EXTRA! EXTRA! The Newsboy Strike Episode! | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. too and this is stuff you should know. extra extra Read All About It stuff you. should know releases an episode on the. news strike of. 1899 oh boy I knew you were going to say. something like that by the way yeah I.

did too but I didn't know what that's. what it turned out to be yeah that's the. beauty of you thanks man you never know. what you're going to get I appreciate. you appreciating. me um so uh apparently we're way way way. behind the curve because stuff you. missed in history class did an episode. on this like all the way back in. 2009 oh yeah yeah so um it's time we did. this I guess hundred something years on.

from the actual strike yes it it it. needs to be covered by us yeah so we can. are we copying them now if it's a 14. years later or whatever yeah yeah we. just go on the stuff you missed in. history class site and figure out new. topics geeez who was the host back then. who knows it was such a rotating cast at. that point who knows I mean this was. before uh Tracy and Holly yeah shout out. Tracy and Holly keeping keeping it on. lockdown at stuff you miss in history. class for years now that's right they.

got the reins and they were like mine. yeah and the horse is like stop jerking. me. around uh yeah so you mentioned 100 plus. years or something uh this was a uh if. you're wondering what a newsy is it was. a paper delivery person usually a paper. boy or a news boy although we will see. there were other people delivering. papers in New York City yeah uh and they. went on strike in 1899 a bunch of boys.

generally boys got together we're like. Hey we're tired of making uh 30 cents a. day we want to make like 50 cents a. day yeah and um 30 cents a day sounds. like a very small amount it it actually. was about $11 in today's money which is. still a pretty small amount to survive. in New York. City and a lot of those News Boys it. turns out were just barely surviving. like a lot of them were pretty much. every single one of them was working.

class tops yeah I don't think there was. any middle class at the time and there. certainly weren't any like aristocratic. News Boys um so like you were working. class at best if you even had a home if. you were not an orphan if you were not. um living on the streets um and almost. all of them were uh at the time like. very marginalized communities like Irish. kids Jewish kids black kids like uh it. was It was a it was a neat kind of like.

cross-section of America that had or New. York at least at the time that had been. kind of thrown together and put together. at this job and there's a lot of them. doing it too something like 10 to 15,000. depending on who you asked at what. decade but from what I saw Livia helped. us with this and I think she said. something like 15,000 at the time of the. strike we're talking about which is. 1899 yeah and most of these kids were um. probably tween and teens uh you know. some of them were as young as six and.

seven years old of course some of them. were um late teenagers even reports of. some of them being like 20 21 years old. when it came to sort of leading these. organization or leading these meetings. and these uh the strike but uh they were. generally teens and tween and like I. said they weren't all boys uh there were. some girls there were some married women. uh there were some disabled adults. really um mostly boys though and these.

were all like regardless of who it was. these were all people that like you said. were looking to you know say you know I. made 30 cents today I'll give 25 cents. to my family and I'll get a box of. cookies for a nickel and that's oh you. could buy a car for a nickel back then I. actually did some uh because spending. power is different than you know just. what would that be in today's dollars. right and I did look up in 1900 what you. could get for some of this for like you. know 10 to 30 cents oh cool lay it on us.

well a box of cookies was a nickel okay. so the car thing was wrong. right I'm sorry to disappoint you okay. uh a box of cereal was a dime uh can of. Campbell Soup was a dime um a package of. Quaker Oats was a dime um seven pounds. of potatoes was a dime wow literally wow. uh and you could get a lot of steak too. meat meat wasn't as expensive as you. might think so it was kind of weird in.

that way but that just kind of shows you. a little bit of what 30 cents a day. would buy you um and you know the the. way these boys were doing it they were. basically free agents they didn't work. for the newspaper or work for a company. they would go out and hustle on their. own buy these um bundles of. newspapers um like a hundred newspapers. and then sell them at a markup so right. generally like hey uh what was the.

original price that they were charging. 50 cents per bundle of 100 is what the. the papers charge the news boys at first. yeah and they would sell them for. generally a penny a piece but sometimes. mark them up to two or three cents but. um none of that adds up to 30 cents so. I'm trying to reckon with all that I. think that they didn't necessarily make. it through the entire bundle in a day. like they might have some left over and. they had to eat that cost totally makes. sense Josh geez that's my take that's. what I I got from it no I think you're. right cuz that that reckons with uh a.

little thing here at the end as far as. what the newspapers offered them right. exactly and so these kids would work sun. up to sun down they would be on the. street shouting out the headlines all. day long selling papers I I read a a. contemporary account who talked about. how like when you walk down the street. they run up to you and like essentially. make you buy their newspaper um and it. was like a it was like a Hard Scrabble. life like the the impression that we.

