The play was nominated for eight Tony Awards, winning two including Best Original Score for Menken and Feldman. Jack and Pulitzer decide to settle their problem alone, and everyone leaves the room. They come to the agreement that the price increase will remain, as long as the publishers agree to buy back any unsold papers at the end of the day.

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. 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. The newsboys also distributed flyers and hung signs around the city encouraging people to help them in their cause by not buying the World and Journal. The guys from the actual strike were known for being honest, so it’s kind of iconic.

• Both David—or Davey, as the other newsies call him—and Les turn up to sell newspapers to support their family.
• They represent a time and particular set of characteristics and Jack, even though he’s putting on a front, he’s just a young kid too.
• But these moviegoers and critics were flat-out wrong about this musical.
• In fact, the Spanish-American war, what had driven the price of the papers up to 60 cents a hundred on the newsboys, ended in April and the boys striked in June.
• Friendships are made and tested through the newsies strike.
• But Louis had a nickname that he was known by, Kid Blink.

He also went by the nicknames “Red Blink,” “Muggsy McGee” and “Blind Diamond.” “For me,” said Riggs, “the most challenging part of preparing for the role of montreal5a7.ca/feedinterest/marketing Jack Kelly has been to make the character my own. If anybody knows ‘Newsies,’ they’ve probably seen the Broadway recording on Disney+ with Jeremy Jordan giving an incredible performance as Jack.

Annie Kelly

This dejects the Manhattan newsies, but David riles them up (“Seize the Day”). As a result, they ambush the distribution center and destroy all of the newspapers. Medda LarkinAida Overton Walker’s talent for dance was obvious at an early age and her parents made certain she received formal training. In 1895, at the age of only 15, Aida joined John Isham’s Octoroons, a touring group of black performers.

A Relevant Story About Workers’ Rights

But although the strike lasted only two weeks, it left an outsized legacy on American life and culture. The newsboy strike of 1899 encouraged similar strikes in Hartford, Connecticut , Butte, Montana , and Louisville, Kentucky . Young newsboys like these paralyzed New York City with rallies, marches, and impassioned speeches.

Max Casella, who played the newsie Racetrack Higgins, went to a movie theater just to see the trailer for “Newsies.” Unlike stage musicals, you can’t keep changing and fixing, Feldman said. The pace was fast, and one of the movie’s biggest songs, “King of New York,” was thrown together at the last minute.

And, against all odds, this ragtag crowd roared to victory. Walt Disney Pictures tapped its film financing partner, Touchwood Pacific Partners, to fund the production of the film. Alan Menken’s longtime collaborator, Howard Ashman, was too sick from AIDS to work with Menken on this film, and he would eventually die on March 14, 1991.

A few minutes later they caught him again at the corner of Frankfort street. A half hour later he was leading an attack on a boy who was trying to smuggle some Worlds and Journals over to Brooklyn. Kid Blink, who is sometimes called Red Blink on account of the color of his hair, was in command yesterday of the Park row strikers, who practically organized the strike. The Kid announced yesterday afternoon that things were going on beautifully and that he could see success ahead if the boys only held together.

The Fight Between Newsies And Moguls

Belafsky remembered how excited he was to see the movie with friends on opening night but said he quickly realized there was “serious disinterest.” Menken recalled getting breakfast with Katzenberg and the Disney exec announcing that the movie was dead on arrival. “I knew he was, like, a power player. So when he came on the set, we sort of knew that we were a big deal like that,” he told Insider. “The movie was a big deal for Disney if this was a Katzenberg pet project.” But with Ortega at the helm, “Newsies” pushed along, and the set was filled with energy — pranks and water-gun fights were plentiful around Universal Studios , and the cast went to Disneyland during breaks.

Young newsboys like this one made up the ranks of the newsboy strike of 1899. The musical opened to previews on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre for a limited engagement from March 15, 2012, to March 28, 2012, in previews and from March 29, 2012, to June 10, 2012, in its official engagement. This was later extended through August 19, 2012, after the first weekend of previews and then extended again, this time to an open-ended run. The show went on to earn eight Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, winning Best Choreography and Best Original Score. The show closed on August 24, 2014, having played 1,004 performances.