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THE WORLD-FAMOUS ORIGINAL
Don Cossack Chorus Serge Jaroff

Wassily Flustikoff (Âàñèëèé Ôëóñòèêîâ)

(January 01, 1902 in Kamensk - 19xx in New York)
Voice: lower tenor

1921
1924
1927
1956
1970
1971?

He is a founding member and was shown on the choir recordings from 1921-1922

According to a statement from the secretary of the Don Cossack Choir, S. Jaroff, regarding a denunciation by the choir director and some of his members in 1936 in the Third Reich, Germany:

Year 1956. The following people are shown:

At the front of the table: V.Lvoff, 1956 treasurer of the choir
On the sofa: S.Jaroff, actor Paul Horbiger (with glasses), W.Flustikoff, M.Bajanoff
Back from left: N.Naneff, dog, G.Zolotareff (?)

..... Also from the 5 members of the choir named Bajanoff, Flustikoff, Terichoff, Levtschenko and Prosorofsky, I can assure you that none of them ever uttered anything disadvantageous or disparaging about Germany, its Führer or the German people in his presence. I am able to produce innumerable proofs for precisely the opposite.

..... Herr Flustikoff has always been an ardent admirer of the Führer and the German people. Even I myself felt compelled a few times to point out to him that he could inconvenience himself as a result of his enthusiastic speeches about Germany and the Fiihrer in public pubs, hotels, in the artist’s room, on the street, etc.; because I have often noticed that he aroused bad blood with certain Americans.

In the event of a bus accident on the night of 19/20 August 1938 in Weißenthurm am Rhein, Germany, 27 members of the choir were injured partly lightly, partly seriously. Flustikoff suffered a fractured skull and a knee injury, a knee operation was performed on the ship "Deutschland", and later he received further treatment in America.

Due to health problems and on the advice of his doctor, he left the choir in 1951.

From 1953 he was active in the "Church St. Spring Valley" in New York as choirmaster of the church choir and was replaced in 1957 as choir director by the Don Cossack singer Lawrence Havrilliak.

He was also a well-known bartender in a tavern in Upper Greenwood Lake during his retirement.

Renowned Don Cossack Chorus Starts Upper Greenwood Lake Duo
New Jersey, September 20, 1968
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31591366/jaroff-choir-with-flustikoff-goes-on

Not until 1968 did he return to the choir as the oldest member. He went on tour again in 1970/71 so that a founding member was once again there for the 50th anniversary in 1971.

Flustikoff can also be seen in the German feature film "Heintje my best friend, 1971". In scene 1:14 in the middle of the picture, in scene 6:18 Flustikoff claps his hands first. In Scene 7:51 - 7:56 left of Jaroff.

Quote from the article „Black-booted Chorus Lauded By Royalty“ in „The Concordian“, College Morehead, January 7, 1944:

Black-booted Chorus Lauded By Royalty
The Concordian, College Morehead, January 7, 1944
http://www.digitalhorizonsonline.org/digital/collection/p16921coll4/id/2274

...Wassily Flustikoff, the press representative [of the Don Cossack Chorus Serge Jaroff], seemed typical of the members of the Don Cossack chorus. Amiable, gracious, easy to talk to, speaking English with a Russian accent and sometimes lapsing into his native language, he was also filled with a deep love for music and an expressive understanding of it.

Backstage during the intermission period the entire chorus was anxious to please and to know how they were liked. For the most part they had ordinary faces with 'big smiles, and they seemed as American as your next-door neighbor except for their accents. They like "cokes" as we do and have become used to American food such as ice cream, though in the large cities they invariably turn to the Russian restaurants for their native dishes.

Flustikoff expressed for all the Don Cossacks their genuine feeling for America. „You can never realize how wonderful is the freedom and the liberty of this country until you have been away from it. You never feel you are a foreigner here.“

He died in New York.

Siegfried Tiefenbeck


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