#duane street lodging house

[racetrackmybeloved]

thinking about how much pain crutchy must be in

like. his crutch is clearly too short for him. did he get it before hitting his growth spurt and now can't afford a taller one? is he waiting until he grows even more so that he doesn't have to keep on buying new ones? bending over sideways like that constantly must hurt him SO much.

and combine that with carrying stacks of papers all day? the other kids can transfer their papers to their other arm when they start to get tired, but he can't.

someone give crutchy a back massage please and thank you

sidenote: i wrote 'someone get that boy an ibuprofen' as a stupid tag and then thought hm did ibuprofen exist yet and no it did not (until the 1960s)! paracetemol didn't appear commercially in the US until 1950. production of aspirin started in 1899, and it was advertised and distributed to doctors and hospitals at this point, but was not available to the public without a prescription until 1915.

HOWEVER newsboys did sometimes go to hospitals - in 1897 a newsboy named john kelly staying at the duane st lodging house had a sore throat, and the superintendent sent him to the hudson street hospital. and in 1900, after a fight between two newsboys led to one of them stabbing the other in the neck, the injured boy was sent to the hospital (he was apparently fine). that was a very long winded way of saying that it IS feasible for crutchy to have gone to a doctor and gotten a prescription.

so yeah maybe our boy crutchy was actually taking aspirin !

sources woo

[chaosfairy18]

Bumlets thoughts! The boy was spinning today and my friend told me I should share my thoughts so here we go :) So, Bumlets, one of the background newsies of the 92 movies that was cast for his dancing talent (did you know Dominic Lucero was a background dancer for Michael Jackson, Paul Abdual and Madonna?) and doesn't get to say much, but he for sure has fabulous hair.

He is also named after an actual resident in the Duane Street Lodging house around the time of the strike (there is an entire article I once found on Tumblr and when I find it again I'll try to reblog it) and there it is mentioned he kind of speaks for the other newsies there and is called "The King of the Bums" which is very cool to me I do remember that article being a bit before 1899 so I had some thoughts... What if before Jack came along and became leader not just inside the lodging house but outside to the other boroughs, Bumlets was the one to speak for the matters of the newsies in the lodge, specifically for Kloppman. In turn Kloppman trusts him with locking up the lodge sometimes (I saw that in the fic: "Inside the Lodging House: Hard Truths and Annoying sounds" today and loved it) and if there is a problem with one of the boys he asks if he could talk to him first (as most don't react well to adults as it is). At some point Francis Sullivan, newly named Jack Kelly comes along and is more outwardly a leader, kind of more agressively a leader where Bumlets was usually quiet, polite and not particularly ambitious, he just wanted to help if he could and if someone else wants to be the actual leader he is fine with that too.

Another thing is he has leather suspenders (which you can see in Seize the Day reprise as he is right in the front) which for me means he is putting thought into his appearance and also into buying durable things (here we have a saying roughly translating to "better buy something good than buy twice", so saying you should rather buy expensive long-living things sometimes) even if he's not wearing the fanciest clothes apart from it they still seem well maintained and that just is something you notice. The buyers probably do that too.

Can't forget his boyfriends either (that here is just who I think he would be cute with) which would be Skittery and Swifty <3 He and Skittery stickfight in Carrying the Banner (which looks so fun), then they stand next to each other at the Rally and for Swifty in the scene where Snyder is looking for Jack in the lodge they are always beside each other and there are probably more scenes but those are just the ones coming to mind and me and my friend have been going feral over them. But I think that's better for another post eventually, just wanted to add it!

Another fun fact: Dominic Lucero was in fact the same age as Max Casella and therefore also 25 in 1992. Live with that knowledge folks.

Thanks for reading this!

[daveysjackie]

What if there's a reason for Medda's maternal behaviour to Jack?

What if years ago, when she was simply another one of the Bowery Beauties, long ago, she was swept off her feet by one of the patrons? He would be at almost every show and it didnt take long for a young Medda to be ready to give up everything to be with him.

