Don't go, toffee! the best clown of the ussr died in the arena. The famous Belarusian toffee died in the Gomel circus Aleksey Katyshev

One of the most popular children's TV programs in the USSR was "AVBGDeika", which was led by Tatyana Chernyaeva and clowns Klepa, Levushkin, Yura and Toffee (Irina Asmus). The kids were just crazy about her. Natural charm, dramatic talent and incredible lightness of Iriska had both children and adults. In 1985, she suddenly disappeared from the program, and a year later it became known about her tragic death while performing at the circus. The audience could not believe what had happened for a long time.

Since childhood, Irina Asmus dreamed of becoming an artist, but she just could not choose between theater, stage and circus. Initially, she intended to enter the choreographic school. Bolshoi Theater, but in admission committee she was warned that, despite her talent, with such a small stature, she could never become a prima. Then Irina took the documents and submitted them to State school pop and circus arts.

While still a student, she starred in the film The New Adventures of Puss in Boots, and after graduating from college she began working in a circus. Fate gave her signs that at that time she did not regard as a warning. Irina worked as an equilibrist on perches - long sticks, with which tricks were performed under the dome of the circus. During one of the rehearsals, the artist fell and was seriously injured. Doctors forbade her to work at height, and her disobedience had disastrous consequences.

Then Irina Asmus returned to her passion for theater - she entered the drama studio at the Leningrad Theater for Young Spectators, later moved to the Theater. V. Komissarzhevskaya. However, without a circus, she could not stand it for a long time and returned to the arena as a clown.

Irina Asmus performed under the pseudonym Iriska. It was under this name that millions of Soviet children who saw her in the ABVGDeika program remembered her. In the late 1970s Incredible popularity hit Iriska. Once on tour, under the windows of the hotel where the artists stayed, the kids gathered. Toffee jokingly told them to come after school and show their grade diaries. A few hours later, schoolchildren gathered there again to proudly demonstrate their “fours” and “fives”.

In 1985, Irina Asmus was removed from the TV show without explanation. It is difficult to say what was the real reason. The audience's complaints were quite unexpected. So, once a letter came to television with a stupid accusation of a clown that she bandaged a tree with a bandage after scratching it: “It is commendable that clowns protect trees, but will it be nice to walk through the forest with bandaged trees?”

In March 1986, Irina went on tour to Gomel. During the performance of a trick under the dome of the circus, in front of one and a half thousand spectators, she fell off and fell from a 12-meter height. The performance continued, and the circus visitors did not even suspect that the artist had died.

The former head of the personnel department of the Gomel circus, A. Bogomaz, later said: “The investigation was carried out very seriously, with drawings and investigative experiments. Colleagues once told me in a heart-to-heart conversation: the artist herself is to blame for the death. A nut turned out to be riveted in the rotation machine. For safety reasons, before each performance, Iriska herself had to check whether everything was in order with the equipment. She didn't do it that day." At that time, a safety engineer and an arena inspector were blamed for the incident. After the death of the artist, this type of spinning machine was banned.

Clowns rarely managed to achieve all-Union popularity and national recognition. So, Leonid Yengibarov had to go through a difficult path

On March 15, 1986, in front of one and a half thousand spectators, Irina Asmus crashed in the Gomel circus. Toffee ... So the children of the whole USSR called her. She fell off from under the dome itself and died right on the arena.

After 20 years, we have hit a wall of silence. As if even today the death of a circus performer scares everyone ...

“I already said everything at the trial, don’t drive me to the grave!” - asked the circus safety engineer punished for the death of the artist.

“It's very hard, I'm sorry…” - refused the lighting designer, an eyewitness to the death of Iriska.

The director of the Gomel circus ordered his employees to remain silent.

But still, piece by piece, the picture of the death of Irina Asmus was restored.

Irina was worried that her son began to indulge in drugs

We are sitting in the apartment of the former head of the personnel department of the Gomel circus, Anatoly Bogomaz.

Irina came to my office just to talk, - the pensioner looks out the window with sadness. - She was a sociable woman, and we often just talked about nothing when we met. That day (the day before the tragedy. - Auth.) Irina was simply killed by something. It seems to me that she was worried about the problems of her only son, she talked about him almost all the time. The guy at that time was just serving near Gomel in the air town in the village of Zyabrovka (a part there was disbanded with the collapse of the Union. - Auth.). Perhaps that is why - to see her son - Iriska came on tour to Gomel.

