The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton PDF Download

Author: Dean Jensen
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
ISBN: 0307814777
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
The lives and loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton follows the poignant life story of twin sisters who were literally joined at the hip, set against the tumultuous backdrop of America during the first half of the 20th century. Daisy and Violet and an unforgettable cast of show-business characters come alive on the pages of this carefully researched and sensitively written biography. Reviews "Jensen's book is a testament to the fickleness of the entertainment world." -Tampa Bay Tribune "It is an affecting story, gently and honestly told without frills, without sensation. In Jensen's hands, the twins are always human, individuals, never freaks joined at the hips as the world saw them after their birth in 1908. . . Here, their story is pure." -Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Author: Dean Jensen
Publisher:
ISBN: 1580087582
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton shares the tumultuous and poignant life story of twin sisters who were literally joined at the hip. Their journey begins in Brighton, England, where they were displayed to the publicf almost frrom the moment of their illegitimate birth. While still toddlers, they were taken to the Australian outback where they were adopted and kept in thrall by a pair of enterprising guardians. Then to the shores of California and the American West, where they graduated from traveling carnivals to the musical variety stage. It was on Broadway that they won the hearts of critics and audiences--especially the men. Along the way they were befriended by Harry Houdini, trouped with Jack Benny, and danced with Bob Hope. But it was for their starring roles in the Tod Browning cult film classic, Freaks, that the Hilton sisters are perhaps best remembered.

Author: Linda Frost
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
ISBN: 0299230732
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Conjoined twins have long been a subject of fantasy, fascination, and freak shows. In this first collection of its kind, Millie-Christine McKoy, African American twins born in 1851, and Daisy and Violet Hilton, English twins born in 1908, speak for themselves through memoirs that help us understand what it is like to live physically joined to someone else. Conjoined Twins in Black and White provides contemporary readers with the twins’ autobiographies, the first two “show histories” to be republished since their original appearance, a previously unpublished novella, and a nineteenth-century medical examination, each of which attempts to define these women and reveal the issues of race, gender, and the body prompted by the twins themselves. The McKoys, born slaves, were kidnapped and taken to Britain, where they worked as entertainers until they were reunited with their mother in an emotional chance encounter. The Hiltons, cast away by their horrified mother at birth, worked the carnival circuit as vaudeville performers until the WWII economy forced them to the burlesque stage. The hardships, along with the triumphs, experienced by these very different sister sets lend insight into our fascination with conjoined twins.

Author: Sarah Miller
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade
ISBN: 0593119738
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
From the author of The Miracle & Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets and The Borden Murders comes the absorbing and compulsively readable story of Violet and Daisy Hilton, conjoined twins who were the sensation of the US sideshow circuits in the 1920s and 1930s. On February 5, 1908, Kate Skinner, a 21-year-old unmarried barmaid in Brighton, England, gave birth to twin girls. They each had ten fingers and ten toes, but were joined back to back at the base of the spine. Freaks, monsters--that's what they were called. Mary Hilton, Kate's employer and midwife, adopted Violet and Daisy and promptly began displaying the babies as "Brighton's United Twins." Exhibitions at street fairs, carnivals, and wax museums across England and Scotland followed. At 8 years old, the girls came to the United States, eventually becoming the stars of sideshow, vaudeville, and burlesque circuits in the 1920s and 1930s. In a story loaded with questions about identity and exploitation, Sarah Miller delivers a completely compelling, empathetic portrait of two sisters whose bonds were so sacred that nothing — not even death— would compel Violet and Daisy to break them.

Author: Leslie Zemeckis
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 161902568X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Lili St. Cyr was, in the words of legendary reporter Mike Wallace, the "highest paid stripteaser in America." Wallace was so fascinated by Lili that out of all the presidents and celebrities he interviewed over a long career, towards the end of his life, she was the one he remained fixated on. Her beauty had that kind of effect. Lili St. Cyr, the one time queen of burlesque, led an incredible life –six marriages, romances with Orson Wells, Yul Brenner, Vic Damone, a number of suicide attempts, all alongside great fame and money. Yet despite her fierce will she lost it all; becoming a recluse in her final decades, she eked out a living selling old photos of herself living with magazines taped over her windows. Goddess of Love Incarnate will be the definitive biography of this legendary figure, done with the cooperation of Lili's only surviving relative. But the book does more than fascinate readers with stories of a byone era. St. Cyr was ahead of her time in facing the perils and prejudices of working women, and the book offers a portrait of a strong artistic figure who went against the traditional roles and mores expected of women at that time St. Cyr was the first stripper to work in the swanky nightclubs on Sunset Boulevard. She was the first stripper to work Las Vegas. She was at the top of her game for over thirty years. And though she would feel conflicted by it, as do many women who feel the push/pull of careers – especially controversial, button–pushing careers – Lili would dismiss what she did as having no importance. But she wouldn't give it up – not for millionaires and most certainly not for love. Based on years of research, Goddess of Love Incarnate contains information and memorabilia that was almost lost forever. As an award winning documentary filmmaker and expert writer, Zemeckis brings St. Cyr back to life the way no other writer can, restoring Lili to her rightful place in American history.

