The speaker is Alexander Rybak.
Mood is calm now
Among the clowns there are many famous, popular and beloved by the public. But there are those whose names personify the art to which they have dedicated themselves. Among them is Oleg Popov.
"Solar clown" - so it is called all over the world. One of the most famous circus artists of the USSR has been working abroad for almost 20 years and is not going to return to Russia. What caused the emigration and how he lives in a foreign land, the Trud correspondent found out.
- You worked almost all your life in the Russian circus and, only after you retired, you decided to move. It is probably hard at this age to change something drastically, there must be a very good reason for such a step.
- Both people in Germany and those who come from Moscow ask me why I did not return home. The answer is multi-layered. I am a child of war. I started working at the age of 11 so that my mother and I would not starve to death. After graduating from the circus school in 1950, I worked for exactly 40 years at the Soyuzgostsirk, which later became the Russian State Circus. At the age of 60 I retired, celebrating my anniversary at the circus on Vernadsky Avenue. At the same time, I lost my wife, with whom I lived for about 40 years and experienced loneliness very hard. Then, in the early 90s, reforms began in the country, and I, already a free pensioner, was invited on a tour of Germany. A year later, in Germany, I met a woman who soon became my wife. We've been together for almost 18 years.
Frankly, I was very offended when I, a People's Artist of the USSR, awarded the Order of Lenin and the highest awards of the country, was assigned a minimum pension. This is not about money - about the evaluation of my work. For 40 years I brought a lot of money to the country: from one trip up to 5 million dollars, although all of us, artists of the Soviet circus, received 5-7 dollars for a performance. It's no secret that my name has been a fundamental part of this success. We hid our fees from foreign colleagues. We were told that the money we bring in is used to buy grain for the country in difficult years.
“The situation at that time was not easy. Almost all institutions experienced a systemic crisis, and, of course, cultural institutions suffered especially.
- Once I dreamed that I, already completely old and gray-haired, was standing in the subway "Revolution Square" and juggling rings to earn a piece of bread. That is, he began as a beggar during the war in Saltykovka, and ended as a beggar. Then I was offered a big European tour and money that I would not have received for a year of work, although by European standards it was average salary for an ordinary clown. I agreed and have been on tour ever since.
Some people say that I left for the money. But I have never been a hypocrite, and as a person who really starved in the 40s and early 50s, I put bread as the highest value in life.
— The press has repeatedly discussed the situation around overhaul circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard and the conflict that allegedly occurred between you and Yuri Nikulin. It was believed that the reason for leaving was precisely this. Is it so?
- In the late 80s, circuses across the country were very dilapidated. The state squeezed everything out of them, millions of spectators passed through them, leaving astronomical money to the treasury and at the same time destroying them. But then no one was doing repairs. The main circus of the Russian State Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard was also in a terrible state of disrepair.
All our leading artists gathered and decided that we should go to the government with a request for a major overhaul. I was delegated with this mission, Yuri Nikulin and Irina Bugrimova. We visited the Chairman of the Council of Ministers N.I. Ryzhkov. He was sympathetic to our aspirations and immediately ordered to allocate 26 million dollars for the needs of the circus. And if the prime minister hadn’t personally taken up the repair of the main circus of the country, perhaps it would have stood, like the rest of the circuses in Russia, without major repairs. It was then that Yuri Nikulin was appointed director. True, he promised me the following: since I participated in saving the circus, then I should work at its opening. But some little-known clown worked at the opening, and I was not even invited to the premiere. However, this is understandable: Yura and I have always been competitors. My name is still widely known in the West, and Nikulin is almost unknown there. But, giving respect to the talent and success of Yuri Vladimirovich, I can understand why he became the director of the country's main state circus. But there are things that I refuse to accept.
- What do you have in mind?
- The circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard is not just a building, it is a national treasure of Russia. Here, for centuries, the glory of the national circus art. It was regularly visited by members of the imperial family before the revolution. In the 1920s and 1930s Meyerhold, Tairov, Lunacharsky, Gorky, Bulgakov, Olesha, Tolstoy were regulars. All the leaders of the state visited it with pleasure - Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Gorbachev. All the best numbers were produced in the circus Soviet Union. Previously, it was difficult to go abroad, and the main dream of any circus performer was to work in this arena.
