Research Catalog

San Antonio's Siamese Twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton, poster

Title
San Antonio's Siamese Twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton, poster [graphic]
Publication
[between 1920 and 1935]

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
Still imageSupervised use MWEZ+++ n.c. 5261 (Daisy and Violet Hilton)Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre

Details

Description
1 poster : col.; 107 x 70 cm., on paper backing, 108 x 71 cm.
Summary
Advertisement for vaudeville performers Daisy and Violet Hilton, drawn standing, each holding a saxophone.
Donor/Sponsor
National Endowment for the Arts Millennium Project.
Series Statement
Treasures of the American Performing Arts, 1875-1923
Subjects
Genre/Form
Performing arts posters.
Note
  • "'The sensation of vaudeville', San Antonio's Siamese twins"--Top.
Additional Formats (note)
  • Also available in electronic form, digitized by The New York Public Library.
Biography (note)
  • Daisy and Violet Hilton, Siamese twins born 1908 to an unwed British barmaid in Brighton, England, were sold at birth to their midwife Mary Hilton, who soon began exhibiting them in public. At Mary Hilton's death, they then became the wards of her daughter Emily, who later married Myer Myers of San Antonio, Texas, where they all moved. Emily Myers continued to profit off her wards, sometimes making as much as $3500.00 per week from their appearances as instumentalists and dancers in side shows, vaudeville, and on the Orpheum Circuit. In 1931, they successfully brought suit against Emily Myers to gain financial control over their own lives. They continued performing, appearing in several movies, and, despite very brief marriages for both of them, they remained alone, dying together in 1969.
Call Number
MWEZ+++ n.c. 5261 (Daisy and Violet Hilton)
OCLC
NYPG98-F811
Title
San Antonio's Siamese Twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton, poster [graphic]
Imprint
[between 1920 and 1935]
Series
Treasures of the American Performing Arts, 1875-1923
Additional Formats
Also available in electronic form, digitized by The New York Public Library.
Biography
Daisy and Violet Hilton, Siamese twins born 1908 to an unwed British barmaid in Brighton, England, were sold at birth to their midwife Mary Hilton, who soon began exhibiting them in public. At Mary Hilton's death, they then became the wards of her daughter Emily, who later married Myer Myers of San Antonio, Texas, where they all moved. Emily Myers continued to profit off her wards, sometimes making as much as $3500.00 per week from their appearances as instumentalists and dancers in side shows, vaudeville, and on the Orpheum Circuit. In 1931, they successfully brought suit against Emily Myers to gain financial control over their own lives. They continued performing, appearing in several movies, and, despite very brief marriages for both of them, they remained alone, dying together in 1969.
Local Note
Poster edges torn; fully encapsulated.
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Indexed Term
Posters & lobby cards
Research Call Number
MWEZ+++ n.c. 5261 (Daisy and Violet Hilton)
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