What if she discovers she's pregnant? She is overjoyed at that but when she tells her lover, he makes an excuse, leaves and is never seen again.

What if Medda was determined to raise her child, social stigmas be damned? She has savings left by her last family member who passed away a few years back and she uses it to buy the mortgage to Irving Hall. One of her fellow Beauties gives her an old crib her family no longer uses. The others make baby clothes in their spare time.

What if Medda goes into labour far too early and when her baby is born, she already knows they're not destined to be together long? Yet she cherishes the week she miraculously gets with her baby boy, committing everything about him to memory and having a little portrait of him made.

What if Medda, a week after giving birth, is burying her baby boy? She has a mortgage she can just barely afford, clothes and crib that will never be used, has to pay for the sudden funeral. Yet all she can bare to think about is that this isn't fair and her Jack should be in her warm arms and not in a cold coffin.

What if Medda suffers with extreme depression for weeks? She can barely even leave her room, let alone ensure that Irving Hall continues to put on performances. The Beauties help where they can but it's getting difficult.

What if Medda is eventually encouraged to just take a quick walk, just to give her a change in surroundings and as she's on the walk, she meets a man by the name of Francis Sullivan? They bump into each other and he insists on buying her a pastry from the bakery to make up for it. And he was going to the bakery anyway because he wants to surprise his wife. So they walk and talk. She learns that he and his wife have recently moved to New York. That eventually they want to settle out west. And she divulges, vaguely, the pain that has plagued her and he tells her that tonight, over dinner, he and his wife would pray for her son and for her. She invites him and his wife to one day visit Irving Hall before they go their seperate ways. They never meet again but she never forgets his kindness.

What if one day, years later, there's a frantic knocking at the back door of the hall? When she opens the door, there stands a skinny little boy of 7, fiddling with the cross necklace he wore and she nearly cries because he looks just like her Jack that she buried so long ago. He hands her a note, from Francis Sullivan Sr, that explains that his wife died a year ago and that he will be sent to prison for something he has done. It begs her to take care of his boy because he has no one else left.

What if Medda takes him in? She doesn't have much space in her room so at first, she gets him to sleep on the small couch, an old prop no longer in use in the Hall. And in the middle of the night, she hears little footsteps cross the room. Little Francis climbs into her bed without a word and falls asleep right there, in her arms.

What if Medda can't take it? He looks so much like her Jack and her heart hurts and in a way she feels she's betraying her baby. So after a week, she tells Francis of the Duane Street Lodging House: how there will be loads of boys there he can make friends with, he can hawk papers with them to make money. And yet, even as she drops him off outside the lodging house, the note from her friend niggles in her mind and she tells him to come visit next weekend.

What if that's how their bond forms? He visits almost every weekend, sometimes bringing a friend, most of the time by himself. Until he disappears. At first, Medda thinks perhaps it slipped his mind or he just didn't feel like it. Weeks turn into months and Medda is half convinced that the innocent little boy has died, all because she couldn't put her heart aside to care for him.

What if he returns suddenly, looking very haunted? He tells her of his time in The Refuge and how terrible it was and how the warden Snyder said he would be listening out for any news about Francis to lock him up again. And he tells her his intention to change his name so he'd be more difficult to follow.

What if Medda is the one who suggests Jack and his eyes just light up and it fits him so perfectly that she can't help but wonder if he is, in some way, her baby boy? He takes the name Kelly from an article in that day's paper and thus Jack Kelly is born.

What if Medda watches him grow into the young, brave, dreamer, leader he becomes? He ends up in the Refuge again but escapes with the indirect help of the Governor, a story she loves to hear him talk about because he has a natural gift for tales.

What if after the strike, after almost losing her second Jack, she tells him about his namesake? And he and Medda visit the baby's grave together. And while she still grieves for that baby she lost far too soon, she realises that, through Jack Kelly, she was given another chance to be a mother.

What if.

