David and Mush Besties Agenda

《 Bev | 19 | ✡🤠 》 unoffical newsies historian xx chronically bad at tagging, so find all of my original posts HERE! looking for something? 📝 📗 📖 📁 🎬 🏴‍☠️ 🎵

[make-friends-with-the-rats]

Welcome to my blog! My ask box and DMs are always open! Feel free to ask me all things Newsies and history!

--- "Remember what I told you, Mr. Snyder. The first thing you do in jail... make friends with the rats, share what ya got in common." Hi! My name is Bev and I deal mostly in Newsies (1992) and history. Unfortunately I am terrible at consistent tagging, but you can find all of my original posts HERE! Find in my bio... 📝- "Hard Promises" script 📗- 1991 "15th Green Revisions" script 📖- Newsies, a Novel 📁- Newsies Press Booklet 🎬- Newsies (1992) film 🏴‍☠️- Unofficial "Newsies Libretto" 🎵- Newsies complete underscore If you're looking for my historical research posts, you might try some of these tags... #nerd alert! #history #newsies history #newsies historical research #my writing #maps "In the age of information, ignorance is a choice.” If you love history like I do and you are looking for historical resources from or related to the 1899 Newsboys' strike, some great places to look are... cityhallpark1899.com New York Public Library Digital Collections Library of Congress Digital Collections Library of Congress Chronicling America Brooklyn Public Library Brooklyn Newsstand

Details of the Thomas Jefferson Building or Main Library at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., September 2023.

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Allow me to be the first to wish Mayer Jacobs a very happy birthday!

You know he couldn't have asked for a better birthday present than his son accidentally forming a union and instigating a strike.

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Skittery and his soft spot (aka his little brother)

@thatoneandlonelyemo2005

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Spot wears a key around his neck not for the symbolism but because David needed to bullshit his way through being put on the spot (pun not intended) by Jack and pulled his "You're the key" line solely from the key that happened to be there

David made up the symbolism just like he's probably made up symbolism in literary analysis before

[jackcowboyhero]

KID BLINK: I heard there’s a call for more pirate stories in these parts.  Just today, Bob the Second brought me this:

@make-friends-with-the-rats

Now, if you’re askin’ “who’s Bob the Second?,” you’re in for a treat.  I got a whole piratical library for ya:

PART THE FIRST – in which the I, the dashin’ Captain One-Eyed Ballatt, an’ my noble crew battle the Dread Pirate Crutchy.  You’ll also find out what happened to Original Bob.

ILLUSTRATION – a battle scene by famed nautical artist @coffee-rack.

PART THE SECOND – in which I meet my pet shark, Sharky Ned.

PART THE THIRD – a cautionary tale for about mermaids.  (Davey Not-Jones, the Sailin’ Mouth, likes a story with a moral.)

But our rat-befriendin’ pal didn’t send a carrier-parrot note askin’ me to rehash old stories.  No, they called for new adventures—new horizons that ain’t ever been sailed before.  And I ain’t the type to deny a tale.

Now, this weren’t too long after Part the Second, ’cause our cook Racebeard’s stove was still lyin’ deep in Davy Jones’ locker.  (Sharky Ned had tried to fetch it, but there’s even limits to what a shark can dive.)  I was first mate under Red Jack Kelly at the time, and the Villainous Snyder was still chasin’ him all over the world.  The Nell was a good ship an’ true, but she was stolen, and the Villainous Snyder’d stop at nothin’ to get her back—an’ to make matters worse, King Pulitzer was fundin’ Snyder’s expeditions.

Us?  Our only fundin’ was what we made through our talents, like sharpshootin’, cannon-shootin’, sword-wieldin’, ship-boardin’, an’ vaudeville.  And with Snyder close behind, it weren’t wise to carry lots o’ treasure to weigh us down.  Problem was, we’d just buried our latest haul ahead o’ the storm that nearly killed me, an’ we didn’t have enough to buy a new stove at the next port.  So all we could eat was raw potatoes, which ain’t very tasty, an’ raw bilgerat, ’cause nobody’d told us to make friends with ’em, as we sailed off to try to find more treasure, or maybe the mythical island o’ Santa Fe.

