Despite the fact they were conjoined twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton were considerably less freakish than the Hilton sisters we have to endure today.Born in England in 1908, they were joined at the hips and buttocks, and were fused at the pelvis. They shared blood circulation, but no major organs. The women their mother worked for, Mary Hilton, recognized the commercial prospects of the girls and essentially bought them from her.
As you might imagine, it was a hellish life.
They were kept in control through violent physical abuse, and forced to become side show and circus performers.
They never saw a cent of the money they made.
When Mary Hilton died, her husband and daughter took over "managing" the twins. In 1931, they sued their managers and won $100,000 and their independence.
They took their act - The Hilton Sisters Revue - into vaudeville. In 1932 they starred in the movie Freaks, and in 1951 made an exploitation film called Chained For Life, based loosely on their sad story.
In 1969, they died alone, such as it was, and broke.
There was a Broadway show about their life called Side Show, which though it only ran for three months managed to earn four Tony nominations.
When I think of these Hilton Sisters, it makes me never want to complain about anything in my life ever again. Which if you know anything about me is no small accomplishment.
My interest in them came after seeing my friends' extremely talented daughter and her friend perform this song from Side Show in a musical revue (God help us, he's posting show tunes).
It's titled after a question I'm sure the twins asked themselves every day of their lives.
(Speaking of freaks, my apologies that this clip is from the Rosie O'Donnell show - it's the best one I could find. When I get a video of my friends' daughter performing it, I'll post it.).
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