Nevada Day revisited: 1949

Reprinted from the Nov. 1, 1949 Appeal:

The acts presented between the scenes of the Nevada Day pageant were alone worth the price of admission, according to those who attended the production.

Especially interesting to out of state visitors were the Indian dancers and their various tribal dances. Chief John and his Pyramid Lake performers were one of the biggest hits of the show.

The dexterity of the Navajo hoop dancer was generally acclaimed by the audience. The Yebetchae, a Navajo ceremonial dance, was presented for the first time in this part of the country by students at the Stewart school.

Another show stopper was the singing of the Reno barber shop quartet and the renditions of the junior quartet of the Carson Cub Scouts.

A very popular and amusing act was the style show when garments from 1864 to 1910 were shown. The bathing beauties of grandfather’s day provided plenty of laughs for the audience.

The little folk dancers from the Carson Youth Center were very much appreciated by the audience. The kids went through the old numbers under the calling to Forrest Hall.

One of the finest shows ever to be held in Carson City, was the general consensus of opinion among those who attended the Nevada Day pageant which closed its run last night.

The pageant played to standing room only on both showings and there was a general feeling of regret that more showings had not been arranged. The 12 scenes from Nevada’s boisterous history were selected and written by Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg. The excellent work of these two writers, coupled with the dramatic narration of Brother David, more than assured the success of the show, which opened on a somewhat solemn note as the first scene depicted Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet granting statehood to Nevada. B.C. Honea portrayed an excellent Lincoln.

The second scene was on a much more lighter note and depicted the “muscling in” of Henry Comstock. The scene showed Comstock, played by Fred Harrell, swindling two hard working miners out of a share of their diggings.

The departure of Sandy Bowers and Eilley Orrum on a trip to see the queen was shown in scene three. Mr. and Mrs. Ed Rinckel portrayed the two Comstock aristocrats.

Scene four showed how the railroad came to Washoe. Thomas Robinson played the impatient Henry Yerington who could not delay his track laying for any golden spike ceremony.

The bandits who turned a hold-up into a drinking party were depicted in scene five. Kathryn Baxter played the “sweet young thing” who the gallant road agents toasted with the champagne her stagecoach was carrying.

Betty Blaikie played Elinor Glyn in scene seven which showed the English lady being made the victim of a fake hold-up in an old time Nevada bar and gambling den.

Avery Winnemucca played the part of his grandfather, Chief Winnemucca, in scene eight. He did a convincing job in showing his contempt for Gov. Nye as played by Byron Nelson.

Cyril Clemens looked much like his famous cousin Mark Twain in scene 10. Larry Stanton played a convincing Dan Dequille as he led his two conspirators in the hold-up that cost Mark Twain his watch.

Gov. Vail Pittman appeared in scene 12 to bring the pageant to a fitting climax.