Here the Pencil began and reached its highest glory, the Zapashny brothers, Irina Bugrimova, Margarita Nazarova, Valentin Filatov, Vladimir Volzhansky began - for everyone this arena was the highest pedestal, the circus Olympus. I also gained worldwide fame in this arena. And it doesn’t fit in my head that this circus has become private! Moreover, I don’t understand why Nikulin’s son is in charge of it. By what right? We still have names in the circus that can become its symbol.
Circus performers live very close lives, and therefore everyone was always aware personal life everyone. Frankly, all close people sympathized with Yuri Nikulin, who complained that his son entered the faculty of journalism with great difficulty, he had problems with his studies, and he did not go well with work in the future. And only the participation of Yuri Vladimirovich helped him avoid a lot of trouble. In addition, the artists were aware of Maxim's excessive passion for alcohol. In general, what the father could not bear because of him. And this person, who had a remote idea of our work, is appointed director of the circus.
- In your opinion, transferring the circus to private hands was a rash decision?
- When they tell me that the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, the Solomonsky circus with a 130-year history, has become private, I shudder. After all, his fame and prestige were created by entire generations of circus artists. Here they crashed, broke, became disabled or world famous stars.
If such are the realities and there is no getting away from it, let them buy a wasteland on the edge of Moscow, build a circus at their own expense and prove to everyone what they can do. And then, having cleaned up the state circus with a history and a name, they also teach us how to work.
But the true indignation in me is caused by these new Russians, who eat the work and valor of artists, including today's artists, with a big spoon - they told me what pennies the artists receive during forced downtime. They demand tax breaks - they ask for breaks that are given only to state-owned enterprises. I'm afraid that the money saved will go not to salaries, but to personal enrichment.
Seeing these outrages and understanding that you can’t change anything is my main pain. In addition, now the circus wants to initiate a new wave of privatization and break the single chain of all circuses in the country. I have been working in the West for a long time and I know how dangerous this system is for the artists themselves: they become disenfranchised in front of their masters. So far, this is happening only in Moscow, but they want the unique circus system to collapse from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad and circuses to be headed by clever new-found pseudo-managers. This is where the end of the great Russian circus art will come. The proof of this, in my opinion, is the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard.
- That is, private management in circus art is unacceptable?
“Don't misunderstand me: I'm not against a private circus. I still work in a private Dutch circus. But it was built and moves around the countries with the money of these people. And when you received an inheritance from your dad, made it private and built your well-being on the blood, tears and sweat of generations of Russian artists, this is outrageous. I believe that the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard should be state-owned and should be headed by an outstanding circus figure. Like in a theater: there are managers, but there are also its leaders - Tabakov, Solomin, Doronina, Volchek. And the merits of Maxim Nikulin begin and end only with the fact that he is the son of Yuri Nikulin.
— Do you follow the work of circus artists and programs that are created in the circus on Tsvetnoy?
- Previously, the best numbers and programs of the country were created here. What now? Friends periodically bring me recordings of the programs of this circus. One is worse than the other ... I wanted to say where the Russian State Circus and the Ministry of Culture were looking, but I remembered: the circus is private. This is what the leadership of amateurs leads to. They are trying to attract outside artists, luring them with offers to work in Moscow, and those, of course, want to appear in the capital: there are potential impresarios, newspapers, and television.
— Oleg Konstantinovich, you have been living abroad for a long time. Tell me, how do you feel there?
- In all the years of my wanderings, I have not changed Russian citizenship. I am proud that I am Russian, and I will remain so forever. I am proud of my land, culture: our museums, reserves, churches, monuments, theaters - everything that makes up the national treasure of Russia. I am convinced that an integral part of this is the great circus art and its big diamond - the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. And justice will eventually win.
Oleg Popov. PEOPLE'S ARTIST OF THE USSR, CLOWN
Born on July 31, 1930 in the village of Vyrubovo, Moscow Region. Educated in State school circus art. In 1951 he made his debut as a carpet clown. He created an artistic image of the "Sunny Clown" - a cheerful boy in striped pants and a plaid cap. Among the best reprises are "Cook", "Whistle", "Ray". The artist took part in the first tour of the Soviet circus in Western Europe.
Prizes and awards: holder of the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, laureate of the International Circus Festival in Warsaw, Oscar, won the honorary prize "Golden Clown".
