The museum collection contains an original photograph of a scene from the play “Among the Flowers.” The image shows from left to right: Ivan and Alexandra Babaykin, Olga, Natalya, Arkady, and Ekaterina Golikov. Arkady would later become the famous writer Arkady Gaidar.
The Golikov family moved to Arzamas from Nizhny Novgorod in 1912. Initially, they settled on Bolshaya Street in the Terentyev house, but soon relocated to Novoplotinnaya Street. There, for 100 rubles a year, they rented a small outbuilding from Tatiana Ivanovna Babaykina, a member of the merchant class. Tatiana Ivanovna had many grandchildren, with whom the children of the Golikov family often spent time.
Joint New Year’s celebrations were frequently held, during which small children’s plays were performed, including the production “Among the Flowers.”
Adults would create a makeshift stage using benches, boards, and stools, and would lay out carpets. The children sewed the curtain themselves. Preparation for the play lasted about a month. The actors made their costumes from colored crepe paper and decorated them with sequins.
In the play “Among the Flowers, ” the girls playing flowers — rose, lily, poppy, forget-me-not, and violet — stood on stage in improvised flower beds on carpets. Arkady, the “gardener, ” walked among the flower beds with a pipe in his mouth. He “watered” the “flowers” from a watering can and took care of them. The play also featured the role of the gardener’s granddaughter. It was performed by Arkady’s youngest sister, Ekaterina. She would run ahead and sing, “I push the cart through the garden, sprinkling the paths with yellow sand.“
Soon Arkady and his “granddaughter” would leave the stage, and the harmonium would begin to play. It was a keyboard-pneumatic musical instrument, distinguished by a piano keyboard, typically placed on the floor or on a table. The “flowers” would start dancing.
Butterflies and a firefly would appear from behind the curtains, inviting flowers to the ball. The flowers would refuse, because their queen, the Rose (played by Natalya Golikova), was ill, but eventually agreed and left the Rose alone.
After the flowers left, bugs would appear in the garden and begin to dance. They noticed the wilting Rose, who was getting worse. The insects began to take care of the flower, giving it water. The Rose recovered. At this time, the flowers would return from the ball, see the bugs and begin to chase them away. The Rose would stop them and reproach them for abandoning her, also telling them about how the bugs had saved her.
In the finale of the play, Arkady delivered a
speech about the importance of friendship, and then the flowers and bugs
celebrated the Rose’s recovery together.
