Irina Bugrimova - Revision history

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‎From Competitive Sports to The Circus

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‎Send In the Lions

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 File:Bugrimova_and_lion_on_plank.jpg|Irina Bugrimova (c.1950)
 File:Bugrimova_tightrope_lion.jpg|Irina Bugrimova and her tighrope-walking lion (c.1955)
 File:Bugrimova.jpg|Irina and young lion (c.1955)
 File:Bugrimova_Swing.jpg|Irina Bugrimova on the Swing (c.1955)

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 ===From Competitive Sports to The Circus===
-[[File:Bugrimova_and_Bear.png|thumb|left|300px|Young Irina Bugrimova and her Bear (1912)]]Irina Nikolaevna Bugrimova (Ирина Николаевна Бугримова) was born March 13, 1910, in Kharkov in Ukraine, which was then part of the Russian Empire. Her father, Nikolai Bugrimov, was a professor of veterinary medicine. Her mother, Aleksandra, came from an aristocratic family: Her father, Iosif Iosifovich Fedorovich, had been Admiral of the Russian Fleet. Alksandra had a strong artistic bent; she was an accomplished pianist, an artist, and showed a great interest in the art of photography. Irina was the fourth child of Nikolai and Aleksandra Bugrimovi, who, coincidentally, bore the first names of the Russian ill-fated Tsar and Tsarina; it is just as the Bolshevik revolution started that Irina, who was seven years old, began studying music and ballet at the Kharkov Opera studio.
+[[File:Bugrimova_and_Bear.png|thumb|left|300px|Young Irina Bugrimova and her Bear (1912)]]Irina Nikolaevna Bugrimova (Ирина Николаевна Бугримова) was born March 13, 1910, in Kharkov in Ukraine, which was then part of the Russian Empire. Her father, Nikolai Bugrimov, was a professor of veterinary medicine. Her mother, Aleksandra, came from an aristocratic family: Her father, Iosif Iosifovich Fedorovich, had been Admiral of the Russian Fleet. Aleksandra had a strong artistic bent; she was an accomplished pianist, an artist, and showed a great interest in the art of photography. Irina was the fourth child of Nikolai and Aleksandra Bugrimovi, who, coincidentally, bore the first names of the Russian ill-fated Tsar and Tsarina; it is just as the Bolshevik revolution started that Irina, who was seven years old, began studying music and ballet at the Kharkov Opera studio.
 A restive child, Irina became interested in competitive sports; she played hockey, did speed skating, and competed in track and field, from long and high jumps to discus, spear, and weight throwing. She won many competitions and, in 1927, became the weight throw Ukrainian champion, and in 1928, she won the same title for discus. Meanwhile, as a teenager, young Irina often helped her father when he treated horses and wild animals at the state circus of Kharkov, and she thus became familiar with animals of all sorts&mdash;as well as with the circus world, for which she developed a keen interest.

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 ==See Also==
-* Video: [[Bugrimova_Video_1951|Irina Bugrimova, lion act]], at the Old Circus in Moscow (1951)
+* Video: [[Bugrimova_Video_1951|Irina Bugrimova, lion act (excerpts)]], at the Old Circus in Moscow (1951)
 * Video: [[Bugrimova_Video_(1975)|Irina Bugrimova, lion act (excerpts)]], in the movie ''Cirkus v Cirkuse'' (1975)

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 ===From Competitive Sports to The Circus===
-Irina Nikolaevna Bugrimova (Ирина Николаевна Бугримова) was born March 13, 1910, in Kharkov in Ukraine, which was then part of the Russian Empire. Her father, Nikolai Bugrimov, was a professor of veterinary medicine. Her mother, Aleksandra, came from an aristocratic family: Her father, Iosif Iosifovich Fedorovich, had been Admiral of the Russian Fleet. Alksandra had a strong artistic bent; she was an accomplished pianist, an artist, and showed a great interest in the art of photography. Irina was the fourth child of Nikolai and Aleksandra Bugrimovi, who, coincidentally, bore the first names of the Russian ill-fated Tsar and Tsarina; it is just as the Bolshevik revolution started that Irina, who was seven years old, began studying music and ballet at the Kharkov Opera studio.
+[[File:Bugrimova_and_Bear.png|thumb|left|300px|Young Irina Bugrimova and her Bear (1912)]]Irina Nikolaevna Bugrimova (Ирина Николаевна Бугримова) was born March 13, 1910, in Kharkov in Ukraine, which was then part of the Russian Empire. Her father, Nikolai Bugrimov, was a professor of veterinary medicine. Her mother, Aleksandra, came from an aristocratic family: Her father, Iosif Iosifovich Fedorovich, had been Admiral of the Russian Fleet. Alksandra had a strong artistic bent; she was an accomplished pianist, an artist, and showed a great interest in the art of photography. Irina was the fourth child of Nikolai and Aleksandra Bugrimovi, who, coincidentally, bore the first names of the Russian ill-fated Tsar and Tsarina; it is just as the Bolshevik revolution started that Irina, who was seven years old, began studying music and ballet at the Kharkov Opera studio.
 A restive child, Irina became interested in competitive sports; she played hockey, did speed skating, and competed in track and field, from long and high jumps to discus, spear, and weight throwing. She won many competitions and, in 1927, became the weight throw Ukrainian champion, and in 1928, she won the same title for discus. Meanwhile, as a teenager, young Irina often helped her father when he treated horses and wild animals at the state circus of Kharkov, and she thus became familiar with animals of all sorts&mdash;as well as with the circus world, for which she developed a keen interest.

