Michael Arnovitz, Interviews with Jews in Utah, Accn 998

Transcript (173 pages) of interview by Leslie Kelen with Michael Arnovitz with additional comments from Rose Leibowitz Arnovitz on Nobember 30, 1982 for the Interviews with Jews in Utah Project.

Kelen conducted a series of interviews with Michael Arnovitz (b. 1896) in November and December 1982. Arnovitz's wife, Rose Leibowitz Arnovitz, is present for the interviews, and her comments are included in the transcript (as indicated by the initials "RA"). Topics covered include Michael's childhood in Keyesport, Pennsylvania; his parents' life in Austria; the World War I era flu epidemic; jobs held in Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Utah; discrimination by the Irish; religious beliefs; keeping a kosher home; prohibition; pawn shops, and Jewish businesses in Salt Lake City during the 1920s and 1930s. Arnovitz also recalls Salt Lake City in the 1920s; seeing Al Jolson perform; the Depression of the 1930s; the stock market, business and morale; his perception of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, including comments on the fireside chats and the New Deal; Zionist support during World War II; the National Council of Jewish Women; tensions between Montefiore and B'nai Israel; a book called Up From Seltzer; the bar mitzvahs of his sons; and his memories of Rabbi Cardin. 173 pages.