By AMY DAVIS
The Progress
When strange health problems begin to occur to her coworkers at the United States Radium Corporation, Grace Fryer begins to suspect that something at work is making them all sick.
That is the beginning of the harrowing real-life story of “Radium Girls” the newest production of the Virgin Valley High School Theater Department which will be playing this week December 9, 10 and 11. Show times are at 6:30pm on Thursday and Friday, and at 3:00 PM on Saturday.
The Radium Girls were young ladies hired to work in factories painting watch dials that glowed in the dark using self-luminous paint. The paint ingredients? Zinc sulfide and radioactive radium salts.
The girls were instructed to lick the tips of their camel hair paint brushes to create the precise point needed to paint the small clock dials (lick, dip, paint, repeat). Their daily quota was 250 watch dials.
“Very seldom do we do dramas, but this story is so important to highlight,” said VVHS Theatre teacher Kelly Zarndt. “All of the people in our play are real. You can Google them.”
The story took place during World War II when women went to work in domestic manufacturing plants while the men were at war.
“It was seen as the patriotic thing to do since the military used these glow- in- the- dark watches,” Zarndt said. “Some of the girls even quit school to work and fulfill what they saw was their patriotic duty.”
But the health effects of working with radioactive materials didn’t take long to crop up. “By the age of 21 some had debilitation hysterectomies, and there were other effects,” Zarndt said. “The Radium company denied that radium was the cause of these health issues because at the time, radium was in everything.”
Radium was considered a miracle medicine. It was in make up and was used to battle cancer, fevers, constipation and gout.
Molly Maggia of Orange, New Jersey, was the first girl in to die of radiation poisoning. Doctors and employers initially claimed her death was caused by syphilis. But upon further investigation the cause was determined to be radium poisoning.
In a classic David vs Goliath tale, the play follows dial painter, Grace Fryer, played by Lydia Wakefield and Madison Marshall, as she fights for her day in court.
“If we don’t teach our children about the follies of the past, what hope do they have of making the future better than it has been,” Zarndt said. “I wanted these girls and their story to be remembered.”
Zarndt said that the play’s themes hits close to home. “We are dedicating this play to all of the ‘Down Winders’ in the valley,” she said. “For me this story is very relevant even today.”
Zarndt feels so passionate about Radium girls. “Grace Fryer is a great example of someone who had enough courage to fight her battle to the end, not only for herself, but for her friends,” Zarndt said. “We wanted a play that made a statement. Everyone will have their own take away from this play, but whatever the play makes you feel, we hope it changes you.”
Tickets to this production are $5 and can be purchased from any theater student or at the box office on the night of the performance.