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 <Gallery>
 File:Young_Bugrimova.jpg|Irina Bugrimova (c.1930)
 File:Buslaevi_Poster.jpg|Poster for the Buslaevs' sled attraction (c.1935)

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 A restive child, Irina became interested in competitive sports; she played hockey, did speed skating, and competed in track and field, from long and high jumps to discus, spear, and weight throwing. She won many competitions and, in 1927, became the weight throw Ukrainian champion, and in 1928, she won the same title for discus. Meanwhile, as a teenager, young Irina often helped her father when he treated horses and wild animals at the state circus of Kharkov, and she thus became familiar with animals of all sorts&mdash;as well as with the circus world, for which she developed a keen interest.
-[[File:Buslaevi_Poster.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The Buslaevs' sled thrill act (1935)]]Her academic education continued during all that time and, from 1926 to 1928, Irina went to study at Kharkov's Commercial and Industrial School. She was eighteen when she graduated; it is also at that time that she became interested in yet another sport, motorcycle racing, which led her in 1930 to meet the champion racer Aleksandr Nikolaevich Butenko. Butenko, who will later be known by his stage name, [[Aleksandr Buslaev]] (1894-1976), was sixteen years Irina's senior but she nonetheless fell in love, and they got married.
+Her academic education continued during all that time and, from 1926 to 1928, Irina went to study at Kharkov's Commercial and Industrial School. She was eighteen when she graduated; it is also at that time that she became interested in yet another sport, motorcycle racing, which led her in 1930 to meet the champion racer Aleksandr Nikolaevich Butenko. Butenko, who will later be known by his stage name, [[Aleksandr Buslaev]] (1894-1976), was sixteen years Irina's senior but she nonetheless fell in love, and they got married.
-Like Irina, Aleksandr Butenko was attracted to working in the circus. Butenko was a good mechanic, and both he and Irina wanted to present something original, involving physical stunts. They conceived an attraction based on the principle of the old "looping the loop," which required a huge and complicated apparatus, for the construction of which GOMETs, then the Soviet Union's central circus organization, which was interested in the project, gave them precious technical and financial support. The principle of the act was in the spirit of the somersault in automobile made famous in 1904 by [[Mauricia de Thiers]] (1880-1964), although its presentation showed a significant difference: Mauricia de Thiers's automobile had been replaced by snow sleds.
+[[File:Buslaevi_Poster.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The Buslaevs' sled thrill act (1935)]]Like Irina, Aleksandr Butenko was attracted to working in the circus. Butenko was a good mechanic, and both he and Irina wanted to present something original, involving physical stunts. They conceived an attraction based on the principle of the old "looping the loop," which required a huge and complicated apparatus, for the construction of which GOMETs, then the Soviet Union's central circus organization, which was interested in the project, gave them precious technical and financial support. The principle of the act was in the spirit of the somersault in automobile made famous in 1904 by [[Mauricia de Thiers]] (1880-1964), although its presentation showed a significant difference: Mauricia de Thiers's automobile had been replaced by snow sleds.
 Under the stage name of ''Buslaevi'' (The Buslaevs in Russian spelling), Alksandr and Irina presented their attraction for the first time in 1930 at the State Circus of Kharkov. It was not a small affair: In a mountain setting, a ramp came from the top of the house (above the orchestra, which traditionally, in Russian circus buildings, faces the ring entrance) down to the ring, above which it curved up at the end; the sleds went down the ramp, were propelled up in a somersault through a revolving hoop, and landed onto another ramp, where they concluded their course in a safety net. Later, the hoop was replaced by two hoops on the same axis revolving in opposite directions!

