They were five: The Dionne Quintuplets revisited

Journal of Canadian Studies, Winter 1994 by Wright, Cynthia

When Pierre Berton published his bestselling account of The Dionne Years in 1977, many believed that the full tragic story of the Dionne Quintuplets had at last been told.(f.1) Heavily based on extensive oral interviews, and supplemented by archival and contemporary newspaper sources, Berton's book appeared so fully researched that very little popular or scholarly work on the Quints has been undertaken since its publication. Any new work, such as this collection of articles, must therefore begin by situating itself in relationship to The Dionne Years. What more remains of importance to say about the Quintuplets?

The marking of the 60th anniversary of the 1934 birth of the Quints, together with the interest generated by the CBC/CBS television mini - series about their first years, Million Dollar Babies (1994), shows that the Dionne story continues to fascinate. Many of the themes identified by Berton in The Dionne Years are echoed in the publicity surrounding the mini - series. The astonishing commercial appeal of the Quints during the Depression years finds its counterpart in the advertising hoopla surrounding the production of Million Dollar Babies, and debate rages even now about who was most responsible -- the Ontario government, Oliva Dionne, or Dr. Dafoe -- for the tragedy of the Dionnes.(f.2)

But the Dionne story has also taken on new meanings since the publication of The Dionne Years. In an era in which fertility drugs and reproductive technology have made multiple births appear ordinary, the story of the world's only identical quintuplets still excites attention because it raises complex issues of fatherhood, child custody and the role of the state -- all questions with contemporary resonance.

This introduction takes Berton's book as a point of departure for re - examining the ways in which "the Dionne story" has been told. It will serve both to orient readers unfamiliar with the outlines of the narrative, and to bring into focus the new questions, approaches and interpretations developed in the articles which make up this special issue of the Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d'etudes canadiennes. In essence, these articles make a threefold contribution: they present new archival evidence, offer new interpretations based on recent theory in the areas of gender, ethnicity and popular culture, and explore important aspects of the Quint story which have received little attention in The Dionne Years and elsewhere. In the second part of the introduction, a discussion of Quintland as a tourist site will further outline some of the complex issues -- state and medical power, Franco - Ontarian identity, and the construction of childhood/girlhood -- taken up elsewhere in the volume.

Redrawing the Boundaries of "The Dionne Story"

The Dionne Quintuplets -- Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne -- were born in a small farmhouse on May 28, 1934 near the French - Canadian village of Corbeil in northern Ontario. Elzire and Oliva Dionne, the Quints' parents, already had five children. 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.

But the terms of the contract were never carried out. As throngs of photographers and press people invaded the small Dionne home, a panic was created in the newspapers over the "fitness" of the Dionne parents, the fragility of the Quintuplets' health, and the fact that "our" Quints were about to be sold to American hucksters. The Ontario government moved in and seized custody of the Quintuplets. A board of guardians which excluded Oliva and Elzire Dionne was set up to make all decisions concerning the lives of the Quints for the next two years.

Separated from their parents and siblings, the Quints were put on display for millions of tourists at Quintland near the Dionne homestead. The five girls lived in a hospital; Dr. Dafoe, who had assisted at the Quints' birth, and a succession of nurses made nearly all decisions about their education and daily routines. While the public and Ontario premier Mitch Hepburn pilloried the Dionne parents for making a public tour of Chicago -- without the Quints -- the Ontario government made millions from the dozens of commercial products endorsed by the Quints.(f.3)

After nine tumultuous years, the Dionnes won back custody of their children, in good part through the efforts of Franco - Ontarian organizations. But there was no happy ending. The Quintuplets never got on with their father, and were not particularly close to their siblings. Two of the five Quints later died tragically, and today the remaining three live in virtual seclusion.

Berton observes in the final chapter of The Dionne Years that there really is no single Dionne story. The media -- to take just one example -- reconstructed the Dionne story in midstream after years of portraying Oliva Dionne, the Quints' father, as the villain of the piece and the Ontario government and Dr. Dafoe as the heroic saviours of what David Croll called "our own royal family."(f.4) Indeed, two related tendencies shape most accounts of the Dionne Quintuplets. The first is to reduce -- much as I have -- the entire story of the Quintuplets to the long and intense battle between the Ontario government and the Dionne family for custody of the five sisters. In addition, "the family" is almost always identified with the complex figure of Oliva Dionne. Thus, Berton and particularly John Nihmey and Stuart Foxman in their historical novel, The Time of their Lives, found it necessary to support their critiques of the Ontario government and Dr. Dafoe's actions with a "rehabilitation" of the much - maligned Oliva Dionne.(f.5)