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Auction History Result 9e095 SIAMESE TWINS stage poster '30s San Antonio's Daisy and Violet Hilton play the sax! Date Sold 6/4/2013 Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Original Vintage Unfolded Stage Play Poster (measures 28" x 42" [71 x 107 cm]) (Learn More) San Antonio's Siamese Twins, the circa 1930s stage show ("The sensation of Vaudeville"; "Born joined together") starring conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton (one of the most famous sets of conjoined twins ever, they appeared in vaudeville shows for many years, and they appeared in the 1932 movie "Freaks", and there was a film biography of them, where they naturally played themselves, called "Chained for Life", in 1951). The sisters had an incredibly depressing life! They were born in 1908, and were the daughters of an unmarried barmaid, and the bar's owner, Mary Hilton, saw the commercial prospects of the girls soon after their birth, and she effectively "bought" them from their mother, and started exhibiting them at the age of 3. As they grew older, Mary Hilton took them on a tour of the world, and in 1926, they performed an act with Bob Hope called "Dancemedians"! Mary Hilton kept all the money they earned, and fortunately for the girls, Hilton died, but they were continued to be exploited by Hilton's husband and daughter. In 1931, they sued to gain control of their own life, and they formed a vaudeville act. They appeared on stage for many years, but in the 1960s, they fell on hard times when their manager at the time abandoned them penniless in a small town, and they worked in a local grocery, and died of the Hong Kong Flu. This poster is undated, but looking at the style of printing and the artwork, I would say it is virtually sure to be from the 1930s (probably the early 1930s, because the sisters appear quite youthful in the poster). Note that both sisters are playing saxophones in the great artwork on the poster (the sisters trained to be musicians from an early age, so they would have something to do during their stage show). If anyone knows more about this, please e-mail us and we will post it here. NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography. If you know who did the art (if any), please let us know. Important Added Info: Note that this is one of a group of recently discovered stage play and movie posters from the 1920s, which are being auctioned now, each in their own separate auction. Each of the posters is unfolded, but all have varying degrees of damage around the edges (see our individual condition description of each). All can be professionally linenbacked and restored, but we wanted to offer them unrestored, both so that the bidders could see exactly what condition each poster is in, and also so that the high bidder of each poster could choose the restorer of their choice, plus decide how much restoration each poster should have! Condition: good to very good. The poster was never folded. There are tears and tiny areas of paper loss around the edges of the poster, with larger paper loss in the top right corner, but only blank white and blue areas are affected. There are some faint partial horizontal creases scattered in the poster. There is some water staining in the lower left border, but again, only blank white and blue areas are affected (see our image). Since there is very little paper loss that is not blank white or blue paper, this will be an easy linenbacking and restoration! Learn More about condition grades 
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