Flashcards Radium Girls Arthur Roeder Lines

GRACE. Oh, I didn't miss it so much. The girls were all so nice and the work wasn't hard. It wasn't like factory work, really. It was more like art, painting those dials. We were artists.

I'm not really the one you should be talking to. Von Sochocky. He's the one you should talk to.

MARKLEY'S VOICE. Now, Arthur. You know he won't talk to us

It was his process.

MARKLEY'S VOICE. Tell me about that process, Arthur.

You used a powder ...

We used a powder. The girls mixed it with an

adhesive to make the paint. And that business with the brushes-I didn't invent that. They were doing that when I started there.

MARKLEY. But you knew about it

We all knew about it. We just didn't realize what it meant.

VON SOCHOCKY. Mr. Roeder. Perhaps you have some

words for the girls? Mrs. MacNeil?

Well. (A moment as he regards them.) Girls.

This paint you've been playing with. It's very expensive. You realize this? (Mumbled acknowledgment.) It takes several tons of ore to produce a single gram of radium. That's a lot of work-hard work, for the men in the extraction

plant. But they do this work gladly. You understand

why? Why they work so hard? What we are all

working for?

GRACE. The War?

That's right. The war. The dials you paint save

lives, girls. Our boys in the field depend on them. To read them in the dark, no mistaking what they see. Otherwise... some of those boys won't be coming home. So, girls. If you play around and don't take the work seriously... well, you're playing into the hands of the Kaiser. And we don't want that, do we?

GIRLS. No sir ... Oh, no! Etc.

So let's get back to work now and leave the

tomfoolery to home. (The GIRLS file away, but GRACE

lingers.)

GRACE. Mr. Roeder? I just-I just wanted to say. I-I am

sorry. I won't do nothin' like this ever again.

Well, dear. Just keep this in mind: If you do

right by us, we'll do right by you.

SCENE 2

SOCIETYWOMAN. No more questions! Madame Curie is on a tight schedule! Mrs. Andrew Carnegie has sent a

car-and will escort Dr. Curie personally-as will I-to

Washington-where President Harding will present the

gift-of one gram of radium! (Cheers and excitement as

MADAME CURIE and CROWD exits leaving ROEDER

and LEE.)

You see that, Charlie? That is a marketing opportunity! Let's send her one of our customer's watches. Courtesy, the United States Radium Corporation!

LEE. We'll need a press release. (LEE takes notes as

ROEDER ruminates.)

Radium isn't just for scientists to study. The average

American can share in its glory every night. Luminous watches, luminous clocks! Anyone who thinks these are just novelties, consider all the other advances that have taken place in the past fifty years-the electric light. The telegraph-

LEE. The telephone!

The automobile! Inventions all once dismissed

as novelties-as toys-

LEE. -are now essentials to modem life. Got it. That

ought to sell some watches.

Watches, absolutely. But that's not where the

growth is now, Charlie. You heard the lady, it's the medical market.

LEE. And Standard Chemical owns it.

Only because Von Sochocky lets them take it.

But if we wanted to, we could get half their business. It's just a matter of positioning.

LEE. Standard Chemical publishes its own journal. Sends it

out monthly-to twelve thousand doctors. We could do

something similar.

Something scholarly. That the doctors would respect.

LEE. A bibliography. Listing every article ever published

on radium ...

But with capsule reports-to save the doctors

time. They'd get the information, find it fast -

LEE. And have us to thank for it.

We'll send it to every doctor in the U.S. Radium Society.

LEE. Every doctor in the American Medical Association.

That's the spirit, Charlie. Advertising. That's the wave of the future. It's not just the product - it's the way you promote it.

SCENE 3

MACNEIL Girls, girls! Your attention, please. The gentlemen are here to make an announcement.

Thank you, Mrs. MacNeil. Girls, we are here to put a few rumors to rest.

VON SOCHOCKY. -and to explain some changes, ja?

