Imagine being one of 5 babies and then also to be famous, all your life, for just that. It's a puzzle of distinction and indistinction.
From the Wikipedia article for North Bay: "The Dionne Quintuplets... had a tremendous impact on tourism in the area. For a province struggling against economic strangulation they were as valuable a resource as gold, nickel, pulpwood or hydro power. They saved an entire region from bankruptcy. They launched Northern Ontario's flourishing tourist industry. At their peak they represented a $500 million asset. North Bay and the surrounding area lived off this legacy well into the 1960s. Many visitors to the area discovered lakes and summer retreats that were easily accessible, and the businesses thrived on the tourist dollars."
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I get why a Dionne quint would resent being an object of gawking and intrusion. But balance that against the good things that benefitted those around them. Life ain't fair.
I don't get how the birth of quintuplets would create tourism?
I vaguely remember hearing about the quintuplets but they were born roughly thirty years before I was, and I can't think of the last time I heard anything about them mentioned. Maybe they're a bigger deal in Canada.
@tommyesq, I can see a possible connection that the reporter is trying to make but I'm also seeing a lotta convenient tropes being trotted out.
"...she resented being exploited as part of a global sensation" (NYT)....."
The NYT objects to having their motives questioned, hence the last surviving quint must be portrayed as bitter and twisted from their tender touch.
At the linked Wiki article, not one "Dionne" is on the extensive list of "Notable people" from North Bay.
Christopher B said...
Maybe they're a bigger deal in Canada.
Canadian here: They are not.
The last time I remember hearing about them was at least fifty years ago in high school. And, I spent some time living in North Bay in my twenties, and even there it wasn't really a thing. I doubt very much that anyone under fifty would even recognize the name.
Why did tourists go to North Bay? What did they do when they got there? Did they brag about it when they got home? WTH?
In another post Althouse used the word Technocracy which sparked a lively coffee table discussion with my very smart wife, which I recall here to note that stories like this are the obvious evidence of how centrally planned economies fail every damn time in the real world. Not even the best prepared most well-informed economists are going to predict a $500M annual boost to a single region over the triggering event here. Nor would they have advised the small businesses to risk capital in pursuit of those unforecasted tourist dollars.
Now multiply that times all the regions across the country and predicting even sparsely settled Canada is problematic. Now consider how "unexpected" every single good data point is with our current Top Economists advising Corporate Media on the economy. And that every bit of bad economic news under Biden was also labeled "unexpected" too.
Given all that evidence in front of our faces the idiots pushing democratic socialism should be laughed out of society.
Addendum: I'm no longer certain that I saw "technocratic" here after a quick review. My point stands but the excitement of (possibly) spotting a theme did wane some. Oh well.
Imagine being one of 5 babies and then also to be famous, all your life, for just that. It's a puzzle of distinction and indistinction.
Bardot went through this issue when she turned 16 or so.
She died alone.
IIRC, the publicity was a hellish ordeal for the family. I suppose it did help offset the cost of raising quints for a poor family in a poor time and place.
The Kienast quints were famous in the Seventies. What happened to them? Wikipedia tells me that the father committed suicide in the Eighties.
I believe they were a very big deal after their birth and during their childhood. Newsreels, magazine photo spreads ... people couldn't get enough of it.
In the 1939, five years after their birth, in the Three Stooges short "Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise," Moe suggests Curly wish for quintuplets, leading to Curly's excited "We'll honeymoon in Canada! Nyuk nyuk nyuk!".
I didn't read the article. In the midst of reporting her bitter resentment, did the Times try to "reveal" that she really was gay, a lesbian bitter that she had to marry, et cetera, et cetera.
Why?
Every newspaper, radio station, TV station, blog and grocery checkout line has a slow news day now and then. Some more often than others.
That took me down a rabbit hole (as good blog posts do.)
The kids were literally put on display behind one-way glass as they went about their day. Gawkers were directed to not make loud noises and keep the line moving.
The birth had a big influence on the Preston Sturges screwball comedy, 'The Miracle of Morgan's Creek' (1943)
One of the biggest news stories of the 1930s was the birth of the first known set of quintuplets to the Dionne family in Canada, so Trudy's set of six babies would have been an even bigger sensation. This explains why, in the montage of international reactions to the births, the Canadian Premier is quoted as saying that the news is "Possible, but not probable" in the evident hope that his nation will not lose its claim to fame. Also, the reason that Hitler and Mussolini are portrayed as receiving the news of Miss Kockenlocker's happy event with anger and dismay is because both Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy had a policy of encouraging motherhood and an expanding population in their countries, even offering cash bonuses for large families.
“ I think the museum staying in North Bay will help them from making foolish choices,”
Perhaps, but who can say?
Johnny Horton's "North To Alaska" theme song is more appropriate from our perspective.
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