HiiiYAH! Pig Barda and Miracle Frog!

Miracle Frog and Pig Barda by ~mimi-na on deviantART

"Pulitzer may own the World but he don't own us!"

poisonivory made a post that included a review of Children of the City: At Work & At Play by David Nasaw, which she has given me permission to quote a big chunk of here.

Also, adorable surprise chapter on the newsies strike! Items of note:

- Apparently Seitz was real, his first name was Don, and his grudging admiration for the newsies is totally true.

- “The Sun, glorying in this successful strike against its two major competitors, reported in full the visit of Spot Conlon, District Master Workboy of the Brooklyn Union, who, attired in pink suspenders, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge with ‘greetings a’ promises of support…“We have tied up de scab sheets so tight dat y’ can’t buy one fer a dollar in de street. Hold out, my gallant kids, an’ to-morrer I meself, at de head of t’ree tousand noble hearts from Brooklyn will be over here t’ help youse win yer noble scrap for freedom an’ fair play.”’”

- Also mentioned: Boots McAleenan, Crutchy Morris, Racetrack Higgins, Kid Blink, and “Young Myers, sometimes called Young Mush, on account of his fondness for taking his girl to Corlears Hook Park Sunday evenings.” AWWWWWWW.

My point being: Holu shit, they were real! I knew the Newsie strike happened, but not that so many of the characters in the musical I watched as a kid were based on and named for the real people involved.