Home for Veterans of the Stage

in the USSR, a home for elderly theatrical workers who have distinguished themselves in the theater; the home provides for all their needs.

The oldest home for veterans of the stage in the USSR— the Leningrad home—dates from 1896, when on the initiative of the great actress M. G. Savina the Asylum for Elderly Actors was founded in St. Petersburg under the auspices of the Russian Theatrical Society. In 1931 the asylum was reorganized into the Leningrad M. G. Savina Home for Veterans of the Stage; in 1970 it was the home of more than 180 elderly theatrical workers. Following the example of St. Petersburg, the Asylum for Elderly Actors of the Moscow Imperial Theaters was established in Moscow in 1907 (after 1917, for actors of the Bolshoi Theater). In 1937 the Moscow asylum came under the jurisdiction of the All-Russian Theatrical Society (VTO), and out of it grew the Moscow A. A. Iablochkina Home for Veterans of the Stage. In 1965 a new, comfortably equipped building was built in Moscow in which more than 150 persons were living in 1970. Both the Leningrad and Moscow homes are maintained with VTO funds. In 1959 the Home for Veterans of the Stage of the Ukrainian Theatrical Society was opened near Kiev (Pushcha-Voditsa).

Residents of homes for veterans of the stage are provided with a room, clothing, food, and expert medical care. They retain 25 percent of their pensions. Homes for veterans of the stage are equipped with a library, a concert hall, and a film projector. The veterans attend stage performances, direct amateur theatricals, and give concert recitals.