Stories of the “Blue Light”. History of the TV show “Blue Light The best blue light of the USSR

28.06.2020

There must be something unquenchable in the country and there is. This is the Eternal Flame and the eternal “Blue Light”. The state has always attached important educational importance to both. In the latter case, they educated by entertaining.
In 1962, television showed the program “Television Cafe”, which later became known as “On the Light”, then “On the Blue Light” and, finally, “Blue Light”. The broadcast was broadcast throughout the country on Saturdays from 22.00 to 24.00.

At first, “Ogonki” was shown weekly. Later they began to coincide with Soviet holidays - Cosmonautics Day, March 8, May 1, Valentine's Day, Halloween... No, the last two holidays, it seems, did not exist then. For more than 40 years, much in the history of Ogonki, as well as in the history of the country, has become confused. Even the date of the first program, according to some sources, is April 5, and according to others, April 6, 1962.

Subsequently, writers, poets, composers, musicians, laureates of the international competition were invited to the program. P.I. Tchaikovsky, directors and actors of leading theaters, artists, famous opera and pop performers. Representatives of the Union republics and foreign guests were always welcome guests of the program. Our announcers often broadcast , , S. Morgunova, E. Suslov.

Popular New Year's programs changed their names with the beginning of perestroika. They were given a slightly different form, although in essence they remained “Blue Lights”. In the late 90s, the Rossiya channel returned to its previous name.
Now Ogonyok, as before, consists of songs and jokes. Its creators say that since the channel is state-owned, participants do not have the right to joke below the belt. However, we note that the belt itself has long since dropped. Low waist is in fashion.

“Ogonyok” (now ours, not television) decided to trace how the era was reflected in “Blue Lights”. How milkmaids and cosmonauts were replaced at tables by Sliska and Zhirinovsky, but no one replaced Pugacheva and Kobzon. Joseph Kobzon in December, on the set of “Blue Light,” said that this was his 45th “Ogonyok”.
The history of the genre, despite its many years of popularity, seems to have been studied by few people.

Only in 2002, for the 40th anniversary of the Blue Lights, Author’s Television prepared the “Traditional Gathering” program, to which it invited the creators and participants of the “Blue Lights” from different years. The program was shown by the Rossiya channel, but not all of the collected material was included. Some of it is used in our publication.

60s. Variable talk show

At first, “Blue Lights” was broadcast live. Not because of the courage of the leadership - the record simply did not exist.
The version of how Ogonyok appeared is as follows: in 1962, the editor-in-chief of the music editorial office received a call from the CPSU Central Committee and was asked to come up with a musical and entertainment program.

Then, in the early 60s, the authorities realized the importance of television. In 1960, the Central Committee issued a resolution “On the further development of Soviet television,” in which this same television was proclaimed “an important means of communist education of the masses in the spirit of Marxist-Leninist ideology and morality, and intransigence to bourgeois ideology.”

Since it was necessary to come up with an entertaining program approximately in this spirit, no one could cope with it. Then someone, seeing the young screenwriter Alexei Gabrilovich in the Shabolovka corridor, asked him to think about it, and he agreed - although he immediately forgot about it. A couple of weeks later he was called to the authorities. The screenwriter, who had celebrated something in a cafe the day before, came up with the idea of a tavern on the spot, where actors come after evening performances and tell funny stories.

The first hosts of “Ogonki” were actor and singer Elmira Urazbaeva. On the ATV program “Traditional Gathering,” they recalled how in one of the first “Ogonki” live broadcasts, Urazbayeva began singing a song along with a soundtrack and approached one of the tables. She was handed a glass of champagne. She drinks, and at this time her voice sounds in the studio. From horror, she choked and coughed - the song continued to sound. Then indignant viewers wrote on television that, it turns out, Urazbayeva was not a singer at all.

The main characters of “Ogonki” of the 60s, of course, were astronauts. There were even special “space” “Ogonki” events held after the flights. The ratings of such programs were probably also cosmic, but no one was counting then. Nikolai Mesyatsev, former chairman of the USSR State Television and Radio, recalled that the director of the Kuibyshev hydroelectric power station always asked him to inform him in advance when Ogonyok would be there so that two additional turbogenerators could be connected. Thus, Blue Lights was the first talk show in the literal sense.

gr. "Time Machine"

After opening a 600 meter (sq. m.) studio, our capabilities expanded. We began to invite pop orchestras, choreographic groups, opera and ballet soloists of the Bolshoi Theater, the Musical Theater. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, artists of the operetta theater. We held one of the programs at the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, where the hosts were famous clowns, and the guests were circus performers and famous pop singers. The guests sat at tables arranged in the arena.

