So, for this time, I am going to be talking about the short scene in between the opening and the boys singing Carrying The Banner. This is really where we first get to meet the boys and see their personalities.

For the specifics on what I am looking at,

1992: When Kloppman starts walking up the stairs to when the boys leave the Lodging House.

Live: To when Jack starts shouting at the boys to get a move on until the boys hit the streets.

I know I skipped a scene in the Live version. That's gonna be a part of my thoughts on Jack and Crutchie's brothership (I'm calling it that because they're basically brothers). Right now, I'm going through what both movies have and comparing and contrasting that and then I'll start comparing characters, relationships, and other stuff like that.

Okay. Here we go for the comparison.

The 1992 versions introduces us to the boys by showing us the landlord/Lodge keeper (guys, what do we call Kloppman? I can't remember) climbing up the stairs to wake the boys for another day of work. They're teenage boys so, of course they're still sleeping when we see them for the first time. There's this one boy who is snapping his fingers like he's holding money in his hand (I don't know his name) and the camera pans around to some of the bunkroom so we can sort of see what it is like. Kloppman eventually gets to the top of the stairs and yells at Boots. (I feel so bad for that poor kid. I would hate that. If Kloppman did that to me, it really wouldn't end well.) Boots wakes up suddenly (poor kiddo) and rolls over with an annoyed glare on his face. As if that woke up the boys, which it didn't, Kloppman starts hollering at Skittery and smacking at his feet, which are pretty dirty. Skittery sits up and goes,

"I didn't do it!" For some reason, I really adore that. The other boys start stirring and Kloppman starts hollering at the other boys too. He yells about how they sleep their lives away and how they need to sell papers. We get to see more of the boys waking up and stirring and how sleeping quarters are pretty tight. The music is just kind of quiet right here if there is any. Kloppman eventually starts waking up Jack. (this part is extremely cute. Jack is really bad at mornings.) Anyways, Kloppman asks him if he's dreaming about selling papers and Jack just groans and rolls over.

"What's a matta wid you?" he asks and Kloppman keeps poking at him, trying to get him up.

"What's the matta wid me?" he asks and he pokes Jack again. This goes on for a little bit longer and then Jack yells at him about being mad (crazy, I think British Jack Kelly made an appearance there a little bit. But, that could have been lingo here back then.) Kloppman and Jack play fight a little bit more before Jack gets up. The scene changes to Racetrack looking for his cigar. Of course he can't find it, because he never can in the mornings. Snipeshooter has it and Race sees it. He sings and tells him that's his cigar. Snipeshooter tells him that he'll just steal another. Kid Blink tells them they have work to do and Specs wonders when Blink became his mother. Crutchy, the ever sympathetic king of sass, says,

"Ahhh, stop your bawlin."

Mush (who looks extremely handsome shirtless), and another Newsie (Dutchy or Itey I think. I don't know which one) appears behind them and asks along with the others,

"Who asked you?!" Mush beats his fist on his chest and pulls on his suspender strap. The scene changes to Jack walking into the washroom. Mush walks into the washroom and asks Jack how he slept. Jack's response...

"On me back,Mush." Mush just dies and honestly, it's really cute only because it's not that funny. Mush asks the boys if they heard that and repeats their whole conversation. Jack beats up on Mush's stomach a little bit (which probably doesn't hurt him that much honestly. Have you guys seen his muscles?)

Crutchy walks in and asks Jack if it looks like he's faking it when he walks. This is super cute too because Crutchy, one minute is being a little sass king and the next is super innocent. Jack, of course says no. Crutchy explains his logic behind his worry. He starts talking about finding a new selling spot and the boys start suggesting places to sell. Kid Blink starts singing about how he smells money and Crutchy, the sass king, says Kid Blink smells foul. Mush appears and steps in between saying that he met a girl last night. (It was Elley for all of my Elley fans. Jk. It probably wasn't.) Mush spins Kid Blink around so he doesn't attack Crutchy. Crutchy moves away and starts cleaning his face. Race wants a towel and Skittery takes the towel and waves it in the air. Poor Race has shaving cream all over his face and can't quite get to it.  The boys pull on their clothes and start walking out of the bunkroom. They mess with each other as they leave and this one kid slides out and jumps into his pants. It's really impressive. The boys run down the steps and hit the streets.

