The Dionne Quintuplets
The Dionne quintuplets - Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne - were born two months premature in a small farmhouse on May 28, 1934 near the French - Canadian village of Corbeil in northern Ontario. The family was not even aware that Elzire Dionne was pregnant with quintuplets. They were identical - created from a single egg.
Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe is credited with the birth of the quintuplets. The quintuplets were immediately wrapped in cotton sheets and old napkins and laid in the corner of the bed. Dr. Dafoes didn't think that the babies would survive. The babies were kept in an ordinary wicker basket borrowed from the neighbors with heated blankets. They were soon brought into the kitchen and set by the open door of the stove to keep warm. One by one, they were taken out of the basket and massaged with olive oil. Every two hours, for the first twenty-four, they were only given sweetened water.
By the second day they were moved to a laundry basket, which was slightly larger, and heated with hot-water bottles. They were watched constantly and often had to be roused when it seemed that they were losing life. They were then fed with seven-twenty formula. It consisted of cow's milk, boiled water, two spoonfuls of corn syrup, and one or two drops of rum for stimulant. News spread quickly and the family benefited from much assistance during the first several months.
Just days after the birth of the girls, when it was thought unlikely that they would survive, Oliva Dionne, their father, signed a contract to exhibit the Quints at the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition. Elzire was not consulted.
Four months after the birth of the sisters, the Ontario government intervened, found the parents to be unfit for the quintuplets, and removed them in 1935, originally for a guardianship of two years. They were put under the guidance of Dr. Dafoe and two other guardians. The stated reason for removing the quintuplets from their parents' legal custody was to ensure their survival into healthy toddlers. The government realized the massive interest in the sisters and proceeded to engender a tourist industry around them. The girls were made wards of the provincial crown, planned until they reached the age of 18. The Ontario government eventually made millions from the dozens of commercial products endorsed by the Quints.
The Dafoe Hospital and Nursery, funded by a Red Cross fundraiser, was built for the five girls and their caregivers. The compound had an outdoor playground designed to be a public observation area. It allowed tourists to observe the sisters behind one-way screens. It was a nine-room nursery with a staff house nearby. The staff house held the three nurses and the three policemen in charge of guarding them. The buildings were surrounded by a seven foot barbed wire fence. The sisters were brought to play there for 30 minutes two or three times a day.
They were constantly being tested, studied, and examined with tedious records taken. The Dionne sisters, while living at the compound, had a rigid lifestyle. They were not required to participate in chores. Their parents were allowed to visit, but to the girls they were simply two more visitors who had to wear surgical masks to keep from spreading germs. ''We didn't know each other,'' Cecile said.
Cared for primarily by nurses, the children had limited exposure to the world outside the boundaries of the compound except for the daily rounds of tourists, who, from the sisters' point of view, were generally heard but not seen. Every morning they dressed together in a big bathroom, had doses of orange juice and cod-liver oil, and then went to have their hair curled. They said a prayer before breakfast, a gong was sounded, and they ate breakfast in the dining room. After thirty minutes, they had to clear the table, even if they weren't done. Then, they went and played in the sunroom for thirty, took a fifteen minute break and at nine o'clock was their morning inspection with Dr. Dafoe. Every month they had a different timetable of activities to do. They bathed every day before dinner and put on their pajamas. Dinner was served at precisely six o'clock. Then, they went into the quiet playroom to say their evening prayers.
Each girl had a color and a symbol to mark what was hers:
Annette's color was red with a maple leaf.
Cecile's color was green and her design a turkey.
Emilie had white and a tulip.
Marie had blue and a teddy bear.
Yvonne had pink and a bluebird.
Approximately 6,000 people per day visited the observation gallery that surrounded an outdoor playground to view the Dionne sisters. Ample parking was provided and close to three million people walked through the gallery between 1936 and 1943. Oliva Dionne ran a souvenir shop and a concession store opposite the nursery and the area acquired the moniker of "Quintland". The souvenirs invariably pictured the five sisters. There were spoons, cups, plates, plaques, candy bars, books, postcards, dolls, and much more at this shop. Oliva Dionne also sold stones from the Dionne farm for $0.50 that were supposed to have some magical power of fertility. They sold autographs and framed photographs. Midwives, Madam LeGros and Madame LeBelle opened up their own souvenir and dining stand.
