ashe's corner of thoughts

Plus, he didn't undermine his sister's ability in the 1992 movie or the earlier drafts of it (such as Hard Promises), so I don't see why he deems Katherine incapable on first glance.

Even though David didn't believe in Katherine as a reporter at this point, he still got worried when Jack accused her of following him. As seen in the gif above, he whispers "Oh Jack", places a hand on Jack's arm, and glances back to see her reaction. He is seemingly warning Jack to shut up and not antagonise Katherine. He may dislike her, but David has a level of social etiquette that the other newsies don't.

Where Davey is initially sexist, Katherine is initially classist. She assumes the newsies are unorganised, filthy, and dumb because of their social class. Katherine speaks patronisingly to Jack in particular (which makes sense based on their past meetings), but she also talks to the newsies as if they aren't individuals (she seems to be spitballing somewhat sensationalised headlines rather than seeking genuine answers to her questions).

KATHERINE No. The only thing I’m following is a story. A ragtag gang of ragamuffins wants to take on the king makers of New York? Well, do you think you have a chance? JACK Oh, shouldn’t you be at the ballet? KATHERINE Is the question too difficult? I’ll rephrase. Will the richest and most powerful men in New York give the time of day to a gang of kids who haven’t got a nickel to their name? CRUTCHIE Hey! You don’t gotta be insultin’. I got a nickel.

In response, Davey scoffs (as seen in the second gif). He didn't take kindly to the newsies being dubbed a 'ragtag gang of ragamuffins' and was immediately on the defensive. As soon as she thinks up the 'David and Goliath' analogy, Davey is quick to jump in. He gets out of his seat and approaches her.

KATHERINE So I’d guess you’d say you’re a couple of David’s looking to take on Goliath? DAVID We never said that. KATHERINE Well, you didn’t have to. I did.

Katherine's response, again, disregards the voice of the newsies (which should be the reason she's there: to listen to their answers). She even laughs to herself after her witty response. This causes a slight dislike for both parties. Katherine was likely bothered by Davey's defiance, and Davey was irked by her speaking for them.

Jack also doesn't trust Katherine immediately (alternatively, he may just be arguing with her for argument's sake). He points out that women do not write the serious, important stories. This may even be where David's later sexist comments stem from. As I mentioned prior, it seems out of character, but I'm also not denying that he could feel this way without Jack's input - after all, I do love a good character arc.

JACK You know, I seen a lot of papes in my day and I ain’t never noted no girl reporters writing the hard news.

Katherine fought against this, insisting they need to wake up to the new century and essentially calling them closed-minded. This shuts up Jack and the newsies (who were previously humming and murmuring their approval to his comment).

Although we do see Jojo and Race judging her reply, we can also see Albert, Specs, and Tommy Boy actually listening behind them. We do not get to see Davey's reaction here, but both do make sense for his character.

He could scoff as he did before. After all, he disliked her immediately and wanted to somewhat fit in with the newsies (so he may have mirrored the reaction of Jojo and Race). But the 'Walking Mouth' does seem to appreciate debate and reasoning, and Katherine makes a good argument. So, he could be weighing up whether he should or should not trust her at this point.

She continues by calling either the strike or their petty argument 'entertaining'. I think she means the interaction she is currently having, but I reckon Davey interpreted it to mean their strike. He assumes the worst in her so therefore sees the worst in her.

KATHERINE Well, wake up to the new century. The game’s changing. Now, how about an exclusive interview? JACK Ain’t your beat entertainment? KATHERINE This is entertaining. So far.

Jack and Katherine continue to bicker. Her comeback gets many more of the newsies on her side because she'd now proved to them she was witty and intelligent. David (who likely thought of a similar counterargument himself) is unmoved by this.

JACK Hey, what’s the last news story you wrote? KATHERINE What’s the last strike you organized?

When Katherine puts Romeo in his place, the newsies seem to have more respect for her. Davey is likely the only one who doesn't feel this way because he hasn't known Romeo as long as the others, so he won't be as irritated by his painful romantic ventures.

