Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Dionne Quints

Quintland

Just a point of interest...have you ever heard of the famous Dionne Quints? The were born to an Ontario family during the depression and were soon taken away by the government, who told the family that they would give them a better life.

They were raised behind a mesh screen, and admission was charged to watch them play. Uniformed policeman kept the crowds at bay. They sold autographs and souvenir postcards and pamphlets documenting the quints' birth. According to the posted link, "Quintland had equalled the Niagara Falls as the biggest tourist attraction in Canada".

Can someone please tell me what the difference is between the train wreck airing on TLC and the Dionne Quints? And I will say that I used to love that show...now I can't stomach to watch it.

It's sad what some people will do for fame and fortune. If you are still a fan, that's fine...just wanted to post my two cents.

9 comments:

Cori said...

I totally agree!!! I swore I wouldn't, but ended up watching some of it yesterday. So sad to be seeing this on television - it's just not any of my business and watching the end of a marriage is not feel good tv. We were hoping by the end they would say "good bye, thank you, no more seasons". I missed the last 10 minutes - any chance that was said?

D said...

I am going to come back and post my thoughts but for now...I agree with you.

Nico said...

I agree completely!!! I used to be a fan too, but with all of the commercialism and "poor me", I can't stand to watch either!

Cori said...

tmz.com mentioned that it might be a scheme for viewers. Now that octomom holds the "lots of babies" market, maybe Jon and Kate (and their producers) are trying for a more soap opera drama to attract viewers. Gotta admit, we haven't watched in a while, but ended up getting caught watching just to see what was said about the splitting up rumours...

Josie said...

Couldnt agree more!

Kylie's Mom said...

Well, I'm glad I didn't offend any of my blogging friends (so far, at least).

You guys rule :)

Mackey said...

I have never liked the show. Talk about exploiting your children. The Mother on the show makes my skin crawl. She is just so dang nasty.

Coolcook said...

I have been in the house that was built by the government to house the Dionne Quints, it is now a nursing home, in Corbeil Ontario...just outside of North Bay Ontario. My father's friend bought all the memorabilia from whoever had it and set up a museum with the stuff, I never went to see it. He had the building they were born in moved to a park and charged money to view the stuff...continued exploitation. My dad friend sold it and later passed away.
I have a book written by Pierre Berton about the Dionne Quints, it belonged to my dad, I have never read it.
It is a fascinating story of total exploitation of a phenomenon and back then it was just that.
jake

Jennifer said...

I don't watch the show...but my buddy Danica enlightened me to the current drama. YUK! Poor kids... :(