In 1934, the Quintuplets brought in about $1 million, and they attracted in total about $51 million of tourist revenue to Ontario. Quintland became Ontario's biggest tourist attraction of the era, at the time surpassing the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. It was only rivaled by Radio City, Mount Vernon, and Gettysburg of the United States. Hollywood stars who came to Callander to visit the Quints include Clark Gable, James Stewart, Bette Davis, James Cagney and Mae West. Amelia Earhart also visited Callander just six weeks before her ill-fated flight in 1937.
The sisters, and their likenesses and images, along with Dr. Dafoe, were used to publicize commercial products such as Karo corn syrup and Quaker Oats among many of other popular brands. They increased the sales of condensed milk, toothpaste, disinfectant, and many other products through their promotions. They also starred in four Hollywood films:
The Country Doctor (1936)
Reunion (1936)
Five of a Kind (1938)
Quintupland (1938)
In November 1943, the Dionne parents won back custody of the sisters. They were almost 10 years old by then, and a 20-room yellow house was built with the proceeds of their promotions and endorsements. Eventually one of the rooms became a classroom for the sisters and 10 carefully selected classmates. For the first time, they realized that other people did not live the way they did.
The home had many amenities of the time, including telephones, electricity and hot water. The mansion was nicknamed "The Big House." The building is now a retirement home. The nursery was eventually converted into an accredited school house where the sisters finished their secondary education along with ten girls from the area that were chosen to attend. Years after, it was used by the Recluses of Corbeil as a convent.
While the parents sought to integrate the quintuplets into the family, the sisters frequently traveled to perform at various functions, dressed the same, and the parents often treated them at home as a five-part unit. They were sometimes denied privileges the other children received, received a heavier share of the house and farmwork, and were dressed alike.
The Quintuplets left the family home upon turning 18 years old and had little contact with their parents thereafter. About $1.8 million was put into a special trust fund for the quintuplets' future. By the time they turned 21, less than half remained. It was divided among four of the girls; the fifth, Emilie, had entered a convent but died at 20 after an epileptic seizure.
The other sister, Marie, died in 1970 from a blood clot in the brain.
The girls had been raised to believe they would be taken care of by the trust fund. When forced to handle money, they were totally unprepared. Cecile said they had trouble distinguishing a nickel from a quarter.
''We tried our best,'' Yvonne said. And they agree that they made mistakes.
Cecile says she married the first man who took her for a cup of coffee. She had five children in five years and then left him. Annette and Marie also married and raised families, and their marriages also failed.
By the time they turned 60, they were under such emotional and financial stress that they wrote a book with a professional author. Revelations of sexual abuse by their father briefly increased sales. But the advance of about $37,000 did not last long.
In 1992, Cecile, who had studied nursing, could no longer afford her Montreal apartment and so moved in with Annette, who owns the house in St. Bruno. Yvonne, who like Annette, had become a librarian, underwent surgery in 1993 and afterward went to live with her sisters. Annette's son pays the mortgage, and the three women pool their $525 in pensions to barely cover their bills. In 1997, Cecile's son Bertrand forced the government to open records from the 1930's and 40's that revealed many instances of how money that was supposed to have been put aside for the quintuplets went instead to Quintland, where it was used to pay for things like toilet paper for tourist bathrooms.
More than anything, they feel betrayed. When Bobbi McCaughey gave birth to the world's first surviving septuplets in Iowa, the sisters sent them an open letter that was published in Time magazine.
''We hope your children receive more respect than we did,'' they wrote. ''Multiple births should not be confused with entertainment, nor should they be an opportunity to sell products.''
Annette, who like all her sisters suffers from epilepsy, is feeling poorly these days. She came out of her sickroom just long enough to say that what is most painful about reopening the past is realizing how thoroughly she and her sisters had been deprived of their private lives.
''It is hard to see that everything you have is exposed all over the world,'' she said. Cecile believes that by refusing to recognize their individual identities, the government had ''stolen our souls.''
