A RUSSIAN JEWISH SONGWRITER SAMUIL POKRASS COMPOSED A GREAT COMMUNIST MARCHING FOLK SONG `WHITE ARMY, BLACKBARON` IN 1920 IN RUSSIA, A DOZEN OF BRILLIANT RUSSIAN GYPSY ROMANCES UNTIL THE 30s AND SEVERAL EXCELLENT HOLLYWOOD SCORES IN THE 30s.
The historical Red Army Song by Samuïl Pokrass was famous in the world too. In time of civil war in Spain it was known as a marching song of the international brigade `Chapayev Batallion`.
Samuil Yakovlevich Pokrass
In the 30s the song was also being widely used by Social-Democrats in Austria (Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei, Österreich), I mean melody, since the original text was permanently replaced to correspond to the tasks of the local working movement. It was also famous as The Red Banner Song, Die Arbeiter von Wien (`Workers of Vienna`s Song`) and `Wir sind das Bauvolk` and was mostly performed by workers` choirs on the 1st May`s rallies when International Day of Working Solidarity was being celebrated. Besides it was a marching song of the Social-Democratic militia Schutzbund. The German text to the music by Samuïl Pokrass was written in 1927 by Fritz Bruegel: `So flieg, du flammende, du rote Fahne,//Voran dem Wege, den wir ziehn. //Wir sind der Zukunft getreue Kämpfer, //Wir sind die Arbeiter von Wien`.
In Norway and Sweden in the 20-30s there also existed their own versions of the White Army, Black Baron. I mean texts, of course, because the melody by Pokrass remained the same. In Sweden the swedish translation of `Vita armén, Svarta baronen` was replaced by the poem `Vi bygger landet` by Karl Fredriksson (1895-1963). It was an unofficial anthem of the Social Democratic Party calling workers to build their own country. (In 1936 Swedish Film Director Olav Dalgard produced the motion picture `Vi bygger landet` with Pokrass melody. In Norway the text to the melody by Samuïl Pokrass was written by the socialist politician, journalist and poet Arne Paasche Aasen (1901-1978) in 1934.
The Greek version of Samuïl Pokrass` song appeared in the 40s and was known there as `Mavra korakia`. It was a song of the Greek guerillas dedicated to Bulgarian communist leader Georgy Dimitrov. In Hungary Sam Pokrass` song was known as Bécsi munkásinduló (Munka hadának...). In Turkey the melody by Pokrass had got the text `Beyaz Ordu, Kara Baron`translated from German `Die Arbeiter von Wien`by Temmuz Ayaklanması in 1927.
Besides, the Red Army anthem by Sam Pokrass was known in China as 红军最强大（《黑男爵，白匪军》） (The Strongest Red Army) and even in Japan. In Japan it was known as the Communist anthem `When the bell rang` (鐘が鳴れば"), and it was borrowed from Austrian social-democrats in the 30s rather than from Russia.
鐘が鳴れば我先に
我等は突き シベリアの山
バルチック海進む
我等は突き進む
鉄のように固 き力
鉄砲をとれば勝利
我等は平和のために団結する
鉄のように固き力
鉄砲をとれ ば勝利
我等は平和のた めに団結する
Thus, Samuïl Pokrass managed to compose an international and evergreen hit.
The composer was born in Kiev, Russian Empire, and died in New York City, USA (in 1939). He was poisoned with potassium cyanide in a restaurant. People saw his head suddenly sank in the plate with his chicken soup. Pokrass had many dangerous enemies abroad and in Russia. White Army officers, Soviet secret policy and Hitlerian Sicherheitsdienst (SD).There might have been some interest in his death in the Jewish cirlces of the USA. None took responsibility for his death. But in 1940, in Mexico there was killed Trotsky to whom initially was dedicated the Red Army Song which reflected ideas of Trotskism.