Rehearsals for the program took place only with the presenters, who had to know exactly their text, especially the words of the beginning and end of the program.
Three years later, we decided to put out the Blue Light. Television loves novelty, but we failed. The viewer demanded that their favorite program be returned to the air. After the television moved to the Ostankino television center, we switched to filming only holiday and New Year's programs. TV viewers with the “Blue Light” said goodbye to the Old Year and after 12 o’clock at night they celebrated the New Year until the morning.

The directors of the programs were Viktor Cherkasov and Yuri Bogatyrenko. Cameramen changed. The first transfer was carried out by Yuri Ignatov’s team, which continued to work closely with us in the future.

70s. Not always live

Then they poured colored water. And the fruits and sweets were already made of papier-mâché. After someone broke a tooth, Blue Light members were warned not to try to bite anything off.
In the 70s, the crowd in the hall corresponded to the times: for example, girls from the Ministry of Agriculture could sit at the tables.
The first videos appeared in the Blue Light, although no one suspected that it was called that.

In the absence of the yellow press and gossip columns, people learned about events in the personal lives of the idols from Ogonki. Muslim Magomayev and Tamara Sinyavskaya got married in November 1974 and soon sang a duet in the New Year's “Ogonyok”. This is how the country realized that they had become husband and wife.
In the 70s, the chairman of the USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting was Sergei Lapin. Under him, it was forbidden for men to appear on screen in a leather jacket, jeans, without a tie, with a beard and mustache, for women - in a lace-up dress, in trouser suits, with a neckline and with diamonds. Valery Leontyev in his tight suits was cut from the programs.

The rest were cut out for other reasons. Tap player Vladimir Kirsanov recalled how in the mid-70s he danced with his wife at Ogonyok to the song And when he turned on the TV, he saw himself dancing to a completely different melody. It turned out that the reason was the television management’s dislike for Martynov, and they explained to Kirsanov: “Tell me thank you for keeping you on the air.”

At Ogonyki, the main ones were two favorite genres of the authorities - a gypsy romance performed and an operetta performed by Tatyana Shmyga. And the government itself began to personally address the people on New Year’s Eve. True, the last time he did this was in 1973, then the people were again congratulated by the faceless Central Committee, the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers.

80s. Blue floodlights of perestroika

It is no longer possible to imagine New Year's Eve without Father Frost and Philip Kirkorov. Moreover, Santa Claus does not appear on all channels. Kirkorov first appeared in Ogonyok on March 8, 1981, thanks to director Svetlana Annapolskaya: “I saw Philip in the folk art editorial office and thought it would be nice to film him,” says Svetlana Ilyinichna. “But then the struggle began, because Philip was considered too handsome and similar to Zakharov.

Then problems arose with Tamara Gverdtsiteli. And I wrote a statement: if I am not allowed to film Kirkorov and Gverdtsiteli, I will not make this “Ogonyok”. And they allowed me."

During the Soviet years, the studio was decorated modestly: with tinsel, streamers and balloons for 5 kopecks. Once after the broadcast, Sergei Lapin, who saw the stained glass windows with masks and confetti, began shouting at the artists: “The New Year is the milestone of our country’s transition to a new stage of socialism. Stained glass windows should be with plants, factories and new buildings!”

But soon Lapin left TV.
“At that time, “Ogonki” was still received by representatives of the State Television and Radio and the CPSU Central Committee, who supervise television,” recalls director Igor Ivanov. – Such stars as Pugacheva, Rotaru, Leontyev were allowed to perform two or even three songs. On New Year's "Ogonyok-86" Alla Borisovna recorded three songs. “Balalaika” was banned, but it was featured in the New Year’s Morning Mail.

In general, the song “White Panama” was not broadcast, considering it to be tavern. In addition, Lapin categorically did not want to see Mikhail Zhvanetsky on air. But when I was already editing the program, Lapin left television. I called Zhvanetsky, and we filmed it separately - filming in the studio had already ended. So Zhvanetsky was first shown in the New Year’s “Ogonyok” in 1986. Then he was always there.

