“I'm small fry. They'll say, 'Bezenchuk's gone', and nothin' more.”
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Ilya Ilf
Ilya Arnoldovich Ilf was a Soviet journalist and writer of Jewish origin who usually worked in collaboration with Yevgeny Petrov during the 1920s and 1930s. Their duo was known simply as Ilf and Petrov. Together they published two popular comedy novels The Twelve Chairs (1928) and The Little Golden Calf (1931), as well as a satirical book Odnoetazhnaya Amerika that documented their journey through…
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culture · Soviet writer and journalist (1897–1937) · writer · journalist · mechanic · screenwriter · photographer · science fiction writer · prose writer · satirist · editing staff · humorist · also Ilya Ilf, Ilya Arnoldovich Ilf, Ilia Ilf, Ilf
Born 3 October 1897 · Died 13 April 1937 · Q471443
13 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 2 entries
“And what will the undertakers say about you when you die?”
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2025· 1 entry
Jewish Telegraphic Agency: Ilya Ilf, Soviet’s Mark Twain, Dead at 40
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1937· 2 entries
Died 1937-04-13.
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“Z. pisze opowiadania, krótkie jak czeki.”
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1929· 1 entry
Yevgeni Petrov lent him 800 rubles for a camera, and then jokingly regretted that he had lost not only his money but also a friend and co-writer, as Ilf stopped writing and spent most of his time on photography
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1928· 1 entry
Were both let go, due to staff reductions, but they were able to find work at Chudak, a literary journal that provided a start for many Soviet writers and artists
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1924· 1 entry
And had a daughter Aleksandra born in 1935
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1923· 1 entry
Relocated to Moscow and took employment at the newspaper Gudok (roughly "Toot
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1921· 1 entry
In Odessa, Ilf met the love of his life, Maria Nikolayevna Tarasenko (1904–1981)
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1913· 1 entry
And held various positions, including time at the telephone company and a military plant
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1897· 2 entries
In Odessa, he was the third of four sons of Ariye Benjamin Faynzilberg and his wife Mindle Aronovna Faynzilberg (née Kotlova)
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Born 1897-10-03.
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