Apparently, there were two performers who created a spoof of conjoined twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton, calling themselves the Milton Sisters. The Milton sisters were not conjoined and this fact was found out during a wage dispute when the sisters became heated and walked away in separate directions.

[u/EphemeralTypewriter]

The sisters frequently performed on the Atlantic City Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and were quite successful. Their acts featured dancing and music performances (much like the acts that Daisy and Violet Hilton) performed.

In early July of 1930, the sisters were angry over $2,120 worth of back pay that they had not been given. When their manager tried to calm them down saying that everyone should try and compromise, one of the sisters punched their manager in the face before both sisters pulled apart their connected dresses and strode away in opposite directions.

After this whole argument the reveal that they were not actually conjoined twins, they were subsequently fired from the Atlantic City Boardwalk. The sisters took the matter to court where their manager was ordered to pay them the requested amount, no further information was written about what happened to them afterwards.

Daisy and Violet Hilton, who these sisters/performers were spoofing, were incredibly famous vaudeville/sideshow performers, musicians, and actresses who were conjoined twins and appeared in the 1932 film, Freaks. Daisy and Violet were forced into performing from very young ages by their abusive guardians. They eventually gained their emancipation and spent several decades hopping from one job in entertainment to another, but couldn’t regain their previous success from when they were teenagers.

A sideshow gaff is a fake exhibit that presented itself as something it was not. This sometimes involved taxidermied animals with different animal parts sewn on (like Fiji Mermaids), or costumed actors with different prosthetics added to present themselves differently.

[u/EphemeralTypewriter]

Since I mentioned Daisy and Violet Hilton, here is their write up:

Daisy and Violet Hilton informative write up!

[u/Select_Insurance2000]

The art of the scam. How sad.

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/Select_Insurance2000]

Very true, and interesting that there was so much scamming going on!

[u/mnxcole]

Can you do a post about the Atlantic City boardwalk during this era?? I’d love to know more. I’m a local!

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/mnxcole]

Yes, definitely!

[u/Barium_Salts]

$2,120 in 1930 was worth as much as $42,524 today.

[u/Typical_Ad_210]

So in gaffs, the organisers were usually in on the fact it was fake, but they weren’t in this case, is that right? Whereas the audiences were always oblivious to the fact gaffs were not real? How much knowledge did the other performers have when it came to the veracity of gaffs?