“Ogonyok” was built according to a certain scheme: first classics, then folk songs and only then pop music. In addition, there were performances by performers from socialist countries. The scheme was carried over from the pre-perestroika “Blue Lights” and was still maintained at the end of the 80s. The turning point came in 1990. According to Igor Ivanov, this was the first “Ogonyok” in which the variety show genre appeared.

This television program united a large country even in those years when nothing united it anymore. General secretaries and presidents replaced each other, but she remained. And she was the one who was popularly elected - " Blue light"Actually, her story is the history of the USSR and Russia. And today I would like to remember those funny moments that, for various reasons, were not included in the New Year's broadcast or, on the contrary, made it unforgettable...

In 1960, the Central Committee issued a resolution “On the further development of Soviet television,” in which this same television was proclaimed “an important means of communist education of the masses in the spirit of Marxist-Leninist ideology and morality, and intransigence to bourgeois ideology.”

Since it was necessary to come up with an entertaining program approximately in this spirit, no one could cope with it. Then someone, seeing the young screenwriter Alexei Gabrilovich in the Shabolovka corridor, asked him to think about it, and he agreed - although he immediately forgot about it. A couple of weeks later he was called to the authorities. The scriptwriter, who had celebrated something in a cafe the day before, came up with the idea of a zucchini on the spot, where actors come after evening performances and tell funny stories......

The main characteristic feature of “Blue Lights” was the relaxed atmosphere created with the help of serpentine, “Soviet champagne” and treats placed on the guests’ tables.

For the first time on New Year's Eve, Ogonyok was released on December 31, 1962. During the first ten years of its existence, the creators of “Blue Light” invented and mastered everything that makes up today’s entertainment television. The only difference is in the technical execution, but the ideas and content remain the same. In what was shown in the New Year's “Ogonyki” forty-odd years ago, you can easily discern individual features and entire programs of today’s television.

I would also like to tell you about the appearance of such a strange name - “Blue Light”. The TV show owes them to black and white television. By the early 60s, the huge wooden box with a small screen gradually became a thing of the past. The Aleksandrovsky Radio Plant began producing “Records”. Their kinescope was significantly different from its predecessors. From model to model, it increased in size, and its image, although it remained black and white, a bluish glow appeared on the screen. That is why the name appeared, incomprehensible to today’s youth.

The creators quite logically assumed that if the program is released at the end of the year, then it should feature the best songs performed this year. The competition for a place in the lineup among the performers was such that in one of the first episodes even Lyudmila Zykina with the song “The Volga River Flows” was shown only in a small excerpt.

On the live broadcast of “Blue Light,” Uruzbaeva, performing a song, approached one of the tables of the music cafe. One of the invited guests handed her a glass of champagne. The singer, confused by surprise, took the glass in her hand, took a sip and, in addition, choked and coughed.

While this action was taking place, the phonogram continued to sound. After the broadcast of the program, surprised viewers flooded television with letters. Not accustomed to the soundtrack, they kept asking the same question: “How can you drink and perform a song at the same time? Or is it not Uruzbaeva singing at all? If this is so, then what kind of singer is she?!”

The genre layout was different: the audience was even treated to opera numbers, but even then the rare “Ogonyok” managed without Edita Piekha. And Joseph Kobzon, even in the 60s, was almost no different from his current self. He was everywhere and sang about everything. Although sometimes he still allowed himself to experiment: for example, in one of the “Ogonki”, performing the highly relevant song “Cuba is my love!”, Kobzon appeared... with a beard a la Che Guevara and a machine gun in his hands!

It was unthinkable to miss the transmission - they didn’t repeat it. Of course, “Ogonyok” would have remained a vague impression of childhood if not for the surviving records. I think film is the best invention of the bygone century, and those frames were left as a reproach to us - how low we, the present ones, have fallen!

Stars on the screen

Just like today, in the 60s the highlight of TV treats was the stars. True, the stars in those days were different, and they paved the way to glory for themselves differently.

Not a single New Year's "Blue Light" was complete without cosmonauts, and Yuri Gagarin was the main character of television holidays until his death. Moreover, the astronauts did not just sit, but actively participated in the show.

Thus, in 1965, Pavel Belyaev and Alexey Leonov, who had recently returned from orbit, portrayed television cameramen filming young Larisa Mondrus singing. And Yuri Gagarin walked around the studio with the most modern hand-held movie camera. Leonov also danced a twist with Mondrus to complete the plot.

