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Page 38 The Antique Shoppe December, 2017
FIVE LITTLE LADIES

THE DIONNE QUINTS

by Roy Nuhn

The birth of five identical
sisters, on May 28, 1934,
in a farmhouse in faraway
Callander, Canada, stunned
and delighted millions. A Marie Cecile Emilie Annette Yvonne
world struggling through a One of the many postcards by Photogelatine Engraving Co.
devastating Great Depression
found escape in the of Ottawa of the Quints (late 1930s).
miraculous story of a country Dionne would autograph
doctor delivering a poor offered a paper doll booklet. them. Other memorabilia
There is so much Quint
farmer's wife of quintuplets - memorabilia that collecting includes playing cards, sheet
a one-in-eight-million rarity! it can be a never-ending music, blotters, paper dolls,
The Dionne Quintuplets The Story of the Dionne Quintuplets, softcover book quest. Of special interest coloring books, writing
quickly became the most published by Whitman, 1935. tablets, crossword puzzles,
famous children in the world. are the famous yearly Quint and even games and toys.
calendars published by
Of course today, with television movie once again Their parents were allowed Brown &Bigelow Co. These Greatly sought after by
modern medicine being revived the story, but this infrequent visits but their were issued from 1935 to collectors is film memorabilia
responsible for more time with a tinge of cynicism brothers and sisters were 1955 and utilized the artwork from the Quints three motion
frequent and larger multiple about Dafoe and others barred. pictures. One-sheet posters
births, like the Mccaughey involved with the children. That didn't discourage of Andrew Loomis. head the list, followed by
More than a dozen
septuplets of Iowa in 1997, The Quints themselves the half-million tourists softbound and hardbound lobby cards, stills , and press
such an event would not have appeared in three motion who came hoping to see the photo books were published books.
been front page news. pictures, "Reunion" (1936), Quints and the place where by Whitman, Dell and others Composition dolls in
But in 1934, the "The Country Doctor" (1936), they were born (for a fee). various sizes, as well as cloth
quintuplets' survival made and "Five of a Kind" (1938 ). Souvenir shops, concession on a regular basis up to 1940. dolls, were manufactured by
Titles such as "We're Two
medical history and they Named Yvonne, Marie, stands, gas stations, motels, Years Old, Going on Three" Madame Alexander under
became instant celebrities. Emilie, Annette, and Cecile, and other tourist facilities and "Dionne Quintuplets exclusive contract.
Their physician, Dr. Dafoe, the girls were almost never sprang up overnight, and Picture Album Complete A small number of German
was turned into a folk hero. referred to individually, but the area around Callander and Japanese companies
He spent the rest of his life as "The Dionne Quintuplets." was unofficially renamed Story of Their Two Years" also produced and sold
sold well in five-and-dimes
- nine more years - as the To prevent their exploitation, "Quintland." and are now greatly treasured unauthorized Quint dolls.
children's primary physician, the government of Ontario by collectors. Dionne souvenirs have
but still found time for a large declared them wards of the QUINT Photographs and souvenir been treasured for many
number of speaking tours. province. In September 1934 COLLECTIBLES decades. All indications are
Books were published about they were moved to a newly- The Dionnes have postcards were among the that they will continue to be
earliest souvenirs sold in
his life and a movie was built nursery far away from Fascinated collectors from Callander and other parts of quint-essential collectibles
filmed. In 2000, a made-for- the rest of the Dionne family. the very beginning. From Ontario. For a small fee, Papa for many years to come.
1934 to the early 1940s, when
interest in them by the public
was at its height, so much
was published, printed and
manufactured in the form
of novelties, photographs,
postcards, dolls, premiums,
and souvenirs that there is no
end of material for hobbyists.
In addition, the sisters also
endorsed products and posed
for photo layouts.
During the 1930s and 1940s
, magazines frequently
carried full -page color
advertisements that featured
them as spokestots for Hines,
Quaker Oats, Palmolive Soap,
Colgate Dental Cream, Karo
syrup, and Lysol. Several
very collectable premiums
Karo ad in May 1937 issue of can be traced to these ads. Modern Screen magazine cover, April 1936.
Pictorial Review Palmolive, for instance,