First Reality Show

Canada’s Dionne Quintuplets captivated the entire world

These days, reality shows are all the rage. But long before there were shows like “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” or the “Real Housewives” franchise, the world was won over by five little girls born 88 years ago today in Canada.

These days, it’s hard to imagine the impact the birth of the Dionne quintuplets had on the globe when they came into the world on May 28, 1934. We live in a time of fertility drugs. Multiple births aren’t all that uncommon.

But in 1934, such births were incredibly rare. In fact, until the Dionne sisters, no set of quintuplets had ever survived infancy.

The odds were stacked against them from the start. Their mother thought she was carrying twins. They were born two months premature in a farmhouse outside Callander, Ontario, near the village of Corbeil.

The girls—Yvonne, Annette, Cecile, Emilie and Marie—were identical quints. The attending physician, Dr. Alan Dafoe, did not think they would live.

But they did. And word of their birth and survival quickly went around the world. The press came calling.

The Ontario government stepped in and made the quints wards of the provincial crown. They were taken from their parents to live in a special nursery constructed across the road from the family farm, complete with an observation platform so the public could see the girls at play..

Tourists came in droves, as many as 6,000 a day. Nearly 3 million people came to see the quints between 1936 and 1943.

The girls rarely left the nursery as they grew up and had limited contact with outsiders. They were only allowed limited visits with their parents and siblings.

A whole industry grew up around the quints. The nursery became known as “Quintland,” and concession stand sand souvenir shops popped up all over town, selling a wide variety of merchandise emblazoned with the girls’ images, including postcards, dolls, plates, spoons, cups and more.

The Dionne’s quickly became the top tourists attraction in Ontario, attracting $51 million in tourists dollars to the region in 1934 alone.

Madison Avenue came calling and the quints faces ended up in a wide variety of ads and product endorsements. Hollywood came calling, too, and the girls ere featured in four movies.

A much bigger reality show — World War II — came along as the girls grew up and soon the public’s attention waned. In 1943, the quints parents regained custody of the girls. They used some the girls’ money to build a grand mansion near the nursery, which was converted into a school for the girls. It was not a happy home— three of the girls later claimed to have been abused—and when the quints left at 18 they rarely saw their parents afterward.

Emilie died in 1954 at age 20. She had decided to become a nun, While a postulant at the convent, she began to have seizures. During one she rolled over onto her stomach and suffocated against her pillow.

Marie died in 1970 of a blood clot to the brain. In 1995, Yvonne, Annette and Cecile spoke out against those who use children of multiple births for profit and in 1998, the three girls won a settlement from the government of Ontario for its part in their exploitation.

Yvonne died in 2001 of cancer. Annette and Cecile still live in Canada.

The Dionne Quintuplets are largely forgotten these days. But there was a time when they were, indeed, the most popular reality show in the world.