Violet and Daisy Hilton, San Antonio’s conjoined twins. Their uplifting story facing the odds and adversity.

Photo: Daily Mail

Violet and Daisy Hilton were born 113 years ago today on February 5th, 1908, in Brighton, England. Kate Skinner, a single mother, gave birth to conjoined twin girls who were fused at the pelvis (pyopagus), and also shared a blood circulatory system. They did not share any organs. The doctor who helped to deliver them, Dr James Rooth, noted that these twins were the first to be born in the United Kingdom, conjoined, and to survive for more than a few weeks.

Photo: agefotostock.com

Kate worked as a barmaid and a grocery clerk, but history shows that she was terrified by her daughters because she deemed their birth as a punishment from God for falling pregnant out of wedlock.

Unwanted by their mother Kate, they found a home with her boss, a pub owner named Mary Hilton, who was also a midwife, and saw the girls as a money-making opportunity. Mary Hilton, offered to adopt the girls, took them in, and gave them the name of Hilton. 

Photo: Walmart

Growing up, they were instructed to call Mary Hilton “Auntie”, and her succession of five husbands were each called “Sir.” The twins were often abused, and subsequently put on show in the front window of Mary’s hotel, the “Queen’s Arms”, as an attraction to her establishment. 

When they were about four years old, Mary Hilton moved the girls to a room in the hotel, where patrons would pay a few pennies to see them….and even a little more to to be able to lift their clothing and touch them where they were joined. There were even postcards sold so visitors could remember the visit.

Photo: Credit Check

As they grew, the girls were taught music and dance so that they could also perform and entertain audiences. They were then billed as “The Royal English United Twins,” and there was even the claim in advertising that they were related to Queen Victoria.

Photo: Science Source

When they were eight years old, they toured and performed  in Germany, and then later, Australia, with Mary and her daughter Edith as managers / chaperones. Down Under, they appeared at Luna Park on Sydney Harbor, before touring around the country from town to town, appearing at horticultural shows. It was on this tour that the Hiltons first met a balloon salesman named Myer Myers, who eventually married Mary’s daughter Edith, and slowly started to take control of the management of Violet and Daisy. The twins were then brought to the United States to tour and appear in Vaudeville shows. They went on to became the stars of one of the biggest touring shows, “Clarence Hotham’s World of Wonder”

Photo: Science Source

Upon Mary Hilton’s death in 1919 in Birmingham, Alabama, the sister’s lives, and management, were taken over by Mary’s daughter Emily and her husband Myer Myers, and eventually, they all settled in San Antonio, Texas. 

Photo: Wellcome Collection

The Myers built a large residence on Vance Jackson. It was a palatial, brick residence, funded by the girls’ substantial earnings, and it is estimated that today that house would be worth many millions of dollars. The home no longer exists.

Photo: Pinterest

While living in San Antonio, Violet and Daisy performed at both the historic Texas and Majestic Theaters, along with an appearance at the city’s Spring Carnival…now known as “Fiesta”.

They were forced to practice the violin, clarinet, piano and saxophone relentlessly, in order to improve their “act”, and to distinguish them from other conjoined twins who did not have the talent to perform or entertain.

Photo: dallasnews.com

Advertised as “San Antonio’s Siamese Twins”, they constantly toured the United States in Vaudeville shows during the 1920’s, sharing the stage with the likes of Charlie Chaplin, and an up and coming entertainer named Leslie Townes Hope…later known to the world as Bob Hope. At the time, he was part of an act called “The Dancemedians” with George Byrne. During the performance, Hope and Byrne would enter the stage from opposite sides, and the twins would each dance with a partner. They would all shuffle around the stage together, and perform tap and other dancing routines as a foursome.

Photo: Pinterest

At the time, they were one of the highest-grossing acts in Vaudeville, earning $5,000 a week, estimated to be close to $75,000 today. Similar sums were paid to other performers at that time like Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, and The Marx Brothers…but sadly, the sisters saw very little of these earnings. Their lives were totally controlled by their guardian Myer Myers, even to the point of the Myers’ sleeping in the same room as the girls, and constantly shielding them from the eyes of an intrigued world.

Photo: Wellcome Collection

In their private moments, they would secretly express a desire to each other to escape from the Myers’ clutches, and take control of their considerable wealth. Violet and Daisy had performed with, and become friends with Harry Houdini, and after learning that they were essentially broke while the Myers’ lived a luxurious lifestyle, he had strongly encouraged the girls to take control of their public persona and media profile. Summoning up the courage, they began legal action through the justice system, as their situation living under the dominance of the Myers’, became common public knowledge. People were appalled that even though the girls were over the age of 21, they were essentially penniless, and still “shackled” to the Myers. They moved out of the Myers’ mansion in San Antonio, and they took up residence at the St Anthony Hotel for the duration of the legal proceedings. Finally, in early 1931 with the assistance of lawyer Martin J. Arnold, Violet and Daisy achieved emancipation from the Myers. In a highly-publicized case that was heard at the Bexar County Courthouse in San Antonio, with hundreds of intrigued spectators attending daily, the twins were released from Myer and Edith Myers, and subsequently awarded compensation of $100,000…equivalent to about $1,500,000 today !