The guys are really cute in this one. Not that they aren't in the other one, but you can tell that all of the boys are very comfortable with each other. They seem a little bit more individualized in this one than in the other one. This sort of seems to set them apart from each other. I kind of like that. I like how everyone sort of acts like brothers and how Jack trusts more of his Newsies more closely in this one. Mush, Blink, Race, Crutchy, Skittery, Snoddy, Specs and anyone else who he yells at to go somewhere he trusts enough to have them do business with other boroughs. He seems to appreciate his Newsies a lot but, he also is the "leader" so he sort of puts, not distance, but, there sometimes seems to be a little bit of a disconnect. It's more that Jack acts like he's more grown up than the other Newsies and he doesn't always act like he needs them but, that changes as the movie goes on.

I also like how detailed the bunkroom and the washroom is. You get to see the living conditions and they look like something that the Newsies probably would have used back then. The bunkroom is tight and there are different rooms within the bunkroom. From what I can see, there are at least two rooms that have bunks. Most of the boys sleep in the one that we see in the beginning because the other room looks smaller and seems to have less bunks. I'm not quite sure why Jack and the older boys don't sleep in that room but, it's okay. :) Maybe they want to be close to the little ones in case of a nightmare or something. I feel like the Lodging House is very detailed for the little that we get to see it and that it is historically accurate.

I forgot to mention it at the beginning of this book but, there will be spoilers for both of these. If you're new to Newsies, I'll try to tell you when those are but, Newsies is something I really like so, I kinda forget where the spoilers are on occasion. Fellow Fansies, if you see something that I haven't tagged as a spoiler, please tell me to tag it so my potential non-Fansie readers don't get the whole movie spoiled for them because I forgot about something.  Thanks!!!

Okay, onto the Live version!!!

Jack and Crutchie have just finished singing about Santa Fe (we'll get that part later) and Jack says that their time for dreaming is done (so sad). Jack yells down to some of the boys to get up.

Race is one of them and he does a cat like stretch before he gets out of bed. I mean, I don't know that for sure. That's an inside joke for my brothers. :) Continuing on...

So, Race starts yelling at the boys to get up because Jack yelled at them and apparently Race gets out of bed the fastest. Albert wanders onto the same catwalk saying that he had the most wonderful dream. Race asks him if it was about a pretty girl and Albert says that it was a leg of lamb, but come on!!! We all know Albert and we all know it was about the girl. Besides, he says it too sassily for a leg of lamb to be the case. The catwalks don't give us a whole lot of detail about how the bunkroom actually looks but, the backdrop is pretty cool looking and the catwalks are just cool and give it a very New York feel. Albert steals Race's cigar and Race grouches about Albert stealing his cigar. Specs come down from one of the catwalks and says that's it bathtime at the zoo as Henry comes down. I actually love this insult because it is totally something that the Newsies would say. Anyways, innocent, sweet Henry either doesn't get the comment or lets it slide because he starts talking about surprising his mother. Albert, the other sass king, remarks,

"If you can find her." More Newsies appear on their little catwalk and shout,

"Who asked you?" Albert starts talking about he's having trouble selling his papes and that he needs a new selling spot. The boys start to offer some and then Jack come in from the rooftop. Jack talks about how it is a crooked game that they have to play and that they never lose as long as people keep paying for bad news. The boys start singing Carrying the Banner and then they move down to the streets.

That one didn't have nearly as much brotherly time. The boys in this one are also very cute. Albert and Race are pretty great, but we don't get to see how a lot of the boys get to interact with each other through dialogue like we did in the other one. I do like how the boys seem closer in this one than they do in the other one but, really I think they are about the same when it comes to closeness. We didn't get to see a whole lot of dialogue here so, it's a little difficult to compare, but they both have strong brotherly bonds. The boys definitely seem to wake up faster in this one which is kind of funny. They definitely like to mess with each other more in this one too which is kind of fun to watch.

I like these both about the same too. I think I like the 1992 version when it comes to this just a little bit more because we get to see more of what the boys get to do, but that's not a super fair reason because one was a movie and the other was a Broadway show made movie.  I love both of these and how we get to meet the boys in this one. These boys are all great and they have great brotherships with each other.

Next time, we're gonna do Carrying the Banner!!! Not quite sure how I'm going to do that, but we'll give it a shot. What your thoughts on today's topic? Do you have a preference? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!! I enjoy reading your thoughts and chatting about Newsies. Thanks so much for reading!!

-Aisling