DEAR SUN SPOTS: Many years ago in Ontario, Canada, some little girls — I think five or six — were born to a family by the name of Dionne. Doctors and the government took over the children, so to speak, and built them a home and hospital.

I would like to know the year they were born and the names of the girls. Also, are any still living? A song about them was by a Mrs. Bolduc.

Thank you so much. I hope this is not too much trouble for you.

Sun Spots is the first thing I read each morning. — No Name, No Town

ANSWER: The amazing birth of the Dionne quintuplets during the Great Depression captured the imaginations of Canadians and Americans, but unfortunately that interest did not translate into charmed lives for the five girls.

Sun Spots consulted Wikipedia and www.quintland.com for the information on the girls, who were born two months’ premature on May 28, 1934, in Callander, Ontario, to Oliva (1903–1979) and Elzire Dionne (1909–1986), who already had five children. (Three more were born after the quints.)

Elzire suspected she was carrying twins, but no one knew quintuplets were even possible.

The identical sisters were (in order of birth) Yvonne Edouilda Marie, Annette Lillianne Marie, Cecile Marie Emilda, Emilie Marie Jeanne and Marie Reine Alma.

Wikipedia says Emilie and Marie shared an embryonic sac and were mirror twins, Annette and Yvonne shared an embryonic sac, and it is believed that Cecile shared an embryonic sac with the miscarried sixth fetus. Interestingly, each girl became emotionally the closest to with whomever they shared a sac; Cecile tended to be alone the most.

Shortly after the girls’ birth, their father’s efforts to make some money off their birth came to the notice of the Canadian government, which took guardianship. The girls, who were raised by doctors and nurses, were observed by visitors to their glass-walled “home,” starred in films and were models for dolls and other toys.

When they were 9, the courts returned them to their parents. Money the quints earned paid for a large mansion for the family, but the girls were not well-treated at their parents’ home. They left home at 18 and had little contact with their parents thereafter.

Emilie died at age 20, suffocating during an epileptic seizure at her convent. The remaining girls maintained close contact throughout their lives. Three of the sisters did marry and have children.

In 1998, the sisters, living together in the Montreal suburb of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, reached a monetary settlement with the Ontario government as compensation for what was perceived to be their exploitation.

Marie died of an apparent blood clot in 1970. Yvonne (who did not marry) died in 2001 of cancer. Annette and Cecile survive.

They starred in four Hollywood films: “The Country Doctor” (1936), “Reunion” (1936), “Quintupland” (1938) and “Five Times Five” (1939)

In 1965, author James Brough wrote “We Were Five” in cooperation with the four surviving sisters. Pierre Berton published a biography called “The Dionne Years: A Thirties Melodrama” in 1977 and narrated a 1978 National Film Board of Canada documentary.

John Nihmey and Stuart Foxman published the fictional “Time of Their Lives — The Dionne Tragedy” in 1986. Nihmey and Foxman’s book was the basis for the 1994 TV miniseries, “Million Dollar Babies” (1994), produced by CBC Television and starring Roy Dupuis and Celine Bonnier.

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