Oleg Popov - Revision history

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2024-02-22T21:01:59Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* The Soviet Years */

2024-02-22T03:08:59Z

‎The Soviet Years

Djando: /* The Last Hurrah */

2024-02-22T02:55:57Z

‎The Last Hurrah

Djando: /* The Last Hurrah */

2024-02-22T02:54:32Z

‎The Last Hurrah

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2024-02-01T02:21:55Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando at 02:12, 1 February 2024

2024-02-01T02:12:36Z

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2023-01-11T00:29:39Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Suggested Reading */

2023-01-11T00:22:34Z

‎Suggested Reading

Djando: /* The Last Hurrah */

2021-12-27T21:36:42Z

‎The Last Hurrah

Djando: /* Changing Times */

2021-12-27T21:29:40Z

‎Changing Times

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 File:Popov_-_Serbina.jpeg|Oleg Popov and Vera Serbina (c.1965)
 File:Oleg_Popov_(1976).jpeg|Oleg Popov (1976)
 File:Benneweis_-_Popov_1981.jpeg|Circus Benneweis Program Cover (1981)
 File:Popov_-_Gold_Clown.jpeg|Oleg Popov with his Gold Clown award (1981)

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 The Soviet government was well aware of the positive image Oleg Popov conveyed, and of his usefulness in generating international benevolence: As soon as 1956 (at age twenty-six), he was made Honored Artist of the Soviet Republic of Russia, and in 1969, he was elevated to the rank of People’s Artist. In 1980, he became People’s Artist of the USSR, the highest honor for a performing artist. And at every opportunity, he was sent on tour with a troupe of the "Moscow Circus" to the four corners of the world. (He was part of the first Moscow Circus tour of the United States in 1963.)
-[[File:Popov_-_Serbina.jpeg|thumb|left|300px|Oleg Popov performing a reprise with Vera Serbina (c.1965)]]In 1952, Oleg had married Aleksandra Ilyinichna (1932-1990), a violinist in the circus orchestra. In time, she would participate in an eccentric musical act, the [[Trio Do-Re-Mi]]. Together, Aleksandra and Oleg had a daughter, Olga (b. 1953), who later became a tightwire dancer (she married the celebrated juggler [[Evegeniy Bilauer]], but the marriage didn't last). After 1956, Oleg and his family lived a relatively good life in the Soviet Union. His rank in the Soviet artistic world gave him access to a good apartment at 3, Molodezhnaya Street (Youth Street) in Moscow and other privileges, and the money he saved on tour out of his per-diems (which were payed to the performers in local currency&mdash;a precious commodity in the Soviet Union) provided him with added comforts.
+[[File:Popov_-_Serbina.jpeg|thumb|left|300px|Oleg Popov performing a reprise with Vera Serbina (c.1965)]]In 1952, Oleg had married Aleksandra Ilyinichna (1932-1990), a violinist in the circus orchestra. In time, she would participate in an eccentric musical act, the [[Trio Do-Re-Mi]]. Together, Aleksandra and Oleg had a daughter, Olga (b. 1953), who later became a tightwire dancer (she married the celebrated juggler [[Evgeniy Bilauer]], but the marriage didn't last). After 1956, Oleg and his family lived a relatively good life in the Soviet Union. His rank in the Soviet artistic world gave him access to a good apartment at 3, Molodezhnaya Street (Youth Street) in Moscow and other privileges, and the money he saved on tour out of his per-diems (which were payed to the performers in local currency&mdash;a precious commodity in the Soviet Union) provided him with added comforts.
 It was known in the circus community that Oleg invested part of his money in diamonds, of which he was said to have an important collection&mdash;and he never had a bank account. (For times immemorial, diamonds have been the investment of choice for traveling entertainers.) His star status also led him to appear in fourteen movies between 1959 and 1986, including a Soviet-American film, ''The Blue Bird'' (1976), adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck’s children tale and directed by George Cukor&mdash;a testimony to Oleg’s power to bridge international relations.

