Newsies & The Real Story Behind the Best Disney Movie Musical Ever

Newsies was released in 1992 by Walt Disney Pictures. The movie musical follows the newsboys who sell papers in New York City in the late 1800s. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer raised the prices of newspapers for the newsboys, decreasing their profit while increasing Pulitzer’s. 

The leader of the newsies is named Jack Kelly,  played by a young, hot, and hunky Christian Bale. He teams up with newsboy David Jacobs, played by the young, hot, and hunky David Moscow, to lead the strike and all the songs and dances. 

The movie stars a young, hunky Christian Bale as the lead newsboy and features the following actors: David Moscow, Ann-Margret, Bill Pullman, Robert Duvall, Kevin Tighe, and Michael Lerner. It was legendary choreographer Kenny Ortega’s feature directorial debut. 

Newsies initially flopped at the box office but gained a cult following on home video. The film had a $15 million budget, but it only grossed around $2.8 million at the time of its release. It ranks among the lowest-grossing live-action films produced by the Walt Disney Studios. It was pulled from many theaters after it flopped during opening weekend. 

The movie was then turned into a stage musical. The musical premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2011 and made its Broadway debut in 2012. The Broadway production cost about $5 million to stage, and Newsies recouped that money within seven months, making it the fastest Disney musical on Broadway to turn a profit. 

The play was nominated for eight Tony Awards, winning two, including Best Original Score. The musical closed in August 2014, having played just over 1,000 performances. The musical began its North American tour in October 2014 and continued touring the U.S., Canada, and London until July 2023. 

Now Let’s Talk About What Really Happened 

Newsies was based on the newsboys’ strike of 1899, which began on July 18, 1899. This strike was a youth-led campaign that aimed to change the way that Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst compensated and treated their newsboys.

Joseph Pulitzer, born Pulitzer József, was a Hungarian-American politician and newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World. His name is best known for the Pulitzer Prizes established in 1917, which are given annually to recognize and reward excellence in American journalism, photography, literature, history, poetry, music, and drama. The award was named after him in recognition of his creation of the Columbia School of Journalism in 1912. Get a load of this guy. 

Before all of this, in April 1883, the Pulitzer family traveled to New York for what seemed to be a vacation but quickly turned into a business deal. Joseph wanted to make an offer to Jay Gould for ownership of The New York World. At first, he wasn’t able to negotiate with him, but after talking with his wife, Kate, Pulitzer made a deal and took over the World. 

The World immediately gained 6,000 readers in its first two weeks under Pulitzer and had more than doubled its circulation to 39,000 within three months. Under Pulitzer's leadership, circulation grew from 15,000 to 600,000, making the World the largest newspaper in the country. 

This was largely because Pulitzer emphasized sensational stories: human interest, crime, disasters, and scandal. His World featured illustrations, advertising, and a culture of consumption for working men. Crusades for reform and entertainment news were two main staples for the World.

Pulitzer is also famously known for introducing the world to the immensely popular The Yellow Kid comic created by Richard F. Outcault in 1895. The Yellow Kid is a bald child with big ears and a large mustard-colored nightshirt named Mickey Dugan who lived in New York’s Lower East Side. 

Although it was a childish cartoon comic, Outcault's work aimed its humor and social commentary at Pulitzer's adult audience. The strip has been described as "a turn-of-the-century theater of the city, in which class and racial tensions of the new urban, consumerist environment were acted out by a mischievous group of New York City kids from the wrong side of the tracks.” 

The kid was also “meant to serve as an ethnic marker to identify the comic figure as an Irish immigrant child living in New York City.” Many other critics, from then and now, argued that the character was a “Chinese-Irishman” since the character started to appear after the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 and the Geary Act in 1892. 

The Chinese Exclusion Act was an absolute 10-year ban on Chinese laborers immigrating to the U.S. The Geary Act renewed the Chinese exclusion laws and expanded enforcement mechanisms by requiring that people from China must prove their lawful presence in the U.S. by carrying a resident certificate or green card. It’s safe to say The Yellow Kid was a prejudiced comic that featured a caricature of an immigrant child to sell more papers and provide social commentary to the working class. 

Pulitzer is the main antagonist in the movie. They play into how greedy he is and even have him tell Jack that “if you don’t work in your own self-interest, you’re a fool” in response to Jack making a sacrifice to help his fellow newsies. Kids who are like brothers to him. 

William Randolph Hearst was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. Hearst is said to be the inspiration for the classic film Citizen Kane. 

After moving to New York City, Hearst acquired the New York Journal and was in a circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. Hearst sold papers by printing giant headlines over stories featuring crime, corruption, sex, and innuendos. Hearst acquired more newspapers, and Hearst Communications had nearly 30 papers in major American cities at its peak. He later expanded to magazines, making Hearst Communications the largest newspaper and magazine business in the world. 

Hearst controlled the editorial positions and coverage of political news in all his papers and magazines, and often published his personal views while sensationalizing tragedies. The New York Journal and The New York World both mastered a style of popular journalism that is now known as "yellow journalism", named after the Yellow Kid comic.