Watching “Ogonki” of the 60s today, you can even trace how cosmonaut number one grew to the rank of cosmonaut. First he appeared in a tunic with the shoulder straps of a major, then a lieutenant colonel, and then a colonel. Nowadays an astronaut is just one of the professions, but then they were looked at as heroes. If Gagarin or Titov said something, no one dared to move; everyone listened with their mouths open.

Now there is no person who could compare in popular adoration with Gagarin in the 60s. Therefore, cosmonauts at the New Year's “Ogonyki” have always been welcome guests. And only 1969, the first year after the death of Yuri Alekseevich, was celebrated without astronauts.

At first, there was real champagne (or at least real tea and coffee) and fresh fruit on the tables. Then they poured lemonade or colored water. And the fruits and sweets were already made of papier-mâché. After someone broke a tooth, Blue Light members were warned not to try to bite anything off.

In the 70s, the crowd in the hall corresponded to the times: for example, girls from the Ministry of Agriculture could sit at the tables. The first videos appeared in the Blue Light, although no one suspected that it was called that. In the absence of the yellow press and gossip columns, people learned about events in the personal lives of the idols from Ogonki. Muslim Magomayev and Tamara Sinyavskaya got married in November 1974 and soon sang a duet in the New Year's “Ogonyok”. So the country realized that they had become husband and wife.

In the 70s, the chairman of the USSR State Television and Radio was Sergei Lapin. Under him, it was forbidden for men to appear on screen in a leather jacket, jeans, without a tie, with a beard and mustache, and for women in lace-up dresses, trouser suits, with a neckline and with diamonds.

Valery Leontyev in his tight suits was cut from the programs. The rest were cut out for other reasons. Tap dancer Vladimir Kirsanov recalled how in the mid-70s he danced with his wife at Ogonyok to a song by Evgeniy Martynov. And when I turned on the TV, I saw myself dancing to a completely different tune. It turned out that the reason was the television management’s dislike for Martynov, and they explained to Kirsanov: “Tell me thank you for keeping you on the air.”

Comedians

Even then, comedians helped us celebrate the New Year in high spirits. The frontman of the genre was Arkady Raikin, a participant as obligatory as Ivan Urgant today.
Two duets were extremely popular: Tarapunka and Shtepsel, who managed to “sneak through” bureaucracy on the New Year’s stage, and Mirov and Novitsky, whose jokes were not very sophisticated, but relevant.

So, in 1964 they responded to the terribly fashionable topic “Cybernetics”. The real veterans of the New Year's show - Edita Piekha, Joseph Kobzon, Alla Pugacheva, Muslim Magomayev, Sofia Rotaru - were allowed to perform two or even three songs in a row.
Foreign hits were a novelty, and then only performed by domestic stars.

It was impossible to imagine Ogonyok without humorous miniatures. Soviet comedians, such as Khazanov and his eternal student at the culinary college, were especially valued in the 70s.

The fashion of performing songs from favorite old films was also not born in our days.

In “Ogonyok”, at a meeting in 1965 in honor of the 20th anniversary of the film “Heavenly Slugger”, Nikolai Kryuchkov, Vasily Neshchiplenko and Vasily Merkuryev, who played the main characters of the film, performed “First of all airplanes” right in the studio with great success, and even attracted real army generals to this .

And a few years later, the trio Nikulin - Vitsin - Morgunov staged an eccentric performance on the set based on “Barbos the Dog and the Unusual Cross.”

KVN

Even then, Alexander Maslyakov was the face of youth humor, albeit a much younger face, although his intonations were the same as today. KVN's humor was less paradoxical and not at all avant-garde. And the popular today word “kaveenschik” had not yet been used, they said: “A song performed by KVN players.”

"Moment of glory"

Funny weirdos were always in demand, and even harsh Soviet television could do nothing about it. True, the freaks were still not as wild as those who are now participating in the “Minute of Fame”, but “with a cultural slant.” And they showed them, but they treated them without enthusiasm. Thus, the presenter of “Blue Light” in 1966, young Yevgeny Leonov, spoke directly about the musician who played a bow on a saw: “Is he crazy, or what?”

But in the 90s, the Rossiya TV channel revived the tradition of “Blue Light” and already in 1997 a release dedicated to the 35th anniversary of the program was published. Nowadays, “Blue Light” has been replaced by a weekly program called “Saturday Evening” (Nikolai Baskov plays the role of TV presenter, and the duet of Mavrikievna and Nikitichny is now replaced by the duo of New Russian Grandmothers).