Yvonne, sitting quietly on the end of a worn-out sofa, timidly added, ''And they are still doing it.''
sources: http://www.anthonydepalma.com/articles/nyt/namerica/03041998.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionne_quintuplets
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3683/is_199401/ai_n8716816/
pictures: http://www.city.north-bay.on.ca/QUINTS/DIGITIZE/archive.htm
Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe is credited with the birth of the quintuplets. The quintuplets were immediately wrapped in cotton sheets and old napkins and laid in the corner of the bed. Dr. Dafoes didn't think that the babies would survive. The babies were kept in an ordinary wicker basket borrowed from the neighbors with heated blankets. They were soon brought into the kitchen and set by the open door of the stove to keep warm. One by one, they were taken out of the basket and massaged with olive oil. Every two hours, for the first twenty-four, they were only given sweetened water.
By the second day they were moved to a laundry basket, which was slightly larger, and heated with hot-water bottles. They were watched constantly and often had to be roused when it seemed that they were losing life. They were then fed with seven-twenty formula. It consisted of cow's milk, boiled water, two spoonfuls of corn syrup, and one or two drops of rum for stimulant. News spread quickly and the family benefited from much assistance during the first several months.
Just days after the birth of the girls, when it was thought unlikely that they would survive, Oliva Dionne, their father, signed a contract to exhibit the Quints at the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition. Elzire was not consulted.
Four months after the birth of the sisters, the Ontario government intervened, found the parents to be unfit for the quintuplets, and removed them in 1935, originally for a guardianship of two years. They were put under the guidance of Dr. Dafoe and two other guardians. The stated reason for removing the quintuplets from their parents' legal custody was to ensure their survival into healthy toddlers. The government realized the massive interest in the sisters and proceeded to engender a tourist industry around them. The girls were made wards of the provincial crown, planned until they reached the age of 18. The Ontario government eventually made millions from the dozens of commercial products endorsed by the Quints.
The Dafoe Hospital and Nursery, funded by a Red Cross fundraiser, was built for the five girls and their caregivers. The compound had an outdoor playground designed to be a public observation area. It allowed tourists to observe the sisters behind one-way screens. It was a nine-room nursery with a staff house nearby. The staff house held the three nurses and the three policemen in charge of guarding them. The buildings were surrounded by a seven foot barbed wire fence. The sisters were brought to play there for 30 minutes two or three times a day.
They were constantly being tested, studied, and examined with tedious records taken. The Dionne sisters, while living at the compound, had a rigid lifestyle. They were not required to participate in chores. Their parents were allowed to visit, but to the girls they were simply two more visitors who had to wear surgical masks to keep from spreading germs. ''We didn't know each other,'' Cecile said.
Cared for primarily by nurses, the children had limited exposure to the world outside the boundaries of the compound except for the daily rounds of tourists, who, from the sisters' point of view, were generally heard but not seen. Every morning they dressed together in a big bathroom, had doses of orange juice and cod-liver oil, and then went to have their hair curled. They said a prayer before breakfast, a gong was sounded, and they ate breakfast in the dining room. After thirty minutes, they had to clear the table, even if they weren't done. Then, they went and played in the sunroom for thirty, took a fifteen minute break and at nine o'clock was their morning inspection with Dr. Dafoe. Every month they had a different timetable of activities to do. They bathed every day before dinner and put on their pajamas. Dinner was served at precisely six o'clock. Then, they went into the quiet playroom to say their evening prayers.
Each girl had a color and a symbol to mark what was hers:
Annette's color was red with a maple leaf.
Cecile's color was green and her design a turkey.
Emilie had white and a tulip.
Marie had blue and a teddy bear.
Yvonne had pink and a bluebird.
Approximately 6,000 people per day visited the observation gallery that surrounded an outdoor playground to view the Dionne sisters. Ample parking was provided and close to three million people walked through the gallery between 1936 and 1943. Oliva Dionne ran a souvenir shop and a concession store opposite the nursery and the area acquired the moniker of "Quintland". The souvenirs invariably pictured the five sisters. There were spoons, cups, plates, plaques, candy bars, books, postcards, dolls, and much more at this shop. Oliva Dionne also sold stones from the Dionne farm for $0.50 that were supposed to have some magical power of fertility. They sold autographs and framed photographs. Midwives, Madam LeGros and Madame LeBelle opened up their own souvenir and dining stand.
