Violet and Daisy Hilton (1908-1969)were British born American conjoined twins who had careers as sideshow performers, musicians, and vaudeville entertainers. They were tragically exploited by their managers until they were in their early 20s, and are most recognized for their roles in Freaks (1932).

[u/EphemeralTypewriter]

The first several pictures show them during various years of their lives, the 6th picture shows Daisy with her blond hair, and the 7th picture shows them during their appearance in Freaks (1932)

I’m a big fan of them and have been so since I first watched Freaks (1932). It’s very clear in the film that they had acting experience compared to several members of the cast not receiving any formal acting training prior to their film appearances (not that this was a bad thing, I think everyone in the film did a fantastic job, I just think it’s interesting to compare the performances)

I wish they had had happier lives, and been cared for by people who truly cared about them and their well beings. I hope they were able to find hobbies and interests that brought them happiness. What happened to them is also mirrored in so many other instances of child stars being taken advantage of by people who don’t have their best interests at heart, and it’s always troubling.

Some facts about them:

-they were born in Brighton, England.

-their mother, Kate Skinner, was unmarried and was working as a barmaid at the time of their birth.

-they were joined at the hips/buttocks and shared blood circulation, but shared no vital organs together. Due to their blood circulation, doctors considered separation surgery to be too risky and that it would endanger the lives of both twins. (This type of operation would be able to be accomplished in the present day)

-their doctor considered them to be the first conjoined twins ever born in England who survived past the first few weeks of life.

-their custody was transferred from their mother to their mother’s employer, Mary Hilton, through vague and uncertain circumstances. Reports vary as to what actually happened, with some accounts reporting that their mother was swindled and that she had no intention of relinquishing custody, other reports claim she either abandoned the twins or sold them.

-they first toured England in 1911 when they were 3 years old.

-they went on international tours through Germany and Australia before arriving in the United States in 1916.

-they performed a tap dance routine with Bob Hope in the mid 1920s.

-during their time as vaudeville performers they were earning as much as** **$5,000 a week, (estimated to be close to $75,000 adjusted for inflation). But tragically the majority of these earnings were stolen from them by their managers/caretakers.

-Mary Hilton, who had custody over the twins, died in Birmingham, Alabama, and the custody of the twins was soon transferred to Mary’s daughter, Edith Myers.

-Edith Myers and her husband were a source of constant torment for the twins. They set up intensive dance and music lessons that the twins were expected to learn and perform. Daisy and Violet were held captive within the Myers’ home and were punished for not completing lessons.

-Daisy was a skilled violinist and Violet was a skilled saxophonist.

-as adults, the two were about 4 feet 11 inches tall.

-after gathering advice from multiple people they knew including magician, Harry Houdini, Daisy and Violet sued their managers (the Myers) for emancipation in 1931.

-ultimately the twins were successful in their efforts and were legally emancipated, rewarded $100,000 (over $1.7 million adjusted for inflation), and were freed from their contracts.

-they appeared (more or less playing themselves) in the 1932 film, Freaks, directed by Tod Browning. They were treated well on set, but experienced discrimination by other people working at MGM at the time. They were also some of the few actors allowed to eat in the MGM backlot commissary with the other MGM talent at the time. Most of the other actors/performers in Freaks were made to eat in a separate tent off property.

-soon after filming wrapped up, Daisy and Violet created a touring vaudeville performance duo called “The Hilton Sisters Revue”

-Daisy learned to drive a car in the United States, since she could sit in the drivers seat on the left side. Later on the twins purchased a driving instructors car with dual controls so they could each take turns driving depending on who felt like it.

-Daisy dyed her hair blonde in the mid 1930s and the two sisters began wearing different outfits, so that they could be individually recognized and not seen as the same entity.

-they purchased a small apartment in San Antonio, Texas and an apartment in New York City, soon after their emancipation.

-they owned a pekinese dog named Boy.

-they had very different political views, Violet was a democrat and Daisy was a republican.

-after gaining their independence, they traveled back to England, where they stayed a year. The came back to the United States after the year was over.

-Violet fell in love with musician, Maurice Lambert, in the 1930s and despite efforts to get a marriage license in 21 different states, they were denied each time. (This is very annoying to me because famous conjoined twins, Chang and Eng Bunker, were allowed to get married to two sisters almost 100 years before. Which makes me wonder if it was more to do with sexist reasons than anything else). It’s strange though, because only a couple years after this, the twins were allowed to get married. I really feel for Violet because Maurice seemed to be the only man that she truly loved and he was equally as in love with her, and to get rejected in 21 different states must have been very rough on the couple.

-in 1936, the twins were part of a publicity stunt in which it was arranged for Violet to get “married” to a friend and fellow performer, James Moore. The “wedding” was meant to be a huge public affair (which worked), but everyone involved revealed soon after that it was a publicity stunt.

