Hilton Hysteria In Middletown!

Novelty Act Writ Large

Those sweethearts from Freaks were a busy conjoined pair in years leading up to, and after, the Tod Browning classic of 1932. North Carolina had a stake, it seems, in Siamese twins. The Barnum-exploited originals, Chang and Eng Bunker, retired to my home county, had a passel of kids, went broke after our side lost in the Civil War. A hundred years later, the Hiltons were traveling with a Freaks revival when their roadshow sharpie left his troupe high/dry near Charlotte. The gals wound up weighing meat at a local market through much of the 60's, died in 1969. This vaude appearance was much earlier, 12/26/28, in Middletown, Ohio. Everyone from miles around was figured to be there. The Hiltons did scores of stops like this, real talent an augment to the physical novelty. Male performers would often come out and dance with the pair, one such swain a young Bob Hope. Also-on-Sorg-bill The Burns Twins are hopelessly outclassed for being mere twins, and not conjoined. Statistics at the time said nine sets of Siamese twins had been born in the last 200 years, so chance of copycats crabbing the Hilton's act was nil. There's a recent documentary about the girls. Apparently, they were abused pretty badly by handlers. The duo has a large fan/cult following. Their other movie, a starring one (Chained For Life) has shown up on TCM, and is available on DVD.