In 1934, the Quintuplets brought in about $1 million, and they attracted in total about $51 million of tourist revenue to Ontario. Quintland became Ontario's biggest tourist attraction of the era, at the time surpassing the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. It was only rivaled by Radio City, Mount Vernon, and Gettysburg of the United States. Hollywood stars who came to Callander to visit the Quints include Clark Gable, James Stewart, Bette Davis, James Cagney and Mae West. Amelia Earhart also visited Callander just six weeks before her ill-fated flight in 1937.
The sisters, and their likenesses and images, along with Dr. Dafoe, were used to publicize commercial products such as Karo corn syrup and Quaker Oats among many of other popular brands. They increased the sales of condensed milk, toothpaste, disinfectant, and many other products through their promotions. They also starred in four Hollywood films:
The Country Doctor (1936)
Reunion (1936)
Five of a Kind (1938)
Quintupland (1938)
In November 1943, the Dionne parents won back custody of the sisters. They were almost 10 years old by then, and a 20-room yellow house was built with the proceeds of their promotions and endorsements. Eventually one of the rooms became a classroom for the sisters and 10 carefully selected classmates. For the first time, they realized that other people did not live the way they did.
The home had many amenities of the time, including telephones, electricity and hot water. The mansion was nicknamed "The Big House." The building is now a retirement home. The nursery was eventually converted into an accredited school house where the sisters finished their secondary education along with ten girls from the area that were chosen to attend. Years after, it was used by the Recluses of Corbeil as a convent.
While the parents sought to integrate the quintuplets into the family, the sisters frequently traveled to perform at various functions, dressed the same, and the parents often treated them at home as a five-part unit. They were sometimes denied privileges the other children received, received a heavier share of the house and farmwork, and were dressed alike.
The Quintuplets left the family home upon turning 18 years old and had little contact with their parents thereafter. About $1.8 million was put into a special trust fund for the quintuplets' future. By the time they turned 21, less than half remained. It was divided among four of the girls; the fifth, Emilie, had entered a convent but died at 20 after an epileptic seizure.
The other sister, Marie, died in 1970 from a blood clot in the brain.
The girls had been raised to believe they would be taken care of by the trust fund. When forced to handle money, they were totally unprepared. Cecile said they had trouble distinguishing a nickel from a quarter.
''We tried our best,'' Yvonne said. And they agree that they made mistakes.
Cecile says she married the first man who took her for a cup of coffee. She had five children in five years and then left him. Annette and Marie also married and raised families, and their marriages also failed.
By the time they turned 60, they were under such emotional and financial stress that they wrote a book with a professional author. Revelations of sexual abuse by their father briefly increased sales. But the advance of about $37,000 did not last long.
In 1992, Cecile, who had studied nursing, could no longer afford her Montreal apartment and so moved in with Annette, who owns the house in St. Bruno. Yvonne, who like Annette, had become a librarian, underwent surgery in 1993 and afterward went to live with her sisters. Annette's son pays the mortgage, and the three women pool their $525 in pensions to barely cover their bills. In 1997, Cecile's son Bertrand forced the government to open records from the 1930's and 40's that revealed many instances of how money that was supposed to have been put aside for the quintuplets went instead to Quintland, where it was used to pay for things like toilet paper for tourist bathrooms.
More than anything, they feel betrayed. When Bobbi McCaughey gave birth to the world's first surviving septuplets in Iowa, the sisters sent them an open letter that was published in Time magazine.
''We hope your children receive more respect than we did,'' they wrote. ''Multiple births should not be confused with entertainment, nor should they be an opportunity to sell products.''
Annette, who like all her sisters suffers from epilepsy, is feeling poorly these days. She came out of her sickroom just long enough to say that what is most painful about reopening the past is realizing how thoroughly she and her sisters had been deprived of their private lives.
''It is hard to see that everything you have is exposed all over the world,'' she said. Cecile believes that by refusing to recognize their individual identities, the government had ''stolen our souls.''
Yvonne, sitting quietly on the end of a worn-out sofa, timidly added, ''And they are still doing it.''
sources: http://www.anthonydepalma.com/articles/nyt/namerica/03041998.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionne_quintuplets
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3683/is_199401/ai_n8716816/
pictures: http://www.city.north-bay.on.ca/QUINTS/DIGITIZE/archive.htm