The museum’s collection includes the script of the feature film “Timur and His Team.”

The film was directed by Alexander Efimovich Razumny, with the script written by the author Arkady Petrovich Gaidar. The script bears the autograph of the actor Liviy Stepanovich Shipachyov, who played the role of Timur.

Liviy Shipachyov was the son of the poet and novelist Stepan Petrovich Shipachyov. He was chosen for the leading role from a large number of candidates, among whom was Timur Gaidar, the son of Arkady Gaidar. Liviy Shipachyov did not continue his career in cinema. He graduated from the Surikov Institute in painting and became a member of the Union of Artists. His paintings are held in galleries across many cities in Russia, including the Tretyakov Gallery, as well as in international collections. Throughout his life, he frequently participated in events dedicated to Arkady Gaidar, was actively involved in public activities, and supported the Timur movement.

Various sources often mistakenly indicate that the 1940 film “Timur and His Team” is an adaptation of the novel of the same name. In fact, Arkady Gaidar wrote an original screenplay, which later served as the basis for the novella.

In October 1939, Arkady Gaidar made the first sketches of the future novella, and at the same time, he received a proposal to write a screenplay about Duncan and his team. In July-August 1940, the screenplay was published in the magazine “Pioneer.” Arkady Gaidar worked on the novella of the same name during the film’s production.

On July 29, 1940, he left an entry in his diary,

Gaidar finished the novella on August 27, 1940. From September 5 to October 8, 1940, the work was published in “Pionerskaya Pravda.”

Initially, the novella was to be called “Duncan and His Team” — after the main character, Volodya Duncan. During the film production process, at the director’s insistence, the name of the character and the title of the work were changed. The author renamed the character after his son — Timur.