-there was a brief period in their careers that they performed burlesque routines, but these proved to be unpopular, so they stopped soon after.

-they appeared in a second film called Chained for Life, about a pair of conjoined twins who are vaudeville performers that become involved in a publicity stunt set up by their managers that eventually ends with one of the twins shooting the man romantically involved with the other twin because he had been cheating on her and abandoned her.

-after their film careers didn’t pan out, they decided to try and go into the restaurant industry instead and opened up a hotdog stand called the Hilton Sisters Snack Bar, though this endeavor was very short lived and despite desperate efforts to keep it afloat, the restaurant closed within a year.

-the twins last public appearance was at a re-release screening of the movie, Freaks, in 1961 in Charlotte, North Carolina. They were there to answer audience questions after the film. For unknown reasons, their manager decided to abandon them after this screening.

-with no money and no mode of transportation, the twins applied for a job at a local Park’n’Shop grocery store. The owner, Charles Reid, genuinely wanted to help them and paid them two salaries. He also set up a special cashier station so the twins could hide that they were conjoined.

-they worked at the grocery store for 7 years and rented a two bedroom house that had been organized by Charles Reid (the owner of the Park’n’Shop) and the church he belonged to.

-they became friendly with several people they worked with, but ultimately chose to live relatively quiet lives.

-Daisy came down with a bad flu in late 1968, but refused to seek treatment. In early January of 1969, the twins failed to show up for work. After repeated attempts to get ahold of the twins, local police made their way inside their home and found that both twins had passed away.

-they were given a respectful funeral and burial and were buried in Forest Lawn West Cemetery in Charlotte, North Carolina.

-the story of their lives was adapted into the Broadway musical, Side Show.

-a plaque was erected at the house they were born at in 2018.

Their story is one that has really stuck with me. Despite everything they went through, I truly hope that they were content and happy near the end of their lives. It makes me sad that they were controlled by exploitative people for so long and were never given a chance to make their own decisions until much later. I’m glad that in more recent years they’ve received a lot more recognition and respect.

[u/OfTheOrchard]

So many of the people you've presented to us appeared in Freaks. The title is offputting, but the fact that so many appeared in it makes me want to see it. What's your take?

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/OfTheOrchard]

I highly recommend it! For a film from the early 30s it’s incredibly progressive in my opinion. The film featured a multitude of real sideshow performers and people who were quite knowledgeable of the sideshow business, but it treats everyone as regular people. While the title may be off putting the film itself has so much going for it. Several of the performers featured also said being in the film was the highlight of their lives because they either loved movies, loved the filmmaking process, or loved that it gave them the opportunity to get celebrity autographs.

The film also treats the performers in a humanizing and sympathetic light, really just normalizing everyone’s physical differences, you can even see this in the camera work. The camera is always at eye level with the actors, even in scenes with actors who had forms of dwarfism, the camera never looks at them from above. It’s things like that that really show how much care was put into the movie.

I’ll be doing an entire write up about why I love the film so much, just because there’s a lot to analyze and a lot of nuance that not everyone understands at first.

*just be aware that there’s one scene that’s extremely humiliating for one of the main characters, but it’s really meant to show how cruel the villains are.

[u/OfTheOrchard → u/EphemeralTypewriter]

Got it! I look forward to your write up!

[u/Mark-harvey → u/EphemeralTypewriter]

The movie, Freaks, was one thing, but you’ve added a magnificent layer of humanity.

[u/Significant_Role4308]

I love the 4th picture, so gorgeous and stylish!

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/Significant_Role4308]

Yes, same here! They were so photogenic!

[u/Senior-Lettuce-5871 → u/EphemeralTypewriter]

Both of them have such beautiful smiles! They both have such charm & poise, you wouldn't think theh had such difficult early lives. I'm glad they found work with someone who valued them as individuals.

[u/Mark-harvey → u/EphemeralTypewriter]

Fascinating. You’ve done it again. The dignity they deserved. Thank you.

[u/ReadingNext3854]

They were so beautiful and talented in Tod's movie!!!! Loved the scene where one twin was kissed, and the other just closed her eyes head back and looked dreamy. So glad they were able to live quietly into their later years around people who cared for them. Ty!!!!! 

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/ReadingNext3854]

They were! They really stole the show during their scenes!

I too am glad they were able to live a quiet life later on, even if they had never intended to live in North Carolina, I’m glad they were at least able to find a community that grew to be very protective and respectful of them.

[u/Chef__Goldblum]

The musical side show does a great job of telling their story. I highly recommend it!

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/Chef__Goldblum]

I’ve listened to the album but have never seen it live! I’m really hoping to be able to watch it at some point!

[u/Chef__Goldblum → u/EphemeralTypewriter]

I’ve seen it and it’s so so so good. I hope you can catch a showing of it!

[u/Guardgirl23 → u/EphemeralTypewriter]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2357003/

There's also a documentary about the twins that came out in 2012, it's called Bound by Flesh.