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 The news spread quickly all around the world, and every major newspaper carried Oleg Popov’s obituary. The Russian Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky, published a statement saying that Popov's performances "brought joy and goodness to many generations of our compatriots (…) He managed to create a unique image of an eccentric clown who radiated light just by making an appearance and turned every performance into a fête."
-On November 7, an open-casket viewing was held in the ring at the Circus in Rostov-on-Don, and a large crowd came to pay their respect. The casket left the circus to be taken to the airport under the applause of another crowd that had gathered in the street. At the request of his wife, Gaby, Oleg Popov, has been buried in Germany, in their village of Egloffstein. Yet, Russia had finally reclaimed him, and Oleg Popov, “The Sunshine Clown,” will forever be part of its rich cultural heritage.
+On November 7, an open-casket viewing was held in the ring at the Circus in Rostov-on-Don, and a large crowd came to pay their respect. The casket left the circus to be taken to the airport under the applause of another crowd that had gathered in the street. At the request of his wife, Gaby, Oleg Popov has been buried in Germany, in the village of Egloffstein where he lived. Yet, Russia had finally reclaimed him, and Oleg Popov, “The Sunshine Clown,” will forever be part of its rich cultural heritage.
 ==See Also==

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 ===The Last Hurrah===
-Soon after, in 2016, a tour was organized for him in the circuses of Russia. It was the long-awaited return of Oleg Popov, and Russian audiences celebrated the event with the same enthusiasm as they had done in Sochi. It was a triumphant tour. On November 2, 2016, after the show at the circus of Rostov-on-Don, Oleg Popov return to his hotel and sat comfortably in an armchair in his room to watch television. He fell asleep; he never woke up: He had died, peacefully, of cardiac arrest&mdash;in full glory, just after another great performance. He was eighty-six.
+Soon after, in 2016, a tour was organized for him in the circuses of Russia. It was the long-awaited return of Oleg Popov, and Russian audiences celebrated the event with the same enthusiasm as they had done in Sochi. It was a triumphant tour. On November 2, 2016, after the show at the circus of Rostov-on-Don, Oleg Popov returned to his hotel and sat comfortably in an armchair in his room to watch television. He fell asleep; he never woke up: He had died, peacefully, of cardiac arrest&mdash;in full glory, just after another great performance. He was eighty-six.
 The news spread quickly all around the world, and every major newspaper carried Oleg Popov’s obituary. The Russian Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky, published a statement saying that Popov's performances "brought joy and goodness to many generations of our compatriots (…) He managed to create a unique image of an eccentric clown who radiated light just by making an appearance and turned every performance into a fête."

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 File:Oleg_Popov_at_home.jpeg|Oleg Popov (2012)
 File:Kings_of_Clowns.jpeg|''Könige der Clowns'' (2012)
 File:Oleg_and_Gaby_Popov_2014.jpg|Gaby and Oleg Popov (2014)
 File:Popov_in_Sochi_(2015).jpeg|Popov in Sochi (2015)

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:12, 1 February 2024
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−	[[File:Oleg_Popov_1960.jpeg\|right\|~~400px~~]]	+	[[File:Oleg_Popov_1960.jpeg\|right\|450px]]
	==Clown==		==Clown==

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 File:Popov_Sochi_2015.jpeg|Popov in Sochi (2015)
 File:David_Larible_%2B_Oleg_Popov_(2015).jpeg|Oleg Popov with David Larible in Sochi (2015)
 </Gallery>
 [[Category:Artists and Acts|Popov, Oleg]][[Category:Clowns|Popov, Oleg]]

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 * Oleg Popov, ''Ma Vie de Clown'' (Paris, Editions Stock, 1968)
 * Oleg Popov, ''Russian Clown'' (London, MacDonald, 1970) &mdash; ISBN 0356029409
 * Oleg Popov, ''Mijn leven als clown'' (Tielt, Lannoo, 2006) &mdash; ISBN 90-209-6521-2

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 ===Changing Times===
-In 1987, hoping to save the ailing Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev began to implement his Perestroika and Glasnost policies and Oleg Popov’s world started to crumble. Artists who, like him, had been the symbols of the old Soviet system were losing their clout and privileges: It was the start of the everyman-for-himself era. Sign of the times, when in 1988, after a ten-year hiatus, the American producer Steve Lieber began to bring back troupes of the Moscow Circus to the United States for a very lucrative series of tours, Popov was not part of the deal.
+In 1987, hoping to save the ailing Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachëv began to implement his Perestroika and Glasnost policies and Oleg Popov’s world started to crumble. Artists who, like him, had been the symbols of the old Soviet system were losing their clout and privileges: It was the start of the everyman-for-himself era. Sign of the times, when in 1988, after a ten-year hiatus, the American producer Steve Lieber began to bring back troupes of the Moscow Circus to the United States for a very lucrative series of tours, Popov was not part of the deal.
 Then, in 1990, Oleg lost his wife of thirty-eight years, Aleksandra, to cancer. To add to his disarray, at the end of 1991, the Soviet Union finally fell apart and Boris Yeltsin’s "New Russia" replaced it. While future oligarchs were busy looting Russia’s riches, Oleg saw his life savings melting like snow in the sun. After forty years of performing and at sixty-one, Oleg Popov was eligible for retirement, but pensions had lost all value (and would eventually stop being paid).