Pamela & Bear in street clothes
Agatha & Betty BAM in action
Agatha alone, selling kisses in Amsterdam
My beloved acting partner for 12 years (1975-87), Pamela Plastic, and I first met the BAM Sisters early in our collaborative career. They were BAM, I think, because there were three at first, Betty, Agatha & Maria. They were always a bit vague about what happened to Maria. Apparently she fled the trio to seek greener pastures.
So this intrepid duo was clambering for a way back into The Theatre. Way back when (for they were no spring chickens, I declare), they apparently billed themselves as "The Best Twin Act In Holland" -- though, come to think of it, by the time we'd hoisted them back up onstage, they were using the moniker "The Best Twin Act in Europe!"
At any rate, they made a bit of a splash with their "Comeback Tour," though not I think the kind of splash they thought they were making. Betty was the wild one. She tried to behave, but stylish (bossy!) Agatha was always on edge about what her twin would do next. Their shows had a way of morphing depending on the performance situation. The audience caught on to the fact that the sisters had an endless, majestic repertoire that they were happy to trot out when egged on by the crowd.
They must have been truly desperate for the limelight, because they had me booking them in every dive, every women's festival, every hippie enclave, every German Woodstock and any actual theater who'd have them for years! It didn't matter if I told even prissy Agatha that there was no WC accessible from their dressing room. She'd just tut tut and bring along a bucket.
They conversed, they bantered, they sang near-close harmony with charmingly dated choreography. When Betty got going (and how she managed to sneak that flask on stage every night I'll never know!!), well, then she would do pirouettes and flips and even would climb up to stand on her sister's shoulders. Remarkable, especially for an old dame like that. And just when Agatha thought she had the audience (and especially the gentlemen of the audience) in the palm of her impressively capacious hand, why Betty would find an excuse to remove a critical piece of apparel.
Although they wreaked havoc almost everywhere we booked them, and brought audience participation to a new low, turning their fans into heathens, they became beloved and gathered a following. They did hundreds of performances over a period of many years, and indeed, all over Europe! The most remarkable thing about the BAMsisters was that no two shows were ever alike. Perhaps that's why their hangers-on always came back for more.
And then, sadly, they became too successful. Without considering the consequences, I booked them on TV quiz shows, a sitcom and -- the last straw -- at a theater festival in Hamburg where they drove 2,500 avid Germans back to the Stone Age at an outdoor amphitheater on the harbor. I mean, that mob went so wild that Agatha followed Betty's cartwheels for the cheering masses by doing a handstand flip ---wearing stiletto heels on the cement stage. Madness!
I think Betty, amazingly, was the one who got it, that their madness had to stop. Dear old Agatha never understood her limitations. She was last seen at a metro stop somewhere in Vienna on a fold-up camping stool, selling kisses.
I know that I speak for Pamela as well when I say, the BAMsisters rocked our world.