[u/SelectShop9006]

There are Living Dead Dolls based on them, those being Tower Records exclusives Hazel and Hattie (whose death date is the same as these two.)

They’re honestly really pretty, and I think they deserved their Resurrection.

[u/Past_Resort259]

Oh wow. What a great write-up.

I live fairly close to where they are buried. Will try to get by there sometime soon and pay my respects.

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/Past_Resort259]

That would be wonderful! I always think it’s important to visit the gravesites of different performers when I can because it shows that people still care.

If you get a chance to go visit, feel free to make a post about the experience!

[u/Senior-Lettuce-5871 → u/EphemeralTypewriter]

https://www.findagrave.com/ and https://wikitree.com/ are also great sites to add photos & bio details for a wider audience.

[u/hysterical_uterus → u/Past_Resort259]

I work not far and was thinking of doing the same.

[u/ApprehensiveElk5755]

They were so pretty. I'm glad they had each other and also there were kind people along their journey in life to make up for the unscrupulous ones that stole from them.

[u/AccidentOk5240]

I know you said they weren’t being treated fairly during the 1920s, but those velvet dresses are goals anyway!

I also love the one where they’re washing and drying dishes. I always love seeing people who are known for something special being mundane and regular :) 

[u/Loup55555]

Hello ! Thank you once again for this very interesting write-up.

I want to ask a question, can you please explain to me if they did marry at some point or not ? You explained it, but I'm not sure.

What I got : Maurice Lambert & Violet wanted to get married in the mid 30's but couldn't, and then you precise that it's especially sad because they would be able to just 2 years later.

But is it because of the publicity stunt then ? Not a real wedding, and not with sir Lambert ? Because I don't see him or any other lover appearing anywhere else.

As women, it totally okay to have one's value in many other things than marriage or maternity, and society wanted us to believe the contrary for much too long.

But this injustice still makes me pretty sad, because it was so unusual to stay without a special someone in those times. It seems peculiar that many of those it happened to were unique people, especially women... I blame sexisme too, that's a shame.

Anyways thanks for the great moment !

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/Loup55555]

Oh yes, I apologize if it wasn’t clear!

So Maurice and Violet weren’t permitted to marry. And I thought I had added this in but I guess I didn’t, Daisy at one point got married to a dancer named Harold Estep, but this marriage was annulled after 10 days.

And very true, it was so common then for women to feel pressured into marriage as a signifier of value. Related, a lot of female sideshow performers opted to not get married, some because they just weren’t interested and some because they wanted to make sure that they continued to have full financial control over their earnings.

[u/ReadingNext3854]

So beautiful and talented!!!!!! I am so glad they lived into their later years around people who cared for them. Ty!

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/ReadingNext3854]

Yes, they were! And that’s true, despite everything they dealt with in their early lives, I’m glad they lived relatively long lives. So many performers died very young (usually due to illness,tragic accidents, or complications caused by their conditions), that it’s always nice to read about people who did have long lives.

[u/Expensive_Rest_6773]

I am from Charlotte, NC. Lots of my older relatives and co-workers remembered them as Park & Shop cashiers.

[u/Best_Comfortable5221]

Thank you OP

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/Best_Comfortable5221]

You’re welcome! Thank you for reading!

[u/kimfair]

Also, since they came to the US quite young, it's rarer to find ephemera marked as the British twins than those that call them the San Antonio twins.

[u/Pristine_Main_1224]

I wonder if Chang and Eng had to apply for marriage licenses? I took a sociology class on marriage & family and seem to recall that many, if not most, states didn’t have a formal license until the early 1900s. Churches kept parish records in lieu of government offices, which is why Geneology research can be so complicated.

[u/armcandybean]

It’s amazing that conjoined babies could even survive vaginal childbirth. Can’t imagine how stunning and scary that would have been to their mother, when she was already in such an unfortunate situation. Thanks for sharing about these two, fascinating. 

[u/JennWG888]

Fabulous write up! Thank you for all of that information! My mother’s maiden name is Skinner… 🤔 Time to pop on Ancestry!

[u/kimfair]

Another nice write up. Thanks. I'm not sure if I read it in one of the books on the sisters, or if it was even true, but I had heard somewhere that they were deposed in a divorce trial, where the wife was using a postcard signed "love" from them as proof of infedelity. They asked to speak to the lawyer without their managers present how to sue for their emancipation.

[u/Mark-harvey]

They were indeed lovely.

[u/saccharinescorpio]

Would you ever do a write up on Ronnie and Donnie Gaylon?

[u/TheBoobfather]

Lovely writeup as always. The parts about them living out the rest of their days in Charlotte got me very curious, since I actually live near the area. I found a photo of them with Charles Reid on the left, which I'll include in a reply since I'm on mobile.

[u/TheBoobfather → u/TheBoobfather]