We were four days past the storm when we spotted land, an’ were we ever happy to see a restaurant!  But the problem was, we couldn’t speak the same language as the waiters, an’ that made sayin’ “have you ever heard of Santa Fe, do you have stoves to buy on credit, and have you seen the Villainous Snyder” real difficult.  So, fed but disappointed, we kept sailin’.

We were eight days past the storm when Cutthroat Boots, our lookout, yelled “Avast!  I see glintin’ ahead!”

I climbed up in the crows’ nest with him, an’ sure enough, a bright FLASH! FLASH! was comin’ over the waves!  “Red Jack!” I hollered, “There may be a treasure there, arr!”

Can you guess what we found?  Gold bricks?  Piled rubies?  A trove o’ dime novels?  No, it was some guy on the beach, turnin’ his head to an’ fro so the sun gleamed on his hair like a signal beam.

“Who’re you?” Red Jack demanded.

“Bumlets the Fierce,” the guy said.  It turned out he’d been washin’ his hair in the ocean when a big wave pulled him in, an’ since then, he’d been tryin’ to get back home.  An’ best of all, he said he could speak the same language as at the restaurant!  He said he weren’t sure about stoves, but at least he could ask ’em ’bout Santa Fe.

So we started sailin’ back, when all o’ a sudden, somethin’ dark cut across the sky!  Was it a bird?  Was it a flyin’ fish?  No, it was the biggest kite you ever saw, with two fellas hangin’ onto it!

Crash!  Smash!  They hit the deck, an’ wood an’ canvas splintered all over.  (Red Jack would want you to know that it came from the kite, not the Nell.  He says Nell’s indestructible.)

“Goedemorgen,” said the yellow-haired one o’ the fellas.

“Guten morgen,” said the dark-haired fella.

(Actually, they said some other words too, which weren’t fit to print in a schoolbook.  Gussie, if you’re readin’ this, your granma can thank me.)

Red Jack said “WHAT!”

So then the yellow-haired fella said, “Greetings, sailors!  My esteemed colleague and I apologize for the unfortunate collision upon your vessel; however, you have contributed to furthering the course of science!”

“Yeah, okay,” said Red Jack, who goes more for history.  Physics ain’t always in his favor, ya know.  “Who’re you?”

“Dutchy,” said the yellow-haired fella.

“Dutchy what?  The Mad Scientist?”

“No,” Dutchy said with a grin, “just Dutchy.”

“Pardon me,” said the dark-haired fella, Dutchy’s esteemed colleague, “has anyone encountered my spectacles?”

We all looked around in the wreckage.  “Here!” Bumlets the Fierce said, an’ handed ’em over.

As soon as he did, we all gasped—which is piratical behavior, if you’re a pirate while doin’ it.  “SPECS THE FOUR-EYED RUM-SWILLER?!?” we yelled.

“Who?” said Bumlets the Fierce.

“Red Jack?!” Specs the Four-Eyed Rum Swiller hollered, now that he could see us clear.  “One-Eyed Ballat?!  Cutthroat Boots?!  Racebeard?!”

“I thought you were goin’ to architecture school,” I said.  Specs helped build the Brooklyn Bridge, after all—but that’s a story for another time.

“Nah,” Specs said, “it wasn’t fun once you guys sailed away—at least, until I met my esteemed colleague.”

“Quite,” Dutchy said.

Red Jack kicked at the kite scraps.  “So now you’re buildin’ flyin’ machines?” “Crashing machines, thus far,” said Dutchy, “but we remain optimistic!”

“Quite,” Specs agreed.

“How about stove machines?” Racebeard asked.