After the WW2 Iosif Stalin asked Samuïl`s brother Dmitry: `Comrade Pokrass, I heard your brother have composed that charming tune from The Three Musketeers in 1939. I mean `voro, voro,voro`. Pokrass answered positively. After that Stalin sighed and said to him with some reproof: `I wish he had been here and you there. It would have been much better`. Great Caesar of the East Roman Empire implied one of the popular songs from the American feature film from Alexander Dumas` "THE THREE MUSKETEERS" produced by 20th Century Fox in 1939.
Its lyrics appeared in an issue of "Song Hits" magazine that was published in March of 1939. The lyrics contained the French words unintelligible for Americans` ears, and as a result had got the incorrect and mistaken spellings and punctuation. The French Voilà was written as it was being heard by Amercans`s ears:
Viola, and a line:
`Tra, la, la, the poets sing of Paris in the spring
Oh! Voila, voila, voila, voila, voila!` was printed as:
`Oh, Viola, Viola, Viola, Viola, Viola!`
Viola was supposed to be a name of a girl. And `Paris` was replaced with `Paree`. The authentic lyrics, however, read as follows:
Tra, la, la, the poets sing of Paris in the spring
Oh, Voila, Voila, Voila, Voila, Voila!
Voila, Voila, Voila, Voila, Voila
And the wine is flowing free
So, Hola, Hola, Hola, Hola, Hola!
Get along my sweet Cherie!
To the city that is never melancholie,
Where the girls are very, very, very, very jolie,
Singing Voila, Voila, Voila, Voila, Voila,
C'est Paris!
When in Russia, the Russian ears also transformed `Voilà` into `Voro, voro, voro!` So Stalin meant d`Artagnan`s introductory song where words as `where` and `very, very, very` and a French word `Voilà` in American pronunciation stood in so close vicinity that the Russian heard it as an incessant current of `voros`. (The same phonetic transformation happened with `She`s Goddess` by the Shocking Blue in Russia in the 70s of the 20th c. It was then sung there as `She`s Gara`. - АП).
There even appeared `A Hitlerian Robber (Voro Voro)`, a Russian Parody of the `Viola` composed by A. Argo and I. Fradkin and partially sung to the Pokrass` tune by the leading stars of the Soviet pop music of the 30-40s Leonid and Edith Utiosov, where there was used a play on words. `Voro` coincides with the beginning of the word `vorovat` (to rob, to steal) in the Russian language.
There were three Porkrass brothers besides Samuïl, and all were musicians. The two of them became highly-respected persons in the USSR. They mainly and eagerly composed Soviet music, and they really liked to do it. Dmitry Pokrass composed The Red Cavalrymen March (Lyrics by Anatoly D`Aktil (Noson-Nokhim Abramovich Frenkel (since 1909 Anatoliy Adolfovich Frenkel`)), no less iconic than `The White Army, Black Baron`. They never remembered their emigrated brother whose reputation of a `dark sheep` could have seriously spoiled their brilliant careers in the USSR. The same can be said about Samuil who never ever remembered his brothers when abroad.
Before coming to the US Samuïl Pokrass had tried his best, though quite in vain, in Europe, in Germany and in Paris. He was known as one of the authors composing very successful Gipsy melodies for the Russian romances (Russian Gipsy Love Songs)* but he had to work mainly for the Russian emigrants and compose for the Russian singers and musicians. Samuïl felt he had been suffocating in that environment. Many of his creative friends came back to Russia. Samuïl refused to follow that example the more so because by that time Trotsky had been in exile too.