have of it is like these tough little. kids who all smoked cigarettes and. cigars and like gambled and and um you. know play craps and stuff like that like. that was real it was even worse than. that like we have a almost a. romanticized version of it it was that. plus grittier is the life that these. kids were living hustling on the street. selling newspapers every day and in. different places around the country took. they had like rules but New York was not. one of those places say when you say.

contemporary. contemporaneous no I just wondered if. you since it's a thing now with the show. I I've Tri past it you just grabbed me. by the ankle and dragged me back and I. fell on my face as I was pulled down but. other than that it's good what I was. hoping you would say is like no it was. cont it was contempor it was. contemporary jeez now I'm confused like. I read it in Vice last.

week it's about the news voice strike. shut up J okay so what is it. contemporaneous would be what I meant to. say in contemporaries today yeah I'm so. sick of this I am too dumb stupid words. I'm just goingon to say I read an. account from the time that I'm speaking. of oh that's nice you know there's a. word for. that yeah but I don't know what it. is um all right so let's get into this. you said other cities were a a little. more organized with rules and like hey.

you can only work so many hours and uh. maybe you have to be a part of an actual. um organization or something and you got. to wear a uniform New York was the Wild. West uh this was a time when William. Randolph Hurst and Joseph Pulitzer were. really running the show with their. big-time papers uh the New York World. well I guess I should read it the. opposite way the New York Journal and. the New York World respectively yeah and. the Spanish American war comes along in.

April of 1898 and news was hotter than. ever everyone wanted to get their hands. on a newspaper so they said hey this is. a good chance to raise the price on. these newsies on these News Boys uh to. 60 cents from 50 cents because covering. Wars is expensive this will also help us. cover this war yeah it was a legitimate. price increase um in the the world and. the um Journal were not the only papers. that did that to pay for their rather.

expensive coverage of the war and the. news boys at the time were like this is. fine it makes sense because we're. selling so many more papers than we. normally do we're actually probably a. little better off even at the 60 Cent. bundle um like price point yeah because. we're selling out exactly they were. selling out maybe selling multiple. bundles in a day who knows but the. problem came when the Spanish American. war ended and and other papers returned.

to their as the circulation went down. their the other papers went to their. pre-war prices per bundle but the. journal and the world did not and that. really stuck under these little news. boys. crawl and this gets very colorful uh. here pretty soon so oh my God some of. these quotes are just amazing sort of. strap in uh we also have to set up sort. of the time in which this took place in. the late 1800s there were. um it was just a strike heavy Union.

heavy time right uh there was a trolley. strike going on in Brooklyn and. Manhattan that uh even though the adults. were the trolley drivers a lot of these. um Newsies parents maybe worked in that. field or they were sympathetic so these. kids got involved and they were you know. throwing rocks at scab drivers and stuff. like that so you know they knew what. striking was all about and sort of the. Strongarm version of how to go about a. strike uh and there were also other uh. news boy strikes before this like in the.

in the few years preceding in Boston. Dallas and Detroit so this this strike. of 1899 like if you type in news boy. strike all you're going to get back on. the Internet is the strike of 1899 so. significant and the reason that um it. differentiated itself from other strikes. was in scope in um depth in organization. like in just a few days as we'll see. like these kids went from a bunch of rag. tag you know um Rough and Tumble.

seven-year-olds to forming like a union. and like defending themselves in the. face of being run over by greedy Fat. Cats essentially yeah I mean it's just a. couple of weeks really yeah the whole. thing was less than 14 days yeah and. they also um LED Boston Detroit and. Dallas and Nick neory yeah they did yeah. the kids in New York definitely had the. the nicknames. down uh all right I think it's a pretty. good setup. you know Chuck I've got to agree with.

you as well on your take on the setup. okay all right we'll take a break and. we'll talk about the literal Tipping. Point right after. this. inck stuff you should. know stuff you. should no stop f. [Music].

all right we mentioned a literal Tipping. Point and uh that's a bit of a stupid. pun because on July 18th of 1899 it was. a Tuesday there were some news boys in. Queens in Long Island City M that found. out that one of the journal uh delivery. people that like brought the bundles to. these guys was stealing papers from. their bundles and shorting them on each. bundle M and they were like this is not. going to stand my friend and they.

