A handwritten letter from Vladimir Vysotsky addressed to film director Gennady Poloka, Moscow, July 9, 1974.

The text of the letter:
"Dear Gena, I'm just sad that we're not working together again. I've set everything up for this, but... se la vie. The Committee is stronger than us (...) However, we managed to get the songs. (...). The student song ["Whoever is a quarter of a century older than us is..“] you need to start as a brave, boastful, loyal march, and then switch to something tourist-like, and finally to a car-thug. To clean guitars. But don't change the melody. It would be nice if they were still smoking at that time, and it's not a sin to drink, but Vanya [the main character of the picture, played by A. Papanov], to sing along: "But you can't break us on the plain." I'm hugging you. Greetings to Misha, Regina and Mazin.
P.S. In a student song, you have complete freedom, you can dirty, rearrange, etc. I kiss you again. Volodya."

Vladimir Vysotsky is a poet and artist, a phenomenal phenomenon in Russian culture, which has no equal. Vysotsky's creative legacy is not measured by the number of poems and songs he wrote or the vividness of the roles he played, and is something more than books and films, because it is part of the genetic code of every Russian.

Gennady Poloka is a Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter and actor. With an excellent directorial eye, Gennady Ivanovich immediately saw Vysotsky's acting talent: "He was a fantastic artist! Apart from his temperament, he had the ability to completely transform beyond recognition..."

All the songs for the film were written by Vladimir Vysotsky, however, of the eight songs, only five were included in the film, almost all in stripped-down versions. The only song included in the film in its entirety is "Whoever is a quarter of a century older than us is...".

Initially, in the movie "Once Alone", which was shot in the Estonian city of Pärnu, Vysotsky was supposed to play one of the roles, but was not approved by the leadership of the USSR State Committee and the role was played by N. Karachentsov. The Misha, Regina and Mazin mentioned in the letter are the artist Mikhail Savelyevich Shcheglov, who worked with Vysotsky in the films "Intervention", "One of Us", "Once Alone"; the actress Regina Leonidovna Korokhova, at that time the wife of G. Poloka, and the director of the film "Once Alone" Alexander Grigorievich Mazin, who also worked in the group of the movie "Intervention".

A copy of the Soviet Bibliography magazine No. 4 (236) July-August 1989 is attached to the lot, in which the submitted letter was published on pp. 83-84, as well as a magazine with a published interview by Gennady Poloka.