Wolf Messing has captivated a large audience in Russia. Strictly speaking, it was not the famous psychic himself but a TV programme "Wolf Messing: Seeing through Time," which was shown by the Rossiya television network for three weeks. Every evening a third of all television viewers chose to watch the programme about him – a telepath, psychic and a kind magician with sad eyes who could perform wonders. "Wonder" is a key word here. It explains why the audience was carried away by this artistically modest piece.
Nothing is known about Messing for certain and this only stirs up more interest. A documentary broadcast by Rossiya after the show claimed that the Federal Security Service (FSB) still keeps a file on Messing, which is not likely to be declassified at all. All information about him was taken from the open press, his own memoirs and testimonies from those who knew him. The creators of the programme collected any information that was within their reach: facts, rumours and myths. According to them, Messing escaped both Hitler and Stalin. He even gave advice to Stalin.
Messing also interacted with common people. He even told a collective farmer that her cow would give birth to a calf. He suggested a good rooster to a hen that did not lay eggs and immediately introduced its owner to a man who had the rooster. This story had a happy ending.
Psychological experiments were his star turn. He would ask someone from the audience to make a wish. Then he would look into this person's eyes for a long time and say something like: "Calm down, Maria. Your Vasily will quit drinking." And the woman, Maria, would be stunned: "How do you know my name?" He would smile and make a helpless gesture: "I don't have a clue." But somehow he did guess the name.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin demonstrated a similar skill during a live four-hour-long Q&A session. During the programme a woman introduced herself by first name. Camera-shy, she stumbled with her question. After listening to her question, Putin called her by her first name and patronymic. The audience was not surprised by this like during Messing's sessions. This is understandable – the very opportunity to see Putin live is considered a wonder so all other accompanying wonders are taken as a natural part of the main spectacle. Journalists in the hall also acquired telepathic abilities. Chosen at random to ask questions, volunteers did not have the time to introduce themselves but the journalists were already setting forth the details of their biographies: "This honoured pensioner...has traveled the road from...to...She wants to ask you about pensions."
The TV special "A Conversation with Vladimir Putin, Continued" drew even greater attention than the TV programme about Wolf Messing. About 37% of all people watching TV saw it in the afternoon on a Thursday, which is far from prime time on television. In this case, television, which is very stingy about time on the air, was incredibly generous. Only Petrosyan and Kobzon were given such running time, but they were prerecorded. True, after three and a half hours, Ernest Matskyavichus, one of the anchors, became nervous and offered Putin to switch to a blitz. However, Putin looked at him as a nuisance interfering with his direct communication with the people, and he said: "That's okay. Why rush it? Not everyone who has questions has asked them yet." And Putin continued the session himself, without the efforts of the anchors.
A live broadcast is a wonder in itself today. Only the most important sports competitions are shown live. Political talk shows, like this one, are always prerecorded just to be on the safe side. But this is a serious argument in favour of live transmission: first, nothing bad has happened and, second, what is there to be afraid of if Putin obviously prefers a live broadcast and has been using it with success for more than seven years now? Maybe, journalists should follow suit. And it is best not to cry before you are hurt.
The Rossiya network did not show any commercials during the live programme. This was obviously a missed opportunity. The network probably should have aired commercials. Certainly, advertisers would have paid any amount of money to have their commercials shown during this programme. If commercials had been on, the star, the anchors, the journalists who were rushing around with microphones and the large audience in the Gostiny Dvor studio would have had a much needed break.
The centre which was taking questions from citizens witnessed one more wonder. More than two million people wanted to communicate with Putin personally. The number of such requests is growing with every passing year. People know from the previous programmes that Putin is their only hope: he will order his subordinates to lay a gas pipeline in a forgotten, remote farmstead, fix the heating system in a Siberian village during cold winter, and set up a Christmas tree in the center of a city.
Putin is also known for his love of children. It would not be unusual for him to give a beautiful dress to a little girl and even invite her to a New Year party in the Kremlin. Then he will give another girl or boy a puppy from his own dog Connie or, comparing himself with old Khottabych from the classic Soviet film, will supply computers to a whole class in a small provincial school.
He did not forget about the old woman from the Tver Region, whose house barely escaped the derailed Nevsky Express. A tender-hearted woman called the centre after seeing on television the broken fence and the grandmother who had given the victims almost everything she had. It so happened (one more wonder) that Putin had already instructed the head of Russian Railways not only to fix the fence but also to pay the old woman 4,000 roubles a month in addition to her retirement pension of 4,500 roubles. And by the New Year she will be given new housing – closer to civilization and her relatives.
Needless to say, TV broadcasters who pay no attention to the tragedies that befall other people but are interested in a single case of happiness located the old woman immediately. In one of the broadcasts, journalists were shown looking for the woman. Her neighbours explained that she was horrified by the sudden fame and was trying to hide. The creators of the programme "Let Them Say" finally succeeded. They managed to find the old woman and they even brought her to the Ostankino Television Centre. She was very nervous and cried while the programme was recorded. Eventually she fainted. Eye-witnesses say that she was taken to the centre's beauty salon, and the staff was trying to help her regain consciousness. Later on she was taken to the lifts and given tea while waiting for an ambulance. Nobody knows what happened to her next.
We may find out about her in a year. We have been promised that the talk show "Conversation with Vladimir Putin" will continue, which means that wonders, which are so much in demand in this country will continue happening, too.
By Irina Petrovskaya