Oral history interview with Arlene Blut conducted by Barbara Tabach on May 28, 2015 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Blut discusses her involvement in local and national arts, being an actor and promoter/director of theater events, and recalls her experiences in Las Vegas, Nevada’s Jewish community.
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In this clip, Arlene Blut discusses the Meadows Theater, a professional theater that she and Joan Snyder established in Las Vegas.
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In this interview, Arlene discusses her family and important friendships; her relations with and impressions of the disparate Las Vegas Jewish communities; the meaningful ways her Jewish relationships in Duluth, Winnipeg, and Las Vegas intertwine; her theatrical, professional, and philanthropic work; the reasons she and Jerry became active Zionists; and their support for Israeli causes. Her liberal sprinkling of Yiddish terms enriches her speech as it exemplifies her deep cultural attachment to and identification with her Jewish heritage, despite the fact that her wide and diverse circle of friends remains predominantly non-Jewish.
Actor, director, friend, mother, producer, wife, and volunteer extraordinaire Arlene Piekoff (now Blut) arrived in Las Vegas in 1971 with two young children and husband, Michael Peikoff, who was opening a surgical practice. Arlene was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, where she attended a Conservative Jewish temple but had mostly non-Jewish friends. She met Michael at the University of Minnesota, and they married before he began medical school in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Arlene and Michael followed his residencies and fellowships to California, Michigan, and Manitoba before they came to Las Vegas Through her brother in law and Ayn Rand?s intellectual heir, Leonard Peikoff, Arlene was exposed to Ayn Rand Objectivism, a philosophy that still influences her political outlook. After her 1975 divorce she began working at the Jockey Club; founded the Meadows Playhouse, Las Vegas?s first professional black box theater; and started Renta Yenta, the valley?s first full-service event planning business. In 1980 she married tax attorney Jerry Blut in a Renta-Yenta-produced, Fiddler-on-the-Roof-themed wedding at Paul Anka's Jubilation Restaurant.
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(L-R) Arlene Blut, Sandy Mallin, Sharon Sigesmund Pierce.
Temple Beth Sholom organized and led a bus tour of parts of Las Vegas that are significant in local Jewish history. UNLV Special Collections and Archives staff took photos and video on this tour, and the video was later transcribed. Stops on the tour included Woodlawn Cemetery and the former Temple Beth Sholom campus on Oakey Boulevard. Narrator Arlene Blut gives the overview of the Jewish community, and Rabbi Felipe Goodman talks to tour participants at the cemetery. Former Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman speaks at the old synagogue along with Josh Abbey, whose mother created the stained glass windows at the temple.
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A letter to the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas Board of Directors from Gerald Welt, the Nominating Committee Chairman, May 6, 1991
Arlene Blut was born July 30, 1940 in Duluth, Minnesota, where she attended a Conservative Jewish. She met Michael Peikoff while attending the University of Minnesota, and they married before he began medical school in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Blut followed her husband’s residencies and fellowships to California, Michigan, and Manitoba before they came to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1971.
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Temple Beth Sholom organized and led a bus tour of parts of Las Vegas that are significant in local Jewish history. Stops on the tour included Woodlawn Cemetery and the former Temple Beth Sholom campus on Oakey Boulevard. Narrator Arlene Blut gives the overview of the Jewish community, and Rabbi Felipe Goodman talks to tour participants at the cemetery. Former Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman speaks at the old synagogue along with Josh Abbey, whose mother created the stained glass windows at the temple.
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A pamphlet for the Jean Weinberger Museum, presented by The Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas.
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