literally tipped over his wagon chased. him off and stole the papers and this. was in screenwriting terms this would be. called the inciting incident right this. is where the gun is introduced in Act. One sure you've been going to that one a. lot lately but it's the only one I know. I love it um think about it though like. a bunch of little kids tipped over a. wagon chased away the adult driver and. stole a bunch of papers like that was. what they did and that's a really great. um indicator or I guess example of what.

a bunch of little kids can do if you put. enough of them together and tick them. all off at the same time it's like ants. like how ants can just do all sorts of. amazing things if they collectively. combine their strength same thing with. seven to 15 year olds well other people. have said it before me but there is no. scarier group of humans on Earth than a. group of young boys yes and I imagine. all of these kids too all of these boys.

are just like. 15,000 um Scott farcus and Grover gills. that's who I imagine the two bad kids. from A Christmas Story absolutely and. their their brains aren't fully fully. formed yet so they're not capable of. making like rational decisions right and. there's a mob mentality and I'm just. telling you if you if you're on the. streets and you see a group of like nine. teenage boys run in the other direction. yeah that's a great that's great advice.

and I'm telling you it's not me it's. it's a well-known fact okay I'm not. disputing it at all yeah especially you. you better get out of there my friend. yeah I'm I'm pretty pretty bad at. fighting me too cuz actually I don't. know I've never been in a fight I can. tell you firsthand that I'm not all. right so um that that Tipping Point you. said which by the way I don't think was. a bad pun I think it was quite apt yeah. he thanks that kind of like ignited. something in these Newsies like they.

were they had already been bristling for. a little while under that rate hike that. they knew was unfair that they were. really upset at the world in the journal. about and it it it was enough to kind of. like um light a fire under a few hundred. of them at least who gathered in um City. Hall Park uh outside of City Hall of all. places about 300 of them rallied and. basically said Journal World if you guys. don't bring your your bundle price per. bundle back down to pre-war levels we're.

going to strike we're mad right now. there's enough of us who are mad right. now we're going to put a hurting on you. you better listen to us that's right and. they also said you know we smart enough. to know that they needed someone to kind. of head this thing up they'd seen these. unions and other strikes popping up and. even with their little unformed brains. they knew that they couldn't just be a. bunch of ants at this point they had to. have some leadership and some. organization uh as all great unions do. and they elected an 18-year-old maybe 21.

and this is where things get interesting. cuz contemporaneous accounts don't. always get the names right so there's a. lot of different versions of names and. ages yeah um but this kid was a Jewish. boxer uh his name was either Dave Simons. or Simmon or Simmons with a D or Simmons. with two M's and a d right but let's. just call him Dave Simons yeah that's. what most people call him he was the he. was the lead dude right the president. he was the pr the second in command as.

far as I could tell and the one who. actually is probably the most welln out. of all these guys was a 18-year-old. Italian-American kid with red hair and a. disabled eye uh he was either blind in. the eye or it was impaired in some way. shape or form and as a result they. called him kid blink and his real name. was LS bti Lewis dallot Ballot or battel. depending on which old timey newspaper. you consult but the one I've seen most. of all is Lewis ble. but everybody called him kid blink so.

those two were essentially in charge and. then one other really important one who. became increasingly important as time. went on was a guy named race car Higgins. from Brooklyn and he's my hero he's the. one I like the most yeah Livia uh just. dug up some more fun names which is why. we love Livia um crutch Morris not bad. no hunch Maddox can't imagine that kid. had good posture right and mug McGee was. another one I don't know if you dug up.

and found anymore no Mugsy McGee was the. winner I was like there's none that are. better than that so yeah Prett keep it. at Mugsy McGee would you mess with those. kids. no no I wouldn't even be comfortable. walking past them under normal. circumstances when they were trying to. sell me a paper I'd be like just give me. 10 right so a couple of days later um. the uh this is July 20th by this point. the newspapers had said no thank you. we're going to keep our prices the same.

and so they sent their delegates out and. told all the Newsies all over New York. City um stop selling these two. newspapers which is interesting it. wasn't like Hey we're not going to sell. newspapers anymore they were targeting. these two in particular which is a. little different than uh maybe your. average strike yeah uh they also said if. you don't stop selling those newspapers. you're going to get your face punched in. which was a direct quote Yeah so the. these kids these Newsies stopped selling.

and I get the impression that I they. were like you said they were selling. other papers but it seems like as the. strike kind of really started to settle. in like they were basically striking. most of the time and they would kind of. Patrol the streets of New York Manhattan. Brooklyn Queens um and where else uh. Long Island maybe okay where else um. what's the other one give me one more up. there in the North. Harlem sure and what else home of Yankee.

