Born to a barmaid, Violet and her conjoined twin sister
Daisy Hilton were raised by the midwife who
delivered them. This woman, Mary Hilton, saw her meal ticket in the
curly-haired babies and trained them to perform. The girls were
ill-treated and kept in a state of poverty until they arranged a
private meeting with a lawyer at the age of 23. They then became their
own managers and remained popular vaudeville performers until live
shows were replaced by motion pictures. After performing in
Freaks - Missgestaltete (1932) and
Chained for Life (1952), Violet
and Daisy fell into poverty and obscurity. They were found dead in
their apartment when their employer, a grocer, reported that they
hadn't shown up for work. They left no known survivors.
