HILTON SISTERS SIAMME TWINS BORN
1908 FEBRUARY 5-1969 JANUARY 4
இல்டன் சகோதரிகள் (Hilton Sisters) அல்லது டெய்சி மற்றும் வயலெட் ஹில்டன் (Daisy Hilton and Violet Hilton, 5 பெப்ரவரி 1908 – 4 சனவரி 1969) பிறப்பிலேயே உடல்ரீதியில் ஒட்டிப் பிறந்த இரட்டையராவர். இருவருக்கும் ஒரே குருதிச் சுற்றோட்டத் தொகுதியும், நரம்புத் தொகுதியும் இருந்தது. இதன் காரணமாக, வேதனைகளையும் சந்தோசங்களையும் அவர்கள் ஒன்றாகவே உணர்ந்து கொண்டனர். தாயாரின் பொருளாதார நிலைமை காரணமாக, இவர்கள் இருவரும் இளவயதிலேயே வேறொரு பெண்ணுக்கு விற்கப்பட்டனர். அப்பெண் இவர்களைக் கொண்டு நிகழ்ச்சிகள் நிகழ்த்திப் பணம் ஈட்டினார்.
Daisy and Violet Hilton (5 February 1908 – early January 1969) were English entertainers, who were conjoined twins. They were exhibited in Europe as children, and toured the United States sideshow, vaudeville and American burlesque circuits in the 1920s and 1930s. They were best known for their film appearances in Freaks and Chained for Life.
The twins were born at 18 Riley Road, Brighton, England, on 5 February 1908.[1] Their mother was Kate Skinner, an unmarried barmaid. The sisters were born joined by their hips and buttocks; they shared blood circulation and were fused at the pelvis but shared no major organs. They were variously called or referred to as The Siamese Twins, The Hilton Sisters and The Brighton Twins or The Brighton Conjoined Twins.Early life
Daisy and Violet as children
A medical account of the birth and a description of the twins was provided for the British Medical Journal by physician, James Augustus Rooth,[2] who helped deliver them. He reported that subsequently the Sussex Medico-Chirurgical Society considered separation, but unanimously decided against it as it was believed that the operation would certainly lead to the death of one or both of the twins. He noted these twins were the first to be born in the UK conjoined and to survive for more than a few weeks.[2]
Their mother was unmarried.[3] Kate Skinner's employer, Mary Hilton, who helped in childbirth, apparently saw commercial prospects in them, and effectively bought them from their mother and took them under her care. The girls first stayed above the Queen's Arms pub in Brighton where they were exhibited.[3] They later moved to the Evening Star pub. According to the sisters' autobiography, Mary Hilton with her husband and daughter kept the twins in strict control with physical abuse; they had to call her "Auntie Lou" and her husband "Sir". They trained the girls in singing and dancing.[citation needed]
Performing career
Daisy and Violet Hilton with the Meyers c. 1927
The Hilton sisters toured first in Britain in 1911 (aged 3) as "The United Twins". Mary Hilton took them on to a tour through Germany, then to Australia, then in 1916 to the US. In true sideshow manner, their performance was accompanied by an imaginative "history". Their controllers kept all the money the sisters earned. In 1926, Bob Hope formed an act called the Dancemedians with the sisters, who had a tap-dancing routine.[4] When Mary died in Birmingham, Alabama, the girls were bequeathed to Mary's daughter Edith Meyers, and Edith's husband Meyer Meyers, a former balloon salesman.
The couple took over management of the twins. Held mostly captive, the girls were beaten if they did not do as the Meyers wished. They kept the twins from public view for a while and trained them in jazz music. Violet was a skilled saxophonist and Daisy a violinist. They lived in a mansion in San Antonio, Texas.[5]
In 1931, the sisters sued their managers, gaining freedom from their contract and US$100,000 in damages[6] (equivalent to $1,400,000 in 2019). They went into vaudeville as "The Hilton Sisters' Revue". Daisy dyed her hair blonde and they began to wear different outfits so as to be distinguishable. After vaudeville lost popularity, the sisters performed at burlesque venues.