Author: Henry Krieger
Publisher: Samuel French, Inc.
ISBN: 9780573651410
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Based on the true story of siamese twins Violet and Daisy Hilton who became stars during the Depression, Side Show is a moving portrait of 2 women joined at the hip. Whose extraordinary bondage brings them fame but denies them love.

Author: Leslie Zemeckis
Publisher: Catapult
ISBN: 1640090606
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Discover two forgotten icons from the golden age of entertainment: the lost stories of Sally Rand and Faith Bacon—women who each claimed to be the inventor of the notorious fan dance in this "detailed, deeply researched, and compelling" feminist history (Chicago Tribune). Some women capture our attention like no others. Faith Bacon and Sally Rand were beautiful blondes from humble backgrounds who shot to fame behind a pair of oversize ostrich fans, but with very different outcomes. Sally Rand would go on to perform for the millions who attended the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago, becoming America’s sweetheart. Faith Bacon—the Marilyn Monroe of her time who was once anointed the “world’s most beautiful woman”—would experience the dark side of fame and slip into drug use. It was the golden age of American entertainment, and Bacon and Rand fought their way through the competitive showgirl scene of New York with grit and perseverance. They played peek-a-boo with their lives, allowing their audiences to see only slivers of themselves. A hint of a breast? A forbidden love affair? They were both towering figures, goddesses, icons. Until the world started to change. Little is known about who they really were, until now. Feuding Fan Dancers tells the story of two remarkable women during a tumultuous time in entertainment history. Leslie Zemeckis has pieced together their story and—nearly one hundred years later—both women come alive again.

Author: Sarah Crossan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1408829460
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 475

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Book Description
_______________ 'Broke my heart and mended it' - Cecilia Ahern 'It will shake up preconceptions and move readers to tears' - Sunday Times Book of the Week 'Truly remarkable' - Irish Times _______________ WINNER OF THE YA BOOK PRIZE WINNER OF THE CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL WINNER OF THE CBI BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER OF THE CLIPPA POETRY AWARD _______________ Here we are. And we are living. Isn't that amazing? How we manage to be here at all. Grace and Tippi don't like being stared and sneered at, but they're used to it. They're conjoined twins - united in blood and bone. What they want is to be looked at in turn, like they truly are two people. They want real friends. And what about love? But a heart-wrenching decision lies ahead for Tippi and Grace. One that could change their lives more than they ever asked for... This moving and beautifully crafted novel about identity, sisterhood and love ultimately asks one question: what does it mean to want and have a soulmate? _______________ Experience every emotion with the finest verse novelist of our generation... Don't miss Sarah Crossan's other irresistibly page-turning books Moonrise, Toffee, Apple and Rain, and The Weight of Water.

Author: Sonya Mukherjee
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1481456776
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
In a small town, as high school graduation approaches, two conjoined sisters must weigh the importance of their dreams as individuals against the risk inherent in the surgery that has the potential to separate them forever.

Author: Gish Jen
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307826546
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
In this dazzling collection of short stories, the award-winning author of the acclaimed novels Thank You, Mr. Nixon and Mona in the Promised Land—presents a "sparkling ... gently satiric look at the American Dream and its fallout on those who pursue it" (The New York Times). The stories in Who's Irish? show us the children of immigrants looking wonderingly at their parents' efforts to assimilate, while the older generation asks how so much selfless hard work on their part can have yielded them offspring who'd sooner drop out of life than succeed at it. With dazzling wit and compassion, Gish Jen looks at ambition and compromise at century's end and finds that much of the action is as familiar—and as strange—as the things we know to be most deeply true about ourselves.