The mood of the head of the secret department of the OGPU, Timofey Deribas, was at its lowest. On his desk lay a report describing yet another prank by the imagist poets. Under the cover of night, Sergey Yesenin, Anatoly Mariengof, Vadim Shershenevich, and Rurik Ivnev removed street nameplates from buildings in central Moscow and replaced them with their surnames, as well as scrawled obscene verses on the walls. However, Deribas could do nothing against the hooligans, as they had too influential patrons. They always loved to joke, especially Yesenin's close friend Anatoly Mariengof.

Since their gymnasium years, Tolia's classmates were enamored with his poetry. Later, Mariengof even published his own magazine, "Mirage," which was incredibly successful. Fans of the young poet followed him everywhere, asking for autographs. However, his father was a caustic skeptic. After reading one of his son's early works, "Hymn to the Hetaera," he advised, "You should rather call it Hymn to the W...e." In his memoirs, Mariengof mentioned a funny incident with an actress from the Drama Theater. The poet recalled the actress Orkhideeva, who, while playing an aristocrat, suddenly had her pantaloon fall down in front of the entire audience. After that, she had to leave the theatrical season, which was in full swing, as the gymnasiasts shouted loudly at every performance: "Orkhideeva, support your galoshes!"

In 1918, Anatoly Mariengof finally moved to Moscow, where he met Sergey Yesenin. "We lived together," Anatoly Borisovich recounted, "and wrote at the same table. The steam heating didn't work, and we slept under one blanket to keep warm."

But a few years later, Mariengof and Yesenin had a falling out. It is said that Anatoly Borisovich hated being placed second compared to Yesenin. Later, Mariengof left the broad literary stage, engaging in writing variety sketches and miniatures. In 1940, the most terrible tragedy of his life occurred: his 17-year-old son Kirill committed suicide, just like Yesenin. Anatoly Borisovich himself died on his birthday, June 24, 1965.