The Quintland Sisters(86)
March 7, 1939 (Toronto Star)
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DIONNE OPPOSES OFFER TO BRING QUINTS TO KING
TORONTO, Ontario—“I would prefer to have the King and Queen come to Callander,” said Oliva Dionne, father of the quintuplets today. He had just received from the Star, he said, his first intimation that the Ontario government proposes that the five Dionne sisters be brought to Toronto by private train to be presented to Their Majesties here, May 22. “I have not heard a word about it,” he added. “We are anxious that they should be presented to the King and Queen when they come to Canada, but I cannot see why the government cannot arrange to have Their Majesties visit the nursery here,” said Dionne.
Used with permission.
March 8, 1939
The girls are ready for their broadcast tomorrow, or as ready as they’ll ever be. They have loved learning the words to “God Save the King” and spent hours this week singing along to Miss Callahan, who is accompanying them on the piano.
Today they were belting it out heartily, if not altogether tunefully, when Mme. Dionne appeared at the open door of the playroom. She’d already been over that morning, so none of us expected her to return. The expression on her face when she heard the girls singing an English song could have frozen Lake Nipissing solid.
Miss Callahan kept playing through for several more bars, but the girls stopped singing, clearly worried about their mother’s reaction.
“Cécile, come here,” Mme. Dionne said in French. Cécile threw me a look but went to her mother, who then beckoned for the others to join. They hesitated but went to sit with her on the window seat, saying nothing. I worried she’d start scolding them, but instead she began singing “Au Clair de la Lune,” a song the girls have loved since they were toddlers, and soon enough they were singing lustily along.
March 9, 1939
THE RECORDING CREW has come and gone—the whole exercise was a dismal failure. At the last minute the Dionnes came over to watch the broadcast, and the girls were clearly rattled. When the time came, the girls refused to sing. Yvonne, always the boldest, announced: “We can only sing in French.”
Dr. Dafoe stepped up to the microphone, plainly flustered but tried to make light of things, saying, “Ah, our poor girls have stage fright! We will have to listen to them sing another day.”
He gestured at Miss Callahan, and she whisked the girls out of the room, Mme. Dionne huffing in their wake.
I stayed to watch what Dr. Dafoe would do next. So did M. Dionne, I noticed, a ghost of a smile on his thin lips. The doctor didn’t look angry so much as befuddled. A quick-thinking announcer took the opportunity to turn the broadcast into an interview, asking the doctor what the girls had been up to during the winter, what were their favorite games, their favorite foods, their favorite songs—in French and English. Dr. Dafoe warmed to this topic and quickly saw how to twist things to his advantage.
“Our greatest hope, of course, is that His Majesty and Her Majesty will come and see all this for themselves,” he said. “I know their visit will be very busy, and Canada is a big country, that’s for sure. But this is one thing I and the other guardians agree on absolutely, as do Mr. and Mrs. Dionne: Their Majesties must not miss this chance to see the Quints, and the Quints should not take the risk of traveling to see the King and Queen. M. Dionne and I spoke of this just the other day.” Dr. Dafoe nodded at M. Dionne as he said this, his round head wobbling. “We both strongly believe that the best option is for Their Majesties to take a detour through this beautiful part of the world. We would be delighted to host them here.”
March 11, 1939
CHARCOAL, LOW LIGHT, my left side in shadow, my hand against my blotchy cheek. I was trying for pensive, but instead I look like I’m attempting to hide something, which I am. It’s hopeless. I can close my eyes and draw any one of the girls as if she is standing in front of me—mischief, confusion, or tenderness written there plain as day. But me? My desires? My fears? I don’t even know what they are, let alone how to put them on paper.
March 13, 1939 (Toronto Star)
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DIONNE GIVES HIS BLESSING TO QUINTS’ TORONTO VISIT
All 12 Children to Come
CALLANDER, Ontario—Oliva Dionne, father of the quintuplets, announced today he had accepted the invitation of the Ontario government to take his famous daughters to Toronto to be presented to the King and Queen, May 22.
Dionne said he had a “keen desire” to have the girls, who will be five years old May 28, meet Their Majesties and that he would take his entire family to Toronto if arrangements are made for their accommodation. The Dionnes have 12 children.
This would mean that Ernest, Rose, and Therese, now attending school in Quebec province, would return home to join the family for the trip. Daniel, Pauline, Oliva Jr., and Victoria [sic] are now at home with their parents, living in the Dionne farm home across the road from the Dafoe hospital which houses the quintuplets.
Annette, Yvonne, Cécile, émilie, and Marie will be taken by special train to Toronto, 180 miles south of here, spending a single night en route, then back in their beds the very next night. The trip will be the first time the quintuplets have left their nursery grounds since being moved from their parents’ home in September 1934, a little more than three months after their birth.