1979 - Story of Dionne Quintuplets Reflects '30s Phenomenon

Published by the Albuquerque Journal in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Friday, November 16, 1979.

Photo not included in original article.

The Depression years carry a plethora of associations: soup lines, hungry eyes, and gaunt faces peering from doorways -- but they aren't always associated with the money-making schemes that epitomize that period. Notable was the scheme that affected the lives of five young girls in a way that Pierre Berton, author of "The Dionne Years," contends could only have happened in the 1930s.

Televised Monday, Nov. 18, "The Dionne Quintuplets" chronicles the tragic story of the most famous babies ever born: Annette, Cécile, Émilie, Marie and Yvonne, against newsreels from that period.

"Being a Canadian, I remember when they were born. I was deeply affected by them. Also, I am a historian. I wrote about them because I felt their story was a way to get to the Depression. People were obsessed with the notion that money could buy happiness," Berton said.

Schemes that inspired the dance marathons, where women and men clung to the promise of a few dollars, dancing while their bodies slept, were captured in the feature film, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They," but never has there been a more effectively damaging scheme than the placing of the Dionne quints in a sterile glass-walled nursery, where they were regularly on exhibit to the public.

The quintuplets were born at the right time. They were a phenomenon in an age that was caught up in its own phenomenon, desperately seeking good news for scheme hunters and a relief to the impoverished.

The quints were born in a tiny community in northern Ontario, the children of 25-year-old Elzire Dionne and her husband, Oliva, who were already the parents of five children when the multiple birth occurred. The first surviving quintuplets in recorded history, the babies were delivered by Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, a country doctor who became embroiled in a contest with the parents for control of the girls' lives.

"In the 1930s," Berton stressed, "there were no laws preventing children from being taken from their parents. Also, there was no research that showed the need to be raised and supported by at least one parent."

During the first years of their life, more than three million visitors made their pilgrimage to Callander, Ontario, to see the quintuplets. They were also objects of intense interest to government officials, Hollywood moguls and ad agencies. "Their popularity outran Shirley Temple's," said Berton. "Amelia Earhart took a major journey to see them. That was the kind of attitude people had."

Written and narrated by Berton and edited by Don Britton, "The Dionne Quintuplets" takes viewers behind the charming nursery scenes recorded in syndicated 1930s photos to glimpse a childhood that isolated the children from their parents and from acquiring an understanding of the world, and eventually made loners of the surviving three daughters. "The strength of the film," said Berton, "comes from a careful juxtaposition of old film against a new film. We were able to get a lot of unused film, such as photographers saying, 'Come on, Dionne, smile'."

Today, people ask Berton how the Dionnes are faring. He has never met them; his material comes from the public domain. The surviving sisters will not allow themselves to be interviewed, except by one man, James Brough, who was their ghostwriter. "He is a father-figure and spokesman for them. They live in self-imposed isolation near Montreal and have tried to escape their problems. Their husbands used up a lot of their money. Two died tragically," said Berton.

He hesitates to state his intentions. As a historian, "among other things," he believes that the message should speak for itself. "There was no villain in the book," he said. "We still exploit people today, and the quintuplets would probably be exploited today. But that's not what hurt them. Separation from their family did, a lack of personal warmth did, not learning how to cope did. This could not have happened after the 1930s. History doesn't repeat itself in the same way."