Irochka complained that the lad did not want to go to school. I don't know what to do with him. And right before the army, he began to indulge in drugs. I listened to her, but what could I advise, how to calm her down?

The body fell like a stone from a height of 12 meters

The tragedy occurred at the afternoon performance on Saturday. The hall is full. It is understandable: in those days, Iriska hosted the ABVGDeika program, popular throughout the Union, for children. And many went to look not even at the trickster, but at the TV presenter, to whom they wrote letters to Shabolovka and whose portraits were painted after the next broadcast.

Iriska in this program had spectacular trick"The old woman on the lampshade": under the very dome, she rotated around her axis.

But suddenly, when the clowness spun upside down, threading her leg through the loop and unfastening the insurance so that the cable did not interfere with her movements, she broke loose. The body fell like a stone from a height of 12 meters. The hall gasped, but the audience did not seem to understand that they had witnessed a tragedy.

Toffee was immediately taken away from the arena, and the performance continued as if nothing had happened, - Vitaly Mitkevich continues with excitement. - The clown died instantly. When the doctors from the morgue brought her back to the circus the next day, they stated that almost everything that could be broken was broken. According to the doctors, death was due to internal hemorrhage.

Spectators were not allowed to say goodbye

The coffin with the body of Iriska was placed in the arena, arranging a civil memorial service for artists and circus workers. The costume designer of the circus made up and dressed the actress. Today, she herself is no longer alive. Ordinary spectators who tried to get into the arena were not allowed to say goodbye to the clowness.

The Gomel circus gave a car, on which the son, who arrived from the unit, took the body to Leningrad, where he buried his mother. Irina was 45.

In those years, it was not customary to advertise failures, and the townspeople knew about the death of Asmus only from rumors that grew every day. But Chernobyl soon forced the Gomel residents to switch to completely different troubles.

Is she to blame?

Before the circus, I worked in the authorities, my acquaintances from the prosecutor's office dealt with the death case, - Anatoly Bogomaz continues. - The investigation was carried out very seriously, with drawings and investigative experiments. Colleagues once told me in a heart-to-heart conversation: the artist herself is to blame for the death. A nut turned out to be riveted in the rotation machine. For safety reasons, before each performance, Iriska herself had to check whether everything was in order with the equipment. She didn't do it that day.

BY THE WAY

Replaced in "ABVGDEyke" and left her husband

During this period, Irina's troubles accumulated like a snowball. And the son is not the first in their row.

For some unknown reason, after almost 8 years of work, she was replaced in ABVGDijk with another, unknown host. In addition to everything in Gomel, the clowness was dumbfounded by the news that she was not taken to the emerging troupe for a foreign tour.

And at the same time, the second husband left Iriska. A curious hotel maid heard how, on the last evening of her life, the artist was arguing on the phone with her ex-husband: he called her from somewhere in Russia, where he was on tour. It seems like, threatening Irina, the man demanded to give him an apartment in Leningrad. The clown disagreed. But exactly ex-husband was the stage director of the "Old Lady on the Lampshade" number and - until his departure from the family - Iriska's assistant.

SENTENCE

Tragedy could happen in any circus

The case itself has already been destroyed over the years. Only a copy of the verdict was found in the court of the Central District of Gomel. It shows that the judge decided: the safety engineer and the arena inspector are guilty of "not testing the mechanism under load and not checking its design with the technical passport of the device." And there were indeed discrepancies with the description on paper. It turns out that according to the technical data sheet, there should not have been any machine for rotation in the Hanging Lampshade apparatus!

Both defendants pleaded not guilty. According to them, outwardly the mechanism did not cause concern, so there was no point in testing it and comparing it with the drawings.

By the way, the judge noted that the same accident could have happened in the circus of Leningrad, Minsk, Dnepropetrovsk and other cities where the clown performed before the tour in Gomel. In these circuses, the Iriskin "lampshade" was also not tested or tested. The court verdict says so: “The artist’s death was facilitated by the negligent performance of their duties by officials of a number of circuses who did not timely reveal the gross discrepancy between the device and the technical passport.”

The ill-fated spinning machine was developed in Moscow. After the death of the circus performer, this type of spinning machine was banned.