The “evening” is broadcast on the same channel “Russia”, the main difference between the program and “Blue Light” is that the guests of the program are now exclusively stars of the domestic “showbiz”. By the way, the “New Year’s Blue Light” was replaced by “Blue Light on Shabolovka”.

This is how it happens, the original past of the program has gone down in history and on Youtube with the words “Don’t remember it badly”... Now “Ogonyok”, as before, consists of songs and jokes. Its creators say that since the channel is state-owned, participants do not have the right to joke below the belt. However, we note that the belt itself has long since dropped. Low waist is in fashion.

"Blue Lights" reflected the era. The milkmaids and cosmonauts at the tables were replaced by Sliska and Zhirinovsky, but no one replaced Pugacheva and Kobzon...

What would New Year be without... TV? Even now, more than half a century after the blue screen illuminated Soviet apartments with joy, it remains an unchanged holiday attribute. For many years, on the evening of December 31, all citizens froze in front of a black and white TV in anticipation of a truly kind and sincere “Blue Light” with hospitable presenters, cheerful songs, confetti and streamers... This television program united a large country even in those years when its nothing united anymore. General secretaries and presidents replaced each other, but she remained. And it was she who was popularly elected - “Blue Light”. Actually, its history is the history of the USSR and Russia. And today I would like to remember those funny moments that, for various reasons, were not included in the New Year's broadcast or, on the contrary, made it unforgettable.

The version of how Ogonyok appeared is as follows: in 1962, the editor-in-chief of the music editorial office received a call from the CPSU Central Committee and was asked to come up with a musical and entertainment program. Then, in the early 60s, the authorities realized the importance of television. In 1960, the Central Committee issued a resolution “On the further development of Soviet television,” in which this same television was proclaimed “an important means of communist education of the masses in the spirit of Marxist-Leninist ideology and morality, and intransigence to bourgeois ideology.”

Since it was necessary to come up with an entertaining program approximately in this spirit, no one could cope with it. Then someone, seeing the young screenwriter Alexei Gabrilovich in the Shabolovka corridor, asked him to think about it, and he agreed - however, he immediately forgot about it. A couple of weeks later he was called to the authorities. The screenwriter, who had celebrated something in a cafe the day before, on the fly came up with the form of a tavern, where the actors come after evening performances and tell funny stories...... The main characteristic feature of “Blue Lights” was the relaxed atmosphere created with the help of serpentine, “Soviet champagne" and treats placed on the guests' tables.

In the first year, “Blue Light” began to be released so actively that it was published as much as weekly, but then the enthusiasm of the creators somewhat dried up, and other programs began to appear one after another. And “Blue Light” was assigned the role of the country’s main entertainment program, which on New Year’s Day created people’s mood for the whole year ahead. For the first time on New Year's Eve, Ogonyok was released on December 31, 1962. During the first ten years of its existence, the creators of “Blue Light” invented and mastered everything that makes up today’s entertainment television. The only difference is in the technical execution, but the ideas and content remain the same. In what was shown in the New Year's “Ogonyki” forty-odd years ago, you can easily discern individual features and entire programs of today’s television.

The first hosts of “Blue Light” were actor Mikhail Nozhkin and singer Elmira Uruzbaeva. It was with Elmira that an unexpected incident happened in one of the first episodes of the program. And it’s all to blame for the inability to work with a soundtrack. On the live broadcast of “Blue Light,” Uruzbaeva, performing a song, approached one of the tables of the music cafe. One of the invited guests handed her a glass of champagne. The singer, confused by surprise, took the glass in her hand, took a sip and, in addition, choked and coughed. While this action was taking place, the phonogram continued to sound. After the broadcast of the program, surprised viewers flooded television with letters. Not accustomed to the soundtrack, they kept asking the same question: “How can you drink and perform a song at the same time? Or is it not Uruzbaeva singing at all? If this is so, then what kind of singer is she?!” The genre layout was different: the audience was even treated to opera numbers, but even then the rare “Ogonyok” managed without Edita Piekha. And Joseph Kobzon, even in the 60s, was almost no different from his current self. He was everywhere and sang about everything. Although sometimes he still allowed himself to experiment: for example, in one of the “Ogonki”, performing the highly relevant song “Cuba is my love!”, Kobzon appeared... with a beard a la Che Guevara and a machine gun in his hands!

