The famous Dionne quintuplets

by caliber 5 Replies latest social entertainment

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  caliber

  

  

  

  

  

  
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  hubert

  Thanks for posting this. My MIL is related to them, a second or third cousin.

  Is there a reason you posted this? A movie coming out or something like that?

  Hubert
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  SirNose586

  I looked up the Wiki for them and also the CNN article on them and a comparison that can be made to the current controversy over the sextuplets...babies taken as wards of state, etc....
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  caliber

  Hubert,

  I post it simply because I have done lot of reading about them.. my mother-in- law talks about seeming them.

  It all happened in 1934 the Depression years, they almost single handedly brought Ontario ahead (tourism, roads etc .)

  Also because I am an identical twin , I can relate to not having your own image, it's the twins ! Our house in a very small

  rural area drew people for miles around.to see us. It's one of the reasons why today I try to blend into the crowd.. you're always

  stared at and compared !

  Caliber
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  caliber

  The Dionne Quintuplets:

  Annette (1934- ), Cecile (1934- ), Emilie (1934-1954), Marie (1934-1970), and Yvonne (1934-2001)

  • the first quintuplets known to have survived infancy
  • born May 28, 1934 in Corbeil , Ontario
  • Yvonne died of cancer in Montreal on June 23, 2001
  • the (identical) sistersbecame international celebrities after their birth (two months premature)
  • each weighed less then two pounds
  • their seemingly miraculous survival, and their family's impoverished background, inspired three Hollywood movies and made them the sensation of depression-era Canada
  • Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, the doctor who delivered the babies also became a celebrity
  • the identical quintuplets were taken away from their parents and made wards of the Ontario government, under Dr. Dafoe's supervision
  • authorities placed them in a virtual theme park called Quintland, across from the parents' home in Corbeil
  • they were put on display for as many as 6,000 people a day who came to watch them play behind a one-way screen
  • under Dafoe's supervision, the sisters became a huge commercial enterprise, endorsing hundreds of products ranging from corn syrup to Quaker Oats
  • their father, Oliva, fought a nine-year battle to regain custody of his daughters
  • they were returned to their parents in 1943
  • two of the sisters died as adults
    
    • Emilie, died in 1954 at age 20 of an epileptic seizure
    • Marie died at home at age 36
  • the three survivors live in the suburbs of Montreal
  • in 1965 they co-authored an often bitter book about their childhood, called We Were Five
  • in a recent interview, Annette Dionne blamed both Ontario officials and the Roman Catholic Church for allowing them to be treated like ``a commercial product''
  • the sisters have filed a $10 million suit against the Ontario government, saying they were wrongly deprived of a share of the earnings from tourists
  • a made-for-television movie about the quintuplets, shown by CBS in 1994, gave a negative depiction of Dr. Dafoe who limited their contact with their parents, and took control of their lives

  A few more facts about them !

  Caliber
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  Lady Lee

  My mother was born in 1933 in a town not far from them so she grew up hearing about them all the time.

  What happened to them was a tragedy.