Dionne quintuplets


The Dionne quintuplets were the first quintuplets known to have survived their infancy. The identical girls were born just outside Callander, Ontario, near the village of Corbeil. All five survived to adulthood.
The Dionne girls were born prematurely. After four months with their family, custody was signed over to the Red Cross, which paid for their care and oversaw the building of a hospital for the sisters. Less than a year after this agreement was signed, the Ontario government stepped in and passed the Dionne Quintuplets' Guardianship Act, 1935, which made them wards of the Crown until the age of 18. The Ontario provincial government and those around them began to profit by making them a significant tourist attraction.
The identical quintuplet girls were, in order of birth:
  1. Yvonne Édouilda Marie Dionne
  2. Annette Lillianne Marie Allard
  3. Cécile Marie Émilda Langlois
  4. Émilie Marie Jeanne Dionne
  5. Marie Reine Alma Houle

    Family

The Dionne family was headed by father Oliva Édouard and mother Elzire Dionne, who married on September 15, 1925.
They lived just outside Corbeil, in a farmhouse in unregistered territory. Including the quintuplets, Oliva and Elzire had 11 children born at home. The Dionnes were a French-speaking farming family with five older children: Ernest, Rose Marie, Thérèse, Daniel, and Pauline, who was only eleven months older than the quintuplets. A sixth child, Léo, died of pneumonia shortly after birth.
The Dionnes also had three sons after the quintuplets: Oliva Jr., Victor, and Claude.

Birth

Elzire was 24 when she gave birth to the quintuplets. She suspected she was carrying twins, but no one was aware that quintuplets were even possible. The quintuplets were born prematurely. In 1938, the doctors had a theory that was later proven correct when genetic tests showed that the girls were identical, meaning they were created from a single egg cell. Elzire reported having cramps in her third month and passing a strange object which may have been a sixth fetus.
Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe is credited with ensuring the successful live birth of the quintuplets. Organised pre-natal care was not practised at that place and time so based upon his observations, he thought Elzire's baby may have a "fetal abnormality". Throughout her pregnancy she suffered from fluid retention and anaemia. Dafoe delivered the babies with the help of two midwives, Aunt Donalda and Madame Benoît Lebel, who were summoned by Oliva Dionne in the middle of the night.
Émilie and Marie shared an amniotic sac, as did Annette and Yvonne. Based on reports from Elzire, it is suspected that Cécile shared an amniotic sac with a sixth fetus: at approx. 12 weeks she passed what seemed a miscarried fetus. All but Émilie were later discovered to be right-handed, and all but Marie had a counterclockwise whorl in their hair.
The quintuplets' total weight at birth was. The highest weight was and the lowest weight was. Their individual weights and measurements were not recorded. The quintuplets were immediately wrapped in cotton sheets and old napkins, and laid in the corner of the bed. Elzire went into shock, but she recovered in two hours.
The babies were kept in a wicker basket borrowed from the neighbours, covered with heated blankets. They were taken 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 fed water sweetened with corn syrup. By the second day they were moved to a slightly larger laundry basket and kept warm with hot-water bottles. They were watched constantly and often had to be roused. They were then fed with "seven-twenty" formula: cow's milk, boiled water, two spoons of corn syrup, and one or two drops of rum for a stimulant.
News of the unusual birth spread quickly, sparked by Oliva's brother's inquiry to the local newspaper editor about how much he would charge for an announcement of five babies at a single birth. Before long, people from all over North America were offering assistance. Individuals sent supplies and well-meant advice. A famous letter from Appalachia recommended tiny doses of burnt rye whisky to prevent diarrhea. Charlie Blake, a reporter from the Chicago American newspaper found an old incubator from 1895 that did not run on electricity, which was important because the Dionne home did not have electricity, and brought it to the Dionne home.
A second incubator was brought by the Toronto Star newspaper, which had three more built from antique blueprints. Assistance was offered by women who donated their breast milk to the quintuplets. The women were compensated for their donations, receiving ten cents per ounce of milk donated. This allowed women to help with household income during the Great Depression. Once the milk was received, it was preserved and sent by train to the quintuplets. Dr. Alan Brown of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children ensured that twenty-eight ounces of breast milk was delivered to the quintuplets each morning.

Removal from family

Oliva Dionne was approached by fair exhibitors for Chicago's Century of Progress exhibition within days of the girls' birth, seeking to put the quintuplets on display and show them to the world. At the time it was not unusual for so-called "incubator babies" to be displayed at fairs and other exhibitions. The parents were persuaded to agree on the advice of the doctor present at the birth, Dr. Dafoe, and the family priest, Father Daniel Routhier.
Oliva Dionne revoked the contract only days later, citing that it was invalid because his wife did not sign it. The Tour Bureau claimed otherwise. On approximately July 27, 1934, the first guardianship bill was signed. Oliva and Elzire Dionne signed custody of the quintuplets over to the Red Cross for a period of two years to protect them from this contract and in return the Red Cross would cover all medical costs. This included the nurses' wages, supplies, and ensuring that enough breast milk was shipped to the hospital. They oversaw the building of a hospital built specifically for the Dionne quintuplets. In February 1935, the Dionnes travelled to Chicago as "Parents of the World Famous Babies" and made stage appearances.
The Premier of Ontario at the time, Mitchell Hepburn, used the Dionne vaudeville trip as an excuse to extend the guardianship. He claimed that they must save the babies from further exploitation and, in March 1935, pushed the Dionne Quintuplets Act through government, which officially made the girls wards of the Crown and extended guardianship to the age of eighteen. Oliva Dionne had a seat on the Board of Guardians but he rarely attended meetings, as he felt his vote wouldn't matter against the other three guardians: Dr. Dafoe, Joseph Valin, a French-Canadian judge from North Bay, and Minister of Welfare David Croll.
These three guardians met once a month and had full control over business matters involving the quintuplets. They were involved in caring for the girls, managing money, and creating contracts for business opportunities such as appearances in films and commercials. The stated reason for removing the quintuplets from their parents' legal custody was to ensure their survival and protection from promoters.
The government realized there was enormous public 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.