It was unthinkable to miss a transmission - they didn’t repeat it. Of course, “Ogonyok” would have remained a vague impression of childhood if not for the surviving records. I think film is the best invention of the bygone century, and those frames were left as a reproach to us - how low we, the present ones, have fallen!

Stars on the screen

Just like today, in the 60s the highlight of TV treats was the stars. True, the stars in those days were different, and they paved the way to glory for themselves differently. Not a single New Year's "Blue Light" was complete without cosmonauts, and Yuri Gagarin was the main character of television holidays until his death. Moreover, the astronauts did not just sit, but actively participated in the show. Thus, in 1965, Pavel Belyaev and Alexey Leonov, who had recently returned from orbit, portrayed television cameramen filming young Larisa Mondrus singing. And Yuri Gagarin walked around the studio with the most modern hand-held movie camera. Leonov also danced a twist with Mondrus to complete the plot. Watching “Ogonki” of the 60s today, you can even trace how cosmonaut number one grew to the rank of cosmonaut. First he appeared in a tunic with the shoulder straps of a major, then a lieutenant colonel, and then a colonel. Nowadays an astronaut is just one of the professions, but then they were looked at as heroes. If Gagarin or Titov said something, no one dared to move; everyone listened with their mouths open. Now there is no person who could compare in popular adoration with Gagarin in the 60s. Therefore, cosmonauts at the New Year's “Ogonyki” have always been welcome guests. And only 1969, the first year after the death of Yuri Alekseevich, was celebrated without astronauts.

Gradually, the “Blue Lights” become artificial, like many New Year trees. With the advent of recording, the program began to be filmed in parts: participants and guests sat at tables and clapped for the performer of the act as if they had just seen him, although the act was recorded on a different day. At first, there was real champagne (or at least real tea and coffee) and fresh fruit on the tables. Then they poured lemonade or colored water. And the fruits and sweets were already made of papier-mâché. After someone broke a tooth, the Blue Light participants were warned not to try to bite off anything. In the 70s, the crowd in the hall corresponded to the times: for example, girls from the Ministry of Agriculture could sit at the tables. In the Blue Light the first clips appeared, although at that time no one suspected that it was called that. In the absence of the yellow press and gossip columns, people learned about events in the personal lives of their idols from Ogonki. Muslim Magomayev and Tamara Sinyavskaya got married in November 1974 and soon sang a duet in the New Year's “Ogonyok”. So the country realized that they had become husband and wife. In the 70s, the chairman of the USSR State Television and Radio was Sergei Lapin. Under him, it was forbidden for men to appear on screen in a leather jacket, jeans, without a tie, with a beard and mustache, and for women in lace-up dresses, trouser suits, with a neckline and with diamonds. Valery Leontyev in his tight suits was cut out of the programs. The rest were cut out for other reasons. Tap dancer Vladimir Kirsanov recalled how in the mid-70s he danced with his wife at Ogonyok to a song by Evgeniy Martynov. And when I turned on the TV, I saw myself dancing to a completely different tune. It turned out that the reason was the television management’s dislike for Martynov, and they explained to Kirsanov: “Tell me thank you for keeping you on the air.”

Comedians

Even then, comedians helped us celebrate the New Year in high spirits. The frontman of the genre was Arkady Raikin, a participant as obligatory as Ivan Urgant today. Two duets were extremely popular: Tarapunka and Shtepsel, who managed to “sneak through” bureaucracy on the New Year’s stage, and Mirov and Novitsky, whose jokes were not very sophisticated, but relevant. So, in 1964, they responded to the terribly fashionable theme “Cybernetics.” The real veterans of the New Year’s show - Edita Piekha, Joseph Kobzon, Alla Pugacheva, Muslim Magomayev, Sofia Rotaru - were allowed to perform two or even three songs in a row. Foreign hits were a novelty, and then only performed by domestic stars. It was impossible to imagine Ogonyok without humorous miniatures. Soviet comedians, such as Khazanov and his eternal student at the culinary college, were especially valued in the 70s.

The fashion of performing songs from favorite old films was also not born in our days. In “Ogonyok”, at a meeting in 1965 in honor of the 20th anniversary of the film “Heavenly Slugger”, Nikolai Kryuchkov, Vasily Neshchiplenko and Vasily Merkuryev, who played the main characters of the film, performed “First of all airplanes” right in the studio with great success, and even attracted real army generals to this . And a few years later, the trio Nikulin - Vitsin - Morgunov staged an eccentric performance on the set based on “Barbos the Dog and the Unusual Cross.”