In Europe Samuïl Pokrass composed many famous `Gipsy` love songs `Love is gone` ("Любовь ушла")(lyrics by Lev Drizo) sung by Vera Brinner, the sister of American actor Yul Brinner; `Two roses (Memento more)` (Две розы) Lyrics by Anatoly D`Aktil; `Day rolls after day` (Дни за днями катятся)(lyrics by Pavel German); `Golden-haired spring`(Златокудрою весной) (to his own lyrics) sung by Alexandre Vertinsky;`At the crossroads` (На перепутье) (his own lyrics) sung by Isabella Yurieva, and `The ring of a tambourine` (Там бубна звон) (Lyrics by Pavel German) http://kkre-11.narod.ru/pokrass.htm
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SAM`S HOLLYWOOD CAREER - THE AMERICAN DREAM WAS ABOUT TO COME TRUE FOR THE FORMER COMMIE
First after his moving to the USA, mainly due to inertia of his former artistic image established in pre-revolutionary Russia and post-war Europe he went on with composing the romances, one of which `What is woe for us?`("Что мне горе?") was sung by Pola Negri and the gipsy choir. The song was inserted into the motion picture `Tovarich (Tonight's Our Night)` (1937)*, a romantic comedy about Russian nobles who became servants in Paris after revolution.
But this genre had got rather a limited attraction for a general audience in the USA, so it was American cinema for Americans that came to his rescue! In his first motion picture `Let`s Sing Again`, produced by RKO, Pokrass took part as a composer of just one song `Farmer in the Dell` (Lyrics by Charles O. Locke) (Do not mix it with the same name American children`s song. - АП). He was ordered it, so to say, `on approbation` in 1936.
He also composed a single song `Long underwear` (lyrics by Sid Kuller and Ray Golden) for the following motion picture `You Can't Have Everything`(`Long Underwear`) in 1937. The song was performed by The Ritz Brothers and chorus. (The Ritz Brothers will appear later in `The Three Musketeers` as musketeers` servants in 1939).
 
Step by step Sam turned out to be an American, soon everyone forgot he was Russian. The Russian theme ceased being dominating (or dominated) in his creative activities in America. He began to write American music for Americans. Red Banner was fading in his reminiscences, being replaced by the Stars and Stripes. He got reacher and soon moved to LA.
On the face of it none seemed to take interest in his past. Of course, he had to compose a `Gipsy` romance `A Gypsy Told Me` (lyrics by Jack Yellen) for the 20th Century-Fox 1938 feature film `Happy Landing` (also known as `Bread, Butter and Rhythm`, `Hot and Happy`). But it was the obvious `Americanest` stylization. It was sung by Ethel Merman, and much later the song joined the Perry Como`s repertory. For the first time, however, it was performed in the film by Don Ameche who played d`Artagnan in `The Three Musketeers` in 1939.
Don Ameche: Say! Remember that?
Sonja Henie: Yes, I do!
Don Ameche: `A Gypsy Told Me!` May I have this dance, madam?
Sonja Henie: You may!
Don Ameche: Thank you!
Then Don Ameche sings that song accompanied by melody from a jukebox, as if it was really popular in a real life, and it really acquired popularity in real life after the release.
In the `Love letters, lost` by Babette Hines (USA), a collection of the occasional private amorous letters `salvaged from flea markets, garage sales, swap meets, and Internet auctions` dated back to the 30s (Princeton Architectural Press, 2004, 192 pp.-ISBN:9781568984780), I have quite unexpectedly found some lines about Samuïl Pokrass in Los Angeles. Of course, it was a private letter, where we can read the following:
`Ultimatum: If Miss Grace Holland has ideas in that pretty, tousled scalp of hers that she`s going to marry Sam Pokrass, tell her that I`ll come East and personally de-sex her with my own hands. No future sister-in-law of mine is going to marry the craziest son-of-a-bitch in creation and in that way make him relate to me. No siree!
Nevertheless, I like this Ukrainian, piano-pounding impresario because he is the most alive and genuine personI ever met. This mad, musical Russian can love violently, hate bitterly, laugh uproariously, cry pitifully, and all at a moments notice by turning on or off his temperamental faucets.