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 ===Send In the Lions===
-By 1939, Aleksandr and Irina had performed their attraction several times in each circus of the Soviet Union; its novelty was on the wane, and they decided to create a new act. Since the time of her visits to the circus with her veterinarian father, Irina had always dreamed of training big cats. She gave it a first try in 1937 when the central State Circus organization, which wanted to have a female cat trainer, acquired a group of leopards and offered up their presentation to Irina. She gave it a try but was not satisfied; she had her views on larger and more spectacular felines&mdash;and on lions in particular.
+[[File:Buslaevi.jpg|thumb|400px|left|The Buslaevs in their "Barrel" outfits (1940)]]By 1939, Aleksandr and Irina had performed their attraction several times in each circus of the Soviet Union; its novelty was on the wane, and they decided to create a new act. Since the time of her visits to the circus with her veterinarian father, Irina had always dreamed of training big cats. She gave it a first try in 1937 when the central State Circus organization, which wanted to have a female cat trainer, acquired a group of leopards and offered up their presentation to Irina. She gave it a try but was not satisfied; she had her views on larger and more spectacular felines&mdash;and on lions in particular.
 So, the Buslaevs acquired three young lions (named Kaï, Julius, and Caesar) and Irina began to train them. During rehearsals, she received some assistance from the legendary cat trainer [[Boris Eder]] (1894-1970), whose many pupils have included such outstanding trainers as Margarita Nazarova and [[Walter Zapashny]]. During that time, the Buslaevs performed another thrill act at Moscow's popular Culture and Leisure Park (Gorky Park), a "wall of death," in which they raced at full speed on their motorcycles on a circular wall made of sturdy cage panels. The attraction, which met with great success, was known as ''The Barrel''.
-[[File:Buslaev_and_lion_on_bike.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Aleksandr Buslaev in ''The Ring Of Courage'' (1940)]]They finally presented their lion act in 1940. Like their previous creations, it was utterly original. It began with Irina having classic figures performed by her three lions; then she brought her motorbike in the cage, and circled it on a peripheral inclined floor, with the lions resting in the center. Aleksandr followed her on another bike with a sidecar (in the shape of a rocket, it was there to ensure the stability of the bike) and started a chase with one of the lions; the latter eventually jumped and sat on a small platform on the backseat behind Aleksandr and circled the ring with him.
+They finally presented their lion act in 1940. Like their previous creations, it was utterly original. It began with Irina having classic figures performed by her three lions; then she brought her motorbike in the cage, and circled it on a peripheral inclined floor, with the lions resting in the center. Aleksandr followed her on another bike with a sidecar (in the shape of a rocket, it was there to ensure the stability of the bike) and started a chase with one of the lions; the latter eventually jumped and sat on a small platform on the backseat behind Aleksandr and circled the ring with him.
-Presented as an "attraction"&mdash;in Russia, an extended act that occupies a large part, if not all, of the second act of a show&mdash;the act was titled ''Circle of Courage''. It was truly novel, and spectacular enough, and it obtained immediately a great success. Then, in June 1941, the Soviet Union declared war to Germany; luckily, Aleksandr Buslaev, who was forty-seven, was too old to be drafted, and he and Irina were able to continue working with their lions through the troubled times of what the Russians call "The Great Patriotic War."
+[[File:Buslaev_and_lion_on_bike.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Aleksandr Buslaev in ''The Ring Of Courage'' (1940)]]Presented as an "attraction"&mdash;in Russia, an extended act that occupies a large part, if not all, of the second act of a show&mdash;the act was titled ''Circle of Courage''. It was truly novel, and spectacular enough, and it obtained immediately a great success. Then, in June 1941, the Soviet Union declared war to Germany; luckily, Aleksandr Buslaev, who was forty-seven, was too old to be drafted, and he and Irina were able to continue working with their lions through the troubled times of what the Russians call "The Great Patriotic War."
 Yet, despite their artistic success, their marriage was on the rocks. In 1945, Irina was thirty-five, sixteen years younger than Aleksandr (who was fifty-one then), and in the prime of life. Furthermore, both had strong personalities, but it was Irina who was the true star of the act; they were increasingly arguing with each other over everything, which also had a bad influence on their work together. Finally, in 1947, the war having come to an end, they decided to divorce and ended their partnership. Irina kept the lions and Buslaev went on to pursue a career of his own.

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 File:Bugrimova_and_six_lions.jpg|Irina Bugrimova (c.1950)
 File:Irina_Bugrimova.jpg|Irina Bugrimova (c.1950)
 File:Bugrimova_Riding_Lion.jpg|Irina Bugrimova and Riding Lion (c.1950)
 File:Bugrimova_and_lion_on_plank.jpg|Irina Bugrimova (c.1950)

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 File:Bugrimova_and_Parmakyan.jpg|Irina Bugrimova and Konstantin Parmakyan (c.1960)
 File:Bugrimova_Lion_Cubs.jpg|Irina and New Family Members (c.1965)
 File:Irina_Bugrimova_and_Ligron.jpg|Irina and her Ligron (c.1970)
 File:Bugrimova_tightrope_lion_Color.jpg|Irina and tightrope-walking lion (c.1970)