They’re so much ahead of them, and then they started to get sick. But that, here were these women who were absorbing pop culture. I went to film school, I studied comparative literature, here and there I studied physics, but suddenly, understanding that there was this side to the roaring 20s that I had never thought about, and of course, it’s not that just the 20s, it’s the industrialization leading up to the 20s. Ginny Mohler: Well you know, one of the first things that jumped out was that, this was happening to teenage girls, to young women, that this is happening in the 1920s, and it was not, I mean you know, occupational health and safety is not something that was a field I was really aware of. Once you were we’re captivated by this story, tell us what that story was, and why it was so interesting to you? So, this is really a story for occupational health professionals or those of us who represent injured workers in general and Ginny, perhaps you can flesh out. And the story of how these dots were connected is the story of Radium Girls. So, the Radium Girls is the story of these girls who primarily, I guess, were painting the dials on watches and clocks with the paint that glows in the dark, and they got sick. In fact, at the time of the Radium Girl story, occupational diseases were not even covered under what we had then as a very new workers’ compensation law, which really began right after the century, around 1910, 1911, 1912. Pierce: And for our listeners out there, this is really the story of the history of occupational diseases in Massachusetts, and more importantly, how the law did not protect victims of occupational diseases. I didn’t know how it connected to the first World War, and so, I just Googled tragic dial painters World War I, and found myself on a Wikipedia page called Radium Girls, and I just, I couldn’t believe the story that I was reading.Īlan S. I didn’t know what tragedy had happened to them. And at that time had never heard of a dial painter. And they said, as they were considering how to structure that, and what safety measures to put in place, they said, they all remembered the tragic dial painters of the first World War. I was reading a biography, I thought, it was actually in the section about health insurance for project workers on the Manhattan Project, which of course, connects to workers’ comp. It was a labor of love for many years, and was actually nine years ago that I stumbled across the story of the Radium Girls when I was working as a production assistant, and a researcher on a documentary about the Manhattan Project. She produced with Emily McEvoy, and I wrote the film with Brittany Shaw. It’s a project I co-directed with Lydia Dean Pilcher, who also produced. So, Radium Girls is a film, it’s now in Netflix. Can you tell us a little bit about how you came upon this subject, and where it brought you? Pierce: One of the reasons we wanted to reach out to you was because of the subject matter of the film that came about, and launched on, and it’s now widely seen on Netflix. Ginny Mohler: Hi, thank you for having me. She probably has a lot of other credits to her name, and I’ll let her get into that briefly. Just by way of background, Jinny is a director, a writer. Pierce: Yes, we have a special guest today too, Ginny Mohler is here with us. Pierce: Hey Jud, how are you? Our, guest, Ginny. I am here with my co-host, and founder of this show, Alan Pierce.Īlan S. Pierce: Hello, and welcome to another edition of Workers Comp Matters in the Legal Talk Network. Pierce is a leader committed to making a difference with Workers Comp Matters. Nationally recognized trial attorney, expert and author, Alan S. The only Legal Talk Network Program that focuses entirely on the people and the law, in workers’ compensation cases. Intro: This is Workers Comp Matters hosted by attorney Alan S. Hosts Judson Pierce and Alan Pierce interview Mohler about the fascinating genesis of the film, its place in the history of occupational health law, and the complex legal battle waged by the workers.ĭo the “Radium Girls” succeed in eliminating radium toxins from the workplace? No spoilers here. Nine years later, her independent film, “Radium Girls,” debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival, and the documentary is now streaming on Netflix. Her search for “dial painters” led her to a Wikipedia page on the “ Radium Girls ,” and a fascination was born. While researching the Manhattan Project, filmmaker Ginny Mohler stumbled on a little-told story of the young watch-dial painters in New Jersey during the Roaring Twenties.
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