Stadium uh Yankee bille the. something the Bronx there's a fart named. after it is there really oh the Bronx. cheer yeah Bronx cheer I never realized. that was a fart I always thought it was. another name for like a. raspberry uh no I think you're right but. it sounds like a fart okay all right. well you just changed it big time I. think you improved it frankly yeah so um. all of these kids are walking around. with from what I saw uh horseshoes.

baseball bats Barrel staves wheel. spokes um like clubs essentially and. we're like if you if you if we catch you. selling the Journal of the record other. Newsies we're going to beat you we're. going to give you a beating I don't care. if you're an adult I don't care if. you're a kid we're you you can't sell. these anymore and a lot of people got. beaten by these kids especially on day. one and. two period. yeah I realized it didn't sound like I.

was completing that sentence but that. was it that's all right um there was a. little bit of police action at first but. not much because the police had their. hands full with this trolley strike um. but there were some contemporaneous. accounts in those or at least some. newspapers back then of a handful of. kids getting uh rounded up uh some went. to like a juvenile system was called a. juvenile Asylum um others went to child. protective agencies but generally the.

cops weren't like rounding up these boys. right and left cuz they had their hands. full already right but on the same day. that a few of these boys happen to be. rounded up which I guess was probably. the 20th or 21st uh yeah yeah the. Evening Post said that uh a 14-year-old. led a crowd of boys marching through. Manhattan uh they're chanting like. things are escalating pretty fast around. here they were chanting we don't sell No. worlds and journals hoay for to strike.

yeah there's a great anecdote I love. this so much on one of these. marches uh they went down Wall Street. and some of the brokerage employees um. leaned out of the windows and threw. ticker tape gave him a ticker tape. parade I love it and then even better if. it couldn't get any more like old timey. New York one of the street cleaners who. is I like indubitably wearing a white. suit with a white pth helmet. turned on a fire hydrant to kind of get.

rid of all the ticker tape and all the. little kids who were striking and. beating people and smoking cigarettes. played in the fire hydrant yeah they. probably had a coffee can to angle that. that stream. y uh that was such a a New York movie. thing like growing up in the suburbs of. Georgia I always saw those movies like. man they really got it made yeah yeah. playing in the fire hydrant oh. absolutely yeah I've never seen one I've. never been able to play in one nah we.

were we were country boys we had. sprinklers yeah exactly and slip and. slides yeah boring do you remember those. I used to get a headache from slip and. slide because you just hit the ground so. hard yeah it's cuz you were sliding on a. on a napkin basically exactly yeah okay. so I wasn't the only one no no no they. were very dangerous in fact I'm not sure. if they you can even still buy those oh. yeah I wonder if you can or not they. would you know with the the soft kids.

today it would have to be padded right. they worry about things like chronic. traumatic and seil and all that stuff. exactly so uh where are we Chuck well. we're at the point where the strike is. getting bigger and like reaching all. points of New York and these kids are. impressing everybody with the fact that. there were so many of them that they. were so well organized like this thing. started to spread to New Jersey and.

Connecticut and Rhode Island and they. were like lighting a fire under News. Boys you know in the Northeast mhm and. in just like a couple of days right it. was spread far and wide out of New York. City oh yeah so on Saturday which was uh. just a couple of days after the strike. started there was more mob violence and. strike action another Journal delivery. wagon was tipped over anytime they could. get their hands on journal or World. newspaper ERS they would take them and. Destroy them um and what something.

really significant happened too at this. up to this point it had essentially just. been the news boys who were striking. yeah but women who started Who Sold. newspapers um joined the strike too they. joined them and that was an enormous. deal that was a big deal like in a way. it kind of legitimized it in the minds. of other. people oh absolutely and you know even. though this is a couple of weeks it kind. of went back and forth as far as you.

know public support uh people getting on. board and helping out because as we'll. see later uh well let's just hold on to. that okay some other people helped join. the strike too but we we'll get to that. later but in the meantime the journal in. the world were like um this is actually. starting to have an impact on our bottom. line already yeah yeah big time they. were behind closed doors very worried um. advertising or advertisers were like hey. no one's reading our your paper so it's.

no one's seeing our ads like I want my. money back yeah and I think that was. probably the biggest problem right out. of the gate is not only are they not. selling papers but now they're going to. be giving money I don't know if they did. but were asked to give money back to. advertisers yeah I can't give this hair. cream. away and and the public started to get. behind it and that was the real danger. was once New York City is like no no no. these boys have a point yeah then I. don't care if you're h or Pulitzer. you're kind of so yeah so um there's a a.

