#New York Daily News

[make-friends-with-the-rats]

Extry! Here's 'Newsies' by Harry Haun (ca. 1992, New York Daily News)

transcription under the cut

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Extry! Here's 'Newsies'

by Harry Haun, Daily News Staff Writer

NEWSIES. Cristian Bale, David Moscow. Directed by Kenny Ortega. At the Sutton. Running time 125 minutes. Rated PG.

IF FAGIN HAD BEEN A union man, the results would roughly resemble "Newsies," some diverting Disneyized song-and-dance about the famous New York City newsboys strike of 1899.

Again we have - in a very Oliveresque sort of way - a whole armada of scruffy ragamuffins kicking up their heels and clicking them amid their abounding squalor.

We weren't kidding about the song-and-dance you see. The music is by Alan Menken, who nine days ago picked up two Oscars for "Beauty and The Beast"; the lyrics are by Jack Feldman, and the dancing (not so dirty, this time) is from Kenny Ortega, who concentrates mainly on making his movie-directing debut while getting a choreographic assist from Peggy Holmes and William Holden Jr.

No contest, this. The songs win out. There are eight of 'em, all in Menken's pop-tune vernacular, and Ortega socks them along with exuberance, although it could be argued his sharp, angular movements aren't that appropriate for the situation - even a little laughable when reproduced on a large level (the waifs often seem wired and give every impression of going into a mass spasm).

Ortega is less lucky at moving the nonmusical passages. Scriptwriters Bob Tzudiker and Noni White play fast and loose with the facts of the case, grinding them into formula for easy digestion.

The bad guy is Joseph Pulitzer, more penny-pinching than his prizes suggest; rather than raise the price of his paper and risk losing readers to Hearst, he takes it out of the middle-boy, hitting his teen peddlers with the price hike.

The Fagin figure of these youths is not really older, just taller - but he does hail from a shady, hard-knocks past. Jack Kelly (né Francis Sullivan) tries to play Spartacus for the newskids without getting his picture in the paper, lest he be dragged back to juvenile jail. (Some chap in a black suit and dour disposition keeps popping up like an old-fashioned truant officer, putting a damper on rallies.)

All Jack wants is to be a cowboy, and, in slow moments, he croons longingly of "Santa Fe." To get there, he is forced by Pulitzer to eat crow in public and turn scab, but, when management goons start playing hardball, he returns to the barricades of the rebelling newsboys. The plot is vintage Bowery Boys.

Christian Bale, who has sprouting into a hulking Ethan Hawke clone since "Empire of the Sun," is a thoroughly presentable hero, as is David Moscow, the young Aidan Quinn lookalike who's his second-in-command. Gabriel Damon, leading the Brooklyn contingent into the fray, convinces as their tough-nut accompanist.

The adults are left with little better than bits to play. Robert Duvall is an amazing adversary as the warts-and-all Pulitzer, and Ann-Margaret gives the film a Florodora flourish, girlishly getting off a couple of music-hall turns.

The news about "Newsies," first and last, is that it makes harmony, not history - but that's enough to make an engaging, sprightly entertainment.

[jocia92]

Bobby Bank/GC Images

Dan Stevens is seen on the set of “The Terror: Devil in Silver” on Aug. 22, 2024, in Staten Island, New York City.

x

[eggsma]

Daniel Day-Lewis by Howard Earl Simmons for New York Daily News (2000)

[thewildbelladonna]

“I haven't had a terrible marriage. I don't have children who are on drugs and who are refusing to call me. Because of that, I can go back to that childhood innocence we all have. Then I can make up these little romantic worlds for people to come into and hang out. That's why I make my records, to take people away from their lives for a while."

—Stevie Nicks, New York Daily News, May 6th, 2001 {X}

[tootern2345]

Caricatures of the early Disney staff circa 1929. Drawn by Jack King for Florbael Muir’s 1929 New York Daily News story, “How Silly Symphonies & Mickey Mouse Hit Up The Grade”

Walt & Roy Disney- The Big Cheeses. (Walt also doing voices, directing and being one of the story heads with Roy being purely business)

Ben Sharpsteen - Director & Head Animator

Ub Iwerks - Director & Head Animator

Win Smith - Animator

Wilfred Jackson - Director & Animator

Steve Millman - Animator

Carl Stalling - Composer

Norm Ferguson - Animator

Jack Cutting - Animator

Chuck Couch - Inbetweener & Animator

Johnny Cannon - Head Animator

Burt Gillett - Director & Animator

Merle Gilson - Animator

Bill Cotrell - Cameraman

Les Clark - Animator & BG Artist

Jack King - Animator

Carlos Manriquez - BG Artist

Dick Lundy - Animator & BG Artist

[judi-daily]

New York Daily News, 2004 Photographer: Linda Rosier

[arlengrossman]

Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025

The former president and his backers aim to strengthen the power of the White House and limit the independence of federal agencies. By Jonathan Swan, Charlie Savage and Maggie Haberman/ New York Times/ July 17, 2023 Donald J. Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return him to the White House in 2025, reshaping…

[barbarian15]

[boricuacherry-blog]

[midnights-wish]

"The photographer had a camera strapped around one leg, attached to a cable that ran up his trouser leg and into a pocket. He could squeeze a bulb in his pocket to take one picture which would be unnoticed in the glare of sparks and the horror generated by the chair."

Deborah Blum, 'The Poisoner's Handbook' - how a photographer secretly took a picture of Ruth Snyder's execution.

[amaised44]

[mossadegh]

• Mossadegh media: newspaper & magazine articles, editorials

[k-star-holic]

So Yi-hyun, why do you insist on Red at Summer..."Looks young"

[haute-lifestyle-com]

From the NY Daily News #nydailynews - High Altitude Object Spotted - Happy Valentine's Day #thewriterjanetwalker  #janetwalker #hautelifestylecom #theentertainmentzonecom #happyvalentinesday 😍❤️🧡💛💚💙💜❤️‍🩹💘😎

[ghirahimbo]

evil time loop escape conditions where you can't get out until you've fuucked up your life in the most spectacular way possible, confident that the next night will reset the slate as usual.

instead, the next day comes.