Theatre Magazine Blue Blouse, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the theater. Soviet agitprop theater Blue Blouse

Soviet agitprop theater Blue Blouse

Blue Blouse – Soviet theater of small forms, kind of campaign platform. It existed from 1923 to the beginning of the 1930s. For the first time established in Moscow at the Institute of Journalism, on the basis of a “living newspaper”; initially – theatrical troupe (the participants were working in a blue blouse – hence the name). The initiator of its creation, the author and one of the artists B.S. Yuzhanin. Soon appeared further 15 such groups. The subjects of their repertoire was topical, it combined the heroism and pathos, satire and humor. Program of Blue Blouse was built mainly on a collective recitation, folk songs and sport dances. Blue Blouse team performed in “Red corners”, clubs, shops of factories. Similar groups sprang up in other cities, serving as a basis for the creation of a number of professional theaters and giving impetus to the search for new forms of theater and variety of performances. In the Blue Blouse began creative work many Soviet writers, composers, actors, directors and artists. Besides, several groups of Blue Blouse toured abroad (Germany, Poland, Scandinavia, and China), influencing the theater movement in different countries.
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Soviet Latvian actress Vija Artmane (August 21, 1929 – October 11, 2008)

Soviet Latvian actress Vija Artmane has become the real star of the All-Union scale after the film “Native Blood” in which she starred with Evgeny Matveyev. This melodrama has been a favorite film of all the peoples of the USSR. The main character played by Artmane – Sonya, the mother of several children – feminine, sincere, reliable and beautiful. Rumors of a romance between Artmane and her partner Evgeny Matveyev spread throughout the Soviet Union after the release of the film – so sincerely they played love. Rumors immediately “married” them, although Matveyev at that time had a strong family. Soon Artmane gave birth to a daughter, Christiana. In his interview to Komsomolskaya Pravda (21.08.2009) the son of the actress said: “Before she died, my mother confessed that the father of my sister Christiana – Evgeny Matveyev.” Before dying, she accepted Orthodoxy, changed her name Vija to Elizaveta. In her own words, Artmane painfully experienced the gap between Latvia and Russia. After the collapse of the USSR Via Artmane was persecuted in nationalist Latvia. “Latvia is small for me, I do not have enough space, I’m not used to live so narrowly. From communicating with Russians I have changed. Russians have an open soul, a unique perception of the person. Latvians are others. Russians are very close to me, a few years ago, I even accepted Orthodoxy”.
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Aristocrat of Soviet cinema Vasily Lanovoi

Aristocrat of Soviet cinema Vasily Lanovoi

Although Vasily Lanovoi was born in Moscow on January 16, 1934, his parents were simple laborers “from the plow.” Fleeing from hunger, they moved to the capital of the USSR from the village near Odessa. When he was 7 years old, his father and mother sent Vasily to grandparents. Have decided as follows: let him spend the summer in the village, and help the elderly. They couldn’t even think their son to get into the German occupation – as much as three and a half years. Once one of the Germans gave Lanovoy his smart belt. The boy without hesitation put it on and went for a walk. But another soldier gunner ordered the boy to return the unearned gift. Lanovoi refused. Then the raging fascist let machine gun all over the child’s head. “I returned the belt with a trembling hand, and then stuttered for year from the shock”, – says the actor. But the actor is grateful to be alive.
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Galina Ulanova (8 January 1910 – 21 March 1998) in “Bakhchisarai Fountain”. 1958 Soviet Ballet Matchbox Labels

1958 Soviet Ballet Matchbox Labels
Balabanovo experimental factory in Kaluga region issued in 1958 a series of matchbox labels on the theme of Soviet ballet. Labels with images of outstanding ballerinas of the 20th century – Olga Lepeshinskaya, Galina Ulanova, Marina Semyonova, Marianna Bogolyubskaya, Sulamith Messerer, Anatoly Kuznetsov, Vladimir Preobrazhensky, Asaf Messerer, Michael Gabovich, and other famous Soviet ballet dancers. The inscriptions on the labels are in French, as in 1958, gift sets of matches were shown on various subjects in the Soviet pavilion at the World Exhibition in Brussels.
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Soviet Actress Elena Proklova in Mimino, 1977, USSR

Soviet actress Elena Proklova – one of the few actresses who began acting as a child, made a brilliant career. The majority of child actors simply disappear into oblivion. Probably because Elena has been a workaholic since childhood, and was engaged in gymnastics since the age of four. Five year-old girl acted in the Kremlin, with the performance “Girl on the ball.” It was incredibly impressive, the hall applauded. At the age of 11 she has become a master of the sport in gymnastics. But her life changed one day when out of 11,000 girls who were casting for the film “Ringing, Open the Door” director Alexander Mitta chose Elena Proklova. For this film Elena subsequently received an award. There was not a single newspaper or a magazine in the country, which would not have written about it, because for the first time the prize for best actress went to the girl, not the actress. She received bags of letters and her pictures were sold in kiosks.
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Soviet Russian actress Marianna Vertinskaya

There is some kind of magic and mysterious charm in the past 1960s of the USSR, its cinema and art. Call it what you like, but it’s true. There are actors (they are quite a bit), who themselves are regarded as a work of art. Look at Soviet Russian actress Marianna Vertinskaya – beautiful woman, the daughter of a famous father. Congenital artistry, incomparable elegance on stage and in life. And yet – sparking excitement and wonder of live blue eyes. Most famous men of the time knelt down confessing their love for her – Andrey Tarkovsky, Andrey Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky, artist Lev Zbarsky, operators Georgy Rerberg and Alexander Knyazhinsky, architect Ilya Bylinkin, actor Boris Khmelnitsky, and more. Icon of style of the 1960s, Marianna Vertinskaya was born into a family of a famous chanson singer Alexander Vertinsky and Lidiya Vertinskaya – film and theater actress. The name Marianna was given to her by her mother after she had watched a Hollywood movie of Robin Hood, where Robin Hood’s beloved was called Marianna. Coincidentally, later one of the Marianna’s husbands – Boris Khmelnitsky played the role of Robin Hood in the Soviet film.
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Soviet actress Natalia Belokhvostikova

Soviet actress Natalia Belokhvostikova (born July 28, 1951, Moscow, USSR) – Honored Artist of the RSFSR, the winner of two State Prizes of the USSR (1971, 1985). She is the youngest winner of the State Prize of the USSR in age to obtain it in the history of national cinema (she was 19). A young Moscow schoolgirl has dreamed about the career of an actress from early childhood. She, after the ninth grade, managed to prove her right to study in the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography. Natalia graduated from high school in parallel with studies at the institute. So, Natasha began to rise to her profession, the profession of an actress … The event, which largely determined her creative life, was the meeting with SA Gerasimov. Coryphaeus of Soviet cinema, Gerasimov trained several generations of actors and directors, he not only taught his students the basics of skill, but also helped to apply their knowledge in practice.
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