"A nu-ka, devushki!"

[Robert A. Rothstein]

Alina Israeli mentioned the tv show called "A nu-ka, devushki!" The 
Polish writer Stefan Kisielewski (known as "Kisiel") used to ask, after 
citing some more or less obscure line of poetry or prose in his column 
in the Cracow weekly _Tygodnik Powszechny_, "Skad to jest, koteczku?" 
(Otkuda eto, kison'ka?). I'm tempted to pose the same question regarding 
the name of the tv show, but instead I'll answer my own question. It's 
from the refrain of a song called "Idem, idem, veselye podrugi," written 
by Vasilii Lebedev-Kumach (words) and Isaak Dunaevskii (music) for the 
1937 film _Bogataia nevesta_.
    The first stanza and the refrain are as follows:

       Idem, idem, veselye podrugi,
       Strana, kak mat', zovet i liubit nas!
       Vezde nuzhny zabotlivye ruki
       I nash khoziaiskii, teplyi zhenskii glaz.

          A nu-ka, devushki! A nu, krasavitsy!
             Puskai poet o nas strana!
          I zvonkoi pesneiu puskai proslavitsia
             Sredi geroev nashi imena!

????, ????, ??????? ???????,
??????, ??? ????, ????? ? ????? ???!
????? ????? ?????????? ????
? ??? ?????????, ?????? ??????? ????.

    ? ??-??, ???????! ? ??, ?????????!
      	?????? ???? ? ??? ??????!
   ? ??????? ?????? ?????? ???????????
	????? ?????? ???? ?????!


Bob Rothstein

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