The husband of the circus star for the first time told how he built a family with the legendary actress and why he does not hold a grudge against the culprit of the tragedy.

[:rsame:]

First clowness Soviet Union, the star of the children's program "ABVGDeyka" Irina Asmus crashed on March 15, 1986 while performing a trick, falling from a 12-meter height. After 29 years last husband circus princess Mikhail Sychev admitted that their only son, Andrei, was not his own, and talked about why he blames his beloved stepson for the death. For the first time, Andrei Asmus himself answers the accusations of his stepfather.

Irina was born in the family of a civil engineer and a housewife. The future artist has been attending since childhood theater circles and knew that she would devote herself to creativity. She graduated from the State School of Circus and variety art in Moscow.

A successful graduate was invited to his future National artist Russia, one of the most famous Soviet circus performers, classmate Leonid Kostyuk. He came up with a unique number "Equilibrists on Perches", for which he was awarded international awards in Monte Carlo. In short, the essence of the performance is as follows: at the bottom, the artist holds a pole up to ten meters long, an equilibrist climbs up it and performs tricks at the peak height at the risk of his life.

Mikhail Sychev (pictured in the center) adopted his son Asmus Andrei / from personal archive Mikhail Sychev

Once, on tour in Riga, Leonid could not hold the pole and Irina fell, hit her head hard on the floor. Doctors diagnosed the artist with a concussion, she was forbidden to go to the arena.

Then the artist entered the drama studio. After her graduation, Ira performed on the stage of the Youth Theater as a travesty for about two years. The prospect of playing pioneers and mischievous boys all her life obviously did not suit her. Then she got into the prestigious Theater. V.F. Komissarzhevskaya. At that time, Alisa Freindlich just left from there, and Ira was immediately approved for all her roles. After Masha in the play "A Time to Love", all of Leningrad started talking about her as a dramatic actress.

Theater directors indulged in the main roles: Juliet, Cinderella, Princess Elizabeth. Despite being busy in the theater, the circus haunted Iriska. During the school and New Year holidays, she rushed to the arena. Once, the People's Artist of the USSR, the famous tightrope walker Vladimir Volzhansky, invited her to try herself as a clown. In those days, this was done exclusively by men. So Irina Pavlovna became the first Soviet clown.

Not only creative fortune smiled at Asmus, but also on personal front she had admirers who were ready for anything for the princess of the circus. Gypsy passion, which instantly flared up at the beginning of a relationship with actor Alexander Khochinsky (who played the role of gypsy Levka Demchenko in the film Bumbarash), reached the wedding.

Mikhail and Irina met in 1967 / from the personal archive of Mikhail Sychev

- They were all frivolous, fleeting. First love, like many, did not lead to anything good, - says Asmus' third husband, circus artist Mikhail Sychev. - I don’t know anything about Ira’s second wife. She did not like to think about former men.

The third time Irina Asmus went down the aisle at the age of 27.

[:rsame:]

- We met her in 1967, when I was working in Chisinau, and she came there on tour. We were young, hot, and Chisinau is the capital of winemaking ... Somehow, I overdid it with wine and was not able to go to work. I wanted to call there to ask for leave. I dialed the wrong phone number, my future love answered me.

So Sychev found out her number and found out that she was an actress.

- Then he went to the theater, in the foyer of which there were portraits of performing artists, found her image and took it away. We had a telephone romance for a month. She expected that I would insist on a meeting, and I avoided her in every possible way, I did not want to disappoint her. But then we still met and immediately realized that we were close people. From that moment on, they never parted again.

This photo was taken in Belarus two days before Asmus' death / from the personal archive of Mikhail Sychev

Popular love came to Irina at the age of 37. In 1978, the first children's educational television program "ABVGDeika" appeared on the screens of the country, where Irina Asmus was one of the main characters. All the children of the USSR instantly fell in love with the perky Iriska. Every day she put on a mask of happiness and fun - the profession obliged. She raised millions of children from the TV screen, and she could not save her only son from addiction.

- Ira could not believe for a long time that Andrei was using narcotic mixtures. It all started in 1982. I saw empty cigarette cases at home,” Sychev says. - It became clear that he was smoking something instead of tobacco, then switched to some pills. Andrei left home, lived with his friends, in general, began to avoid me. One day, his friends, who also suffered from addiction, robbed our apartment: they took out equipment, money and jewelry.