managing editor named Don sites of the. world and uh he was one of pitzer's. second in command and he said in a memo. the people seem to be against us they. are encouraging the boys and tipping. them so yeah it it kind of spread to. just the rest of New York like this this. um issue that was really specific to. this group of kids like people started. to sympathize with them and support them. um and yeah that's that's bad news for. the the um the management that's being.

struck against absolutely um one thing. they tried and there were all sorts of. little ways they tried to get their. paper out there you know over the course. of this couple of weeks but they said. all right we'll round up uh people that. don't have homes these guys that are on. the street will get them to sell you. know these adults to sell the paper had. about a 100 men signed up to scab and. the next morning they didn't show up so. they decided decided not to uh I don't.

know I guess the news boys got to them. but I don't know if it was by threat or. what but they decided not to do it well. that was definitely like the two-pronged. approach that the the um Strikers. originally took in the first few days it. was appealing to other you know people's. General sense of compassion and and. Justice and then also I also have the. the um leg of an old dining room table. in my other hand so which one do you. want you want the pamphlet or you want. the dining room table leg. that's right uh things really changed it.

was another Turning Point um just a few. days in on the 24th of July when they. were supposed to meet with Hurst uh the. arbitration committee was all set up and. Hurst would not meet with them so you. know that first rally was about 300 kids. that night they had about. 2,000 um at new Irving Hall and other. accounts say it could have been 5,000. 8,000 just thousands of these young boys. which had to be terrifying. and had a uh one of the big guys uh the.

New York Times said he was one of the. larger boys Nick Meyers chaired that. meeting I guess as some muscle along. with a couple of other muscles right. yeah Joe Bernstein and William Rees also. known as the yellow Barrel lemonade man. of Printing House Square what does that. even mean he sold lemonade out of a. yellow Barrel at Printing House Square. oh. okay that's why I sent you that um eBay. of that that lemonade get it cup I I get. it now yeah joshh sent me a a if you.

grew up in the 80s you if you saw this. thing a wave of nostalgia would wash. over you but a lot of times at theme. parks yes they would sell lemonade in. these yellow plastic. barrels yep and now I know why did you. buy one no I just looked at it for a. little while all right but those guys. William Reese and Joe Bernstein yeah. were armed with um what the New York. Times described as far-reaching switches. to keep everybody in line during this.

this meeting and like you said the. meeting was at new Irving Hall uh near. Union Square in New Irving Hall where. this incredibly important uh news newsy. strike um meeting was held the one where. they really kind of came together and. assembled is now Irving Plaza owned by. Live Nation and it's available for. corporate events and it features an. upscale VIP lounge as well. I went to a lot of great shows at Irving. Plaza back when I lived up there yeah.

yeah great venue what' you see oh boy I. saw a pavement there I saw wean there I. saw cxo there okay uh those are the. three that come to mind that's good. enough here three for. three so yeah Irving Plaza um still. there today and available for corporate. events uh racetrack Higgins got up there. gave a great speech got everyone you. know pretty pumped up to stay strong.

yeah love this um he he said this is. another quote he said we can do it hands. down and no whipping if we keep our eyes. skinned I guess that's our eyes peeled. that's what I'm taking it as yeah yeah. what oh he had another quote too you. want me reading that one too yeah have I. won the part of racetrack Higgins yeah. because I've got another quote I want to. say too all right uh he also said the. journal had offered two bucks a day. which if they were making 30 cents a day. $2 day that that's a huge huge pay.

increase at the time for sure and uh he. said that kid wouldn't take it because. the journal refused to contract and pay. Hospital. expenses because the kid was worried. about getting beaten for selling the. papers thank you I saw another oh it. took me a minute actually I read that. three times before it sunk in what he. was saying no I like it I didn't realize. he was being factious yes um I found. another quote in I think that Zin. education project like the legacy of.

Howard Zin they had a great article on. this and they dug up a um quote from a. kid who was talking to the Jersey City. evening Journal did you see this. one he said weon has got to stand by one. another in these times cuz if we don't. sure as hell we'll get it in the neck. from them. capitalists love that kid can you. imagine like an 8-year-old saying that. to the to a newspaper reporter I love it. it's like that British girl complaining.

about the Ice Cream prices did you see. her no it's a viral video going around. now it's very funny she's outraged at. the ice cream price she said ice cream. prices are too damn high no you should. watch it it's pretty funny okay uh did. you ever watch that throat Whistler yet. no man I even forwarded it to you again. you got I know I appreciate it sitting. in my inbox I've just been doing a lot. man I've done everything from recycled. old um light fixtures to set up a drip. water system in the last like 24 hours I.