The other day, the tour of the Theater of Cats by Yuri Kuklachev ended in Kyiv
In 1988, the artist of the Soyuz State Circus, Yuri Kuklachev, signed a contract with Israel to conduct his tour. Then, for a trip to a Zionist country, they tried to expel the clown from the ranks of the CPSU, but he managed to defend his party card. But Yuri Dmitrievich could not avoid being fired - he was given to understand that the Soviet circus would do without Kuklachev.
As they say, there is no evil without good. Shortly after your divorce from the Soyuz State Circus, you opened the world's first private Cat Theater
Yes, there was still time, - Yuri Kuklachev, holder of the Order of the Hope of the Nation, smiles. -- Early 90s! I had to go out into the auditorium and say: “Comrades, you paid five rubles for the ticket. This is how much a kilogram of meat cost yesterday, and today it costs 100! (We sold tickets a month in advance.) Understand, you can’t buy meat for this money.” People opened their wallets and carried money to the "mutual aid fund", putting it in a pile near the stage.
I reasoned like this: if the people need me, I will not go to Las Vegas, where they invited me. And you know, our performances are always sold out. The government, of course, is indifferent to me, but the people did not let me go.
But my colleague Oleg Popov could not stand the perestroika trends. AT old days he, like most visiting artists, brought natural fur coats, Japanese tape recorders, and other shortages from abroad ... He saved up all his life and collected 300 thousand rubles on a savings book, which eventually turned into three rubles. You can imagine how much Oleg Konstantinovich lost if then the Zhiguli cost five thousand! The People's Artist of the USSR was offended and left 15 years ago for permanent residence in Germany.
How did your wards get to Kyiv? There is an opinion that these animals get used to the house and moving causes stress for them.
These are domestic cats, when they are taken to the dacha, they worry and worry, but ours are professionals! They sleep peacefully all the way. I love the train myself - hooray! - Finally, you can sleep off ... I give the conductors my photo and ask: "Guys, don't wake Kuklachev!" And no problem. And on these tours to Ukraine, we arrived by bus. True, they kept us at the border for eight hours - they found out why some kind of hologram was missing on the documents. How do we know? Us at the Ministry Agriculture Russia was given such permission
Did you take offense at Ukraine because of this?
No you! In Ukraine, I found my first kitten. In 1971, we worked in a big top in Cherkasy. After the performance, I was walking through the park and heard a plaintive squeak in the bushes. A small red kitten squealed with hunger. I brought him to the hotel, washed him in the washbasin, washed his eyes with tea, fed him ... Kutka took root with me. But when I picked up Strelka in the same way, Kutka, unable to bear my "betrayal", disappeared.
In 1981, my wife and I (Elena and their eldest son Dmitry are now working at the Cat Theater. The younger Vladimir is a dancer, an Israeli ballet star, daughter Ekaterina is a student at Moscow Textile University. - Auth.) were in Israel. During one of the excursions, I suddenly caught the attentive look of the same red-haired and thin cat as my Kutka. I see a familiar face: "Kutya?" -- “Meow…” I gave the sound that we know, the cat came up. I stroked him: "Let's go home?" “Meow,” replied Kutka. "I'll stay here."
“Defending her offspring, the cat drove the bear onto the tower crane”
And in Kharkov, I had a unique case in general, - continues Yuri Dmitrievich. - At night, the circus bear Gosha came out of the cage. These are very attentive animals, so Gosha noticed that the cage was locked with a key. He took it and opened the lock with his claw. Walking through the circus, the bear heard a squeak in my dressing room. He broke off the doorknob, went into the room and good-naturedly stuck his muzzle into the box, from where the sound that interested him could be heard. And there my cat Squirrel just lambed
Defending its offspring, Squirrel clung to Gaucher's face with a howl. Not understanding what was the matter, the bear (by the way, 3.5 meters tall and weighing about half a ton) just closed his eyes. When the cat tore his nose, he rushed out of the room, broke through the exit doors, the circus gate and jumped out into the street. And the cat follows him, and even howls and bites his hind legs.
Gosha ran to a nearby construction site, where there was a tower crane. He climbed up the stairs and sat down. People gathered, the police asked them: "What's the matter?" - "Yes, the cat drove the bear onto the crane." Only the trainer, who was immediately called, managed to remove Gosha.
By the way, with the same Gosha interesting story happened in Japan. Seeing a bear riding a motorcycle around the arena, Honda representatives decided to do a publicity stunt and brought their motorcycle to the next performance: “Get in!”