Sam is a study in paradoxes. One moment he is suspicious, the next naive. One moment he`ll think you`re trying to steal his money and then he`ll turn around and throw it away recklessly on his friends comfort. This Pokrass, though pretty badly neurotic, is very much a composing genius of Twentieth Century Fox. His compositions definitely smack of creative magic. And all this has taken a heavy physical toll, beacause Pokrass, living in a continuous state of musical hysteria, cannot control his facial mannerism, due to this self-name neurotic condition. While talking to you his face will twitch in the most outlandish fashion and cause the listener much embarrassement. Because of this and other unmarital vices he is decidedly not cut out (circumsized) for marriage`.
Cruel hearts, ruthlees ladies! That`s what I can say. It seems that Sam experienced a huge deficit of safety even in Los Angeles and it made him be a coward and a neurotic person.
Two cinema songs by Samuïl Pokrass were closely linked with parts played by little Shirley Temple. `Come and get your happiness` (lyrics by Jack Yellen) anticipates a character of Forrest Gump as it calls not to link happiness with money exclusively and just to live and enjoy life as it is. Song `All Mixed Up` (lyrics by Sidney Clare) from the comedy `Five of a Kind` of the Twentieth Century Fox (1938) was composed by Samuïl Pokrass for `The Dionne Quintuplets` (identical four-and-a-half year old girls Yvonne, Annette, Cecile, Emilie and Marie Dionne). It was their third film.
A year later in 1939 Pokrass composed a pure American by style, rather nauseating suite `The Fantasy` for the film `The Little Princess`. Lyrics were written by Walter Bullock, the parts were played by Shirley Temple, Arthur Treacher, Mary Nash, Cesar Romero, Anita Louise and Richard Greene. The suite contained an arrangement of the tune of `Wot cher! Knocked Em' in the Old Kent Road` danced by Shirley Temple and ballet dancers. (I felt like vomiting while watching it! Another pathological combination of children and midgets! - АП).
The climax of Samuil Pokrass` Hollywood career (he worked mainly for the Twentieth Century-Fox from 1934 to 1939) was a global hit `The Three Musketeers`. The fame related to that film played a fatal joke with Samuïl Pokrass. He occured to have been again in the spotlight of his multiple enemies from his half-forgotten past. I doubt that it was Stalin who could order to kill him, as `The Three Musketeers` became famous in the USSR only after the WW2 as a war trophey. Still, there were sinister persons who loved a good joke and liked `Plucking Song` composed by Samuïl Pokrass for the Hollywood film and made Sam Pokrass sink in ... a plateful of chicken soup with noodles and trickled pastries. (See recipe of the soup that was known as Jewish Penicillin in the USSR in English here http://theshiksa.com/2012/03/25/perfect-chicken-soup/).
You might seem that I am cynical and blasphemous but I don`t propose anyone to insert the potassium cyanide into the recipe and then let have it to innocent folks (and not innocent either). Yes, I must have shocked you to make you understand that was exactly expressed by the former United States Attorney General Mark Rasch who once said that the essence of terrorism was symbolism.The terrorist symbolism is very rational, because its task is to deliver certain message that can be either understandable for all or be just addressed for certain `forums` on the topic - apostates, infidels and renegades or adversaries (other terrorist groups) or antagonists - law-enforcement authorities.
On the other hand, all the world special services also practise symbolism when they need to demonstrate their own specific, recognizable, familiar style or to imitate the style of their opponents to blame the shift (Sorry, shift the blame! - АП). It is no accident that that kind of symbolism has been widely used in the world cinema, I mean `spy films`. Enough to remember such comedies and satires as `Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire`, `Le Retour du grand blond`, `Le Coup Du Parapluie`, `Kingsajz`, etc. They all had got the real pre-images and were based on the real accidents rather than the funny (ha-ha) episodes.
Wanna to be an author of an eternal song? Compose something Revolutionary like La Marseillaise or l`International! By the irony of fate, Samuil Pokrass went down in history as a great Soviet author of a historic and hystorical Revolutionary hymn and march. The Gipsy romances evolved into the Russian Chanson, and the Hollywood of the 30s with rare exception fell into the Lethe for the general public.
THE END
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