love it I'll know that you've watched it. when you just call me like crying with. laughter okay fair enough so at this. meeting things are going good they're. getting more organized than ever but. they also decided that they needed to it. was sort of being counterproductive they. thought to go around town beating. everybody's senseless for selling papers. so they said all right we need to we. need to stop this we're not to beat up. scabs anymore um Olia included another.

quote sarcastic calls of oh. soly and I love how she spelled that um. and they said you know this is like you. mentioned the Flyers this is when the. Flyers really came out where we're going. to take a more aboveboard approach we're. going to put flyers in the hands of the. people of New York that say Hey just. give us a chance to make a living appeal. to their good nature and like you said. sense of uh justice. and that seemed to really turn the tide.

of public opinion on their side yeah was. when they were like hey these poor kids. you know they're they're trying to go. about this the right way now yeah and. there were scabs that um that that were. willing to step up and do it but they. were kind of few and far between like. they had a really hard time finding. people who were willing to scab against. these Newsies they just kind of won the. hearts and minds of New Yorkers so they. had all this support and not just New. York I mean like you said it spread. throughout New Jersey New England um.

there were other um sympathetic strikes. that it inspired in Nashville Tennessee. Lexington Kentucky Cincinnati Ohio like. this all happened in just a few days. time at a time where there were no one. was walking around with like a a. smartphone and had access to social. media this was all spread generally by. word of mouth and it it spread so well. that other kids from other towns came to.

New York to coordinate with the leaders. of the New York City strike that's what. happened in just a few days yeah and. also ironically being spread by other. newspapers covering this thing yeah. that's a really good point you're you're. right about that because I'm sure that's. how a lot of them heard um the world and. the journal did not write a single word. about this I imagine yeah that was very. strategic by William Hurst because as. we'll see they um the journal in the. world were like the the everyday persons. like Champion like if you were being.

screwed over the world and and the. journal were on your side and yet they. wouldn't concede this this um price. reduction to these striking news boys. right yeah so that was very strategic. not to say anything whether uh in public. or in articles but like you said other. papers around New York covered it. breathlessly yeah should we take a break. while you catch your breath yeah thank. you all right we'll be right back and. we'll talk about about uh sort of as. this thing goes along and then winds up.

in what happens right after this. Tock just listen up to. andu you should. know stuff you. should. knowu you should. so Chuck I told you that racetrack um.

Higgins was my favorite right MH out of. the top three kid blink Dave Simon and. racetrack Higgins the reason why he's my. favorite is because out of those three. he's the only one that wasn't a total. skell who accepted payoff to end their. participation in leading the strike by. the two. newspapers uh yeah is that the case the. only place the only source that I saw. that didn't seem pretty much certain.

that these guys had both been paid off. including contemporaneous quotes from. Newsies who believe this um was Livia. actually all right so what are we gonna. do about. Livia I think what she was doing was. taking a really like um a cautious. approach because it never has been. proven but it does seem to be pretty. much certain at that at the very least. kid blink took a payoff yeah so the idea.

is that kidlink and Dave Simon were paid. about 400 bucks uh from those two. companies to end the strike they denied. it uh Simon was like go ahead search me. which you know that means nothing just. because he has didn't have the money on. him right then they'll never search mik. keer oh god um and kid blink you know. gave a pretty big speech and it sounds. like he was a pretty decent public. speaker uh so they kind of he kind of. convinced everyone that it wasn't true. in the moment but yeah I think I agree.

with you it seems like they probably did. the payoff yeah because not only were. there quotes from Newsies later on who. one of them said we would have gotten. more but the leaders got bought off um I. think there was a quote from Don sites. the managing editor who at right after. this happened said the the backbone of. the strike has been broken and they did. it by targeting the leaders and that 400. bucks that was a lot man that's like 15. Grand today to people who were like.

making 30 cents a day at best it's like. four plus years of work for them it. would have been really really tough to. turn down the thing is is when you have. like leaders who are inspiring people. and leading like people who are really. like coming from a just cause you want. them to be. untouchable right so I mean they're. human they were kids still I mean one of. them was 18 the other one was 21 tops if. he wasn't 18 this is more money than. they probably ever would have seen in.

one place in their life I can't really. blame them for turning it down but I'm. still deeply disappointed that they. didn't because kid blink was your guy he. would have been so race car Higgins is. my guy because he didn't get bought off. right oh that's right I forgot it was. race car Higgins um so Simon regardless. of whether or not he took money uh even. though we think he did he resigned as. president um he said I'm going to. continue to support the strike um. supposedly was elected Treasurer which. would be a really weird thing to do to.