[bowling-alleycarpet]

Hey, I'm a huge fan of thinking of Crutchie as Jewish. But do you have a citation for the historical Crutch Morris being Jewish. Or are you basing this on Marty Belafsky?

Based on history! We don’t have one exacting citation, but a common hypothesis based on the pieces of citable information we do have.

The most conclusive simply being the fact that the overwhelming majority of people named Morris, a very Jewish name originating from Moshe, are themselves; especially given the time and place in history, when 40% of newsies who answered the 1901 NYC census were Jewish and there weren’t abundant legal or marital ways for a man’s name to be changed in the usa like there are today. Could this have been a false name like Jack Kelly or Blink? Of course, (though I doubt he would have recorded a false name when he was an elected official of the newsboy union) so, as with all other information, this has to be taken with a grain of salt.

We also have one photograph that is commonly associated to be Crutch Morris that many past historians have made the presumption from:

[im going to edit this to add the picture give me a few minutes sorry]

This photo is commonly MIS-ASSOCIATED with Louis Hines’ work documenting New York’s working children in the 1930s. THIS IS INCORRECT. It appears nowhere in his published work. So much as a reverse image search tells us this is actually an undated photograph from the New York Historical Society Archive. @newsieshistory (their presence here is greatly missed) was able to match up the windows in the background to those on the Duane Street Newsboy Lodging House (the actual lodge house the one in the film is based on, where Kid Blink, Crutch Morris, Dutch[y] Johnson, [Swifty] the Rake, Bumlets, Snoddy, Pie Eater, Snipeshooter, among others really lived according to both articles on the strike and nyc census records), while it was operating as a newsboy lodge house, sometime c. 1890-1920. This could be another newsie that lived there during those years meeting the description of Crutch from the rally article, but its as close to a known photo as exists.

I am certain there is more, but I’m currently in the process of moving my historical documents out of google drive to fight the ai so I do not currently have access to my archive, I will attempt to add more tomorrow.

[lmelodymusicl]

Jack Kelly Headcanons (92sies)

Here are some headcanons for Jack Kelly (92sies)

Canon Era

Jack’s parents were born in Ireland and immigrated to America during the 1860s. His father was Francis Sullivan and his mother was Maureen Kelly.

Jack’s relationship with his parents was very complicated. His mother was always sweet and kind to him, but his father was always horrible and abusive to him. 

Jack’s mother told him stories about the Wild West when he was very young. That is where he gets his cowboy persona from. 

Jack and his father were always fighting, and it was always over the smallest things. His father was always drinking and getting into fights with random people on the street.

One day when Jack was ten years old, he and Maureen were walking down the street. Suddenly she started coughing and wheezing. When Jack saw this, he was worried and called out for help. But by the time the doctors arrived, it was too late. She had already died from pneumonia.

Jack’s relationship with his father worsened, and I don’t have much to say except the fact that his father ended up in jail for killing somebody. It was where he felt that he had to become a newsie so he could support himself. It was during this time where Medda took him in to live with her.

Jack has been sent to the Refuge twice, and it was horrible.

By the time he was eleven, he moved into the Duane Street lodging house, and it was by this time he met Racetrack, Crutchy, and all the other boys. It was also where Racetrack taught Jack how to stand up for himself. They’ve all remained a close bond. 

By the time Jack was sixteen, he met David Jacobs. At first David wanted nothing to do with Jack, but eventually they started becoming friends.

Has a close bond with Les, David’s little brother.

Is currently in a relationship with Sarah, who is David and Les’s older sister.

[riding-palominos-every-day]

So Smalls lives at the Elizabeth Home for Girls. She joins the boys to get her papers and sell with though; they're just more fun than the other girls.

She stays at their lodging house in the evenings, but can't stay the night (rules are rules). Some of the boys who have spare clothes let her borrow them, pants and shirts are more comfy than her old dress. Her hair's already cropped short, easier to wash that way.

