People who saw Violet and Daisy Hilton in a sideshow or performing on the vaudeville stage saw two smiling and well-groomed young ladies performing musical numbers. Their draw was that they were conjoined twins connected at the pelvis. What audiences did not see was the kind of lives the Hilton Sisters led.
Born in 1908 in Brighton, England, the twins' mother sold them to her employer, bar owner Mary Hilton, who saw the opportunity to make money off the sisters. She exhibited them in her bar, then at fairs and circuses. When the paying customers were gone, the girls were kept under wraps and treated as objects. When Hilton died, the "ownership" of Violet and Daisy was transferred to her daughter Edith and son-in-law Myer Myers. The couple toured with the twins, making thousands of dollars a week, while Violet and Daisy didn't see a penny, nor were they educated beyond what was necessary for their performances. When they finally broke free of the Myers, they were 23 years old and totally naive about directing their own lives and finances. That left them vulnerable to further exploitation, and as adults, they became fodder for tabloid gossip about their sex lives. Read the lucrative but tragic tale of Violet and Daisy Hilton, 1908-1969. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: Progress Studio New York)
See also: Chained for Life, a feature film starring the Hilton Sisters.
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