someone who just accepted a payout I. know uh but this is the point where. things you know paper started reporting. all kinds of different stuff about um. who was leading at the time uh the New. York Times said it was a kid named. Morris Cohen uh the son had two. different stories that contradicted one. another um one said that they um voted. two kids in to replace Simon and kid. blank name Yak egg and.

niny if you K hanging out with a kid. named niny or Yak egg you need to move. you need to move very quickly um Yak egg. that's so weird it is uh the same paper. talked about a different meeting on the. same day on the 28th uh with a kid named. young monx as the chief that replaced. blink and then the time said no it's an. executive committee basically from the. different Del get that are running it. and best we can tell is there wasn't a.

real firm leader at this point right. kind of like for what one reason is what. you talked about was they wanted someone. that was Untouchable and they didn't. know if they could trust anyone right. and so this was I mean that Don sight's. quote about the backbone being broken. turned out to be pretty true like after. those two left their positions of of. leadership the strike just kind of it. just got a little chaotic and. disassembled for a couple of days at. least uh it was just kind of chaotic and.

yet they still continued on they they. just did it in a decentralized way um. and then I think on the 27th of July. Thursday the thing's been going on for a. week now kid blink after having like. talked his way out of like being beaten. within an inch of his life for accepting. a payoff from the journal in the rec or. the world um he shows up on the street. with a new suit and flashing ACH bunch. of bills yeah and depending on the.

account you you read he was either. beaten or was about to be beaten when. the cops arrested him potentially for. his own protection he was taken to jail. but that's the like okay maybe Dave. Simons did or didn't I think his. behavior made it seem very fishy that so. I suspect him kid blink it's like it's. just a given you know yeah um if that's. true that's the that's the key like it's. entirely possible that that was rumored. they got printed in a newspaper that. today we look back and we're like oh it.

was in the newspaper so it must be true. it's possible that was just totally a. rumor something like that but I still. say kid blink is guilty guilty. guilty it was around the same time that. there was a a compromise offered by the. um uh the newspapers they went to the. union committee and said hey what if we. go down to 55 cents the union turned. that down um this is when they started. to get the support I mentioned some. other people kind of joined in later uh.

you know a whole week later and these. were the news stands the people who ran. the news stands said all right we're not. going to sell those papers anymore um. maybe we'll keep some here out of you. and if you really really want one we'll. quietly sell it to you but they weren't. pushing the world in the journal at new. STS right which is almost as bad as just. not carrying it at all yeah but that was. a huge deal I mean just getting like. other Strikers or other newspaper. sellers like um on the street to join. them was a big deal getting the news.

stands to actually join was an enormous. coup and um under this new kind of like. larger strike the news boys um organized. they they reorganized I guess I should. say in a much more like. uniform coherent way under kind of the. leadership of a couple of the adults. that own new stands and um apparently. seem to steer everything in a very. honest Direction. yeah there was a uh new stand owner. named Abraham Lipman who said all right.

why don't you guys adult elect an adult. here um there are adult news uh Newsies. and uh here's a guy his name's James. Neil he's 50 years old I know it seems a. little it seems a little weird that he's. still that he's still alive uh but elect. him as president you might get a little. further uh they did racetrack Higgins uh. your boy became vice president yeah and.

Neil uh said you know the adult in the. room said all right um we need to get. really organized we need to have badges. we need to uh get together with other. labor organizations we need to District. up and have delegates and really get. this thing going but it it was a little. too little too late at this point. because at this point these kids needed. the money I mean they were uh they were. doing this because they were didn't have. much in the way of means and so to be. out of work for a week in a row uh was a.

big deal and so their their stamina sort. of started to Wayne yeah and for a while. they they had one kid said that they um. they ain't got no wives or families so. they could take the pressure but you. know a week of not not making any money. when you're relying on 30 cents a day. that's a big deal so it it makes sense. that the the strike just kind of started. to Peter out a little bit but it does. make you wonder how far it would have. gotten had they organized like that from.

day one that would have been amazing and. I imagine there was some parental. pressure because I think a lot of this a. lot of times if these kids weren't just. on their own a lot you know most of this. money went back to the family right and. so you know Mom and Dad you would think. at some point was like hey we need this. 30 cents right we need three cans of. soup and 50 lounds of potatoes. yeah so so on I guess Monday July. 31st is it was the the death nail of the.

strike one of the groups of news stands. said this strike's a failure they passed. a resolution which this seems really. mean and they're like we're not. supporting us any longer that almost was. a signal to everybody else from what I. can tell to that it was almost kind of. okay to start selling the journal in in. the world again uh and on August 1st the. New York strike officially was. over yeah and uh the one big thing we.

