Famed 19th and 20th Century Nevadans in the Arts

Singer Emma Nevada

  Despite being one of the smallest and least populated states in the union during the late 19th and early to mid 20th centuries, Nevada produced several figures in the entertainment industry who experienced considerable fame and success in their time.

  While most have been largely forgotten today, each was considered among the best, most accomplished, or respectable in their fields.

  For example, one of the most famous singers in the late 19th century was balladeer Richard Jose, who got his start singing for meals in Virginia City’s saloons.

  Jose, who was born on the Cornish Coast of England but moved to Virginia City when he was nine, was once called “the greatest living ballad singer” by opera star Enrico Caruso. In addition to a successful concert career, Jose was also one of the first performers ever to make a record.

  According to some accounts, Jose was sent to Virginia City to live with an uncle but when he arrived the uncle had moved away and he was left to fend for himself.

  Gifted with a beautiful voice, he soon discovered he could sing for meals in local saloons and eventually became a kind of child celebrity, particularly among Virginia City’s Cornish miners.

  Eventually, Jose moved to Reno to attend school and began working as a blacksmith. His habit of singing while pounding on an anvil came to the attention of a touring minstrel company, which he joined.

  With the group, Jose toured the country and ultimately gained fame as a ballad singer in New York. He had a successful performing career until the 1920s, when the musical styles began to change during the Jazz Age and he retired. He died in 1941.

  Another famous 19th century performer, who has also been largely forgotten, was Emma Nevada Wixom. Born near Nevada City, California in 1859, Emma Wixom’s family moved to Austin, Nevada when she was about three years old.

  Like Richard Jose, young Emma Wixom had a beautiful voice that seemed to enchant the early miners, eager for entertainment.

  While growing up in Austin, Wixom gained a measure of fame as a singer. It has been reported that at the age of seven, she was invited to sing at the dedication of the new Methodist Church in Austin (which is still there) and was a regular in the Sunday choir. She also began performing in mining camps throughout Central Nevada.

  In 1873, Wixom’s mother died and her father, who was a doctor, enrolled her at Mrs. Mills Seminary in Oakland, California, so that she could be formally trained as a singer.

  While at Mills, Wixom joined the “International Academy,” which offered her a chance to study voice in Europe. While there, she came to the attention of Mrs. John Mackay, wife of one of the Comstock’s wealthiest mining magnates, who sponsored her studies.

  In 1883, Wixom, who chose the stage name, “Emma Nevada” to honor her home state, made her debut at Her Majesty’s Theater in London. During the next several decades she performed all over Europe and America—including sold-out appearances in Virginia City and Austin in 1885— becoming one of the most famous opera singers of the time.

  Emma Nevada retired in 1906 at the age of 47. During the next three decades, she lived a quiet life in England, attending to her family (she had a daughter) and occasionally giving voice lessons.

  In June 1940, the voice of the woman known as the “Comstock Nightingale” was forever stilled when a German bomb exploded in her home in Liverpool, England.

  You can still find Emma Nevada’s childhood home at the corner of Water and Virginia streets in Austin (about a block northeast of the International Hotel).