Tourists strolling along the Coney Island boardwalk in the summer of 1920 would have heard barkers beckoning: “Don’t forget to see the babies!” Those who heeded the call paid a quarter to step into a room where the tiniest of infants — weighing 2-3 pounds each — were on display in individual incubators. Their nurse, Madame Recht, occasionally wowed the crowds by placing her diamond ring around a baby’s wrist. It may have been one of the strangest places on earth for babies to be, but for much of the early-20th century, few treatment options were available for premature babies. Known as the “incubator doctor,” Martin Couney apprenticed under Dr. Pierre-Constant Budin, an established French obstetrician in the 1890s. Although he wasn't a medical doctor, Couney began exhibiting incubators at expositions and fairgrounds around Europe, and then America, but he's best-known for his “Infantorium" at Coney Island. At that time, it was widely believed that premature babies were “weaklings,” who were unfit to survive into adulthood. Couney was one of the first advocates for premature babies, and his incubators have been credited with saving the lives of over 6,500 premature babies. Throughout Couney's career, whenever a midway or fairground closed, Couney attempted to donate his incubators to local hospitals, though his donations were never accepted. Today, he is recognized as a pioneer of early infant care.
