In about six weeks this remark­able man will cel­e­brate his 80^th Birth­day. Who is he? The most pop­u­lar clown of the Soviet Union, also known as the Sun­shine Clown, Oleg Popov is true icon of its own. Born in 1930, he had on of the tough­est upbring­ings ever — yet he man­aged to become one of most recog­nis­able peo­ple of the 20^th cen­tury: he also was in Guin­ness Records Book for “being pop­u­lar in the West and in the East”.

On top of his game. Oleg Popov in 1976.

He was train­ing to be a plumber when, at the age of 17, his friends took him along to the local cir­cus — over­whelmed, he later said there was no way back. He started learn­ing acro­bat­ics, gym­nas­tics, tricks; he spent all of his time and money on learn­ing about the famous clowns and their tech­niques. It did not take him long to become famous: his nat­ural tal­ent and an open smile made wonders.

In his inter­view for the Russ­ian news­pa­per Argu­ments and Facts, Oleg Popov is rem­i­nisc­ing about the hap­pi­est day of his life:after Stalin’s death in 1953, all enter­tain­ment was banned as a deep mourn­ing was announced. So the cir­cus he was work­ing at was shut, and those weeks of not doing what he loved was tor­tur­ous. It took over two months for the ban to be lifted, and even then he was briefed not to joke “too much”. So com­ing out on stage and receiv­ing a huge round of applaud made Oleg realised that it wasn’t only him who missed per­form­ing  — it was also the spec­ta­tors who needed laughter.

Related posts:

1. Soviet Brands: The Scent Of Com­mu­nism. Part 1 of 2
2. The Patri­otic Edu­ca­tion in USSR. Part 2  —  Pio­neers, Soviet Boy Scouts
3. Best of Fall 2009
4. Sum­mer in Gorky Park, Moscow of late 1960s
5. Fun­time with Soviet Playthings

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