Yellow journalism and yellow press are American terms for journalism and associated newspapers that present little or no legitimate, well-researched news and instead use scandalous headlines to increase sales. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism. 

Pulitzer's World used bold headlines, aggressive news gathering, cartoons and illustrations, populist politics, and dramatic crime and human-interest stories. And Hearst's Journal used the same recipe for success. 

The two men and their newspapers were in a fierce competition for readers, and both papers spent a good amount of money trying to come out on top. They reference this in the movie when one of Pulitzer’s assistants explains to him that they aren’t pulling in as much profit since they started fighting with Hearst. 

But, both newspapers were still seeing a good amount of profit and had plenty of papers in circulation. So everyone was winning, except the workers on the ground, the newsboys, and the American people, who were tricked into buying papers and reading extremely polarizing news at the hands of capitalism. Like the tap dancing newsboys say:

If I hate the headline

I'll make up a headline

And I'll say anything I have to

'Cause it's two for a penny

If I take too many Weasel just makes me eat 'em after

A newspaper hawker, newsboy, or newsie is someone who sells newspapers without a fixed newsstand. The use of newsboys began in 1833 when the New York Sun started hiring vendors in New York. At the time, newspapers were generally either picked up at the newspaper's office or delivered by the publisher’s employees. However, The Sun was not sold in stores or by subscription. Its publisher, Benjamin Day, recruited people using help-wanted notices.

He expected adults to answer the ad, but instead, children showed up. The first was 10-year-old Irish immigrant Bernard Flaherty, who turned out to be a talented newsboy (and later a stage comedian) who would cry out the day's most sensational headlines: "Cursed Effects of Drunkenness!"; "Awful Occurrence!"; "Infamous Affair!". 

Newsboys could either sell to random passersby on the street or establish specific subscription routes. Like they say in the movie musical:

Try Bottle Alley or the harbor 

Try Central Park, it’s guaranteed

Try any banker, bum, or barber

They almost all knows how to read

Newsboys were not employees of the publisher, but rather purchased the papers from wholesalers in packets of 100 and peddled them as independent agents. Unsold papers could not be returned. 

Legally, every state considered the newsboys to be independent contractors, so they were not subject to child labor laws (which basically didn’t exist at that time), and unionizing wasn’t even on their minds because it was only established 100 years prior and mostly covered craft and trade jobs. In other words, they were often taken advantage of and didn’t get the profit they truly deserved. 

Newsies often came from poor immigrant families and sold papers in the early morning and evenings after their school activities, if they went to school at all. They were often viewed negatively, and the following was published in 1875:

“There are 10,000 children living on the streets of New York…The newsboys constitute an important division of this army of homeless children. You see them everywhere… They rend the air and deafen you with their shrill cries. They surround you on the sidewalk and almost force you to buy their papers. They are ragged and dirty. Some have no coats, no shoes, and no hats.”

Before the strike in 1899, newsies bought papers at 50 cents per hundred and sold them at 1 cent each, for a profit of half a cent per paper. In 1898, with the Spanish-American War increasing newspaper sales, several publishers raised the cost of a newsboy’s bundle of 100 newspapers from 50 cents to 60 cents, a price increase that at the time was offset by the increased sales. 

After the war, many papers reduced the cost back to previous levels, with the notable exceptions of The New York World and the New York Evening Journal. 

On approximately July 18, 1899, a group of newsboys in Long Island City turned over a distribution wagon for the New York Journal. The boys declared a strike against the papers of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst until prices were rolled back to 50 cents per hundred. The newsboys of Manhattan and Brooklyn were quick to join the strike the next day. The newsboys distributed flyers and hung signs around the city, encouraging people to help them in their cause by not buying the World and Journal. 

On July 24, 1899, the newsboys held a city-wide rally at Irving Hall sponsored by state senator Timothy D. Sullivan. An estimated 5,000 newsboys from Manhattan attended the rally, along with 2,000 from Brooklyn and several hundred from other areas of the city. Many local businessmen and politicians spoke at this rally. 

The union president, David Simmons, read a list of resolutions saying that the strike was to stand until the papers reduced their prices, and also calling on the newsboys to adopt non-violent methods of resistance, which the character David in the movie also advocates for. 

After this rally, the real-life newsies went a more non-violent route and had a lot of public support. People chose to stop buying papers from the World and the Journal in solidarity, which caught the attention of the publishers. 

In the movie and real life, the leadership of the strike was less centralized than most unions. Instead of a general labor union, newsboy unions were typically formed in each Borough of the City, and the boys were loyal to their community leader, rather than the overall leader of the strike. This meant the union leaders of one part of the City often had to meet with the union leaders of another part of the City to agree on conditions and plans of action. 

IRL Inspiration 

Louis “Kid Blink” Baletti was the inspiration for Christian Bale’s character, Jack Kelly. They were both the face of the strike to the public. In real life, Kid Blink was described as an "undersized boy" with red hair and an eye patch over his left eye. He also went by the nicknames “Red Blink,”  "Muggsy McGee," and "Blind Diamond." 

