I met Mr. Nikulin in Moscow 1991. It is one of the highlights of my life. He was a gracious man and very kind to a group of clowns who, excluding myself, had absolutely no idea of monumental moment it was.
One of the biggest regrets of my life, is that I did not ask to spend time alone to chat with Mr. Nikulin through our interpreter.
The sparkle in Mr. Nikulin's eyes exuded humility and greatness simultaneously.
Yes, the partner is Chouidin. They worked togheter thoroug the late 60s and the 70s, developing a remarkable timing in their sketches, spoken as silent. An interesting fact about this and other couples, is that they talked mostly without microphone, also dued to the good acustic of the circus buildings. Seeing this in some old Soviet movies, gives an impression of the conditions of the early circus clown, thinking about the classic clown entrees with a lot of dialogues. I just saw my friend Maxim Nikulin (Iuri's son)a couple of weeks ago in Spain, and we reflected on this magic sparkle in the eyes that this great clown had. I think that Nikulin, Karandash, Engibarov and the early Popov are the pinnacle of the russian clown art, and possibly some of the best in the world. Consider that all of the four acte with the same talent and success in circus,movie,theatre, pantomime and television.
I met Mr. Nikulin in Moscow 1991. It is one of the highlights of my life. He was a gracious man and very kind to a group of clowns who, excluding myself, had absolutely no idea of monumental moment it was.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest regrets of my life, is that I did not ask to spend time alone to chat with Mr. Nikulin through our interpreter.
The sparkle in Mr. Nikulin's eyes exuded humility and greatness simultaneously.
Thank you Pat, for rekindling this fond memory.
-Kenny
Yes, the partner is Chouidin. They worked togheter thoroug the late 60s and the 70s, developing a remarkable timing in their sketches, spoken as silent.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting fact about this and other couples, is that they talked mostly without microphone, also dued to the good acustic of the circus buildings. Seeing this in some old Soviet movies, gives an impression of the conditions of the early circus clown, thinking about the classic clown entrees with a lot of dialogues.
I just saw my friend Maxim Nikulin (Iuri's son)a couple of weeks ago in Spain, and we reflected on this magic sparkle in the eyes that this great clown had.
I think that Nikulin, Karandash, Engibarov and the early Popov are the pinnacle of the russian clown art, and possibly some of the best in the world.
Consider that all of the four acte with the same talent and success in circus,movie,theatre, pantomime and television.