5 Crazy Ways People Amused Themselves Before Television



Before television entered our homes, entertainment wasn't an everyday thing -in fact, it was hard to come by. And people would go to see anything that was out of the ordinary for a little respite from the daily grind. Mental_floss dug up some rather obscure events that drew crowds desperate for amusement, like the Dionne Quintuplets. The five girls born in 1934 were put on display by the Canadian government in a special facility in which they could be observed through glass. Three million people filed through to see them over a ten-year period! Read the rest at mental_floss. Link

If the Dione kids are anything to go by very little has changed. Multiple births of that order still get masses of publicity. The only thing that has changed is the way the populist media (and their readers/viewers) think they have a right to treat people like a freak show, even if the people concerned don't want publicity.

These days the population at large think that other people's lives are just there for their entertainment. I'd say that when it comes to entertainment we've taken several steps backwards in the last eighty years.
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The dionne quints were anything but an obscure event - they were huge, and to say it was because of a lack of amusement in general does a great injustice to the story. Appreciate just how rare a set of natural quintuplets are, hmm?
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Canada in those days I believe had payments to children. I guess it was a way for the government to cover the cost. I hope Mr. and Mrs. Dionne got their cut.
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