The ''Little Blue Light'' (russian: Голубой огонёк, ''Goluboy ogonyok'') was a popular musical

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

aired on Soviet television since 1962 during various holidays. The name alludes to the light bluish glare of a

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

cathode ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms ( oscilloscope), pictu ...

TV screen as well as some traditional Russian expressions relating to friendly visits: заглянуть на огонек (''zaglyanut na ogonyok'') – "to drop in on a light", i. e. to visit someone after seeing a light in their window; посидеть у огонька (''posidyet' u ogon'ka'') – to have a sit by the fire. The show featured popular artists and various prominent Soviet people: ''

udarnik An udarnik ( rus, уда́рник, p=ʊˈdarnʲɪk; English plural udarniks or udarniki), also known in English as a shock worker or strike worker (collectively known as shock brigades or a shock labour team) was a highly productive worker in th ...

s'', Heroes of Socialist Labor,

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s etc., who sat by the tables in a "TV cafeteria", singing songs, playing sketches, boasting, celebrating the holiday. The idea of the show was that they "dropped in on a light" to every Soviet family to share the festive table beyond the TV glass. The best-known was the ''New Year's Little Blue Light'' (russian: Новогодний Голубой огонек, ''Novogodniy Goluboy ogonyok''), aired on every

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

as a part of the late Soviet tradition: the ''Little Blue Light'' followed the New Year's speech by the

General Secretary of the Communist Party General Secretary or First Secretary is the official title of leaders of most communist parties. When a communist party is the ruling party in a Communist-led one-party state, the General Secretary is typically the country's ''de facto'' leader—th ...

with congratulations to the

Soviet people Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in t ...

followed by the Kremlin midnight chimes and the

State Anthem of the Soviet Union The "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" was the national anthem of the Soviet Union and the regional anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". Its original lyrics were written b ...

, which was, in turn, preceded by the 1975 film comedy ''

Irony of Fate ''The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!'' (russian: Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!, literally: The Irony of Fate, or With A Light Steam; trans. ''Ironiya sudby, ili S lyogkim parom!''), usually shortened to ''The ...

''. The ''Little Blue Light'' was devised by

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

Aleksey Gabrilovich, and the first show was aired on 6 April 1962 as a weekly Saturday broadcast. After some time it became a monthly show, and later it was only aired on major holidays. After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, the ''Little Blue Light'' was revived in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

as a yearly special.The New Year Little Blue Light at Shabolovka - 2007
The

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"Little Blue Light" is now owned by

Russia 1 Russia-1 (russian: Россия-1) is a state-owned Russian television channel, first aired on 14 February 1956 as Programme Two in the Soviet Union. It was relaunched as RTR on 13 May 1991, and is known today as Russia-1. It is the flagship ch ...

, the

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, where it is still seen today. In the 1970s the typical New Year's LBL episode lasted an hour and a half, since the late 1980s up till today the telecast begins at 12:05 am MST and lasts for three hours.

References

External links

Итоги года и традиции телевизионной новогодней ночи
( Annual Reckoning and Traditions of the New Year's Eve on Television), ''

Radio Freedom Radio Freedom also called Radio Zambia was a South African radio arm of the African National Congress (ANC) and its fighting wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) (Spear of the Nation) during the anti-Apartheid struggle from the 1970s through the 1990s. ...

'', 29 December 2002 {{New Year Russia-1 original programming Entertainment in the Soviet Union Russian music television series Variety television series 1970s Soviet television series 1980s Soviet television series 1990s Russian television series 2000s Russian television series 2010s Russian television series