Goshka sat down and drove off - the bears rule well, but they don't know how to stop. A Japanese operator filming in a circus asked the trainer's assistants: "Step back a little, otherwise you will get into the frame!" The guys moved away from the aisle, and the bear, having skated the prescribed three circles, drove past them. And then through the open gate - they were delivering ice cream to the circus - I drove out into the street. Walkers in the park froze: a huge bear rides a motorcycle. Who on his bike drove into the water, who climbed a tree.
Gosha, not paying attention to the commotion, drove against the traffic onto the highway - a high-speed highway. The stunned Japanese slow down, and the bear goes around them like a skier. That was the death! Filmmakers drove by and filmed it all. Until Honda ran out of gas. I reached Yokohama, by the way, and this is 50 kilometers
So, the cat even before the bear does not save. Can it protect you?
When I had a Zhiguli, the cat Strelka rode in them and didn’t let anyone in the car, except for domestic ones. And then one day in the country she confused someone else's car with ours, climbed into it and sits. The owners were about to go, and the cat rushes at them: “Meow! The crooks have come to steal!” People brought the dog: "Fas!" And how Strelka will rush!.. Cats are not very afraid of dogs... In general, before my arrival, the owners could not get into their car.
“It seems to me that Yuri Nikulin did not like clowns”
There are legends about the special energy of cats
One of my cats could not stand my friend, - Yuri Kuklachev answers. - When he came, she hissed, and once she even peed in his shoe ... Then life showed that this man was really heartless. Instead of a heart, he has a muscle that pumps blood.
Why is the cat allowed in first? new apartment? Because she sniffs everything and absorbs the energy negativity. Not in vain, by Orthodox religion, housing must be consecrated - go through it with a candle and a censer. Frankincense has a useful power. And the cat will also accurately determine unfavorable points.
By the way, cats feel the energy of the church. They never shit in the temple. Not like a dog - ran in and immediately raised its paw. The defiled temple must be re-consecrated. A cat would never do that. One priest told me: “Imagine, I’m sleeping and at three o’clock in the morning I hear a cat’s cry - I accidentally closed the cat in the church. I go out and open. The animal ran out, dug a hole, sat down and calmed down.
One of the Muslim priests adored cats so much that once during the service, when the cat fell asleep on his mantle, he asked to cut off a piece of cloth so as not to disturb her.
Why doesn't the model with whom everyone takes pictures have a cat name Banana?
The cat loves bananas. Cat Carrot eats carrots, crunches right ... Cat Lace - plays with shoelaces. Yogurt loves yogurt so much that it will distinguish it from kefir. We named the cat who likes to roll coins, Bucks.
What is so special about Napoleon?
Coloring. Like a Bonaparte hat. In addition, he cleared a French restaurant of rats. When the director of this establishment found out that our cat was a rat-catcher, he asked to leave him for the night: “No matter what we do, it’s just a disaster in our warehouse!” In the morning in the restaurant he showed us four carcasses laid in a row by a rat catcher.
Rats are generally very difficult to deal with. Now in Moscow there are devices that repel rats with ultrasound. And everyone started buying them. In our area there are old Brezhnev houses. When the owners turned on these devices, all the rats ran to our theater. End of the world! They ran straight through the auditorium. We released our cats, but they fled - most of them are afraid of rats. Only one Duska fought desperately with them and laid them all down. Now rats do not appear in our theater, because their tribe passes information to each other about the danger that awaits here.
You have been working with the famous Pencil for a long time. They say he was a big bore?
Mikhail Nikolayevich Rumyantsev was a man of great soul! At first we were at odds with him - he did not really trust young people. Did they tell you something about the Pencil? - Yuri Kuklachev addresses a group of students of the Kiev Circus School who came to his performance. - And they will also say about me: for-well-yes! If Mikhail Nikolayevich started talking, everyone thought: “When will he stop?” And I understood the disease of the old creative people who worry, worry that, in their opinion, young people are doing everything wrong.
Once Pencil told me: “Look, you are doing a reprise (I climbed for the ball. I won’t do this now!), But you are lying, deceiving” - and made 24 remarks on my work. When I took them into account, after the updated number, the audience did not let me out of the arena for 15 minutes.
Have you ever met Yuri Nikulin?
