New York


You can’t tell one apart from the other. In conversational ability they are as entertaining as they are with their tootsies. No prettier, smarter, clever people were born than these two girls... the most charming tots on the American stage.... they have proven themselves a box office asset... greater things will be heard...’

Unidentified 1916


It is generally claimed that the Dolly Sisters made their debut at Keith's Union Square Theatre in 1909. In fact they had already made a splash elsewhere touring with Gertrude Hoffman and then on their own in Cuba in 1906. This was followed by a show in Madison Square Roof Garden (1907) and regional vaudeville tours. They were spotted one night by Lee Shubert who gave them their first big Broadway break putting them into his show Midnight Sons (1909). Some critics said they could not sing and rarely changed their dance routines but nevertheless they had a certain tantilising sparkle that ensured stardom.


The great Florenz Ziegfeld saw them and hired them for his 1911 Follies in which they made their mark in New York. Further successes continued with The Winsome Widow (1912) and The Merry Countess (1912). But with their 20th birthday in October 1912 change was in the air. It was decided that they should perform separately. The official reason was professional neccessity, but significantly, within two years both married, we are told, for love. Rosie to songwriter Jean Schwartz (1913) and then Jenny to comedian and entertainer Harry Fox (1914). Separation was difficult but individual appearances followed in legitimate stage productions, vaudeville acts and the movies. They were re-united on the stage in Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic (1916), His Bridal Night (1916) and Oh Look (1918) and also appeared together in the aptly titled movie The Million Dollar Dollies (1918).


During this time they were close friends with the elite of Broadway and Hollywood and became the essential prerequisite for any Broadway festivity. However, none of their friends was more important than the millionaire Diamond Jim Brady who indulged their every whim and taught them the art of a flutter with the horses. Despite their poor husbands they had begun to learn why a man with a cheque book was such a necessity.

 

London


Two more electric personalities it has never been my fate to meet. They radiated personal magnetism, vibrant energy or whatever you like to call it and any revue benefited enormously by their presence on the stage... On the stage and off the Dolly sisters were unique.’ Charles B. Cochran


The Dolly Sisters arrived in London in 1920 to star in Albert de Courville's revue Jigsaw at the Hippodrome becoming an instant hit. They didn’t particularly like De Courville or the parts alloted them and were elated when Charles B. Cochran took them under his wing and starred them in League of Notions (1921), a fleeting appearance in Fun of the Fayre (1922) and Babes in the Wood (1921/22). Cochran understood them.


The London trip was also an excuse to escape marital discord and by 1922 they were both divorced and immediately used their new found freedom to great advantage. Their popularity in a social sense blossomed in Europe and they genuinely believed that they were the first show business personalities to be accepted socially by English and European society. This ‘acceptance’ was largely measured by the fact that their beauty and effervescent personalities, not to mention their novelty value as identical twins, enabled them to become the objects of affection of numerous rich and successful men. Each vied with the other in an elaborate game of falling in love, engagement, rumours of marriage and then cold feet.


They were linked romantically with dozens of named and unnamed men of title or wealth. However, Jenny’s liaison with the famous London Department Store owner Gordon Selfridge and Rosie’s elopement with the Canadian multi-millionnaire Mortimer Davis Jr were the most widely publicised although they were also both chased around Europe by David the Prince of Wales later to become Edward V111.

Paris

‘Now established Parisian institutions, and, as such, may be be said to rate with the Comedie-Francaise, the Bank of France, and the incomparable Mistinguett!’ The Sketch 13 July 1927.


The Dollies achieved their greatest success in France. In the spring of 1923 they became an instant hit in the Cannes Casino and this started their fascination with the Riviera. They swiftly moved to Paris and appeared in a series of spectacular revues with Paris Sans Viole (1923, Ambassadors), Oh Les Belles Filles (1923, Palace), Paris En Fleurs (1925, Casino de Paris), A Vol D'Oiseau (1926, Edouard VII Theatre) and Paris - New York (1927, Casino de Paris). They were at their peak of notoriety and fortune.


After appearing at the Casino in Deauville, another of their favourite haunts, in the height of the August 1924 season, they returned to America to appear in The Greenwich Village Follies and Sitting Pretty. They also became embroiled in the discord surrounding the antics of David, Prince of Wales, later to become Edward V111 that erupted during his visit to America in late 1924.


During their run at the salubrious Kit Kat Club in London in the summer of 1926 a public row erupted with Mistinguett. They had planned to star in a show at the Moulin Rouge. However, after reading the script, they felt misled since Mistinguett had muscled in and took their place. They sued the management for 550,000 francs (worth over $222,000 today) and then the management countersued for breach of contract. The Dolly Sisters won their case and generated public sympathy by donating the entire sum to the Actor’s Benevolent Fund.