Photo: Pinterest

Their lives, under their own control, took many twists and turns, due to the fact that for the first time, they were making their own decisions….and they made a lot of bad ones along the way because they had been so sheltered. Free of the shackles placed on them by the Myers, the twins moved into a small apartment on Burr Road in San Antonio with their Pekinese dog “Boy”, and lived life to the full by partying, enjoying smoking and drinking for the first time, and discovering the opposite sex. They also purchased an apartment in New York.

Photo: Pinterest

Photo: Chicago Tribune

The following year, they were offered a role in the movie “Freaks” As it turned out, the film was basically a celluloid version of a circus sideshow, and included a number of other prized signings like” Josephine/Joseph, the Half-and-Half” who was an intersex person, “Lady Olga the Bearded Lady”, “Prince Randian” who was billed as “The Human Caterpillar”, and Johnny Eck, who was born without a lower half to his body. The film so outraged the public with its depiction of people with deformities, the studio, MGM, pulled it from cinemas. 

Despite their new-found freedom, the twins did not have any luck in love, with a series of disastrous relationships throughout their lives. Violet fell in love with musician Maurice Lambert, however the couple were denied the right to get married by 21 states….many thought the union would be akin to “bigamy”

Photo: Daily Mail

A few years later, Daisy became pregnant, and it was rumored that the father of the child was a married musician in their troupe “The Hilton Sisters’ Revue”. She delivered a baby boy, who was given up for adoption because they did not believe a baby would fit in with with their lifestyle and career.

On July 18th 1936, one of their many “managers” came up with the plan of staging a wedding at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Tickets to the “wedding” were sold for 25c each, as Violet wed James Moore, a longtime friend and fellow performer. Moore was gay, and eventually both he and the sisters admitted it was a publicity stunt. As an event, it was successful, with the receiving line 20 minutes long as fans waited to meet the Bride, Groom and the Maid-of-Honor ( Daisy ) who was visibly pregnant at the time.

Photos: dallasnews.com

Photo: Dallas Morning News

Although Violet and James never lived together, the “marriage” ended up lasting for 10 years before it was finally annulled.

To continue with their career in entertainment, Violet and Daisy were forced to adapt because the world of showbiz was changing quickly. Vaudeville was fading and Burlesque shows were taking over. The twins came up with a new act…..and it involved playing ukuleles, singing harmonies…and partial stripping. However, it did not prove to be very popular. On more than one occasion, they were booed off the stage. Interest in the girls was waning rapidly, particularly after the revelation of the “sham” wedding.

Photo: Sonny Watson’s West Coast Swing Dance

Then, in 1941, Daisy also decided to marry. Her husband was musician and dancer Harold Estep, but like her sister’s previous marriage, this one was also short-lived. Like Jim Moore before him, Harold was gay, and the trio was often ridiculed in public. The marriage only lasted 10 days before Harold decided that he had had enough and left.

Photo: McComb Daily Journal – Newspapers.com

Sadly, by the late 1940’s, the twins’ act had become irrelevant to the showbiz world, and they were in a dire situation. In 1950, they were thrown what seemed to be a lifeline, with a starring role in the movie “Chained for Life”…a semi-biographical film about conjoined twins. Unfortunately, it was a cinematic flop, and like their previous movie venture “Freaks”, this movie was widely banned because of its controversial content.

They tried everything to salvage their careers, even traveling the country to appear at drive-in theaters showing both of their movie ventures in a double bill, and trying to fire up their personal popularity. Sadly, the movies were shown to mostly deserted venues, and nobody, it seemed, was interested in meeting Violet and Daisy at the concession stand.

Facing the reality that their celebrity fame had dwindled, the twins opened a hot dog stand in Miami in order to survive. It was called “The Hilton Sisters Snack Bar”

After an opening frenzy with customers swarming the stand, once again, their popularity was not enough to keep it going, even though they worked there every day. Their dream of it developing into a career in the restaurant business disappeared rapidly, and within a year, the business closed.

Photo: Pinterest

The twins turned to the only thing they felt comfortable with…show business, and with the growing cult interest in the movie “Freaks”, they tried to revive their career by making appearances at drive-ins where it was showing. As was the pattern in their lives, they were again taken advantage of, and abandoned by a promoter at a screening in Monroe, North Carolina in July, 1962. The promoter also took off with all their earnings, leaving them destitute. They had no income, no transport, and no home.

Violet and Daisy applied for a job at a Charlotte “Park’n’Shop” grocery store in September of that year, and despite offering to work for only a “one person wage”, the owner, Charles Reid, paid them separately, and hired them to work as produce weighers in the store. He designed a two person cashier / weighing station for them, and it was so discreet, that when a customer approached it, they had no idea that the girls were conjoined.