After a while, she starts to wonder if the Elizabeth is really where she belongs. Oscar Delancey's already mistaken her for a boy once, and she didn't correct him- she got a little rush of excitement, in fact.

Then one night, after a lot of thinking, he goes to the front desk at Duane Street and hands over a few cents. Kloppman understands immediately. Some of the other boys are surprised at first, but they don't question him. Tommy Boy simply invites him to have the bunk above his, and that's that.

[ao3feed-newsies]

night has always pushed up day (you must see life to see decay)

by, Undescribed1mage by Undescribed1mage If it were even three days earlier, Racetrack Higgins wouldn't have thought twice about climbing up the fire escape around the back of the Duane Street Lodging House up to Jack’s penthouse. If he had had this nightmare, one about his family, not just his mother like usual, but Joey, Crutchie, Jack too, making it the worst one he's had in like — forever, before the strike then he would've gone up and spent the night curled up with Jack and Crutchie, relying on their quiet snores to lull him to sleep. Or — Racetrack has a nightmare after the strike. [WRITTEN FOR WHUMPTOBER DAY 17: "LEAVE ME ALONE." AND THE BAD THINGS HAPPEN BINGO PROMPTS "LEAVE ME ALONE." AND PANIC ATTACK.] Words: 1369, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 19 of Newsies, Part 16 of Whumptober 2023, Part 13 of Annie's Bad Things Happen Bingo!!! Fandoms: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken, Newsies - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen Characters: Racetrack Higgins, Jack Kelly (Newsies), Crutchie (Newsies) Relationships: Racetrack Higgins & Jack Kelly, Crutchie & Racetrack Higgins, Crutchie & Racetrack Higgins & Jack Kelly Additional Tags: Whumptober 2023, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Based on Newsies!: The Musical (UK), Nightmares, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Racetrack Higgins Needs a Hug, Post-Strike (Newsies), Panic Attacks, Jack Kelly's Penthouse (Newsies), Brother Feels, Big Brother Jack Kelly (Newsies), happy first bthb bingo 2 me, Title from a Mumford & Sons Song, Crying read : https://ift.tt/wu86scQ - October 17, 2023 at 09:30PM

[undescribed1mage]

Archive Warning(s), Rating, & Category: None, Teen & Up, Gen

Fandom(s): Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: The Musical

Relationship(s): Racetrack Higgins & Jack Kelly, Crutchie & Racetrack Higgins, Crutchie & Racetrack Higgins & Jack Kelly

Character(s): Racetrack Higgins, Jack Kelly (Newsies), Crutchie (Newsies)

Additional Tag(s): Whumptober 2023, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Based on Newsies: The Musical (UK), Nightmares, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Racetrack Higgins Needs A Hug, Post-Strike (Newsies), Panic Attack, Jack Kelly's Penthouse (Newsies), Brother Feels, Big Brother Jack Kelly (Newsies), Title from a Mumford & Sons Song, Crying, happy first bthb bingo 2 me

Summary:

If it were even three days earlier, Racetrack Higgins wouldn't have thought twice about climbing up the fire escape around the back of the Duane Street Lodging House up to Jack’s penthouse. If he had had this nightmare, one about his family, not just his mother like usual, but Joey, Crutchie, Jack too, making it the worst one he's had in like — forever, before the strike then he would've gone up and spent the night curled up with Jack and Crutchie, relying on their quiet snores to lull him to sleep.

Or — Racetrack has a nightmare after the strike.

[WRITTEN FOR WHUMPTOBER DAY 17: "LEAVE ME ALONE." AND THE @badthingshappenbingo PROMPTS "LEAVE ME ALONE." AND PANIC ATTACK.]