While there was another character in the movie named Kid Blink with an eye patch, the real-life Kid Blink and Jack Kelly were both charismatic leaders. Several newspapers reported speeches that Kid Blink gave at rallies. Christian Bale gave plenty of inspiring speeches throughout the movie. 

Spoiler Alert! Just like Jack Kelly, Kid Blink was accused of betraying the strike and accepting a bribe to sell the boycotted papers, and though some sources claim he was acquitted of these charges, he still stepped down from his leadership position after being accused of crossing the picket line. In the movie, Jack Kelly is forced to go against the strike because he doesn't want to go back to the juvenile detention center. 

Annie Kelly may have inspired Jack Kelly as well. While there were no female newsies in the movie, Annie Kelly was one of the few newswomen loyal to the strike in real life. This made her very popular with the boys since most women continued to work through the strike. The newsboys saw her as a patron saint, and she was the only woman to speak at the rally at Irving Hall, after being pulled on stage by a crowd of cheering newsboys, where she told them: "All I can say, boys, is to stick together and we'll win. That's all I've got to say to you." 

She didn’t directly inspire a character in the movie, but since Jack’s last name is Kelly, I like to think they are giving Annie a little shoutout. 

The character David Jacobs, played by David Moscow, was inspired by David Simmons. Simmons was president of the newsboy union at the beginning of the strike, and treasurer in the second half. He was also accused of betraying the strike and was forced to step down from his leadership role. He was twenty-one at the time of the strike and had been selling newspapers since the age of eight. 

Simmons read a list of resolutions at the rally at Irving Hall, which the crowd found quite boring, according to reports. This is an important fact because the character David Jacobs is the boring yet logical one. People only listen to his ideas when Jack is saying them. This is why I believe Simmons inspired Jacobs. 

Ed “Racetrack” Higgins inspired the character Spot Conlon, played by Gabriel Damon. Like the character Spot, Racetrack Higgins was the leader of the Brooklyn newsboys. He was elected vice-president of the overall union after Kid Blink and David Simmons were accused of going against the strike. He was a charismatic speaker, and several papers mentioned the use of humor in his speeches. 

The publication Brooklyn Life referred to him as "a born leader of boys, and he may yet be of men." His speech at the rally went off so well that the New York Times said: "If the newsboys present could have had a vote last night, 'Race Track Higgins' could have had any office in their gift." 

There is a character named Racetrack Higgins in the movie, but he is a part of Jack Kelly’s Manhattan Newsboys gang and makes a couple of jokes about Brooklyn/the Brooklyn leader, Spot Conlon. 

While he was not directly mentioned in the movie, Lewis Hine was an American Photographer who crusaded against child labor in America in the early 20th century by taking photos that exposed frightful conditions, especially in factories and coal mines. He photographed youths who worked in the streets as well, but these were not viewed the same as the photos in the coal mines. 

The newsboys were working as independent young entrepreneurs, and Hine’s images showed youthful masculinity and emerging entrepreneurship. The symbolic newsboy became an iconic image in discourses about childhood, ambition, and independence. This man could have inspired the character Bryan Denton, played by Bill Pullman, who is a photographer and journalist in the film, who supports the boys and publishes stories in support of the strike. In the Broadway version, Bryan is a woman who ends up falling for Jack. 

As previously mentioned, two days after the big rally at Irving Hall, rumors spread among the newsboys that strike leaders, Kid Blink and David Simmons, had betrayed the strike and agreed to sell the boycotted papers in exchange for a bribe from the newspaper executives. 

Both boys denied the charges, but some sources note that Kid Blink wore clothes a bit nicer than usual, indicating the possibility that he may have accepted a bribe and spent the money on nicer clothes. This happens in the movie, and Jack Kelly is dressed in nicer clothes when he crosses the picket line and sells papers while the other newsboys are still protesting. These details, Kenny! 

In response to these suspicions, Kid Blink and David Simmons resigned from their leadership positions, Simmons changed from union president to treasurer, and Kid Blink became a walking delegate. Later that same night, Kid Blink was chased through the streets by a group of boys who were angry about the rumors that he had abandoned the strike. A police officer saw the group of running boys and assumed that Kid Blink was the leader. He was arrested for disorderly conduct, given a fine, and let go.

After the rumors about Kid Blink and David Simmons, the newsboys started to lose momentum. Other newsboys tried to step up and lead the strike, including Race Track Higgins, but none of them had the influence of Kid Blink. 

On August 1, 1899, the World and the Journal offered the newsboys a compromise: the price of a hundred papers would remain at 60 cents, but they would buy back any unsold papers. The boys wouldn’t have to sell late into the night to avoid taking a loss for the day. The newsboys accepted this compromise, ended the strike, and disbanded the union on August 2, 1899.

The newsboys' strike of 1899 has been credited with inspiring later strikes, including the Butte, Montana Newsboys' Strike of 1914, and a 1920s strike in Louisville, Kentucky. Besides Newsies, the Newsboys were fictionalized in 1942 by DC Comics as the Newsboy Legion and have appeared in various forms, including in modern-day comics. The newsboy strike is also described in detail in the 2003 non-fiction book Kids on Strike!