Shortly after gaining independence from the Meyers, the Hiltons sailed to the UK on the Berengaria in December 1932. They spent most of 1933 in the UK, and returned to the US in October 1933.[citation needed]
Violet began a relationship with musician Maurice Lambert, and they applied in 21 states for a marriage license, but it was always refused.
In 1932, the twins appeared in the film Freaks. Afterwards their popularity faded, and they struggled to make a living in show business.
Later life
In 1936 Violet married gay actor James Moore as a publicity stunt. The marriage lasted ten years on paper, but it was eventually annulled. In 1941 Daisy married Harold Estep, better known as dancer Buddy Sawyer, who was also gay. The marriage lasted ten days.[7] In 1951 they starred in a second film, Chained for Life, an exploitation film loosely based on their lives. Afterwards they undertook personal appearances at double bill screenings of their two movies.
The Hiltons' last public appearance was at a drive-in in 1961 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their tour manager abandoned them there, and with no means of transportation or income, they were forced to take a job in a nearby grocery store, where they worked for the rest of their lives.[8]
On January 4, 1969, after they failed to report to work, their boss called the police. The twins were found dead in their home, victims of the Hong Kong flu. According to a forensic investigation, Daisy died first; Violet died between two and four days later.[9] They were buried in Forest Lawn West Cemetery in Charlotte.
Media legacy
Brighton & Hove no. 708 has been named in their honour.
In 1989 a musical based on the twins, Twenty Fingers Twenty Toes, with book by Michael Dansicker and Bob Nigro and music and lyrics by Michael Dansicker, premiered at the WPA Theatre and ran for 35 performances. The script can be found in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. It began as an accurate portrayal of the twins' early life, but then included a wholly fictitious plot by their keepers to have them surgically separated as adults.[citation needed]
Side Show, a Broadway musical loosely based on the sisters' lives, with lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger,[10] opened at the Richard Rodgers Theater[11] on 16 October 1997. It starred Emily Skinner as Daisy and Alice Ripley as Violet, and received four Tony nominations, but closed after 91 performances.[11] In 2014, a substantially rewritten version of the musical was mounted at the Kennedy Center and moved to Broadway, where it opened at the St. James Theater on 17 November 2014, starring Erin Davie as Violet and Emily Padgett as Daisy. Although well-reviewed, the revival closed on 4 January 2015.
In 2012, Leslie Zemeckis filmed a documentary, Bound by Flesh, about the sisters' lives. The Hollywood Reporter called it "scrupulously researched" and a "masterful film".[12] The film won Best Documentary awards at both the 2012 Hollywood Film Festival and the 2013 Louisiana International Film Festival.[13]
Other legacy
Brighton & Hove 708 (YP58 UGH), a 2009 Scania OmniCity DD which currently operates on the 27 (Westdene Park & Ride – Saltdean) in their hometown, has been named in their honour.[14]
In May, 2018, it was announced that Brighton and Hove City Council and the current owner of the house in which the twins were born had agreed that a commemorative blue plaque could be erected at the property.[3]
Filmography
Freaks, 1932
Chained for Life, 1952
The Curious Life Of The Conjoined Hilton Sisters
Before Paris and Nicky were Violet and Daisy Hilton. Unfortunately, life for these Hilton sisters was far from charmed.or many today, the Hilton sisters are simply Paris and Nicky. Decades before the hotel heiresses became household names, though, there was another pair of well-regonized Hilton sisters: Daisy and Violet. The conjoined twins were born in 1908 in Brighton, England to a poor, unmarried barmaid named Kate Skinner, who believed the girls’ condition was a punishment from God for her indiscretions. At that time, the sisters–fused together at the hip–were the only conjoined twins to be born and live more than a few weeks in the UK.
In spite of that medical miracle, the twins suffered a sad fate after Mary Hilton, Skinner’s employer, took Violet and Daisy under her care. Hilton, who helped deliver the twins, saw dollar signs behind the twins’ condition, and acquired them for the sole purpose of exploitation.