[Happy Bingo 2 me woah]

[betterto-die-thanto-crawl]

Francis Jack "Cowboy" Kelly Sullivan

FULL NAME: Francis Sullivan 

ALSO KNOWN AS: Jack Kelly, Cowboy

BIRTH DATE + AGE: August 16, 17 (canon)

ZODIAC: Leo GENDER: male (cis or trans, depending on verse) PRONOUNS: he/him SEXUAL ORIENTATION: bisexual FACECLAIM: tba 

BIRTHPLACE: New York City, New York 

CURRENT HOME: Newsboy Lodging House at Duane St., Manhattan 

LANGUAGE: English 

OCCUPATION: Newsboy, leader of the Lower Manhattan Newsboys 

SPECIES: Human 

PARENTS: Mary Abigail Rose (Máire (MAW ra) Abigeál (AHBI ghel) Róisín (ROW sheen)) Sullivan (née Kelly) and John Andrew (Seán (SHAWN) Aíndriú (AHN dryu)) Sullivan

SIBLINGS: none 

OTHER(S): none

Jack Kelly’s childhood was good enough. His family was poor, crowded into Irish tenements in Lower Manhattan, but they always found a way to smile. His mother was a light, and his father’s laugh made anyone want to join in with his laughter. Jack grew up with stories about far away lands, cowboys and adventurers, craftily told by his father. These stories inspired him to start scribbling and drawing on any scrap of paper he could find until he perfected his talent for drawing. Their home was a home full of joy, even if the walls were thin and the room was small. They were together, and really, that was all that mattered. But when his mother fell pregnant, tragedy struck when she tripped and fell going down the tenement stairs, landing hard on her stomach, causing her to go into labor far too early. She miscarried and passed along with the baby, leaving Jack and his dad on their own. His dad broke, turning to drink in the evenings after work until he got into a fight at a bar one night and killed someone. He was carted off to jail, leaving Jack on his own. Born Francis Sullivan, Jack chose a new name, Jack (from his mother’s nickname for his father John) and Kelly (from his mother’s maiden name). From the start, he was on the run as Snyder sought to throw him into the Refuge before finally finding a refuge of his own among the newsboys of the Lower Manhattan “Newsboy’s Lodging House”, on Duane Street. From there, he would continue to dream of cowboy adventures and try desperately to escape from his family and the legacy they left him as Snyder continued to hunt him through the streets of New York. But he had friends and he wasn’t alone anymore, and his dreams carried him forward even when New York City wanted to hold him back. Someday, he knew, he would find his Santa Fe.

[musicalcuriosity]

Monday, November 27th, 1899- The Sun

Another article about the boys denied entry to the Duane Street Lodging House in the afternoon. Said Robert Gibson:

“Every Sunday they open the doors at 1 o’clock in the afternoon and let us in so that we can use the gymnasium and get out of the cold. Today we were froze out. They didn’t open the door at 1 o’clock, but kept us out all day. The dudes that pay 10 cents a night got in. We only pay five cents. There’s only a few dudes. We got hunk tonight. Every Sunday night they have a meeting and ladies come to hear us sing. Tonight we all stayed out and wouldn’t come in when they opened the doors and there was only about six of the dudes at meeting. There were sixty of us who stayed out.”

Counter to Robert’s statement, Mr. Heig said the boys were kept out because some of them had played in the freshly painted walls the day before, and that only about 20 boys “revolted”.

People:

Robert Gibson, age 15, newsboy

Superintendent [Rudolph] Heig 

Places:

Newsboys’ Lodging House

Duane Street

[historyofchildhood]

"Newsboy in the Duane Street lodging-house" from Jacob Riis' How the Other Half Lives

[chaosfairy18]

For @newsiesficchallenges day 6: headcannons

Due to the actual Bumlets of circa 1899 being referred to as "King of the Bums" and someone who speaks for the lodging house on Duane street I think before Jack came along and became leader that was Bumlets' job. At least mostly. He wasn't so much representing the Lower Manhattan Newsies to the outside as representing any wishes or complaints to Kloppman (or anyone else working in the lodge). He isn't feeling like he needs to be a leader so he stepped down when Jack wanted it but before that he knew he could help and stepped up. I also saw in a few fics that Kloppman would trust him with keys to lock up if there was ever anything so that would fit too and I am taking that. If there are any internal complaints he is still someone the others go to for advice or help.

