"RADIUM GIRLS" 2020 OFFICIAL TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLWkV7XzlwE
N.J.'s ‘Radium Girls’ made history by seeking justice. Now their story is headed to theaters.
By Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
https://i.imgur.com/FtEdowah.jpg
From left: Olivia Macklin, Abby Quinn, Joey King, Gina Persanti and Julianna Sass in "Radium Girls."
The U.S. Radium Corporation — called American Radium in the film — claimed the radium paint that girls and young women applied to watch dials was harmless, even as men who worked with radium wore lead aprons to handle the substance. The company went so far as to instruct workers to put their paint brushes in their mouths and lick them in order to create precise points.
The glowing radium they ingested caused health problems that often proved fatal. Workers’ jaws disintegrated. They had tumors, ulcers and broken bones. But the company engaged in a cover-up.
Five of the Radium Girls sued: Grace Fryer, Quinta McDonald, Albina Larice, Edna Hussman and Katherine Shaub.
The New Jersey workers’ complaints drew significant media attention. One cartoon published in the ’20s, which appears in the film, shows skeletons perched next to the women as they paint the watch dials.
https://i.imgur.com/TFqkAhml.jpg
A copy of a photograph of the "radium girls" who worked at the U.S. Radium Corporation in Orange, circa 1922
or 1923.Star-Ledger file photo
Even as the women became more sick and died, their fight established legal precedent and broke new ground in workplace safety regulations. U.S. radium settled with the factory workers in 1928.
“Radium Girls” premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Now, Juno Films has acquired the film for distribution. The movie will be rolled out nationally following an April 3 premiere at Quad Cinema in New York.
The disturbing details of the factory workers’ story, from the devastating toll the work took on their bodies to the coverup and outright denial of the truth, has been covered in other accounts.
In 2016, Kate Moore published the book “The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women,” which chronicles the saga of the factory workers in New Jersey as well as other radium watch painters at the Radium Dial Company in Illinois.
https://i.imgur.com/zZOCo4Xl.jpg
A copy of a Radium Girls cartoon published circa 1922-1923 in which skeletons hover around workers who put
brushes covered in toxic paint in their mouths.Star-Ledger file photo
“Radium Girls,” a play by D.W. Gregory, also tells the story of the New Jersey factory workers. “These Shining Lives,” a play by Melanie Marnich, is about the workers in Illinois.
“Let the truth Glow!” Pilcher tweeted after the movie was picked up. “@ginnymohler & I are thrilled to send this movie full of heart & soul with an amazing cast into its place in the sun!”
Lily Tomlin serves as one of the film’s producers.
“'Radium Girls’ is a powerful retelling of a dark chapter in American history that illuminates what it takes for the powerless to stand up to power,” said Elizabeth Sheldon, CEO of Juno Films, in a statement. “We are proud to add this film to our roster of films by and about women.”