Yes. As some of you may have heard by now, Dr. Von Sochocky is stepping down-and he wanted to take this opportunity-

V ON SOCHOCKY (cutting him off) . ... to make with goodbye. And Mr. Roeder has kindly consented. (He pauses, looking for the words.) Some of you I have known since you were little girls. Coming here during the war. Working so hard! Day after day at the bench, two hundred, three hundred, some of you, five hundred dials a day! So excited to be part of our work here. When this company I start, in my own kitchen, mixing up the paint, I knew I found something miraculous, to make life better ... easier ... And now ... what do I read? ...(He taps the red book thoughtfully.) ... more and more uses are there for the radium... More than I dreamed possible. (He stops. MRS. MACNEIL dabs her eyes with a kerchief)

MACNEIL Thank you, Doctor.

(embarrassed by emotion). Yes, thank you,

Doctor. (Brightening.) Now, girls. The doctor is a busy man and must be on his way. So let's wish him the best of luck in his new business ventures! (Applause from GIRLS.) Very good, then, girls-

VON SOCHOCKY. And Mr. Roeder. Let us good luck wish to you also. To the plate he steps as your new company

president! Our congratulations to you.

Thank you.

VON SOCHOCKY. When Mr. Roeder came four years ago to us, I saw in him a young man of great enterprise-

Thank you-

VON SOCHOCKY (overlapping). And great ambition!

Yes, thank-

VON SOCHOCKY (overlapping-a false cheerfulness).

Little did I guess the direction your ambition would

take. But! One of the things that makes this country

great is the opportunity it presents to a young man ... and

his friends.

And so, girls-

IRENE (to KATHRYN). New direction?

VON SOCHOCKY. With the slowdown in dialpainting-

(overlapping). Now, Doctor-

VON SOCHOCKY (overlapping). And business moving into the medical market, there's going to be lots of changes, ja? (A moment.)

What the doctor is referring to ... some of our larger customers are setting up their own dial-painting studios.

VON SOCHOCKY. Which means less work for our girls here.

In the short run. Things may be slower here.

However, the Waterbury Clock Company in Connecticut will need help setting up its new studio. We were intending to make an announcement next week. We'll

make it now. Mrs. MacNeil?

MACNEIL Uh. Well. We'll be askin' some of you girls to go on up there.

The work is supervisory in nature. Which means more pay. You have some girls in mind?

MACNEIL Louise Conlon was one. Sarah Deutsch. Lena

McCarthy ... and Kathryn Schaub. (Reaction from

GIRLS.) I have the entire list downstairs. I'll post it today?

Fine. There you have it, girls. As we are all on

the clock ... we'll leave you to your work.

SCENE 5

MARKLEY. Hazel Kuser. Any connection to the others?

LEE. Only by virtue of employment.

Except she's got a good lawyer.

LEE. Knows how to write a good letter anyway, that lawyer.

MARKLEY. And she no longer works here?

LEE. Left six months ago.

This makes four now.

LEE. Three.

Four if you count the Maggia girl.

LEE. I wouldn't include her.

She worked here.

LEE. She also worked other places. And what she died

from-you couldn't pick up here. At least, I don't think

you can.

That's not funny, Charlie. Besides, that's just

idle talk.

LEE. In my experience, there's usually something to the

idle talk. When it comes to girls like that.

MARKLEY. From a large family, wasn't she?

LEE. Italians. The conditions they live in! Ten, twelve people

in three rooms. It's a wonder they don't all die of one

infection or another.

MARKLEY. Three, then. And how many dead?

Only Miss Maggia But I haven't heard from her

people.

MARKLEY. It's too late for them anyway. The statute of

limitations is two years. But Miss Kuser is another story.

She's in a position to make some trouble now.

In all the time I've been here. No one has so

much as slipped on the floor. And now this.

LEE. We're talking about four girls. Out of how many hundreds that we've employed?

Six, seven hundred. Over the years.

LEE. And some of them were sick when they got here.

One girl you hired was a complete cripple. Couldn't

even climb the stairs. Her father carried her up to the

studio every morning.

It didn't make any difference to me how she got

up the stairs-she was a fast worker and a very sweet little girl.

LEE. But she was in poor health.

She needed the work.

MARKLEY. Arthur. Charlie.

And not just for the money. To feel productive.

To have a purpose. That's what work does, Charlie. It gives us a purpose. I don't see any reason why we should stop hiring girls like that.

LEE. When they get sick and try to blame us for it-you

might want to reconsider that policy.

Let's see what Dr. Drinker has to say.