ROMEO You’re out of your league, Kelly. Methinks the lady needs to be handled by… a real man. KATHERINE You thinks wrong, Romeo. ROMEO How’d she know my name? JACK Get outta here.

So, Davey approaches her again, rejecting her offer from earlier. Now, he could mean a "real reporter" as in someone who writes the serious, important stories, or he could mean a "real reporter" as in a man. Again, that's up to your interpretation, as either can be true.

DAVID I’d say we save any exclusive for a real reporter.

Katherine begins answering Davey, but leaves during the ellipses (below) to talk with Jack. This could be for two reasons. Firstly, Katherine knows there is little she can say at this point to get Davey on her side. Or, it could be that she sees Jack as the leader of the strike. I am more inclined to believe the second because (as we will explore as the post goes on), Katherine considers Jack the leader.

KATHERINE Well, do you see somebody else giving you the time of day? All right. So I’m just busting out of the social pages, but… But you give me the exclusive. Let me run with the story, and I promise I’ll get you the space.

Interestingly, when she first offers the exclusive, she offers it to everyone, but she only speaks to Jack the second time. Again, Katherine is disregarding the voice of the newsies as a group, and she is also disregarding the voice of the actual leader (in terms of the 'brains' behind the strike): Davey.

Now, this could be because Jack is the 'face' of the strike, so is, by extension, the face of the Manhattan newsies. However, I do think that it is strange she doesn't address the group as she did the first time. Why couldn't Crutchie, Race, Specs, Albert, Mush or Elmer give her the interview?

Even more interestingly, in 2012 bootlegs, she appears to offer the first interview directly to David. Her offering the second only to Jack would make more sense in this case, as Davey says, "I’d say we save any exclusive for a real reporter," before the second offer is made (and Katherine likely knows David is not yet on her side).

Davey seems to quickly change his mind on Katherine when she tells Crutchie they'll make the front page. We can see him nod and then reach for Crutchie's arm in a way which communicates 'do you believe this?' or 'let me make sure I'm not dreaming'. The newsies are all excited by Katherine's claim, which may have also helped in winning Davey over. As we can see from his face, he is still cautious. But Katherine's news makes him optimistically cautious (in a similar way to Jack's hundred papes a week promise did in the novel).

CRUTCHIE Hey, you really think we could be in the papes? KATHERINE Well, shut down a paper like The World? You’re gonna make the front page.

This doesn't really relate to the Katherine and Davey topic, but here is the novel extract I referenced in case you haven't read it yet:

David didn't want to be partners with anybody, particularly not with this fast-talking Irish boy who seemed to live on the edge of the law. In David's neighbourhood, the Irish boys and the Jewish boys were always fighting. He especially didn't want to be dependent on his own little brother. But a thousand papers a week! If Jack was right, David and his little brother would be able to support the whole family.

Jack, in a way, reaffirms that he is the only person Katherine needs to speak with as he gives her the exclusive she wants. However, he excitedly rushes over to Davey as he tells her to bring a camera and the two share a moment of eager enthusiasm, suggesting that Jack sees David as crucial to the strike in a way that Katherine does not.

JACK You want a story? Be at the circulation gate tomorrow mornin’, and you’ll get one. Oh, and bring your camera. You’re gonna wanna snap a picture of this!

I think the reason Katherine initially wants the interview with Jack is that she believes he amounts to something more. She doesn't want to interview a 'ragtag gang of ragamuffins', but she doesn't mind interviewing Jack Kelly, the kid who (she assumed) is working his way through art school.

KATHERINE So, what’s your story? Are you selling newspapers to work your way through art school? JACK Art school? Are you kiddin’ me? KATHERINE But you’re an artist. You’ve got real talent. You should be inside the newspaper illustrating, not outside hawking it. JACK Maybe that ain’t what I want.

