Born in Algeria of Italian parents, Émile Isola arrived in Paris in 1880, and with his brother undertook a variety of jobs before they first showed their conjuring act in public.
As joint directors of the Opéra-Comique from 1914-1925 (with Pierre-Barthélemy Gheusi and subsequently with Albert Carré),[2] they revived Penelope by Fauré and Le Festin de l'araignée by Roussel, and produced Milhaud's first opera La brebis égarée.
[3] Their tenure at the Théâtre Mogador saw the Paris premieres of No, No, Nanette and Rose-Marie, and revivals of Offenbach operettas.
Directorship of the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt from 1926 brought about their ruin despite the success of the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, and of Sacha Guitry and Yvonne Printemps.
In 1917 the Bouffes-Parisiens presented L'Illusioniste, a play about the sentimental adventures of a magician, by Guitry inspired by the Isola brothers.