The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton: A True Story of Conjoined Twins (54 page)

1.
“That little baby”: Jim Moore interview with Robert Warren, circa mid-1980s, San Antonio, Texas. The author is indebted to Karen Connors (Mr. Warren’s sister) of Houston, Texas, who provided transcriptions of two interviews conducted with Moore. Mr. Warren had hoped to write the Hilton sisters biography but was unable to realize the project. The author is also grateful to Ms. Connors for providing photographs and other materials collected by her brother.

2.
“In effect, Daisy and Violet had their own tutor”: ibid.

3.
“It was easy for do-gooders to condemn the carnival”: Percilla Bejano, Gibsonton, Florida, interview with author. June 21, 1998.

4.
“Would Daisy and Violet have been better off?”: Jeanie Tomaini, Gibsonton, Florida, interview with author, November 7, 1996.

5.
For the 1917 tour:
Billboard
, February 17, 1917.

6.
Their theater was sited:
Billboard
, March or April, 1917.

7.
The production advertised such attractions: ibid.

8.
“All is as spick and span as in any theater”: 21, Rubin Gruberg,
Billboard
, Dec. 10, 1921, 12.

9.
“The twins were in beautiful, ruffled white dresses”: Moore in Warren interview, op. cit.

10.
“It was almost impossible to have contact with the girls”: Moore, ibid.

11.
They smiled and simultaneously blew him kisses: ibid.

12.
“One of his publicity maneuvers”: McKennon, op. cit.

13.
And maybe more than any other carnival man: ibid.

14.
Scouts for Barnum & Bailey’s
Grtatest Show On Earth
: Moore in MacMillan interview, op. cit.

15.
There, Myer made such great displays of profligacy: “This is the Birthday House San Antonio’s Siamese Twins Gave to Aunt Who Mothered Them,”
San Antonio Express
, October 2, 1927.

16.
“No neighborhood children were allowed”: Camille Rosengren, San Antonio, Texas, interview with author, May 28, 1996.

17.
“Except for the people who entered their tent”: ibid.

18.
“The Johnny J. Jones show was one of the biggest carnivals”: Bejano, op. cit.

19.
“Percilla learned to dance early”: Ward Hall, Gibsonton, Florida, phone interview with author, June 15, 1998.

20.
“Mostly we entertained ourselves”: Bejano, op. cit.

21.
Bejano said she thought it was unfair: ibid.

22.
“… The kaiser has abdicated”: Johnny J. Jones quoted in
Billboard
, undated.

23.
“We had become strangely wise”: Daisy and Violet,
Lives and Loves
, op. cit.

24.
“As we looked at her, our first corpse”: ibid.

25.
“Why cry?”: ibid.

26.
“You girls belong to us now”: Myer Myers cited in
Lives and Loves
. Ibid.

27.
He even insisted: Daisy and Violet, ibid.

28.
We all considered ourselves members of the same family”: Tomaini, op. cit.

Chapter Eight
Pages 104–123

1.
“Believe it or not”: Joe Fanton, in John E. DeMeglio,
Vaudeville
, U.S.A., Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Press, 1973, 31.

2.
Sitting in on the audition: unidentified, undated clipping, collection of New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

3.
“Well,” said Turner, “God made the Siamese Twins”: Theodore Strauss quoting Terry Turner, “Tricks Without Mirrors,”
New York Times
, November 24, 1940.

4.
A couple weeks before: Lew Dufour with Irwin Kirby,
Fabulous Years: A Showman’s Tales of Carnivals, World’s Fairs and Broadway
, New York: Vantage, 1977, 48.

5.
The Newark Police Department had to rush in reserve forces:
Newark Evening News
, February 17, 1925, and
Billboard
, February 28, 1925.

6.
“Both,” he instructed, “like movies, flowers and bon-bons”: Ray Traynor,
Variety
, February 25, 1925.

7.
He revealed, too: ibid.

8.
Fearful that another vaudeville chain might try to pirate the act:
Billboard
, March 14, 1925.

9.
The reviews of the twins’ theater debut:
Variety
, February 25, 1925.

10.
So great was the demand for tickets:
New York Morning Telegraph
, February 20, 1925, and
Billboard
, February 28, 1925.

11.
New box office records were established:
Billboard
, March 28, 1925.

12.
“If we could have had our choice of fathers”: Daisy Hilton,
San Francisco Call & Post
, July 22, 1936.

13.
“These dolls are almost as interesting as the Twins themselves”:
New York Mirror
, March 16, 1925.

14.
“In the lines assigned to them by Traynor”: Sam M’Kee,
New York Morning Telegraph
, March 24, 1925.