Even when Jack points out that David is the brains behind the strike, Katherine doesn't believe him. She instead assumes Jack is trying to be modest. So, it is clear that Katherine initially undermines Davey in a similar way he initially undermines her, although her reasoning behind this is also unclear to me (unless she was blinded by her attraction to Jack).

KATHERINE So tell me what you want. JACK Can’t you see it? In my eyes? KATHERINE ….. Yeah, okay. Have you always been their leader? JACK Hey, I’m a blowhard. Davey is the brains. KATHERINE Modesty is not a quality I would’ve pinned on you.

Davey is visibly different to the newsies around him, just look at his costume, or his use of language, or how he stiffly carries himself (not being comfortable in the group yet). Katherine, as we see, is rather sheltered, so she likely didn't think much of it when Davey called, "Hey, come on, Les. The folks are waiting" - she may have assumed they all have parents in a similar way Les did ("doesn't everyone?").

In Watch What Happens, Katherine calls Jack a "modern day David" and I see this as crucial to analysing her relationship with Davey.

KATHERINE Ok. “A modern day David is poised to take on the rich and powerful Goliath with the swagger of one twice his age, armed with nothing more than a few nuggets of truth, Jack Kelly stands ready to face the behemoth Pulitzer.” Now that is how you turn a boy into a legend.

As we see in the 1992 movie, the 'David and Goliath' analogy is based on David, not on Jack. I do love how the main difference between Katherine and Denton is who they interpret the leader of the strike to be (but that's another topic for another post).

DENTON I'm Denton, New York Sun. What's your name? DAVID (suspicious) David… DENTON David. As in David and Goliath?

The reference definitely works better with David (due to them having the same name), and Katherine does know David's name as Jack tells her (and she definitely heard it before she entered Jacobi's Deli). Yet, with this in mind and the fact that Jack told her Davey is the brains, she still decides to use Jack for the analogy.

It seems she doesn't want to accept Davey's role in the strike at all, instead wanting to credit it all to Jack.

Even when we look at the Watch What Happens lyrics, she acknowledges that Jack is the face of the strike (face, not brains). But, in the next breath, she says he is the one who can save them from "sinking in the ocean". I have two potential reasons for this. Her attraction to Jack could be influencing her interpretation of the strike, or she (as a reporter) could decide that what people see is more important than the truth.

So, he's a flirt A complete ego maniac The fact is he's also the face of the strike- What a face- Face the facts, that's a face that could save us all from sinking in the ocean

After the end of Seize the Day, When she celebrates with the newsies after taking their picture, she only goes to Jack. This is because she doesn't yet know any other newsie well because her interview was only with Jack. Davey celebrates with Crutchie.

It would have been nice to see Katherine and David share a happy moment together as it would show they had put their initial judgements aside. Then again, the pair likely still don't see the true importance of the other (especially on Katherine's end as she still feels it's only Jack who is the leader).

I'm not sure if David begins to like her now (as she's just taken their picture, so she's clearly serious about reporting on the strike), or when he learned she might get them to the front page (during their first meeting in the deli), or after he learns she got them to the front page (King of New York).

As Wiesel and the Delanceys show up, one of the scabs, Sniper, taps Davey's arm, implying that Davey had solidified himself as a leader within the newsies (after all, David was the one to kindly convince the three to throw down their papers, whereas Jack intimidated and shoved them). It is clear Davey is getting more and more respect in the group.

Katherine must have noticed David's co-leader role by now, though, because she specifically speaks to him in the next scene (King of New York) when Jack is away. However (I'll speak more on this when we get there), it is clear that Katherine still sees Jack as more important than Davey.

The lack of connection Katherine has with the other newsies doesn't last too long. During the fight, she checks in on Specs. From the very chaotic proshot clip, it seems that she runs over to him, which is a huge growth in her character. This is likely because she saw first-hand that the boys didn't do all that much wrong to deserve this brutal treatment, which challenged her prior beliefs about the "ragtag gang of ragamuffins".

