Herman Yablokoff
| Herman Yablokoff | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Chaim A. Yablonik August 11, 1903 Grodno, Russian Empire (now Belarus) |
| Died | April 3, 1981 (aged 77) New York City, United States |
| Occupation | Stage actor, singer, composer, poet, director and producer of Yiddish theatre |
| Years active | 1913–1981 |
| Spouse(s) | Bella Meisel |
| Children | 9 |
Herman Yablokoff (August 11, 1903 – April 3, 1981, Yiddish: הערמאַן יאַבלאָקאָף, Russian: Герман Яблоков, born Chaim Yablonik, Хаим Яблоник), sometimes written Herman Yablokov, Herman Yablokow, etc., was a Belarusian-born Jewish American actor, singer, composer, poet, playwright, director and producer who became one of the biggest stars in Yiddish theatre.
He was born into a poor family in Grodno (Hrodna), then a predominantly Polish town in the Russian Empire, now within Belarus. His parents were Alter Yablonik, a road paver, and Riva-Lei Shillingoff, and he received a traditional Jewish religious education in cheder and yeshiva. He sang in the choir of Cantor Yoshe Slonimer at the age of ten, and at the age of 12 began performing in the local Jewish theatre. In 1920 he left home to join a Yiddish theatre group, the Kovner Fareynikte Trup (United Troupe of Kovno) traveling around the cities and towns of Lithuania, Poland and Germany.
In 1924 he emigrated to the United States, and began performing in theatres in Toronto, Montreal and Los Angeles, finally settling in New York City. Yablokoff joined the Hebrew Actors Union in 1931, and later served several terms as the organization's president. In the 1930s and 1940s, he was one of the most influential personalities in the Second Avenue theatre world, in the heyday of American theatre in Yiddish. He wrote, directed and produced a show, Der Payatz ("The Clown"), which brought him much success and acclaim, and he popularized the role through weekly appearances on Yiddish radio in New York. Another of his plays, Papirosn ("Cigarettes") in 1932, featured the song of the same name which he had been inspired to write in 1922, after seeing children peddling cigarettes during the pogroms in Grodno after the First World War. Thanks to its traditional folk tune and sentimental words, the song became very popular. Yablokoff also wrote the song "Shvayg mayn harts" ("Be Still, My Heart"), which was later adapted by eden ahbez (born George Aberle) as "Nature Boy", a major commercial success for Nat King Cole and performed by many other artists. Yablokoff took legal action to win a financial settlement from ahbez, who had claimed that he had been inspired to write the song himself.
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