Being a very kind person, Yuri Vladimirovich helped everyone. You will come to him, ask - he will help you too. He always paid large pensions to pensioners, took care of the old people, provided everyone with apartments. But it seems to me that Nikulin did not like clowns. When Yuri Vladimirovich became director, only two clowns worked in his circus, or the program went on without clowns at all. Tolik Marchevsky, Yuri Kuklachev never worked in Nikulin's circus. Even if Lenya Yengibarov were alive, he probably would not have worked either. And with Oleg Popov, there was a conflict in general.
Oleg Popov and Yuri Nikulin sat together in a restaurant, together they came to the minister to beat out 12 million rubles for a new circus. Yuri Vladimirovich promised his colleague: "You open a circus with me." When the building was built, Nikulin said: “Oleg, I have other plans now ...” This also played a role in the departure of Oleg Popov.
The name of Oleg Popov in the Soviet Union was synonymous with kindness and smiles. He was called the "solar clown", he turned any circus performance into a real fairy tale and made everyone believe that magic exists.
Our film crew found Oleg Popov in the small German town of Landau, where the most famous circus in Germany, the Bossert Big Top, has pitched his tent. An interesting program - famous artists from different countries. But on the posters is our great clown Oleg Popov!
It's hard to believe that Oleg Popov, whom everyone in the Soviet Union knew, People's Artist of the USSR, at the age of 6, which fell on the difficult year of 1990, became unnecessary in his country. A meager pension, lack of money (a huge amount was burned on the passbook), a seriously ill wife and unemployment.
He was offered the only job - to entertain the children of the "crimson jackets". For him it was unthinkable! In order to simply survive, the already far from young artist was forced to sign a contract to work in Germany. He did not even imagine that he was signing a contract for a new life.
Tours of the Oleg Popov circus in the cities of Germany were, as always, a huge success and sold out. But soon the last thread that connected him with his homeland broke. In Moscow, his beloved wife Alexandra, with whom he lived for 30 years, died. About how he was forced to say goodbye to his wife, in our film, Oleg Popov will tell for the first time.
Work saved him from grief and loneliness. He did not let anyone into his personal space, until one chance meeting with a young German woman turned his whole life upside down.
Very soon, a romantic relationship with a German Gabrielle grew into a family one. Neither the 30-year age difference nor the language barrier prevented this. Oleg Popov very touchingly in his interview recalls how they talked on different languages using a dictionary.
But Gaby admitted to us how difficult it really was for her to get used to a nomadic life, an unsettled circus life, to a new profession - clowness. More than once she abandoned everything, but as if bewitched, she returned again and again to Popov's circus trailer.
Today Oleg Popov is happy in his second marriage and is insanely attached to his wife. Gaby became not only an assistant in reprises, but also his indispensable producer - she deals with contracts, organizes tours, communicates with the press, contracts.
Oleg Popov did not come to Russia for 25 years. From the outside, this seems to be some kind of strangeness or whim. The reasons for this are explained in the film. famous artists and friends of the famous clown. They all agree that everything is hindered by a great resentment towards their homeland, which has become a real illness for the clown.
Edgard Zapashny decided to break the stereotype of a defector, which is so firmly entrenched in the "solar clown" and organize Oleg Popov's tour in Russia with the program "The long-awaited return of the great clown to his homeland." The terms of the contract were simply fantastic. - a huge fee and a new private apartment in Moscow. But Zapashny failed.
So who is Oleg Konstantinovich Popov today - the Russian "sunny clown" or the German "happy Hans", as they call him in Germany? ..
We have already prepared the film for broadcast with the answer to this question. But then Popov made his own adjustments. Six months after filming in Germany, suddenly, like a bolt from the blue - the clown arrives in Sochi for the international circus festival "Master". Our film crew met him at the airport. We saw how difficult the first step on the Russian arena was for the legendary master. Tears ran down Popov's face, emotions literally tore him apart. It seemed that along with his tears, his resentment, which had haunted the maestro for a quarter of a century, was also melting. In our film, viewers will find out whether the famous clown now connects his future life with Russia.
