The Silver Lake Sisters

The sisters performing in the lobby of the Hollywood Tower Hotel

**Dolly, Dottie and Ethel Bounds**, known professionally as **Fiddler, Fifer & Practical** or **The Silver Lake Sisters** are characters from the *Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe* which are affiliated with *the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror*. The three are often portrayed by members of *The Beverly Belles*.

## Description

The Silver Lake Sisters were a three-woman musical group in the early half of the 20th century. They were composed of three sisters on piano, violin and lead vocalization. By the late 20th-early 21st century, the band had some mysterious connection to the paranormal.

## History

### Background

#### Origins

Dottie, Dolly and Ethel Bounds were a 1920s performing trio collectively known as The Silver Lake Sisters. They spent a good part of their lives performing the vaudeville circuit, entertaining the troops in World War I and becoming minor celebrities in nightclubs along the then‐emerging Sunset Strip in Hollywood. Amongst their Venus were the Carthay Circle Theatre, The Music Box in Chicago, the Apollo Theatre in New York City, along with Hollywood's El Capitan theatre, South Seas Club and the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

After 20 years of singing, dancing and playing their instruments (Dolly on violin, Dottie on flute, Ethel on piano), the sisters decided to put down roots on Buena Vista Street with a cafe which they named the Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe. The idea came from Ethel, the practical one. She had always handled the trio’s business affairs and was constantly urging her sisters to settle down and open a legitimate business. They finally agreed, joining together to open Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café, with its name an homage to their act.

#### Later lives

While living on Buena Vista Street, the sisters became known to a young Walt Disney who in 1933 used them as basis for his company's animated short *The Three Little Pigs.* This cartoon had the titular three little pigs also called Fiddler, Fifer and Practical with Fiddler and Fifer being the work-shirking music lovers and Practical being the intelligent builder of a sturdy brick house. Other activities in the neighbourhood included performing as "**Tres Hermanas de Silver Lake**" at the Fiesta Buena Vista festival, and sponsoring the *KBVS Radio* where they had a, "Classical Music Hour".

In 1938, the sisters performed in the Club Ritz of Homesville, U.S.A., the criminal headquarters of crime-lord Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice. In 1939, the three were hired by the Hollywood Tower Hotel to perform in their Tip Top Club for Halloween party. The night they performed, paranormal lightning originating from the 5th Dimension struck the elevator-shafts of the hotel causing four guests and a bellhop to die. The further fate of the three sisters remains a mystery though it is likely that the three were effected in some way by the supernatural hotel.

#### Tower of Terror

At some point following the hotel's reopening in 1994, the three sisters would reappear in the lobby of the hotel having not aged a day. The three were seemingly unaware that it was not the Halloween of 1939 and performed for guests along with help from their affiliate, "Joe".

## Appearances

### Atwater's Ink & Paint Supply

A bulletin board mentions, "Tres Hermanas de Silver Lake" (Spanish: **Three Sisters of Silver Lake**) as performing at Fiesta Buena Vista alongside the likes of historic hispanic singers Aurora Miranda, Carmen Molina and Dora Luz, Walt Disney Company animator band the *Firehouse Five Plus Two* (as the, "Firehouse Four") and the Three Caballeros. There is also an advertisement for their, "Classical Music Hour" on the *KBVS Radio Station* with Montgomery Morgan, a show which their café sponsors

### The Buena Vista Bugle

The sisters and their café are complimented by food critic Inglebert Irving.

### Disney Town

A poster copying the advert for the South Seas Club promotes the, "**Lake Shore Sisters**" performing at the *China Seas Club*.

### Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe

All over the café’s walls, you’ll see memorabilia from The Silver Lake Sisters’ heyday, from black-and-white publicity photos to posters of venues they’ve played, including the Hollywood Tower Hotel ballroom. You’ll also notice a music theme throughout, including booths inlaid with stained glass featuring instrument motifs. Outside, find open-air seating looking out on bustling Buena Vista Street and the beautiful Art Deco-style Carthay Circle fountain.

### Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

The three performed in the hotel lobby during the final days of the attraction in Disney's California Adventure.

## Trivia

* The name, "Silver Lake" is a tribute to how Walt Disney Studios was located in the Silver Lake District of Los Angeles.
* One of the clubs the sisters performed at was the South Seas Club, a location from the film *The Rocketeer*. Another is the Club Ritz, Big Boy Caprice's nightclub from *Dick Tracy*.
* The Silver Lake Sisters are similar to G-Force Records as they are both fictional Hollywood groups in the music industry from other attractions in the park who were connected to the Hollywood Tower Hotel, involved with the Tip Top Club during the 1939 elevator incident, and have mysterious later fates connected to the paranormal nature of the hotel.
* A bulletin-board in the cafe identifies them as having let a band called the Firehouse Four use the cafe to conduct auditions. This is a reference to the *Firehouse Five Plus Two*, a Dixieland band made up of Walt Disney Company employees.
* One of the visitors of the Silver Lake Sisters' cafe was Roger Radcliffe, a character from *One Hundred and One Dalmatians* (1961).
* The flyer outside of Atwater Ink & Paint might imply the sisters to have performed at Paradise Pier given references to carnival games and rides.
* There is a thematically similar dining-service to the Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe known as *B.B. Wolf's Sausage Co.*.

## Gallery

***Tower of Terror Wikia*** has a collection of images and media related to ***The Silver Lake Sisters***.
## External Links

* Who Are The Silver Lake Sisters?
* The Magic of Disney Parks Storytelling: Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe at Disney California Adventure Park
* The Silver Lake Sisters – The Musical Group You Will Never See Perform

## References

1. ↑ https://www.shyguysworld.com/index.php?topic=20947.0
2. ↑ https://www.micechat.com/159768-dca-photo-update-dropping-dropping/
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8p3wXIQogM
4. ↑ https://duchessofdisneyland.com/california-adventure/atwater-ink-and-paint-art-supply-bulletin-board/
5. ↑ https://dlrmaps.com/buena-vista-bugles/
6. ↑ https://d23.com/23-disney-details-you-will-love-at-shanghai-disney-resort/