Y. was born August 11, 1902 in Grodno, Polish Lithuania. He graduated from a Hebrew school and sang as a choir boy with Yoshe Slonimer, the city cantor; then he traveled about with other cantors. During the war, Yablokoff was taken by theatre director Guzik into his troupe where he made his debut in a child’s role as “Isrolik” in Thomashefsky’s  “Dos pintele yid.”  Later he moved into adult roles in Lipovski's and Kompaneyets' troupes, worked with the ”Kovner United Troupe” for four years and then traveled around Lettland [Latvia], Germany and Holland.

He arrived in America in 1924. He played in Toronto, Montreal and Los Angeles. In the 1927-8 season acted at the Hopkinson’s Theatre in Brownsville, 1929-30 at Brooklyn’s Lyric Theatre, and from 1930-32 was at the Lawndale Theatre in Chicago. In 1931 he toured Paris with Misha Fiszon. On 24 February 1931 Yablokoff became a member of the Yiddish Actors Union. From 1932-33 he played at the Hopkinson’s Theatre.

Yablokoff was married to Jeannette Fleischman, composer and pianist for the Yiddish theatre.

Sh. E.

• Jacob Kirschenbaum - New faces on our stage, “Morning Journal”, 16 December 1927.