"Moment of glory"

Funny weirdos were always in demand, and even harsh Soviet television could do nothing about it. True, the freaks were still not as wild as those who are now participating in the “Minute of Fame”, but “with a cultural slant.” And they showed them, but they treated them without enthusiasm. Thus, the presenter of “Blue Light” in 1966, young Yevgeny Leonov, spoke directly about the musician who played a bow on a saw: “Is he crazy, or what?”

But in the 90s, the Rossiya TV channel revived the tradition of “Blue Light” and already in 1997 a release dedicated to the 35th anniversary of the program was released. Nowadays, “Blue Light” has been replaced by a weekly program called “Saturday Evening” (in the role of TV presenter is Nikolai Baskov, and the duet of Mavrikievna and Nikitichna is now replaced by the duo of New Russian Grandmothers). The “evening” is broadcast on the same channel “Russia”, the main difference between the program and “Blue Light” is that the guests of the program are now exclusively stars of domestic showbiz. By the way, the “New Year’s Blue Light” was replaced by “Blue Light on Shabolovka”.

This television program united our country even in those years when nothing united it anymore. General secretaries and presidents replaced each other, but she remained. And it was she who was popularly elected - “Blue Light”. Actually, its history is the history of the USSR and Russia. And today I would like to remember those funny moments that, for various reasons, were not included in the New Year's broadcast or, on the contrary, made it unforgettable...

Klara Luchko on the set of “Blue Light”. Author Stepanov Vladimir, 1963

The version of how Ogonyok appeared is as follows:

In 1962, the editor-in-chief of the music editorial office received a call from the CPSU Central Committee and was asked to come up with a musical and entertainment program. It was then, in the early 60s, that the authorities began to understand and realize the full significance of television.

In 1960, the Central Committee issued a resolution “On the further development of Soviet television,” in which this very television was proclaimed “an important means of communist education of the masses in the spirit of Marxist-Leninist ideology and morality, and intransigence to bourgeois ideology.”

Since it was necessary to come up with an entertaining program approximately in this spirit, no one could cope with it. Then someone, seeing the young screenwriter Alexei Gabrilovich in the Shabolovka corridor, asked him to think about it, and he agreed - however, he immediately forgot about it. A couple of weeks later he was called to the authorities. The screenwriter, who had celebrated something in a cafe the day before, came up with the idea of a tavern on the spot, where actors come after evening performances and tell funny stories......

The main characteristic feature of “Blue Lights” was the relaxed atmosphere created with the help of serpentine, “Soviet champagne” and treats placed on the guests’ tables.

Yuri Gagarin on the light

In the first year, “Blue Light” began to be released so actively that it was published weekly, but then the enthusiasm of the creators dried up somewhat, and other programs were not long in coming. Thus, “Blue Light” was assigned the role of the country’s main entertainment program, which on New Year’s Day created people’s mood for the whole year ahead.

I would also like to talk about the appearance of such a strange name - “Blue Light”. The TV show owes them to black and white television.

By the early 60s, the huge wooden box with a small screen gradually became a thing of the past. The Aleksandrovsky Radio Plant began producing “Records”. Their kinescope was significantly different from its predecessors. From model to model, it increased in size, and its image, although it remained black and white, a bluish glow appeared on the screen. That is why the name appeared, incomprehensible to today’s youth.

About popularity

It was unthinkable to miss a transmission - they didn’t repeat it. Of course, “Ogonyok” would have remained a vague impression of childhood if not for the surviving records.

Stars on the screen

Just like today, in the 60s the highlight of TV treats was the stars. True, the stars in those days were different, and they paved the way to glory for themselves differently.

Yuri Gagarin, New Year's toast (1963)

The crowd in the hall corresponded to the times: for example, girls from the Ministry of Agriculture could sit at the tables. The first videos appeared in the Blue Light, although no one suspected that it was called that. In the absence of the yellow press and gossip columns, people learned about events in the personal lives of the idols from Ogonki. Muslim Magomayev and Tamara Sinyavskaya got married in November 1974 and soon sang a duet in the New Year's “Ogonyok”. So the country realized that they had become husband and wife.

Valery Leontyev in his tight suits was cut from the programs. The rest were cut out for other reasons.

Tap dancer Vladimir Kirsanov recalled how in the mid-70s he danced with his wife at Ogonyok to a song by Evgeniy Martynov. And when I turned on the TV, I saw myself dancing to a completely different tune. It turned out that the reason was the television management’s dislike for Martynov, and they explained to Kirsanov: “Tell me thank you for keeping you on the air.”

