lol. Well, I was close, sort of. They were born in Ontario but they were definitely exploited.
At the Dafoe Nursery
Oliva, already poor with five children, was approached by fair exhibitors for Chicago's Century of Progress exhibition within days of their birth, who wished to put the Quintuplets on display and show them to the world. The parents were persuaded to agree, and although the contract was revoked before it was ever put into effect, it raised the issue of exploitation of the children.[5] Four months after the birth of the sisters, the Ontario government intervened and found the parents to be unfit for the quintuplets (although not for their previous children). Custody of the five babies was withdrawn from their parents by the Lieutenant Governor-in-Council, on the advice of Premier Mitchell Hepburn, in 1935, originally for a guardianship of two years. Although Oliva Dionne remained part of the guardianship, the children 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. The government realized that there was massive 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.
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 at the end of September. The compound had an outdoor playground designed to be a public observation area. It was surrounded by a covered arcade that allowed tourists to observe the sisters behind one-way screens. The facility was funded by a Red Cross fundraiser. 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. 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 sisters were brought to play there for thirty minutes two or three times a day. They were constantly tested, studied, and examined, with records being taken of everything. The Dionne sisters, while living at the compound, had a somewhat rigid lifestyle. They were not required to participate in chores. They were privately tutored in the same building where they lived. 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. They also had occasional contact with their parents and siblings across the road.
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. Then they said a prayer, a gong was sounded, and they ate breakfast in the dining room. After thirty minutes, they had to clear the table, even if they were not done. Then they went and played in the sunroom for thirty minutes, took a fifteen-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 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 colour and a symbol to mark what was hers. Annette's colour was red with a maple leaf, Cecile's colour was green and her design a turkey, Emilie had white and a tulip, Marie had blue and a teddy bear, and Yvonne had pink and a bluebird.[6]
Approximately 6,000 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 concession store opposite the nursery and the area acquired the name "Quintland". The souvenirs pictured the five sisters. There were autographs and framed photographs, spoons, cups, plates, plaques, candy bars, books, postcards, dolls, and much more at this shop. Oliva Dionne also sold stones from the Dionne farm that were supposed to have some magical power of fertility. Midwives Madame LeGros and Madame LeBelle opened their own souvenir and dining stand.[7] 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 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.
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. The Dionne sisters were becoming very famous.
They starred in two Hollywood feature films, which were essentially fictionalized versions of their story. They played the 'Wyatt Quintuplets' in both films:
- The Country Doctor (1936) – directed by Henry King and starring Jean Hersholt
- Five Of A Kind (1938) - The sequel to the above film.
In both these films, the Dionne Quintuplets didn't so much act as simply appear. Their scenes were filmed at Quintland in Callendar, and largely consisted of them playing and interacting with each other, as one would expect of normal 2 and 4-year-old children. Both films concentrated more on telling the (fictionalized) story of the heroic doctor who delivered the Wyatts and took care of them, than it did on the Wyatt quintuplets themselves.
The Dionne quintuplets also appeared in numerous newsreels, and a short documentary film called Five Times Five in 1939. This film was nominated for an Oscar in 1940. In 1998, three of the surviving sisters, Cécile, Annette and Yvonne, participated in an hour long documentary, "Full Circle: The Untold Story of the Dionne Quintuplets", written and directed by Maya Gallus, and broadcast on the CBC documentary series "Life & Times".
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"There is nothing more; but I want nothing more." Christopher Hitchins
