Wednesday at the movies: Newsies
Disney produced a musical in movie format starring Christian Bale and Bill Pullman called “Newsies” that is one of our family favorites. It tells the story of the only child-led strike in American history. The photo above is of the real Newsies (the kids who held out for more pay against the likes of Hearst and Pulitzer).
Here’s a photo of the Disney gang:
Wikipedia describes it this way:
Newsies is based on the true story of the Newsboys Strike of 1899 in New York City. Thousands of homeless kids are living in Newsboys Lodging Houses, including Manhattan newsboy Jack Kelly (Christian Bale), who is a regular newsboy selling newspapers for Joseph Pulitzer (Robert Duvall) and his paper, the New York World. David Jacobs (David Moscow) leaves school temporarily and joins the newsies along with his little brother Les (Luke Edwards) to help his family while his father is out of work in the factory because of a broken arm. Shortly afterwards the price of newspapers to the newsboys is raised by 10 cents per 100 papers by joint decision of Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst.
Feeling they will be unable to bear the added cost, Jack Kelly organizes a strike with the aid of David Jacobs. As the protagonist, Jack Kelly struggles with his past as he forms an important friendship with David and his family. Between his dream of one day going to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and wanting to help his friends, he faces lots of tough decisions involving money and a good place to sleep. Along the way the boys are aided by newspaper reporter Bryan Denton (Bill Pullman) and vaudeville performer Medda (Ann-Margret), as well as being hindered by Snyder, warden of “The Refuge” juvenile detention facility (Kevin Tighe), and Pulitzer. They get every newsie from all of New York to team up and strike against the big-shot newspapermen.
We love the music, dancing, history and acting. My kids are big fans. Hope you enjoy it.
