The Radium Girls

Then This Happened: Musical Stories

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The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint. The painting was done by women at three different factories, and the term now applies to the women working at the facilities: one in Orange, New Jersey, beginning around 1917; one in Ottawa, Illinois, beginning in the early 1920s; and a third facility in Waterbury, Connecticut, also in the 1920s.

After being told that the paint was harmless, the women in each facility ingested deadly amounts of radium after being instructed to "point" their brushes on their lips in order to give them a fine tip; some also painted their fingernails, face and teeth with the glowing substance. The women were instructed to point their brushes in this way because using rags or a water rinse caused them to use more time and material, as the paint was made from powdered radium, gum arabic and water.

Five of the women in New Jersey challenged their employer in a case over the right of individual workers who contract occupational diseases to sue their employers under New Jersey's occupational injuries law, which at the time had a two-year statute of limitations, but settled out of court in 1928. Five women in Illinois who were employees of the Radium Dial Company (which was unaffiliated with the United States Radium Corporation) sued their employer under Illinois law, winning damages in 1938.

STORYTELLER

• Lindsey Shaw

Swing Band

• Matt Griffo (Piano)
• Mason Jiller (Electric Guitar)
• Graham Nelson (Harmonica)
• Ethan Adelsman (Violin)
• Mike Amandes (Drums
• Tom Irwin (Bass)

VOCALISTS

• Matt Griffo
• Drake Shrader
• Emily Ramirez
• Derek Demkowitz
• Cat Amato

AUDIO GEAR
SOFTWARE
LUNA Recording System
Apollo x8p
Apollo X4
Apollo Octo Satellite
MICROPHONES
AEA KU5A - Griffo & Storyteller
TOWNSEND LABS SPHERE L22 - Group Vocals
EARTHWORKS SR25 - VIOLIN
INSTRUMENTS
E. Guitar - Direct in Using Buxom Betty UAD Guitar Amp Emulation
Piano - Coming in MIDI using the Ravel piano sound in LUNA Recording Software from Universal Audio
Bass - Amp Emulation SVTPro from UAD
Upright Bass - Griffo playing MIDI using a sample
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