Dionne quintuplets
The Dionne Quintuplets (born on May 28, 1934) are the first quintuplets known to survive their infancy. They were born two months prematurely with the assistance of Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe and two wet nurses.
The five identical sisters are:
- Annette
- Cecile
- Emilie (died August 6, 1954 of an epileptic seizure)
- Marie (died February 27, 1970 of a blood clot to the brain)
- Yvonne (died June 23, 2001 of cancer)
Their birthplace in Ontario, Canada is the subject of some dispute, as the Dionne farmhouse was technically in unincorporated territory. However, their birth was registered in nearby Corbeil in northern Ontario, which parents Elzire and Oliva Dionne considered home. Because the somewhat larger town of Callander reaped most of the commercial benefit, some sources say they were born there. Language politics complicate the issue; Callander is an English town, but Corbeil, like the Dionnes, was largely Franco-Ontarian. Perhaps to resolve the issue, the Dionne Quintuplets Museum is currently located halfway between the two towns, in North Bay.
The custody of the babies was withdrawn from their parents by the Ontarian government. The girls were then put under the guidance of Dr. Dafoe. Ontario housed them in Quintland, a theme park located just across from the parents home. The sisters could be viewed by visitors through a one-way mirror. Approximately 6,000 people per day visited the park to observe them.
The girls were also used to publicize commercial products such as corn syrup and Quaker Oats and starred in some Hollywood films:
- The Country Doctor (1936)
- Reunion (1936)
- Five of a Kind (1938)
- Quintupland (1938)
The quintuplets also performed various stage acts for audiences. In particular, their performance of "There Will Always be an England" continues to irritate some French-Canadians. After a nine-year court fight between the government and their father, the quintuplets were returned to their family in 1943. Dr Dafoe died shortly thereafter.
In 1965, they published a book called We Were Five. This account, along with a biography by Pierre Berton, informed a 1994 movie about them, produced by CBS and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The next year, the surviving girls alleged they were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of their father, and that the Roman Catholic Church urged them to cope by wearing thick coats. In 1998, the Ontarian government gave the Dionnes a settlement of $4 million CDN.