didn't mention was that they uh they did. accept an offer finally yeah kind of an. important point they they accepted the. offer of 60 cents um along with the. caveat that they could return unsold. copies for a full refund and that seemed. like you're dead on the money on what. you said at the beginning like that was. a big deal if they let's say you sell. 100 papers during wartime and you go out. you're like ah man I'm going to I think. I'm going to do it I'm going to get. another bundle and you sell 10 yeah.

newspapers out of that bundle of a 100. then that's that'll that'll bury you as. a business so being able to return those. they saw it as a big win at least or. maybe they just tried to make themselves. feel better and say it was a big win but. it seems to me like being able to get. refunds for unsold papers was a pretty. big deal it seems like a big win to me. for sure yeah yeah and because yeah you. you've got to sell those papers they're. not any good tomorrow that's literally. yesterday's news you know that's right.

uh if you hadn't figured that out by now. I wanted to make sure it was spelled. out so um that Union though it it might. seem like wow they they unionized like. two days before the strike ended what a. waste that's not at all correct this. Union continued on and grew more and. more powerful and more and more um. disciplined too and as other strikes. kind of came up over the years uh they. would support them and they had some a. decent amount of clout actually yeah so.

good for them wouldn't that be funny if. we just ended the show without. mentioning Christian Bale yeah that. would be awesome people would lose their. minds uh of course Disney made a movie. about this uh it was a musical called. Newsies 1992 and young Christian Bale. played uh fictional uh character um. inspired you know by real people but a. fictional guy named Jack Kelly. uh but there is a character named blink. and a character named race so they you.

know they definitely took. uh took some real people made them. slightly fictionalized and then made. them sing yeah and neither Christian. Bale nor any of the other stars had any. acting or any singing and dancing. experience and I read like oral history. about the Flop that was Newsies when it. came out in theaters and one of the one. of the leads was like yeah if you watch. closely for those dance numbers they'll. suddenly either like Zoom way out or pan.

in really closely so you can't actually. see us dancing we'll be like in a crowd. of other people or else it'll be like an. extreme closeup on us because they. weren't any good and uh I think even. whether they had been good or not was a. moot point it was a weird gamble that. Disney took um yeah introducing. liveaction musicals that were not at all. in fashion at the time and hadn't been. for a couple decades by then. uh Jeffrey kenberg was like we're. bringing them back and America said no.

you're not and he said and we're going. to do it in the form of a newspaper. delivery boy strike exactly Christian. Bale. survived he did and you know the movie. ended up being a pretty big cult hit. yeah I've never seen it have you no I. didn't I watched parts of it today but. uh it was a Broadway show after that as. well yeah and it won like two Tony so it. in in its format as a Broadway show they. rewrote some of the songs songs and. stuff um it it did very well it just was.

not meant to be a movie yeah uh that's. it for Newsies everybody and the Newsies. strike in particular that's right if you. want to know more about that kind of. thing go watch Newsies and see what you. think or go to Broadway and see Newsies. and see what you think and then let us. know what you think and in the meantime. it's time for a listener. [Music]. mail uh I'm going to call this critical. email that just came in okay we like we. like to read these from time to time. sure not just read emails of Praise uh.

Hey guys listen every day there's. nothing new I listen to The Archives I. would like to ask you guys to refrain. from laughing chuckling chling giggling. and so on it's very annoying uh you do. this incessant just get serious about. the subject are you guys comedians or. are you trying to inform the public wow. I think this guy new it might not be. around for very long well no he said he. listens every day for like the last two. days days. [Laughter].

I maybe it's a hate lesson I don't know. another thing I'd like to call you guys. out on here I was listening to the. archives and the way you guys supported. the Black Panther Party was nothing less. than treason uh those were Communists. anarchists marxists with. guns uh you guys should have explained. the threat to our democracy those. criminals pose maybe they weren't as big. a threat as Jay Edgar Hoover Uh thought. but they were pretty darn close you guys. are way too liberal uh and do what you. do you shouldn't show your bias stop the. laughing because you two are more often.

not funny I love this guy yeah I'm just. going to leave it Anonymous okay it's. probably for the best well thanks a lot. Anonymous we do love to get criticized. sometimes and and uh it's a legitimate. bone you pick there but I'm afraid we're. probably not going to change the way. that we do the show that's a very kind. way of responding uh if you want to be. like Anonymous and get in touch with and. be like stop doing this so we can be. like no we're not going to stop doing.

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