15.
“You laughed at their girlish patter”: Rose Fernandez, Honolulu, Hawaii, phone interview with author, February 2, 1997.

16.
“If one of the girls should fall in love”: Edith Myers unidentified, undated clipping, collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

17.
After receiving “hundreds of requests”:
New York Evening Bulletin
, March 27, 1925.

18.
“Well,” said Rosetta, “let’s enter into agreement”:
New York World
, April 9, 1925.

Chapter Nine
Pages 124–135

1.
“See, Daisy, I told you he’d still remember us”: Violet Hilton quoted in Milt Josefberg,
The Jack Benny Show
. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1987, 34.

2.
Because the Miller could seat 1500: “Wisconsin Theater Breaks Record In Milwaukee,”
Billboard
, October 17, 1925.

3.
Under the new contract: “Siamese Twins for Orpheum,”
Billboard
, December 12, 1925.

4.
“At first it was a funny sensation to dance with a Siamese twin”: Bob Hope as told to Pete Martin,
Have Tux Will Travel
. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954, 54.

5.
Violet once revealed:
Lives and Loves
. Op. cit.

6.
“We wore the high hats and spats”: Hope, 55, op. cit.

7.
Their scouting ended: “This is the Birthday House …,”
San Antonio Express
, October 2, 1927.

8.
While there already were examples of the new architectural style: ibid.

9.
The
Express
account: ibid.

Chapter Ten
pages 136–150

1.
Not only did Myer gain custody of the twins: ruling filed April 1, 1927, 45th District Court, Bexar County, Texas.

2.
He kicked the vase:
Lives and Loves
. Op. cit.

3.
“You still keep us caged up like wild animals at a circus”: ibid.

4.
He said he would immediately see to it:
San Antonio Express
, January 13, 1931.

5.
“They both loved him”: Mabel Oliver,
Kansas City Times
, March 26, 1931.

6.
Inside his bag, she found a sheaf of perfume-scented letters:
San Antonio Express
, circa April 1, 1931.

7.
“Mary and Margaret were no more trainable than jellyfish”: Ray Traynor, unidentified, undated clipping.

8.
“Their (piano) playing and dancing pass as well as anyone could want”:
Variety
, April 14, 1927.

9.
“The one that was walking (was) bent over a little bit”: Moore in MacMillan interview, op. cit.

10.
“The reviewer for the
The Billboard
fairly fumed at the breaches of taste”:
Billboard
, February 15, 1930.

11.
“Last Saturday’s
Newark Star
was hogged by Turner for his Gibb Girls”:
Variety
, April 13, 1927, 26.

12.
The report from the contracting agent wasn’t good:
Lives and Loves
. Op. cit.

13.
The lawsuit naming the twins: Lawsuit naming Daisy and Violet filed with circuit court, Kansas City, Missouri.

Chapter Eleven
Pages 151–165

1.
“We don’t want anything cheap”: Daisy,
Lives and Loves
, op. cit.

2.
It would later be reported:
San Antonio Express
, January 31, 1931.

3.
“He would welcome the train at the railway yards:” Peyton Green,
San Antonio: City in the Sun
, New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1946, 235.

4.
During the teens and twenties: Peyton Green, op. cit.

5.
“You have to fight this”: Myer Myers cited in
Lives and Loves
. Op. cit.

6.
Myers referred to Mildred Oliver’s lawsuit:
Kansas City Times
, March 26, 1931.

7.
“They’re twenty-one, aren’t they?”: Martin Arnold cited in
Lives and Loves
. Op. cit.

8.
“You’re two frightened girls”: Arnold, ibid.

9.
“You can come out now, Miss Stozer”: Arnold, ibid.

10.
“It was a strange experience to see someone crying”: Daisy, ibid.

11.
“What became of all the money your earned?”: Arnold, ibid.

12.
“I’ll help you,” he promised”: Arnold, ibid.

13.
“Girls,” Lucille told them, “you’re Mr. Arnold’s guests”: Lucille Stotzer, ibid.

14.
“It was like a dream”: Daisy, ibid.

15.
“I had always thought that Don told me with his songs”: ibid.

16.
“I always hoped you’d break away from Sir”: Don Galvan, ibid.

17.
“He was even better looking than I remembered”: Daisy, ibid.

18.
“It was disappointing”: ibid.

19.
“Gee, Daisy, I’m getting tired of waiting for Don to kiss you”: Violet, ibid.

20.
“They don’t seem to be making any allowances”: Edith Myers, “Manager Says Twins Out for Life of ‘Whoopee,”
San Antonio Light
, January 13, 1931.