Last Known Coney Island “Incubator Baby” Dies at 95

Former Seagate resident, Dr. Martin Couney helped develop the baby incubator as well as methods to save premature babies. In the early 20th century his techniques were not accepted by modern medicine.

He set up shop at Luna Park then later at Dreamland, where his Baby Incubator Exhibit was it’s most popular attraction.

If you gave birth to a premature baby in 1904, there was not much a hospital could do for you. However, if you handed over your premature baby to Dr. Couney at Coney Island your child would have an 80% chance of surviving. At NO cost to the family!

At the time many people believed that the babies on display were victims of exploitation. However, quite often the outcome was astounding.

Many of Dr.Couney’s babies went on to live normal and in some cases exceptional lives.

One of Dr. Couney’s success stories, Jean Appleton, passed on this month after leading an extraordinary life.

According to her obituary:

“A woman of valor, courage and principle. Starting life as one of Dr. Martin A. Couney’s famous Coney Island incubator babies, she went on to lead a life of drama and high excitement, participating in some of the most important social and political issues and events of the 20th Century. She was the only child of pioneering labor leader and political firebrand David Dubinsky, President of The International Ladies Garment Workers Union, and his wife and partner Emma. Born at the close of World War I, she lived through the Depression and participated in the Second World War. She met and knew some of the most important figures of the time, beginning with every President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. A graduate at age nineteen of New York University, she studied there with the legendary philosopher Sidney Hook. She was married to Captain Lester Narins by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, whom her parents knew and worked with intimately. She was a student of, witness to, and participant in history. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, she worked with her father and the free democratic labor movement in this country to support, sustain and rescue struggling democratic labor leaders and movements in war-ravaged Europe. As unofficial aide-de- camp for her father and mother, she knew and worked with the great and the good, including General George C. Marshall; Financier and statesman Bernard Baruch; Philosopher John Dewey, the great pioneer in education and pragmatist thought; His Holiness Pope Pius XII; Premier Leon Blum of France; President Giuseppe Saragat of Italy; Mrs. Roosevelt; Joe Lash, friend of and biographer of Mrs. Roosevelt and her life with FDR; ground breaking United States Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins; John L. Lewis, iconic and towering President of the United Mine Workers Union; Walter Reuther and his brothers, champions of the United Automobile Workers Union; A. Philip Randolph, historic leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo; Pablo Casals; Marian Anderson; Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; Luis Munoz Marin of Puerto Rico; Hubert H. Humphrey; Adlai Stevenson II; Arthur Koestler; Nelson Rockefeller; Golda Meir; Yitzhak Rabin, and the founding greats of the State of Israel; Art Historians Meyer Schapiro and Andre Chastel, through whom she had the privilege of seeing the Lascaux Caves before they were sealed; Sir Isaiah Berlin; Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre Company; practically every Governor and Mayor of the State and City of New York since her birth and most of the liberal and progressive politicians throughout the United States. She had a long and happy second marriage to Shelley Appleton, Secretary Treasurer of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and Chairman Emeritus of The World ORT Union. During this time The Fashion Institute of Technology asked her to found, develop and lead their first Jewelry History Department and through that work she connected with the great jewelry historians and museum jewelry departments throughout Europe. She then went on to found the American Society of Jewelry Historians. She was President Emeritus of the ASJH at the time of her death. She loved life and had a wonderful, rich and unique one. She was always interested in the new, and principled and determined in her thought. She was a voracious reader in subjects ranging widely from history to espionage, memoir, critical thought and beyond. Her mind was remarkable to her final days, which she lived with dignity and strength. She is survived by her beloved daughter Ryna, her cherished granddaughter, Emma, and countless friends at home and around the world. The family will be receiving, which will be announced privately. A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date and will be announced.”

If you know of any other of Dr. Couney’s surviving babies please contact us at:  TheConeyblog@gmail.com