Dafoe Nursery

Across the road from their birthplace, the Dafoe Hospital and Nursery was built for the five girls and their new caregivers. The girls were moved from the farmhouse to this nursery on September 21, 1934, and lived there until they were nine years old. The compound had an outdoor playground designed to be a public observation area. It was surrounded by a covered arcade, which allowed tourists to observe the sisters behind one-way screens. The one-way screens were installed to prevent noise and distraction. The facility was funded by a Red Cross fundraiser. The sisters were brought to the playground two or three times a day in front of the crowd. It was a nine-room nursery with a staff house nearby. The staff house held the three nurses and the three police in charge of guarding them, while a housekeeper and two maids lived in the main building with the quintuplets. The buildings were surrounded by a seven-foot barbed-wire fence.
The Dionne sisters were constantly tested, studied, and examined, with records taken of everything. While living at the compound, they had a somewhat rigid lifestyle. They were not required to participate in chores and were privately tutored in the same building where they lived. Cared for primarily by nurses, they 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. They also had occasional contact with their parents and siblings across the road. When their parents were allowed in the nursery, they argued with the nurses. Elzire pushed the nurses and objected to the foods that they were fed.
Every morning they dressed together in a big bathroom, drank orange juice and cod liver oil, then had their hair curled. They then said a prayer, a gong sounded, and they ate breakfast in the dining room. After 30 minutes, they cleared the table. They then played in the sunroom for 30 minutes, took a 15-minute break, and at nine o'clock had their morning inspection with Dr. Dafoe. Every month, they had a different timetable of activities. They bathed every day before dinner and put on their pyjamas. Dinner was served at precisely six o'clock. They then went into the quiet playroom to say their evening prayers. Each girl had a colour and a symbol to mark whatever belonged to her. Annette's colour was red and her design a maple leaf, Cécile's green and a turkey. Émilie had white and a tulip, Marie blue and a teddy bear, and Yvonne pink and a bluebird.
Until the quintuplets' birth, Dafoe was a country doctor. He received additional attention when he delivered the quintuplets and was seen as a doctor having much knowledge on child care and health. Until 1942, when Dafoe retired, he was known as the world's best doctor. He wrote a book and numerous pamphlets, and had a radio broadcast, all with the intention of helping mothers with infant care. His broadcasts were sponsored by companies and brands such as Lysol, which was seen as effective at preventing infections for newborn babies. Mothers were highly appreciative of Dr. Dafoe's advice as they were actively looking for advice from professionals in the health care or child care fields. Eventually Dafoe was viewed as taking advantage of his newly-come fame. He spent much money and was removed as one of the three primary caretakers of the quintuplets. This removal involved Oliva Dionne as he took legal action to regain custody over his children. The general public did not know that Dafoe profited $182,466 in 1943.
When visits first started, the visitors watched the quintuplets through a window in the hospital. The hospital quickly realized that this was not good for the quintuplets as they were excited when visitors came and became irritated when they left. Telling visitors not to make loud noises was not enough to prevent them from doing so. They were displayed four times a day. The observatory opened on Canada Day in 1936. Thousands of tourists came to see the sisters and hundreds of cars flooded in. The visitors were told to stay silent and not speak to the girls, continue moving to avoid blockages, if the weather was bad the girls would not be shown, and no photographs were allowed. The girls knew they were watched as they could hear screams and laughter. The one-way screens did not fully block out the visitors, acting more as frosted glass.
Approximately 3,000 people per day visited the observation gallery that surrounded the outdoor playground to view the Dionne sisters. Ample parking was provided and almost 3,000,000 people walked through the gallery between 1936 and 1943. Oliva Dionne ran a souvenir shop and a woollen store opposite the nursery, and the area acquired the name "Quintland". The souvenirs, picturing the five sisters, included autographs and framed photographs, spoons, cups, plates, plaques, candy bars, books, postcards, and dolls. Available to the public for free in bins were stones from the area that claimed to have the magical power of fertility – the bins would need to be refilled almost every day.
Women without children would touch Elzire Dionne, believing that she could increase their chances of fertility. Midwives Madame LeGros and Madame Lebel worked at five different souvenir shops at different times. The quintuplets brought in more than $50 million in total tourist revenue to Ontario. Quintland became Ontario's biggest tourist attraction of the era, surpassing the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. It was only rivalled by Radio City Music Hall, Mount Vernon, and Gettysburg in the United States. Hollywood stars who came to Callander to visit the Quints included 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. Only five people could be in a room with the quintuplets at one time. These individuals were sprayed with disinfectant.
The sisters, their likenesses and images, along with Dr. Dafoe, were used to publicize commercial products including Karo corn syrup, Quaker Oats, Lysol, Palmolive soap, Colgate, Aluminum Goods Manufacturing Co., Beehive Corn Syrup, Canada Starch Company, Carnation Milk, Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Co., Corn Products Refining and Crown Brand Corn Syrup, and Baby Ruth. They promoted the sales of condensed milk, toothpaste, disinfectant, candy bars, and many other products.