The Dolly Sisters, twins Roszika (Rosie) and Janszieka (Jenny) Deutsch were Vaudeville performers.

Biographies

They were born October 25, 1892 in Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, and emigrated to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1905. They perfected a single-sex "tandem" dance act - practising in front of mirrors - under the name of 'The Dolly Sisters' they began earning money in beer halls as early as 1907. Barred for being under age by the New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 stage, they toured the Orpheum Circuit until 1909 when they debuted on the Keith Vaudeville Circuit till 1911 when they signed with the Ziegfeld Follies

Ziegfeld Follies

The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....

 for two seasons.

In addition to making about a half dozen films from 1913 to 1920, they toured the theatres and dance halls of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. Sometimes they would appear with separate partners as "rival" acts to boost ticket sales. Their gambling

Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

 "career" was nearly as successful. They won $850,000 in one season at Deauville

Deauville

Deauville is a commune in the Calvados département in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.With its racecourse, harbour, international film festival, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels, Deauville is regarded as the "queen of the Norman beaches" and...

 and one evening in Cannes

Cannes

Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

, Jenny won 4 million francs, which she converted to a collection of jewelry; she then went on to win another 11 million.

Their private life was as melodramatic as their public life was stellar. Circa 1918, they became lovers of Harry Gordon Selfridge

Harry Gordon Selfridge

Harry Gordon Selfridge, Sr. was an American-born retail magnate, who founded the British department store Selfridges.-Early years:...

.
Jenny was involved in a serious car crash near Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

 with her former lover Max Constant. It took six weeks, 15 painful surgical procedures and the sale of most her jewelry to restore Jenny to some semblance of her former beauty but it left her "a broken shell", as she would say to friends.

Jenny died on May 1, 1941, having committed suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 by hanging herself in the shower of her apartment in the Shelton Hotel.

Rosie lived long enough to see a biopic made in 1945 of their lives called, inevitably The Dolly Sisters

The Dolly Sisters

The Dolly Sisters is a 1945 American biographical film about the Dolly Sisters, identical twins who became famous as entertainers on Broadway and in Europe in the early years of the twentieth century. It starred Betty Grable as Jenny and June Haver as Rosie.-Cast:*Betty Grable as Yansci "Jenny"...

- starring June Haver

June Haver

June Haver , was an American film actress. She is most well known as a popular star of 20th Century-Fox musicals in the late 1940s, most notably The Dolly Sisters with Betty Grable and John Payne and also for playing the 1920s Broadway actress Marilyn Miller in Look for the Silver Lining...

 and Betty Grable

Betty Grable

Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...

 - but in 1962 she attempted to follow her sister in suicide. The bid failed. She died on February 1, 1970, succumbing to heart failure.

Sources

• Farnsworth, Marjorie. The Ziegfeld Follies. With an introduction by Billie Burke Ziegfeld. New York: Putnam. 1956.
• http://www.streetswing.com/histmai2/d2dolly1.htm
• The Delectable Dollies by Gary Chapman. Stroud. Sutton. 2006.

External links

• Streetswing.com's Dolly Sisters page
• Page of the Lansdowne Club - Was Dolly Sister's London home in 1920s.