Well, it turns out canvas an’ wood can’t turn into a stove—not for lack o’ tryin’—but we got back to the restaurant, an’ Bumlets the Fierce negotiated a payment plan for the finest o’ ships’ stoves, guaranteed not to push any crew members overboard an’ into the arms o’ a shark, prob’ly.  And at the next island, they didn’t speak Bumlets the Fierce’s language, but they spoke Dutchy’s!  And they told Red Jack Santa Fe was Thataway.

So, off we sailed—Cutthroat Boots in the crows’ nest, Red Jack at the wheel, Dutchy an’ Specs the Four-Eyed Rum Swiller cruisin’ above the waves, Sharky Ned swimmin’ behind to bring ’em back once they fell.  Flash! flash! went Bumlets the Fierce’s hair, givin’ ’em a beacon to follow.

Next time you’re on the waterfront, look.  You might see it gleamin’ too.

[make-friends-with-the-rats]

I am absolutely honored to hear related such a swashbuckling tale!!! And what grand entrances for Bumlets and Dutchy!

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Boots with his sick as heck pose and Dave just like 🧍‍♂️

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personally I think that if Max Casella was 24 while filming Newsies, Racetrack Higgins can be older than Jack Kelly

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pov david returning to school after the strike

[make-friends-with-the-rats]

Jack Kelly would have been 35 years old when America entered WW1 in 1917

the draft initially applied to able-bodied men ages 21-30, though in 1918 (the last year of the war) it was extended to encompass the ages of 18-45

even so, those who were drafted tended to remain in the 21-30 range, the average age of an American soldier in WW1 was 24/25

the war in Europe was indeed devastating, due in part to trench warfare and the weaponization of poison gas

however, the death rate for enlisted Americans was roughly 2.5% or a total of 116,516 lives lost out of 4.73 million

more than half of these deaths were non-combat deaths, the leading cause being disease (including the 1918 influenza pandemic)

another note, able-bodied men with dependent families or those with jobs deemed important to the war effort (agriculture, shipbuilding, etc.) were spared from the draft

[make-friends-with-the-rats]

your favorite newsie in all likelihood survived WW1

if it happened that any of them were drafted it simply would not be all of them

war can and does impact people's lives in different ways, you don't have to throw the newsies en masse into the front lines

[sclappin]

How convenient it is to attach small, useful objects to your clothes at waist level

[skinnycaats]

Some Sarah at 5am since I miss her.

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newsies where everything is exactly the same but this is Jack's hair

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Sarah Jacobs + "It's The Same Sun" from The American Girls Revue

[mushiimune]

screencap redraw with everybody's favorite leading lady 🧡

[thatoneandlonelyemo2005]

pov jack patching up david because jack has experience with patching cuts up

[jackmkelly]

DARLING ANGEL BABY GIRL!!! KP AS KP!!!!!

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from the Missouri State Archives, c. 1890.

made me think of this lovely lady

[make-friends-with-the-rats]

Do you think the Newsies fandom is dying?

This is such an interesting question! My short answer is no, the newsies fandom isn't dying. However, I've been around long enough to witness that the newsies fandom does tend to go through cycles where it will thin out before gaining more engagement again.

There are two sides to the newsies fandom:

The movie musical has been going steady for 34 years with it's earliest fandom spaces being the newsies fansites of the 1990s! It continues to be a cult classic and it continues to reach new fans through a variety of different ways.

The stage musical saw it's peak in popularity in the 2010s but has also continued to find an audience, especially through students being cast in school or community productions of the show. Popular productions such as the UK production and currently the Muny also tend to contribute to an uptick in fandom activity and to the cyclical nature of the fandom as a whole.

The following data isn't by any means comprehensive, but it may interest you to take a look at the popularity of Newsies over time according to Google Trends:

Worldwide popularity of Newsies (1992 film) as a Google search item from 2004 to the present. Currently sitting at 35% popularity compared to its peak.

Worldwide popularity of Newsies (Musical by Harvey Fierstein) as a Google search item from 2010 to the present. Currently sitting at 11% popularity compared to its peak.

I think it's safe to say that the newsies fandom isn't dying!