Introduced to the sideshow circus at the age of three, the Hilton sisters toured Germany, Australia, and eventually the United States. Gaining access to the US was difficult, though, because the girls were considered “medically unfit” to make such a trip.
Hilton solved this problem by creating a public media outrage, which put enough pressure on authorities that the twins were eventually granted entry to the US.
After Mary Hilton died, the girls were once again shuffled around as property and bestowed upon Hilton’s daughter, Edith Meyers, who treated the sisters even worse than her mother. Meyers ruthlessly “trained” the girls to dance and play instruments (in lieu of a proper education) so they would attract more attention and make more money. Violet played the saxophone, Daisy, the violin.
Hilton Sisters With The Meyers Family
The Hilton Sisters with the Meyers family. Source: Wellcome Images
If the twins did not comply with Meyers or her husband’s training schedule, they would be beaten. This abuse continued over time, with Meyers threatening to institutionalize them if they did not obey. Violet and Daisy Hilton continued to tour, appear in circus shows, and perform under the strict management of the Meyers for many years. Once, the twins even participated in a Bob Hope act.
The sisters never saw a penny of the money they earned – estimated to be around $5,000 per week at the height of their popularity. When they were 23 years old, the Hilton twins (upon prodding from friend Harry
Houdini) successfully sued their managers for $100,000 and were released from any standing contracts. The newly emancipated sisters then ventured into Vaudeville on their own; the only thing they knew and enjoyed.The young women starred in “The Hilton Sisters’ Revue,” and after that scene died down, moved into burlesque shows. Daisy and Violet Hilton led much of their romantic lives before the ever-scrutinizing public eye; having many boyfriends and some failed marriage attempts, which can be partially attributed to the fact that officials regarded the granting of marriage licenses to a man and just one of the sisters as a sort of bigamy.In 1932, Tod Browning’s film Freaks brought the sisters some notoriety, but it faded out along with the ending of the decade. The Hilton sisters penned an autobiography in 1942 titled The Lives and Loves of the Hilton Sisters, in which Daisy wrote:By 1951, they had agreed to star in a loosely biographical film on them, Chained for Life, which was released in 1952 but not received well by the public. Exiting cinema, the sisters opened a hot dog stand in 1955, but neighboring vendors complained about the “freaks” that stole all of their business.
“We [were] lonely, rich girls who were really paupers living in practical slavery.” And later, “I’m not a machine; I’m a woman. I should have the right to live like one.”In 1961, the struggling sisters made what would be their last public appearance in Charlotte, North Carolina (after an unsuccessful tour of drive-in theaters) where afterwards they were abandoned by their own tour manager and left without any money or transportation.With no options left, they found work at a nearby grocery store promoting Twin Pack potato chips, and became cashiers. They were said to have enjoyed this simple life and the solace it brought them; they even enjoyed performing for their co-workers in the break room.
This “normalcy” didn’t last for long. When the sisters failed to report to work one day in early 1969; police found the 60-year-old sisters in their home, dead of the flu. Medical tests revealed that Daisy died first, and Violet a few days later – presumably too sick to phone for help when her sister perished.
In June of this year, Bound by Flesh – a new documentary film by Leslie Zemeckis (wife of American director Robert Zemeckis) – premiered in limited theatrical release, and has been touted as the most thorough and respectful piece of media about the Hilton sisters, featuring interviews with friends and colleagues of the twins, along with vaudeville historians.Anelle Newitz of i09 commented recently after the release of the documentary, “What makes Zemeckis’ film [Bound By Flesh] more than just a sad story of two exploited women is that it also shows us how the Hilton sisters fit into a unique moment in American media history.
These women were basically like the YouTube stars of the 1920s, famous in a medium that attracted millions, but didn’t translate into other media very successfully.”Perhaps the saddest aspect of the Hilton twins’ story is that they could have been separated with little risk to either sister, as they did not share any internal organs. They claimed that they wanted to stay together, always.
Enjoy this fascinating look into the lives of the conjoined Hilton sisters? Then check out our other posts on interesting diseases and the weirdest mental disorders in human history. Then, read up on some of history’s most well-known “freak show” performers, including the infamous Grady Stiles.