According to Sychev's memoirs, Irina was very worried, but he is sure that the artist herself could not admit this to herself.

“That's why I turned a blind eye to what was happening,” the third husband explains the behavior of the star. - I planned to do it after my retirement, for this I decided to revive the ill-fated trick (it was in the repertoire from the first performance at the arena). Once I decided to wash Andrey's things and found there wedding ring which he gave to his wife for her engagement. After the death of the mother, the jewelry began to disappear.

Andrey Asmus works as an operator in St. Petersburg / from the personal archive of Mikhail Sychev

“Yes, it was,” Andrew says. I don't see anything criminal in this. Jewels, both my mother's and mine. Everyone has their own norm of life, for me it is.

Andrei Asmus is now 47 years old, he lives in St. Petersburg, moonlights as a cameraman at various celebrations. He has an adult daughter and son. He does not deny his drug addiction.

[:rsame:]

- I don't regret the past. I will not hide: drugs were in my life, but now it is in the past.

- Six months ago, Andrei was visiting me. And when he came out, I reminded him of the unforgivable meanness, but I didn’t see any embarrassment or repentance in his eyes ... I didn’t get rid of the habit of stealing even over the years. I think the same goes for drug addiction. I can say one thing: I love him and I expect him to come to his senses and say: "I'm sorry."

- Have you ever tried to have a heart-to-heart talk with your son? I ask Michael.

- Of course! Honestly, I confess to you: he is not my own, - Sychev dumbfounded us. - Yes, I call him son, and he calls me dad. Perhaps heredity through the biological father was passed on to him.

Sychev recalls that Irina was very worried about her son / from the personal archive of Mikhail Sychev

Mikhail Mikhailovich could not remember the name and surname of this person. We turned to Andrew himself.

“I don’t even know who my dad is. It never interested me. My patronymic is Mikhailovich, - the son of the artist Andrey assures.

When his mother died, Andrei was 19 years old. At that time, he served in the army in Belarus near the Gomel Circus, where the tragedy occurred. A few days before the fateful performance, the son in last time saw mother.

- Cats scratched at the soul. When we said goodbye to her, she literally roared. I have never seen my mother cry so hard and for no reason.

On March 15, 1986, in front of one and a half thousand spectators in the circus, she climbed under the dome on a neck loop with a “tooth pick” in her mouth. The artist put her leg through the loop, which is fixed on a spinning machine, unfastened the insurance, started spinning and ... fell off a 12-meter height. Toffee was immediately taken away from the arena, the performance continued as if nothing had happened. The star of "ABVGDeyka" died on the spot.

In the late 70s, many circuses in the country were decorated with such posters / from the personal archive of Mikhail Sychev

- That day I was in the Leningrad circus. Someone called me and said that Ira is no more,” says 73-year-old Mikhail Sychev. - It's been 29 years, and I still can't remember who called then. This conversation has been erased from my memory. I was against Ira performing the "Old Lady on the Lampshade" number. She was still 44 years old, and at this age they no longer climb to such a height.

[:rsame:]

However, Irina was not afraid of anything. According to Sychev, she did this in order to retire ten years earlier (circus performers retire at 45. - Auth.).

“I took Irochka from the morgue and brought it to Leningrad,” Sychev recalls. - There was a civil memorial service in her native circus. We understood that Iriska was loved by millions, she became a loved one for every family, so the doors were open for everyone who wanted to see her off last way. There was no applause, I hate this tradition: how can you clap on such a day?

Irina Asmus was buried at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery in St. Petersburg. After the death of the TV star, a criminal case was initiated. The late Anatoly Dmitrievich Bogomaz, the former head of the personnel department of the Gomel circus, claimed that Iriska herself was to blame for the death. For safety reasons, before the performance, the artist had to check if everything was in order with the equipment.

A circus performer fell from a height of 12 meters while performing a trick similar to the one in the photo / from the personal archive of Mikhail Sychev

The court found the safety engineer and the arena inspector guilty. From the court verdict: "The artist's death was facilitated by the negligent performance of their duties by circus officials who did not reveal a gross discrepancy between the device and the technical passport." Both defendants pleaded not guilty. According to them, outwardly the mechanism did not cause concern, so there was no point in testing it.

“I wasn't at the trial. At that moment, the whole world collapsed for me, I could not talk about the death of my wife with anyone. Everything was formal at the court to make another replies. No one really cared about the state of safety. Everyone wanted to shrug off responsibility. The judgment is irrelevant to the essence of the case.

