"Radium Girls". Well worth watching

[bif]

Here's my review and a trailer:

https://moviejunkiemark.blogspot.com

Streaming on Netflix.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I read the book. Horrifying.

Might have been one of the first class actions. Also classic pre-OSHA case.

[3Hotdogs]

2. The town is West Orange, N.j. Factory became a superfund site.

I remember when I was a 'ute. My parents bought me a 4 or 5 oz jar of radium. REALLY. I painted everything I could think of.... I particularly remember painting the light switch in my room so that I could see it if I got up in the dark. I don't remember what else I painted with it. -- maybe the dog and 2 cats. That would have made logical sense to an 8 year old (just kidding, I didn't paint them.)

The local shoe shop in Millburn had a device. You steps on radium coated paper and put it into the machine and your footprint glowed so you could see if there were deformities or whatever on your feet. (I didn't have any)

[Boxerfan]

3. I have a signed dial from a Radium Girl.

I like old mechanical watches. I also work on them & I am self taught. I buy non working specimens on e-bay & repair them.
-------
An old South Bend 12s from a lot of obviously neglected watches. Hoping to get it running I start the inspection & teardown.

The hands were mangled & it had spent time face down in a pile for a long time. It had remnants of the old glow in the dark Radium. It is safe as long as you don't handle or ingest the paint itself.

Upon removing the dial I noticed faint scratch lines. There was a message from the past.

" Healy 1925 Rad Illinois" scratched in fine penmanship.

I am very sure this was a reach out in that she knew she was sick. It was a firing offence to deface a product & risking a job back then was a big deal.

I have it in a small baggie with the hands . I have left the dial alone as a piece of history. It resides in my display cabinet with way too many watches.

[nwliberalkiwi]

4. Shoe Stores

I remember as a kid going into the local shoe store and you could x-ray your feet on a machine that looked like a weighting scale.

[area51]

5. PBS 10 minute interview w/author of

The Radium Girls

[LeftInTX]

6. Radiation killed its discover, Marie Curie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie

I need to watch this movie. I knew about the girls who made watches and how they would put the contaminated paint brushes in their mouths.

[Highway61]

7. Broke my heart

Pre OSHA corporate greed front and center. Disturbing story yet the I thought the effects of the radiation poisoning was somewhat underrated in the movie. However, it got it's point across. Profits over people. Thanks for the rec.