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Transcript of interview with Janellen Radoff by Barbara Tabach, September 26, 2016
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Archival Collection
Description
Jane Radoff?s sophisticated eye and creative energy follow her wherever she goes. Her interior designs have anonymously touched most all who have walked through many of the Strip casinos and hotels. Her working partnership with interior designer Roger Thomas for Steve Wynn properties are among the most iconic of recent era. Born 1940 in Pittsburgh, PA, to Adelaide and Meyer Sachs, Jane was destined to lead a colorful life. Her mother was a local radio/TV personality with her own show and her father was successful real estate entrepreneur. Jane attended the University of Michigan where she honed her design skills. Before moving to Nevada, Jane?s career path included Restaurant Associates, a short stint as a girl Friday for Johnny Carson, and freelance product design while starting a family. Then in 1978, her husband William ?Bill? Radoff accepted a purchasing director position from Billy Weinberger and Neil Smythe at Caesars. With her signature wry humor, she reflects on her early observations of Las Vegas, and eventually working with Roger Thomas. In time, the duo worked together to bring groundbreaking interiors to the Strip, primarily with Steve Wynn. As most Jewish transplants, the Radoffs first belonged to Temple Beth Sholom. Later she was the interior inspiration for Congregation Ner Tamid where Jon Sparer did the architectural design. She is a quiet icon of Las Vegas?s turn to elegance and warmth in design of public spaces.
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Transcript of interview with Jacqueline Baskow by Barbara Tabach, October 24, 2016
Date
Archival Collection
Description
In 1976, Jacqueline "Jaki" Baskow was an aspiring actress when she and a friend accepted an invitation to worked in a movie studio in Las Vegas. She had three-hundred dollars to her name, a dream and lots of dynamic energy. Though the movie studio offer did not quite materialized as she hoped - the invitation had come from Batman co-creator Bob Kane - Jaki's trajectory into Las Vegas, working with talents and planning events became an over forty year career. In this interview, she talks about growing up Jewish in Camden, New Jersey where her father was a murder victim; her tenacious effort to find the perpetrator included the help of celebrity detective Joe Schillaci. She shares stories of the colorful array of A-list entertainers she has worked with to build her successful business, Baskow and Associates. She has built a niche of handling large corporate events, hiring talent and attention to details for exciting events. She reflects on the people and moments that impelled her on; mentors such as Bobby Morris and Frank Sinatra and Jilly Rizzo.
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Goodman, Oscar Baylin, 1939-
Oscar Goodman was born June 26, 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned his undergraduate degree from Haverford College in 1961 and his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1964. That same year, he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and in 1965 he was admitted to the Nevada State Bar. He served as Clark County’s chief deputy public defender from 1966 to 1967.
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Countess, Jerome D.
Jerome Countess was born on December 22, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. His mother raised him as a single mother, making ends meet with her job in a clothing factory. Countess's father rarely held a job, and his mother divorced him when Countess was three-years-old. Countess grew up in the borough's Jewish neighborhood, and he developed a reputation for being a skillful handball player and a great dancer.
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Berkovits, Myra, 1944-
Myra Berkovits (née Mosse) was born April 10, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father emigrated from Romania to Canada, later moving to Chicago, where he met Berkovits’s mother, a daughter of Russian immigrants. After graduating from Loyola University, Berkovits married and started her career as an educator teaching at an elementary school in inner city Chicago. She taught there for twelve years before moving with her husband, son and daughter to Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Baratz, Adele
Adele Baratz (née Salton) was born in New Jersey on August 11, 1926 and her family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada when she was two years old. Her father sold bootlegger supplies and later owned and operated Al’s Bar, a popular place to drink among Union Pacific Railroad workers. For two summers, Baratz worked as a messenger and in the rationing department of the Gunnery School at the Las Vegas Army Airfield.
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