Mikhail Sychev later conducted his own investigation.

- Ira was helped by a young guy who later admitted to me that he wanted the best: to tighten the nut that held the structure stronger. With the best of intentions, I disassembled the rotation machine assembly in order to clean it. His mistake was that when he welded the bolt, he flattened the edges of the nut too much. It only weakened the design. The nut was gradually loosened. If someone had looked at this spinning machine earlier... It is always removed and stored in the dressing room. I don’t blame this guy for anything, I am grateful to him that he honestly confessed everything to me.

Mikhail Sychev: Ira fulfilled deadly trick to save his son Andrey / from the personal archive of Mikhail Sychev

“I am very sorry that I could not persevere in raising my son and drive him away from this addiction Michael continues. - Still, Ira, in order to cure Andrei, decided to perform a deadly trick. And if he had not become addicted to drugs, then she would not have sought to retire early and, perhaps, would have been alive to this day ...

/by the way

The case of Asmus is not the only one when circus artists tragically die right during the performance. For example, the tightrope walkers Fedorovs, performing in the genre of "air flight", crashed in the Chisinau circus. Aerial tightrope walkers Adam and Aina Visitaev survived seven falls and are still alive.

In the mid-1970s, the ABVGDeika program appeared on Soviet television - a program for preschoolers in which young viewers were taught the basics of counting, reading and various worldly wisdom in a playful manner.

The constant host of "ABVGDeyka" was Tatyana Chernyaeva, known to all Soviet children as Tatyana Kirillovna. The composition of her clown students changed several times, but the most popular was the one that included Klepa, Levushkin, Yura and Toffee.

Cheerful and perky clowness Iriska was adored by both children and adults. The girls sent letters to television in which they promised that when they grow up, they will also work in the circus, like Iriska.

In 1985, Iriska disappeared from the show. The children were told that she had "grown up, learned" and replaced her with another character.

And a year later in one of the central Soviet newspapers there was a lot of material about the tragedy in the arena of the Gomel circus - the artist Irina Asmus, who performed under the pseudonym "Iriska", died during the performance.

Circus instead of ballet

Irina Asmus was born on April 28, 1941 in Leningrad, on the very eve of the war. Despite the severity of the military and post-war years, little Ira had a big and beautiful dream - to become an actress. True, she could not decide what she liked more - theater, stage or circus.

As a result, Irina chose ... ballet. She decided to enter the choreographic school of the Bolshoi Theater. The selection committee appreciated the efforts and talent of the girl and announced that they were ready to accept her. “But keep in mind that with your small stature, you won’t become a prima,” Irina was warned.

The proud Leningrad woman did not want to voluntarily agree to a place in the corps de ballet, ballet extras. She took the documents and went to the State College of Variety and Circus Arts.

There, at the entrance exams, she performed a passionate Neapolitan dance, sang the song "Besame Mucho" and was accepted without any reservations.

During her studies, Irina starred in the film "The New Adventures of Puss in Boots", which at one time was very popular. She got two roles at once - the girls of Klava and the Black Pawn.

Irina Asmus in the film "The New Adventures of Puss in Boots", 1958 Photo: Frame from the film

After an injury on the arena, the tightrope walker became Juliet

After graduating from college, Irina began working in the circus as a tightrope walker in a room Leonid Kostyuk, who subsequently led the Great Moscow Circus for many years.

Perches are long sticks. The equilibrist, the “upper”, as they say in the circus, climbs along the perch, which is held by his partner, under the very dome and there, on a tiny patch, demonstrates various tricks.

Equilibrium on Persians is a very spectacular genre, but complex and dangerous. During one of the rehearsals, the young artist fell and was seriously injured. Doctors forbade her to work at height.

Then Irina Asmus decided to change her role, becoming a dramatic actress. She entered the studio at the Leningrad Theater for Young Spectators.

There, however, she was treated rather unoriginally - taking into account vertically challenged and experience in the circus, Irina was used as a travesty, that is, an artist who played men or children. Asmus got tired of this very quickly, and she moved to the Komissarzhevskaya Theater.

Very soon, theater critics started talking about the emergence of a new interesting actress. Irina played the roles of Juliet, Cinderella, Princess Elizabeth in The Prince and the Pauper and Raymonda in Romance for Adults.