Also his leather suspenders tell me he has at least some kind of higher standing and is very mindful of his appearance and how he talks.

[marvels-obscure-tophat]

Alright y’all. I’ve found three addresses in newspaper clippings that mention apartments on Baxter street.

The Jacobs’ apartment was mentioned to be on Baxter Street. I went and found mentions of apartments on 58 Baxter Street, 55 Baxter Street, and 110 Baxter Street. All are nearby to the Duane Street lodging house (9 Duane Street), at the yellow dot.

I can’t find 110 Baxter Street, so I colored in the section that contains 111 and 109 Baxter Street.

I also just saved this as a draft to the wrong blog. Will reblog on the newsies blog

[teddy06writes]

Protect You

Requested by this Anon: “RACETRACK HIGGINS FIC. RACETRACK HIGGINS FIC. RACETRACK HIGGINS FIC.” 

:))))))

I’ve been waiting for other fandom fic requests, if you followed me for mcyt content sorry to say that this is not it

Racetrack Higgins x reader

trigger warnings: a few swears, threats, harassment (not neccasarily sexual, just in general)  Oscar and Morris being bitches

premise: on your way back to the lodging house Oscar and Morris try to jump you, but luckily Race is there to save the day 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Extra. Extra. Poor orphan newsie found dead in an alley.” 

Oscar’s voice made the hair on your neck prick up, forcing yourself not to turn as you heard them following you.

“And no body bothered to attend the funeral.” 

You balled your fists around your pape bag, already beginning to count down the blocks until you got back to the lodging house. 

“Hey,” Morris shoved your shoulder, “You should answer when someone's talking to you asshole.” 

“Leave me alone.” You muttered, trying to turn away. 

“Aww, is the little newsie scared?” Oscar taunted. 

You were beginning to regret refusing Race’s offer to sell with him at the Sheepshead, especially now that you were experiencing delays to get back. 

Up ahead you could see the next turn you were going to take, onto Duane street, where surely a few of the newsies would be hanging around outside, if you could make it that far you would be fine. 

“I said leave me alone.” You tried again, starting to walk faster.

“Little newsie thinks they can just leave?” Morris growled, shoving you into an alley. 

You stumbled, struggling to regain your footing as Oscar shoved you against one of the walls, “Last I checked we didn’t say you could leave, Newsie.” 

“Let me go!” You half yelled, trying to push them away. 

“Not till we soak ya so good ya can’t walk! You no good bitch!” Morris yelled. 

The first punch caught you in the jaw, and then the second sent you to the ground, instinctively covering your head with your arms as a kick landed on your stomach. 

“You stay away from them!” A loud shout came from the alley’s entrance. 

“You can’t tell me what to do dick head!” 

You could hear a scuffle, and then, slowly opening your eyes found Race standing between you and the Delancey's, “You don’t get to fucking touch them!” 

You could almost hear the cogs turning in Oscar’s head as he surveyed the scene, trying to estimate if you were worth the trouble. 

Slowly he turned, grabbing Morris’ shirt sleeve to tug him with, “You ain’t seen the last of us newsie.” 

Race turned to you as soon as they left, quickly helping you up, “You alright doll?” 

You nodded weakly, “Might have a shiner in the morning.” 

He smiled sympathetically, “Sorry I didn’t get here sooner (y/n).” 

“It’s a good thing you got here at all.” You sighed. 

“Hey, hey,” He tilted your chin up, “I’m always here to protect youse.” 

[wardensnyder]

x

newsboys lodging house moodboard

“a lodging house noted among many inmate’s home address, the duane street lodging house has harbored escaped criminals in the past and should be investigated in the rare case an inmate gets out.”

[glitter-ink]

— no. 9 duane street lodging house for newsboys

[ ao3 - hell is a sober crawl mood board ]