On May 28, 1934, in remote northern Ontario, a French Canadian farmer's wife gave birth to a set of quintuplets. The five identical girls were born two months premature, each weighing less than two pounds, and their subsequent survival was regarded as something of a miracle, for never before had any set of quintuplets survived more than a few hours in recorded history. This was the age before fertility treatments made multiple pregnancies relatively commonplace, and the press, desperate for some cheer in the bleak Depression era, widely publicized the story. Within weeks, Ontario authorities stepped in to take custody of the quintuplets after deeming the parents, Olivia and Elzire Dionne, unfit for the task. Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, the doctor who delivered them, became the caretaker of the girls and set up a special nursery near the Dionne home. The quintuplet infants grew up in sterile isolation, and their parents were allowed only occasional contact with their daughters because of Dafoe's obsession with a germ-free environment. Soon "Quintland," as Dafoe's nursery was known, was transformed into a theme park. Up to 6,000 people a day paid to watch the girls through one-way glass, earning the Ontario government millions of dollars. The "Quints" were featured in several movies, including The Country Doctor (1936), based on the life of Dr. Dafoe, and they endorsed products ranging from cereal to corn syrup. After years of effort, Olivia and Elzire Dionne finally regained custody of their daughters in 1944. The girls' lack of a normal childhood had left them with learning disabilities and deep emotional scars. They were also more prone to disease because Dafoe had kept them so long isolated from germs. In 1965, four of the Dionne quintuplets (the fifth had died of a seizure in 1954) published a bitter joint autobiography of their childhood, entitled We Were Five.
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