#racetrack higgins

[mikeymcmillin]

that time of year again. carrying the banner!!

[we-are-inevitable]

make your newsies people of color. make your newsies women. make your newsies immigrants. make your newsies different ages. make your newsies smart. make your newsies disabled. make your newsies gender diverse. make your newsies have agency. make your newsies strong. the thing about the broadway show that i love so much is that ANYONE can play these characters and still do them justice.

in past productions we’ve had a black jack kelly, a latino jack kelly, a black katherine, an asian david, a racetrack who isn’t always happy go lucky, a crutchie whose actor is a disabled in real life. newsies have been genderswapped because gender doesn’t dictate the character- take uksie’s spot, who is a black woman, for example; spot is the same powerhouse of a character regardless of who’s playing them. these characters are who you make them and you do NOT, and should not, follow the path of making every newsie White Guy #17. this is fiction these are characters you can give them diverse identities! diverse cultures! diverse religions and diverse countries of origin and diverse lived experiences!

also stop making them stupid. for the love of GOD stop making them stupid. maybe most of them don’t have a “formal” education but they’re street smart and quick on their feet and resilient and they should not be reduced down to an accent for shits and giggles. not every newsie has to be a white cisgender man. get real with it. you agree. reblog.

[specss-missing-shoe]

when they say "whatthehellisanerster" but my name's Racetrack and I'm stressed so I make everyone tap dance with spoons

[kraliosis]

a little sprace sketch before I attempt anything harder

turns out the last time I drew them was in march of last year so…oops??

I never knew how to draw race’s hair and honestly I still don’t but at least I like it more now lmao

[chick-with-wifi]

The proshot of Newsies places a lot less emphasis on the nicknames aspect of newsie culture compared to the 1992 film, which makes Crutchie’s name come across as more ableist.

In 92sies Jack is frequently called by his nickname Cowboy, dresses like a cowboy with his hat and bandana and carries a Western comic which he shows to Davey. Spot refers to Davey as a ‘walking mouth’, presumably due to how much he talks, which seems to have stuck as his nickname since Jack repeats it when introducing Davey to Pulitzer.

Race is addressed as Racetrack twice, specifically when Medda shouts for him after Snyder shows up at the rally and when Davey tells him to watch Les while they free Jack from the Refuge. His gambling habit is made clear, which explains where this nickname comes from. For example, he offers Wiesel a hot tip about which horse is likely to win (and later returns from the race having been wrong about this), wants someone to bet with him on Jack beating the Delancys, sings the King of New York line ‘a permanent box at the Sheepshead Races’ and wants to roll the judge for his sentence, “double or nothing.” Interestingly, he wears nicer clothes than the other newsies and is able to lend Jack money for Davey’s papes, so it is likely gambling does work out for him sometimes.

In the opening scene, Boots, Skittery, Snitch and Mush are addressed by name. When Jack is assigning boroughs, he addresses Bumlets, Specs, Pie Eater, Snoddy and Snipeshooter by name. These are all clearly nicknames, even if the reasons behind them aren’t obvious. Kid Blink - who Davey calls Blink in the scene after Seize the Day - wears an eyepatch, which explains his nickname. Crutchy uses a crutch, which explains his nickname.

With every newsie being known by a nickname based on a distinctive trait, as well as the clear camaraderie and loyalty of the group, this comes across as radical acceptance of their individuality. Especially since some of the nicknames come from traits it might be considered impolite to point out, but aren’t seen as negative by the newsies.

Whereas in livesies, Jack and Davey don’t have nicknames. Race is only called Race or Racer, with no indication of what it is short for or why they call him that. When waking the newsies after Santa Fe (Prologue), Jack shouts, “Hey, Specs! Racer, Henry, Albert, Elmer!” The last three could easily be their original given names. When assigning boroughs in the diner scene, Jack addresses Tommy Boy and Finch by name, which could also be more or less their original names.

There is a reference to nickname culture through Romeo’s name. He goes to flirt with Katherine during Carrying the Banner and Jack tells him, “Step aside, Romeo.” Later he flirts with her again during the diner scene, prompting her to say, “You thinks wrong, Romeo.” He replies, “How’d she know my name?” His flirtatious demeanour has led to this sticking as his name, as demonstrated when Crutchie shouts for him while being taken to the Refuge. But given that Romeo is a preexisting name and almost all other newsies are also called by real names, this doesn’t do much to single him out.

Unlike Crutchie and Specs, who are both named after aids they use. Without the context of everyone being named after what makes them different, this creates the impression that these traits make them too different to be called by their real names like everyone else.

[athoughtlessgay]

nononono the newsies fandom isn’t dead right guys please come back no let’s all talk about our favorite niche characters that show up for 2 seconds plea

[seizesthegay]

“I asked ChatGPT” “I asked Gemini” okay well I asked Racetrack Higgins and he told me the woild is my erster

[the-woirld-is-yer-erster]

Spot’s in his thoughts all the time (and his cigar smoke apparently)