Comedians

Even then, comedians helped us celebrate the New Year in high spirits. The frontman of the genre was Arkady Raikin, a participant as obligatory as Ivan Urgant today.

Two duets were extremely popular: Tarapunka and Shtepsel, who managed to “sneak through” bureaucracy on the New Year’s stage, and Mirov and Novitsky, whose jokes were not very sophisticated, but relevant. So, in 1964 they responded to the terribly fashionable topic “Cybernetics”.

It was impossible to imagine Ogonyok without humorous miniatures. Soviet comedians, such as Khazanov and his eternal student at the culinary college, were especially valued in the 70s.

Evgeny Petrosyan

And of course KVN. Even then, Alexander Maslyakov was the face of youth humor. The KVN humor of that time was less paradoxical and not at all avant-garde. And the popular today word “kaveenschik” had not yet been used, they said: “A song performed by KVN players.”

What now?

At the end of the 90s, the Rossiya TV channel revived the Blue Light tradition and already in 1997 a release dedicated to the 35th anniversary of the program was published. Nowadays, the “Blue Light” has been replaced by a weekly program called “Saturday Evening,” and the “New Year’s Blue Light” has been replaced by “Blue Light on Shabolovka.”

The idea arose after the opening of a youth cafe in Moscow, on Gorky Street, in 1960. All kinds of debates took place there, artists performed, poets read their poems. A creative group was created in the music editorial office of Central Television, consisting of the head of the variety department Viktor Cherkasov, directors Yuri Bogatyrev and Alexey Gabrilovich, and editor Valentina Shatrova. At first, together with the leaders of the youth cafe, they planned to broadcast live from the hall, but soon the idea was abandoned in favor of an independent television broadcast. At the same time, the atmosphere of the cafe was preserved by setting up tables and coming up with a plot: famous cultural figures, theater and cinema, leading production workers seemed to come into the cafe for a cup of coffee.

Initially, the program was called “Television Cafe”, then - “On the Light”, then - “On the Blue Light” (meaning the bluish light from the screens of the most common black and white televisions at that time) and, finally, “Blue Light”. One of the creators and its first presenters was actor Alexey Polevoy. [ ]

On air

The director of the first edition of 1962, Arkady Evgenievich Alekseev, insisted that the most famous person on the planet in 1962, Yuri Gagarin, should not be represented in the issue, so as not to devalue the social significance of other prominent guests, famous cultural figures, representatives of shock workers and the military.

Initially, “Blue Lights” was published weekly on Saturdays from 22:00 to 0:00, and then only on holidays: March 8, May 1, New Year. On February 15, 1964, the 100th anniversary issue was published. In the 1960s, filming took place in " Television theater"(now "Palace on the Yauza"), and then in Ostankino. After the opening of a large studio (600 m²), the possibilities expanded: they began to invite pop orchestras, choreographic groups, opera and ballet soloists of the Bolshoi Theater, the Musical Theater. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, artists of the operetta theater. One of the programs was filmed at the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, the hosts were famous clowns, and the guests were circus performers and pop singers. The guests sat at tables arranged in the arena.

“Ogonyok” for the New Year 1964 was filmed at the end of 1963 in two parts, by two different groups: the first, before the New Year (directed by Eduard Abalov) is a staged concert film with an abundance of combined filming; the second part was made by director E. Sitnikova in a more informal, natural atmosphere, as if “live”.

Leading cultural and artistic figures performed at Ogonyki, and guests included leaders in production, cosmonauts, prominent military personnel, scientists and artists, and guests from socialist countries. The indispensable attributes of the New Year's “Blue Lights” were a rather relaxed atmosphere, which was emphasized by streamers flying around the studio, champagne and treats. In editions of the 1960s and 1970s, all participants sat at tables in the studio - both performing artists and invited guests. The program participants took turns congratulating the television viewers on the event for which everyone had gathered, after which the artists went up on stage to perform. Later, “Blue Lights” took the form of a theatrical performance.

Since 1986, during perestroika, New Year's television concerts stopped being called "Blue Lights". A year later, in 1987, the unusual “Blue Light” was broadcast. Filming took place in different parts of Moscow: in the Arbat restaurant, in the Kolomenskoye museum-reserve, in the Ostankino concert studio and in the television center.