Conjoined sisters, a televangelist and The Villa’s owner: 4 famous women from Charlotte’s past
In honor of International Women’s Day, it seemed fitting to look into our local scene and share some female-focused Charlotte history. Have you heard of these famous women of our city’s past?
The conjoined twin sisters: Daisy and Violet Hilton
Charlotte is the place where conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton performed their last show in the 1960s. The twins, who were born in 1908 and joined at the hips and buttocks, finished their long career at a drive-in.
While their performance years saw highlights like a tap-dancing routine in 1926 as part of an act with Bob Hope, the twins were abused and treated as captives by their managers until 1931.
Their later years involved tours in vaudeville acts and in burlesque venues, and starring roles in films about their lives. They died in 1969, and are remembered with a grave at Forest Lawn West Cemetery off Freedom Drive.
The televangelist: Tammy Faye Bakker
Tammy Faye Bakker was known as a gospel singer and she and her husband Jim were known for their work as televangelists with the Praise the Lord “PTL” Club. The PTL had a weekday talk show, the “Jim and Tammy” show. Jim envisioned that Christian TV would serve as the medium for the second coming of Jesus Christ.
In 1978, the couple founded the Christian theme park and retreat Heritage USA in Fort Mill. Their theme park boasted a Main Street USA, waterpark, skating rink, hotel, studios and beyond, becoming the third most-visited theme park in America.
During the 1980s, Jim had an affair with a church secretary and paid her to keep quiet, and also oversold lifetime memberships to his Heritage Grand Hotel, a building that had never been finished.
The combination of Jim’s sex scandal and the accounting fraud that landed him in jail caused Heritage USA to close and also shut down PTL. The Bakkers later divorced.
Tammy Faye died a decade ago, at age 65. She was remembered as an emotional woman when she prayed or asked for financial contributions. She was remembered for her overstated outfits, heavy makeup and false eyelashes, and her book, “Tammy: Telling It My Way.”
In the pages, she wrote to Jim: “Get on with your life and don’t worry what people think. Hold your head up high.”
The former owner of The Villa: Blanche Reynolds
If you have been to RuRu’s Tacos + Tequila or Stagioni on Providence Road, you have been to The Villa. It’s a lovely Tuscan-style building that now holds shops and restaurants.
It was built in the 1920s for owner Blanche Reynolds. The style was inspired by the wealthy widow’s trip to Italy in 1925, where she met her next husband, Alexis Gourmajenko. They got married and moved into The Villa in 1926.
The building was designed by New York City architect William L. Bottomley and contained features like a leather-walled séance room, frescoes on the bedroom ceiling and the city’s first swimming pool.
Reynolds was known for being “a world traveler and independent spirit,” for throwing parties and for driving her pair of Dalmations about town in a Daimler.
The Villa, officially named the Reynolds-Gourmajenko House, is now a designated historic structure by the Mecklenburg County Historic Landmarks Commission.
Sarah Crosland contributed research to this article. The Charlotte Observer archives also served as a source.
Photos: Observer file, Stagioni
This story was originally published March 7, 2017 at 11:00 PM with the headline "Conjoined sisters, a televangelist and The Villa’s owner: 4 famous women from Charlotte’s past."