MARKLEY. Dr. Drinker?

LEE. Some professor at the Harvard School of Industrial

Hygiene.

He chairs the department. And he's agreed to

take a look at our operations.

LEE. Don't you think we' re jumping the gun a bit, hiring him?

We've had six girls quit this week. And Mrs. MacNeil tells me there could be more.

LEE. Girls come and go all the time.

It's never been like this. These girls are terrified.

We've got to do some thing to calm them.

LEE. Letting Drinker examine them? That sounds to me like a recipe for mass hysteria.

We'll tell them it's a routine physical. Edward?

MARKLEY Companies give physicals all the time.

Then Drinker will start next month.

MARKLEY In the meantime, I recommend we make an offer to Miss Kuser.

Settle?

LEE. There's no proof her problems are connected to us.

MARKLEY. If she sues-believe me, you won't like the

publicity it brings. And neither will your investors.

LEE. You think this will affect the stock offering?

MARKLEY. Don't you?

Wonderful. We'll open at thirty and close at ten.

MARKLEY Or not open at all.

LEE. But if we give this girl something-that will keep her

quiet?

MARKLEY It would be a condition of the settlement.

LEE. Maybe we better do it.

Suppose that lawyer has a racket going? He finds sick girls and talks them into making suits. Then we reward him for his larceny.

LEE. Unless ... Miss Kuser genuinely believes she got sick

here.

MARKLEY. It could be like Charlie said. She comes from

a large, immigrant family. Not well educated. Not a lot

of resources.

LEE. A few hundred dollars would make a big difference

to a girl like that.

MARKLEY. Certainly. Pay a few doctor's bills. Buy some

medicine. From the sound of that letter, I don't think the

girl has long to live anyway.

So it would be a gesture of decency, then.

MARKLEY. Exactly.

What do you think we should offer?

SCENE 8

MRS. ROEDER. Harriet! Harriet you'll come down from

that tree at once.

HARRIET'S VOICE (off). I'm waiting for Papa!

MRS. ROEDER. Fine! When he gets here I'll send him up

after you!

HARRIET (off). There he is! Papa! Papa!

Harriet!

MRS. ROEDER. Harriet! Come down at once!

HARRIET. Papa! I can see clear to the church!

(laughs). Can you? Do you see your grandfather?

HARRIET. No. But I see the schoolhouse!

MRS. ROEDER. You think this is funny?

She's enjoying herself.

MRS. ROEDER. HARRIET!

Tell you what. If she has no one to shout

to... she won't shout.

MRS. ROEDER. They can hear her all over the neighborhood.

Can they? (He leads her to a seat on the porch.)

MRS. ROEDER. When she comes down, I want you to

speak to her.

She's nine years old, Diane.

MRS. ROEDER. I'm trying to raise a daughter, not a son.

Time is on your side. In another year or two,

she'll lose all interest in trees ... and develop a fascination with boys.

MRS. ROEDER. That's supposed to scare me.

And when that day comes, you'll be frantic. Because she no longer wants to climb trees.

MRS. ROEDER. What's this?

Something to give you vitality.

MRS. ROEDER. You think I need vitality?

That's what it says on the bottle.

MRS. ROEDER. Is it pure?

We're his supplier. Want to try it?

MRS. ROEDER. If it will give me vitality-how could I

refuse? (He opens a bottle and pours a glass for her. A

beat as she tastes it. She smiles her approval.) Your father

came by to see me today.

And what did the good Reverend want? Let me guess... Another hard-luck case.

MRS. ROEDER. Four children at home. All under the age

of six.

Let me guess-wife in the hospital with cancer.

MRS. ROEDER. Yes .

And the husband's been laid off from, let's see--the brickyard.

MRS. ROEDER. Yes!

Through no fault of his own.

MRS. ROEDER. How did you know?

Dad was around to see me yesterday. It's never

enough with him. Just to have ordinary ambitions. You have to have a mission in life.

MRS. ROEDER. And you do.

No, I have a business plan.

MRS. ROEDER. You can't tell me you wouldn't help this

man if you could.

If I could. But I can't give him a job that doesn't exist.

MRS. ROEDER. What about Dan Lehman?

Dan?

MRS. ROEDER. Maybe he could use some help.