The film features:
Oleg Popov - People's Artist of the USSR,
Gabriel Popova - wife of Oleg Popov,
Evgeny Belauer - People's Artist of Russia, juggler, son-in-law of Oleg Popov,
Evgeny Belauer (Jr.) - Oleg Popov's grandson,
Yakel Bossert - director of the tent circus, where Oleg Popov works,
Iosif Kobzon - People's Artist of the USSR,
Maxim Nikulin - CEO Moscow Nikulin Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard,
Vadim Gagloev - General Director of the company "Rosgostsirk",
Edgard Zapashny - People's Artist of Russia, General Director of the Great Moscow State Circus,
Yuri Kuklachev - People's Artist of the RSFSR, clown, creator and head of the cat theater "Cat's House",
Vyacheslav Polunin - People's Artist of Russia,
Engelina Rogalskaya - Honored Artist of Russia, trainer, classmate of Oleg Popov at the circus school,
Alexander Kalmykov - People's Artist of Russia, director, 1990-1995 - Director of Oleg Popov's team, family friend,
Alexander Frish - Honored Artist of Russia,
Ekaterina Mozhaeva - clown ("Antoshka").
Vladimir Kravchenko is a clown.
In the 1970s, the appearance of Oleg Popov on TV invariably riveted viewers to the screen, and the reaction was unequivocal: cheerful, cheerful laughter.
More than 20 years ago, he stayed in Germany, having gone from Sunny Clown to Lucky Hans. And so far, no one has appeared who could replace him in the arena and ... in our hearts.
FROM LOCKWORKERS TO CIRCUSCI
Neither in childhood nor in his youth, Oleg Popov did not think about the circus - he worked as a fitter's apprentice at the Pravda plant, was fond of sports, but did not gain much success. And in 1943, in company with a friend, he attended an exam at a circus school and ... entered the acrobatics department. At the end of the course, he was enrolled in the circus staff - a tightrope walker. But the audience, despite the seriousness of the genre, for some reason burst into laughter as soon as he appeared in the arena.
Once, during a tour in Saratov, he was offered to replace a sick clown. I had to learn other people's reprises, try on someone else's costume. During the 20 days that he worked for another artist, he decided to become a clown, but ... special, to create an image unlike anyone else. And so the Solar Clown was born.
STAR ASCENT
Equilibration became the basis of Oleg Popov's clowning: he "sleeped" on a wire, juggled objects - from plates, forks and knives to potatoes, which he caught with his mouth in the arena. The public's favorite was the number in which the clown, frightened by the host, swallowed the whistle, after which all emotions and thoughts were forced to “whistle”.
In 1956, the first foreign tour took place, which brought him worldwide fame. In 1969 he received the title People's Artist, and a few years later in Monte Carlo he was awarded the highest circus award "Golden Clown".
He celebrated his 50th anniversary (in 1980) with a festive program at the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard.
60 YEARS - JUST THE BEGINNING
After the conflict with Nikulin, Popov had to retire. He left the circus, and the money was sorely lacking ... In search of money, he accepted a dubious offer to tour in Germany, and in the midst of the tour he was abandoned by his producer. Popov fell into a severe depression, from which he was brought out ... by a German girl Gabriela in love with him. In 1991, he decided to stay in Germany forever and became Gabriela's husband.
Starting life from scratch when you are over 60, and even in a foreign country, is very difficult, but Popov did not give up. Together with Gabriela, he created the Great Russian State Circus and began to travel around the cities of Germany with reprises from the repertoire of the circus on Tsvetnoy.
His circus is a small tent, a tent that breaks in a field, not far from the surrounding villages. Popov quickly gained popularity and even received the nickname Happy Hans...
“EVEN I HAVE GIVEN HAPPINESS TO PEOPLE”
Success abroad did not last long. Today Oleg Popov's big top is a pitiful sight. In the dirt near the shabby tent is a wretched trailer in which the clown himself makes up and lives. When he enters the dusty carpet of the arena, for a while it seems that this is the same Sunny clown: huge boots, a checkered cap, a kind smile ... But the hall is full of empty seats, a few visitors are mostly our former compatriots . At the end of the performance, the artist no longer has the strength to move independently, the gymnasts take him under the arms. In 2010, he turned 80 years old, and his health began to fail: for Last year he suffered 2 major operations. On July 26, during the anniversary tour, while in Berlin, for the first time in his life he could not perform.
“Many times I had to work with a high fever or pneumonia,” he said after that, “sometimes after the presentation of me to the abyss of the clinic. But the main thing is that the viewer did not even know about it. And even when I was sick, I gave happiness to people and was glad myself ... "
Now everything has changed. His heart constantly hurts, his legs give way, his head is spinning. Gabriel's wife is the only one close person- not one step away from the artist. They have no money for treatment. True, the Russian Charitable Foundation offered Popov their help, but the Sunny Clown categorically refused it, considering it a belated and inappropriate sop...