Candle in the wind

It would seem that she found her path in art. But Irina Asmus was drawn to the circus, where she school holidays played the role of Dunno, then the old woman Shapoklyak.

Once in the circus, the famous playwright Alexander Volodin, who knew her well from the theater, stumbled upon her. "Iriska, what are you doing here?" he exclaimed. Surrounding people smiled - this new name suited the actress so well.

Asmus took it for herself when she finally returned to the circus as a solo clowness.

It was a real challenge - there are not so many successful clowns in the circus who perform not in a group or duet, but alone, and there are practically no solo clowns at all.

Frame youtube.com

Toffee could be the exception to the rule. Her numbers were bright and remembered by the audience. In one of them, she portrayed a snake trainer who is constantly distracted by telephone conversations. The serpent hissed and resented, and the audience burst into laughter.

Iriska's most famous number was called "Let there be light!". It wasn't hilariously funny, but it cut through the audience.

The naughty Iriska ran around the arena, blew on the spotlights, and the hall suddenly plunged into darkness. The howl of a blizzard was heard, and in the light of a single candle, a shrunken, small figure of a clown could be seen. The candle flame began to go out, and it seemed that after a second something terrible would happen. Toffee began to warm the fire with her breath, and gradually it came to life, and then the lights of the circus came to life. The clowness went backstage, carefully carrying a candle in her hands.

Schoolchildren brought diaries to Iriska for verification

When Iriska was invited to ABVGDeika in 1978, she was already an experienced and well-known circus actress. Nevertheless, it was her work on television that brought her deafening fame throughout the Soviet Union.

Together with the clown Klepa, artist Vitaly Dovgan, Iriska became a real engine of the program. Irina Asmus’s partner in ABVGDeyke, Valery Levushkin, recalled: “Toffee and Klepa, being more professional people at that time, quickly scattered the text among themselves. As a result, when we appeared in the frame, Iriska chirped, Dovgan played along with her, and we, like two blockheads, looked blankly into the camera.

Her popularity knew no bounds. When she went on tour with the circus, the kids, having learned what hotel she lives in, gathered under the windows of her room, shouting: “Butterscotch! Toffee!"

Once, for fun, Irina went out onto the balcony and ordered her little fans to come after school and show her the diaries with marks. A few hours later, satisfied honors and good students stood in the same place, proudly holding diaries in front of them. Troechniks and Losers, burning with shame, did not dare to appear before the strict Iriska.

When Iriska was removed from ABVGDeyka, it surprised not only children, but also adults. After years of prescription it is difficult to say what and who did not like it. In the circus, Irina Asmus also did not go smoothly - for some reason she was not included in the number of artists who went on a foreign tour.

Perhaps it was jealousy. The incredible popularity of Iriska irritated many, especially since, by nature, she preferred not to smooth sharp corners, did not like all sorts of compromises.

Frame youtube.com

The artist was killed by a riveted nut

At the end of April 1986, she was supposed to be 45 years old. Perhaps ahead of her was waiting new turn in a career. Dramatic talent allowed him to change his role again, return to the theater, once again try his hand at film or television.

March 15, 1986, Saturday, the afternoon performance was sold out. Parents with children went to see their favorite Iriska.

The program of Irina Asmus included a spectacular trick "The Old Woman on the Lampshade": under the very dome, she rotated around her axis. As the examination later established, during the performance of the trick, the rotation machine failed, in which the nut turned out to be riveted. Before performing the rotation, the artist unfastened the safety cable herself so that it would not interfere with the movements.

Toffee fell into the arena from a great height. She was immediately taken backstage, where doctors were urgently called. But the help of doctors was no longer needed: Irina Asmus died instantly as a result of numerous injuries and the internal hemorrhage caused by them.

The investigation concluded that the artist's death "was facilitated by the negligent performance of their duties by officials of a number of circuses, who did not timely reveal the gross discrepancy between the device and the technical passport." The design of the machine for rotation, which killed Irina Asmus, was forbidden to be used after the tragedy in Gomel.

Irina Pavlovna Asmus was buried in Leningrad, at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery.

In 1986, there was no Internet yet, the tragedy in the Gomel circus was not talked about on television, not everyone read the article about the death of Iriska. For many fans, big and small, Iriska remained alive, laughing and cheerful.