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Auction History Result 9g155 SIAMESE TWINS linen 28x42 stage poster '30s San Antonio's Daisy & Violet Hilton play the sax! Date Sold 8/18/2016 Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Original Vintage Linenbacked 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 we have previously only auctioned two examples of this really cool poster! The first time was in 2008, and the second time was in 2013, and that example auctioned for $1,603, and it was in similar condition to the example we are auctioning now. What IS linenbacking? Learn More Overall Condition and Pre-Restoration Defects with Quality of Restoration: very good. The poster had a few small tears on small parts of the folds, and a few small tears and tiny bits of paper loss that were not in the folds. It had a 2" vertical tear in the "a" of "San" that extended into the top of the "A" of "SIAMESE", and it had an 8" tear in the top center of the poster, that extended into the "M" of "SIAMESE". It had some extra horizontal creases scattered in the poster, with a small stain and tiny paper loss in the top left of the "W" of "TWINS". It had pinholes around the edges, with a few scattered in the image, and some small areas of paper loss scattered down the left and right blank borders (only blank white paper was affected). Other than the above defects, the poster was in nice condition, with good colors. Overall, the poster was in "good to very good" condition prior to linenbacking. The poster was expertly backed by a top restorer and it looks fantastic and will display wonderfully on the new owner's wall! Learn More about condition grades 
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