In the laboratory? Dan needs trained technicians-not a bricklayer. Why don't you send him to Mrs. Middleton. Don't you women have a social club

for things like this?

MRS. ROEDER. You mean the Women's Club civics committee?

Right.

MRS. ROEDER. Yes, the club takes an interest in such

cases. But we're not an employment service, either.

Which is why I thought you could help him.

Oh, you do love being married to the company

president.

MRS. ROEDER. It has its advantages.

Ever think of trading it in?

MRS. ROEDER. Do you?

I got my shoes shined this morning. And while I

sat there and watched the boy work, I thought: this is quite an enterprise. The work walks in, the work walks out. No inventory, no warehouse, no health inspectors, no stock price--

MRS. ROEDER. And you'll trade all of it in for your own

shoeshine stand!

Fewer headaches that way.

MRS. ROEDER. So you're in one of those moods again!

What is it this time? It can't be the market. It went up

today!

Now you're reading the financial pages.

MRS. ROEDER. I have to entertain myself somehow. So

what happened today? You're being very strange.

Am I? I'm sorry.

MRS. ROEDER. You can tell me, you know.

Nothing to tell. Really. This is going to be our

best year ever.

MRS. ROEDER. So it's the prospect of success that you

find so disheartening.

I'll get my checkbook.

MRS. ROEDER. What for?

Your bricklayer.

MRS. ROEDER. Artie! He needs a job, not charity. What

is it your father says? A working man needs to work. It

wears-

(overlapping). It wears on his soul not to work.

Well. If it's a matter of his soul. That's different. All

right. I'll have him talk to Dan.

MRS. ROEDER. Artie!

But I make no promises, Diane.

MRS. ROEDER. No promises.

To your health.

SCENE 9

DRINKER. To Mr. Arthur Roeder. U.S. Radium Corporation. From Cecil Drinker, Harvard University. Enclosed

is our report.

Finally!

DRINKER. We believe the trouble in your plant is due to

the radium.

Radium?

GRACE. I-it can't be as bad as all that. (ROEDER continues

to read, appalled at what he sees.)

This can't be.

GRACE. Go to the company?

DRINKER. We realize no proof can be offered at present...

KNEF. Once they see what kinda shape yer in ...

This is impossible!

KNEF. ... They gotta feel ob1igated to help ya out.

DRINKER. But in view of the material in the literature ...

It's a mistake.

DRINKER .... and the facts disclosed by our investigation...

KNEF. I don't see how they could refuse!

DRINKER. We recommend immediate-and drastic-remedial

action. (Lights down on DRINKER.)

KNEF. Look, if you want, I'll write to 'em for ya. They

can work through me, just pay my bills directly.

GRACE. You think they'd do that?

CHARLIE!

KNEF. They got a moral obligation, don't ya think?

GRACE. I guess so.

KNEF. We'll do it right now. I'll get some paper. (Lights

down on GRACE and KNEF. ROEDER flips through the

report looking for anything hopeful.)

He has to be wrong, that's all. He's wrong.

(Enter Lee.)

Charlie. (He shows him the report.) He has to

be wrong.

LEE. He must have overlooked something .

If we're suffering from a new ailment caused by

radium it should occur generally throughout the plant.

LEE. One would expect.

Several hundred milligrams are in solution at all

times in the big vats, several hundred milligrams in the ore, several hundred in crystallizing.

LEE. The entire back yard is filled with tailings.

Radium is present in good amounts all over the property.

LEE. If it's the radium, then the incidence of illness should

be highest in the laboratory.

And no one there is sick.

LEE. Then perhaps it's some combination of the radium

with the zinc.

Or something peculiar to our plant alone.

LEE. Some kind of bacteria, perhaps? In the brushes?

It can't be the radium. There are dozens of application plants across the country. And none has ever reported anything like this.

LEE. The Department of Labor wants to see the report.

Yes I'm aware.

LEE. What are we going to do? This tears us to pieces. How do we answer them?

They want to see the report.

(ROEDER flips through, looking for a particular page that shows the company in the most favorable light. Then he tears the page out of the report and holds it out to LEE.)

We'll send them this.

LEE. One page?

The most important page. (His meaning slowly

sinks in to LEE.)