Ilia Semenovich Nabatov

(real surname, Turovskii). Born Sept. 3 (15), 1896, in Aleksandriia, in what is now Kirovo-grad Oblast, Ukrainian SSR. Soviet artist of the estrada (the variety stage). Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1959) and Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1934).

Nabatov graduated from the faculty of law of the University of Kharkov and from the theatrical studio under the direction of M. M. Tarkhanov. He began his stage career in 1920. Nabatov joined the Ukrainian theater company Surma in Aleksandriia as an actor; at the same time, he began to appear on the estrada, where he performed his own satirical songs and satirical sketches in verse. After 1924, Nabatov worked exclusively on the estrada, and beginning in the early 1930’s, he performed primarily satirical songs. An inimitable master of political satire, he has also appeared in films. He received the State Prize of the USSR in 1947 and has been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and a number of medals.