Julius and son Istvan (later known as Edward, born March 31, 1898) emigrated to the United States in October 1904; the twins and their mother arrived May 1905.
[2] As children, the sisters trained as dancers and began earning money in beer halls as early as 1907.
Rosie appeared in The Whirl of the World on stage while Jenny teamed up with dancer Harry Fox (whom she married in 1912) in Honeymoon Express.
The sisters re-teamed in 1916 to appear in Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic and returned to vaudeville where they commanded $2,000 a week.
They toured the theaters and dance halls of Europe and were courted by numerous wealthy men and royalty including Carol II of Romania, Christian X of Denmark and Alfonso XIII of Spain.
[7] While in Europe, the sisters became well known for gambling excursions at casinos and horse tracks which were usually financed by wealthy admirers.
[citation needed] While Jenny was gambling in Cannes one evening, the Viscountess Furness saw her and remarked, "I have never seen so many jewels on any one person in my life.
The necklace she wore must have cost a king's ransom, and the ring on her right hand was the size of an ice cube.
Participating artists included Josephine Baker, Harry Pilcer, and bandleader Billy Arnold.
[citation needed] The Dolly Sisters' private lives were as melodramatic as their public life was stellar.
Jenny sustained serious injuries (her stomach had been displaced into her lung chamber) that required dozens of operations and plastic surgeries to reconstruct her face.
[14] In the years following their retirement and her sister's death, Rosie Dolly retreated from public life.
[15] The bodies of both sisters are interred in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.
[18] In 1972, the twenty-fourth episode of the fifth season of The Carol Burnett Show featured a musical comedy sketch of the sisters' lives called "The Doily Sisters", with Carol Burnett as Jenny, Vicki Lawrence as Rosie and Harvey Korman as Henry.
[19] Author Terry Pratchett chose to name a part of his fictional city Ankh-Morpork on the Discworld "Dolly Sisters".
[citation needed] In the 1987 Last of the Summer Wine episode, "The Ice Cream Man Cometh", Compo Simmonite, seeing Nora Batty and Pearl come into the Cafe in a bad mood, says "Here come the Dolly Sisters!