Sister Acts

Sisters Bilton 1880 - 1888

A not over-talented act rather
remembered for the scandalous life of Belle Bilton.

The Sisters Bilton was one of the most popular sister acts in the music hall. Not because of their talent, rather that Belle Bilton married into the aristocracy and was involved in one of the most sensational divorce cases of the 1890’s. (Her story may be reached on the link above.)

At the age of fourteen, Belle and one of her sisters, Flo, joined the chorus of a company staging an entertainment called Les Cloches de Corneville. At Christmas that year, the Sisters Bilton, as they became known, played in pantomimes at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow. There they were seen by a London Impresario who booked them for the Alhambra and the Empire at a joint salary of £5 a week, rising quickly to £15 a week.

Seymour Hicks acknowledged their fame, but damned their talent: "The little ditties they warbled were inane and were always followed with a ... movement chivalrously called dancing by their hundreds of admirers," he wrote. "The Biltons' most famous effort was the acme of balderdash." Hicks were referring to their song, "Fresh as the New Mown Hay" which ran:

"We're fresh, fresh, fresh as the morning, Sweeter than the new mown hay.
We're fresh, fresh, fresh as the morning And just what you want today."

According to Richard Anthony Baker, their career lasted eight years i.e. until 1888. What became of Flo after that time he does not say. The article from which this piece is taken is primarily concerned with Belle.

Condenced from "Belle of the Halls" by RICHARD ANTHONY BAKER (rabmushal@aol.com)