Bound by Flesh Page #7

or another had a man over,

things started heating up;

the other sister

was always there.

- Oh, Violet...

- When sparks

were beginning to move

from a man

and one of the sisters,

the other sister might just

pick up a magazine

and start reading

or eat an apple

or something like that.

When one of the sisters

took a male companion to bed,

that other sister

was always inches away.

- Close your eyes, Violet.

Go ahead.

Close 'em!

- What did I do?

- Pinched Daisy's arm.

- Had to be so intimidating

for the man,

because he knows

that his performance

is always being graded by that

non-participating sister.

They frequently had romances

with musicians

and with band leaders.

- Both had been engaged

on more than one occasion.

Apparently their relationships

didn't tend to last.

- An orchestra leader named

Blue Steel,

a big RCA recording artist,

who also had a coast-to-coast

live radio program,

his signature song

was one called Darling,

and he would frequently

dedicate it to Violet.

And he was married

as well.

They returned to England.

They were hoping to see

their mother, Kate Skinner.

They had no contact with her

over the years,

so they went back to Brighton

and did find their mother,

but she was,

by then, in a cemetery,

had died giving birth

to another child.

It was believed that

the father of that child

was the same father

to Daisy and Violet,

who came to a prominent family,

the Andresses.

His father

was a newspaper publisher.

If it's true

that he was the father,

his father did everything

to keep that suppressed.

It was during that time

that they met Harry Mason,

and Harry Mason

was a pugilist, a boxer.

He was a welterweight champion,

and Violet

developed a romance.

Violet was a boxing enthusiast.

They returned

to the States then.

They were in this troupe,

The Hilton Sisters' Revue.

Violet and a band leader

that the twins had,

Maurice Lambert,

became romantically involved.

Maurice Lambert proposed,

and Violet

ecstatically said yes.

They would go

from one state to another,

giving performances.

And they tried everywhere

to get a marriage license.

They were rebuffed everywhere

because marriage clerks

concluded that it was illegal.

- 27 different states

have denied you

the right to marry.

- But why?

- The way it was viewed

most places

was that this would

constitute bigamy.

- And I don't see any reason

in the world

why we should be denied

the pleasure of being happy.

My sister, Daisy,

feels the same way about it,

as she, too,

wants me to be happy.

- I think my sister's marriage

will be a wonderful thing,

because I am very sure

that they love each other

and will be married

as soon as possible.

- Maurice, who was pretty shy,

he was absolutely desolated

and became the butt of jokes.

- Their romance died

of frustration.

- One day, he just

wasn't there anymore.

He couldn't take it

another day.

- There was a kind of...

Desperate...

"I'm okay"-ness about them

that was admirable.

- The twins were traveling

with their own revue.

Daisy became with child

by one member of the show band.

Ultimately,

they had to disband.

Just wasn't generating

enough money.

- When they were little girls,

they were the... -

you know,

the top of the pile.

And I don't think

when they were independent

that they had

the same sort of knowledge

of how the audience

and the market was changing.

- In 1 936,

which was the year

of the Texas Centennial

Exposition

at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas... -

it celebrated the 1 00 years

of Texas' statehood.

Terry Turner

was managing them.

He had this crazy idea

to have one twin or the other

marry at the fair.

- It's just

a little publicity stunt.

This is an engagement.

We're gonna get married!

- Just a little publicity stunt?

- Nothing serious, eh?

I've heard enough.

- Thought this would be

a great promotion,

that it would attract

great, great crowds.

Daisy, of course,

was visibly pregnant,

so ultimately it was left

to Violet to assume this role.

- Maybe he's right after all.

This is show business.

- I knew you'd come up

with some crazy idea,

but this one might have

possibilities.

- By the way,

who's the groom?

- Jim Moore, who was

this song-and-dance man

who appeared in their shows... -

Terry Turner told him

that he was going to be

the husband.

Jim Moore was absolutely

horrified.

- But he was gay as a grig.

- He said, "If I can get

the license, will you do it?"

And they said okay.

- A part of them really wanted

to have that wedding,

and Violet, in particular,

I think that was something

that she had always desired.

- I hope you're not falling

for that sharpshooter.

- Even though it was arranged

for the event,

I don't think

it mattered so much

that it may not have been,

you know, a marriage for love.

- There were billboards

all over Dallas,

you know,

promoting this wedding.

Terry Turner was anticipating

this huge, huge crowd,

for which people

had to pay an admission.

- How many people are there?

- Well, I would judge

about 5,000 people.

- Jim Moore,

who towered over 6 foot,

almost pencil-thin guy,

and Violet, who was maybe

4 1/2 feet tall.

- When were you married,

Mr. Moore?

- Well, we were married

at the Cotton Bowl

at the Dallas Centennial,

Dallas, Texas,

on July the 1 8th.

- One report had Daisy giggling

throughout the ceremony.

- Hold it!

Still!

- Following which,

people from the audience

were able

to stream down on the field

and congratulate the newlyweds.

- When they got through

with the ceremony

and got out of the range

of the cameras and everything,

everybody kind of

retired backstage,

and they all had a glass

of champagne and a laugh.

- They tried to leave

as inconspicuously as possible

and go to the hotel.

Camping outside

the honeymoon suite

were all these damn reporters

who camped there every night,

and they would be putting

their ears against the door,

try to hear a squeaking bed.

- And nobody came out

of the closet in those days,

believe me.

- So there was no real

honeymoon night.

- The newspapermen

wanted to get a picture

of the three of them,

and he messes up his hair

to look like

all kinds of things happened

in an interesting way

the night before.

But nothing happened,

I can assure you.

- He was a young man.

He thought

it was just a, you know,

crazy part of his job.

- Jim Moore loved Violet

but not that way.

No, that was not Jim Moore's

predilection at all, sexually.

- Daisy, her sister,

was pregnant at the time.

And I always thought,

"Well, why didn't Daisy

"take the opportunity

to get married

and to try to legitimize

this child?"

- This did bring about

a certain rise

in the marketability

of the twins.

You know, they became

a little more interesting

now that one of them

was married.

- Well, I first consulted

an attorney about ten days ago,

and he told us that the

nicest way to get out of this

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