They worked there for 7 years, and during that time, they rented a small 2 bedroom home on the corner of Weyland and Greenland Avenue, courtesy of Charles Reid’s church, Purcell United Methodist. Although making friends with workmates, and relating stories of their former showbiz lives, they settled into a life of relative solitude, only leaving home for work and church. However, it is believed that they finally found the security and enjoyment of life they had longed for. Remembering those who helped them, they would always give Christmas gifts to fellow employees and favorite customers at the “Park’n’Shop”

Photo: Facebook

Late in 1968, Daisy was diagnosed with the flu which was sweeping the country, but refused hospitalization. On January 4th, 1969, they failed to show up for work at the store. After repeated attempts to reach them, police were called, and the door of their home was forced open. Sadly, the twins were found dead inside, near a furnace vent that they had crawled to in an effort to keep warm. Daisy had succumbed to the flu epidemic first, and it was later determined that Violet had survived for another 4 days lying next to her deceased twin, before she too passed away. Violet had not called for any help…they were together until the end. The twins were 60 years of age.

The twins were buried in Forest Lawn West Cemetery in Charlotte, North Carolina, in a donated plot, and they share it with a Vietnam vet Troy Thompson, who had died in 1965. Their grave site is marked by a simple plaque that reads “Daisy and Violet Hilton. 1908-1969. Beloved Siamese Twins” 

At the end of their lives, Violet and Daisy Hilton  left behind the sum of $1,400. An intensive search for any surviving relatives failed to turn up any. 

There were 23 floral tributes at their funeral….none from the world of show business.

Photos: Atlas Obscura

But wait, here are more Violet and Daisy Hilton memories:

* “We may seem like one, but everything costs us for two,” Daisy explained. “We pay insurance for two, but could only collect for one. The only bargain we get is our weight for a penny.”

* What a penny scale revealed: Together they weighed 166 pounds, or 83 pounds each. They stood approximately 4-foot-11.

* Violet once said: ‘We fooled ourselves that by entertaining others we were making ourselves happy.’

* At their funeral service, the Reverend Jon Sills said, as he stood next to the sister’s wide coffin: “Daisy and Violet Hilton were in show business for all but the last half dozen years of their life. In the end, though, they were cast aside by the glittery and glamorous world they had been part of for so long. In the end, it was only ordinary people who showed they cared about them.” 

* As part of his bid to raise money for a blue plaque to mark the twins’ birthplace in Brighton, UK, historian Alf Le Flohic has launched walking tours that take in 18 Riley Road, their adoptive mother Mary Hilton’s pub, and the Brighton Hippodrome, where the sisters performed in 1933.

* Daisy learned how to drive a car in the United States because she was the twin who could sit in the lefthand driver’s seat. Later, the twins bought a former driving instructor’s car with dual controls, similar to the one below, so Violet could also drive.

Photo: TheSamba.com

*After the publicity “wedding” in Dallas, James Moore settled in San Antonio, and opened a restaurant called “El Matador” which was located under the historic Aztec Theater. According to Paula Allen in The Express News “The restaurant was on the building’s lower level, where bullfight posters advertising bouts in Mexican cities, a mannequin in matador’s regalia and formally dressed waiters made for what was often described as a “colorful” setting. The specialty of the house was a dish called Enchiladas Matador; Moore implied that there was a secret ingredient and refused to provide the recipe. He also claimed to have invented the taquito (small, rolled and filled taco). James Moore also served up his specialties at the annual NIOSA ( Night In Old San Antonio ) event during Fiesta celebrations.”

Photo: Trip Advisor

*Even in death, showbiz had not finished with the sisters. A musical called “Side Show” opened on Broadway in 1997, based on their extraordinary lives.

*In their birth town, the Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Co. has honored them by named a bus after the twins

Photo: Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Co.

 *Violet and Daisy had very different political views…..Violet was a staunch Democrat, while Daisy supported the Republican Party

Photo: Messy Nessy Chic

*In 2012, Leslie Zemeckis wrote and directed a biography on Violet and Daisy Hilton. Featuring interviews and actual footage, it is available for viewing through Netflix

Photo: Amazon

Photo: Dallas Morning News

Sources

“Bound By Flesh”. Mistress Inc. 2012

“The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton: A True Story of Cojoined Twins”. Dean Jensen. Ten Speed Press. 2006

“The Tragic Life Story of the Cojoined Hilton Sisters”. Medium.com. Sal. 2020

“The Curious Life of the Cojoined Hilton Sisters. Erin Kelly. allthatsinteresting.com. 2015

“The History and Art of the Siamese Twins Violet and Daisy”. Faena Aleph. faena.com

“Rejected at birth, exploited as kids: Famous cojoined twins died 52 years ago in NC”. Hayley Fowler. charlotteobserver.com. 2021

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