pop, then Kanevsky mastered drama. He began to write plays and screenplays, but the scripts were put on the shelf, and the performances based on his plays were canceled on the day of the premiere. Then Alexander Semenovich turned to stories that were periodically published in newspapers due to an oversight of editors. These were satirical tales.
For one of them, the writer received the International Prize, in the Soviet years he managed to write scripts for such programs as “Around Laughter” and “Zucchini 13 Chairs”. In 1990, he and his family moved to live in Israel, where he published the humorous magazine “Balagan” for adults and “Balagosh” for children.
