Summer holidays with Đuza Đuza [actor and singer Vlastimir “Đuza” Stojiljković] and I were friends from the day we met during acting stud- ies until his departure. We often performed together at the Belgrade Drama eatre. And my life isn’t the same without him. We loved each other a lot. We spent sum- mers together as a family. When you gift someone your summer holiday, you have close ties forever. With Zoran in taverns I often went to kafana taverns with Zoran Radmilović. He didn’t hesitate to shout from the table when he spotted an interesting character. Along the way he would jokingly shout something at him in the style: “I’ll crush your bones, I’ll break you!” Some of the guys he honoured in that way had no ear for that kind of humour, so there were tense scenes. After we spent one whole night in a kafana, that morning Zoran yelled a provocative sentence to a wres- tling champion: “I’m watching you..., you, you!” e cham- pion came to our metal table and stuck out his chest so much that two buttons burst on his snow-white shirt. Đu- za picked up those buttons and Zoran quickly leapt away from the table. e champion responded to that by asking in a Vojvodina accent: ‘So where are you going?!’ Zoran re- sponded: ‘I don’t like being beaten up while sitting down!” Đuza quickly gave the buttons back to the champ. Best friends - journalists Jug Grizelj, the bard of journalism, was among my best friends. Journalists from my circle of friends liked me to criticise them, but at that time nobody took any- one for evil as they do today. Also among my friends was the editor of the sports section of Večernje novosti. We spent many nights together in kafana taverns. I remem- ber one night when he was given the task of travelling by train to Ljubljana and writing a report during the return journey about the Italian national water polo team, which was supposed to play a match in Belgrade. He wrote the whole report at the table of the kafana and finished by
morning, and didn’t move an inch. e catch was that the Italian railways had gone on strike that night, so their na- tional team didn’t even board a train. e report was pub- lished in Večernje novosti and the editor-in-chief didn’t say a word to him. Stage fright because of Tito e acting academy in Belgrade was established with the signature of Tito. During his time the main roles were played by communist sympathisers, and I was not among them. I came to terms with that. I played supporting roles. Tito sat in the back rows of the audience. He watched al- most all plays at the JDP. I didn’t have any stage fright back then, but the lead actors, administrators and direc- tors did. When the Belgrade Drama eatre was found- ed in 1947, the premiere of the play Povlačenje [Retreat] was performed. Tito came that day, and after that I didn’t see him there. How JAT rebuilt its fleet Dr. Dobrivoje Mandić, my friend, was the technical director of JAT. It was thanks to him that Boeing repre- sentatives agreed to sell part of their fleet to JAT, because they met him when he was undertaking advanced studies as an engineer in Seattle. A question arose about how to await the director of Boeing, so I suggested to Dobrivo- je while we were fishing that he bring him to the tavern Mika Alas’s Place beside the Sava. e atmosphere was relaxed there, with an ambiance of dirty fishing nets and nothing refined, but an orchestra comprising universi- ty professors and Roma musicians performed. e band was called “Joksovci”. ey had some slightly worn out musical instruments, but they played the American an- them flawlessly. e delegation was transported by bus to that restaurant on the river. e “Joksovci” welcomed them by playing the American anthem, and the director of Boeing cried because he felt so touched. A contract was soon signed between Boeing and JAT, and so I have modest credit for that.
Sa prve elike turneje JDP-a / On the JDP’s biggest Yugoslav tour
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