What's the Real Story of Disney's "Newsies"?

About this episode

The episode explores the true story behind Disney's 'Newsies' and the historical context of the 1899 newsboys strike.

You may have seen it on Broadway ... or maybe your high school gym. The Tony Award-winning musical Newsies is a favorite for school productions because the story centers around newspaper-hawking kids who stand up to titan-of-industry Joseph Pulitzer.  Of course, we've learned that we shouldn't take our history lessons from Disney. So we've called up Vincent DiGirolamo ( Crying the News: A History of America's Newsboys ) to give us the REAL story of the famous 1899 newsboys strike that inspired the Disney film.  You can find DiGirolamo's newest essay in the collection Newsies, Newsies — Read All About It!: Essays on the Film and Broadway Productions .  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Guest: Vincent DiGirolamo

Topics covered

• Disney
• Newsies
• history
• musical theatre
• newsboys strike
• education

Keywords

• Disney
• Newsies
• Vincent DiGirolamo
• 1899 newsboys strike
• musical
• history
• education

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Disney

Books & works: Crying the News: A History of America's Newsboys, Newsies, Newsies — Read All About It!: Essays on the Film and Broadway Productions

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