In the 2012 bootlegs, Katherine leaves as soon as the fight begins, so she does not have this interaction. I do appreciate that the proshot decided to have her check in on the newsies though, as it is a small change which makes a big difference.

Unfortunately, we don't get to see Katherine and Davey interact during these scenes, so we do not know how their relationship is at the very end of Act 1.

In Act 2 their relationship changes significantly, but I wish I could've seen them interact at the end of Act 1 or before she tells them they made the front page.

When Katherine enters Jacobi's Deli, all the newsies are dejected and defeated from the fight. Katherine refers to them as 'gentlemen', showing that she has shaken off her classist prejudgements. This change in her language choices may also show a change in her and Davey's relationship, as (like we've discussed) his dislike either began from sexism or when she called the newsies 'ragamuffins'.

KATHERINE Good morning, gentlemen. Oh. Would you get a load of these glum mugs. Wait, can these really be the same boys who made front page of The New York Sun?

Either way, her new way of addressing them does show that she and the newsies now have mutual respect (which she definitely didn't have with all the scoffing from the first meeting).

As she talks, she tries to cheer them up. On "glum mugs" she lightly squeezes Elmer's shoulder, which is a very comforting action and something she wouldn't have even considered when she first met them. The newsies touch anyone for any reason (to name a few: in playfulness, in anger, in excitement, to motivate, or to comfort).

Davey and Katherine go through similar journeys with physical touch. They initiate touch when they see themselves as accepted by and integrated into the group. So, by this point, Katherine sees herself as a comrade rather than someone who is 'above' or 'superior' to the newsies.

Katherine still speaks in that sensationalised tone of voice, but she is now using it to uplift rather than undermine the group: "Can these really be the same boys who made front page?". Of course, her initial interview wasn't supposed to be uplifting, but as we explored, she disregarded and spoke down to them rather than aligning herself as an equal.

However, she is now focused on the newsies. She excitedly presents the newspapers to them, and is happy to see their moods immediately lift.

Katherine getting them to the front page seems to be why Davey's opinion on her changed; he now sees her as a 'real reporter'.

DAVID You got us in the pape? KATHERINE You got yourselves in the pape.

Look at the image above with the description "An image of Kathrine being proud of the newsies while she says they are the reason they made the front page, not her. David looks as if he's regretting that he judged her." David regrets doubting her capability as a reporter and gives her credit for what she's done (showing growth from when he initially disregarded her), but Katherine credits him and the newsies instead, implying how she sees their strike as equally important to her career, and showing her personal growth (as her first interaction was insensitive and patronising).

SPECS So, what else you got? KATHERINE Mine’s the only story that ran. Pulitzer declared a blackout on strike news, so even I’m shut down now.

Specs and Davey stick around to hear if Katherine had any more news (they both seem to be the two newsies closest to Katherine). Albert half sticks around, but it seems he wants to talk to Specs rather than gather more information, and it also isn't really important to this post.

However, Specs and Davey seem to be equally interested in Katherine as they are in the strike. They are disappointed in the blackout for strike news, but they also feel saddened that Katherine is shut down.

KATHERINE Hey, I heard they arrested Crutchie. Did they get Jack too?

She asks Davey this. This suggests two things. Firstly, the pair have a more sensitive and vulnerable relationship. Or (the interpretations could also be an and by the way), Katherine sees Davey as Jack's right-hand man. I'm not fully sure she sees him as a co-leader quite yet, but she definitely realises he plays a very active role in the union.

As the newsies detail what they'd like in King of New York, Katherine shows interest and support. She is far wealthier than the newsies (as she's literally Pulitzer's daughter), but she knows how much a pair of matching laces or a sandwich ('pastrami on rye with a sour pickle') means to them. Plus, she seems to be doing some sort of variation of 'good one' each time the newsies suggest things they'd like, even when they're objectively never going to get it ('a solid gold watch with a chain to twirl it').

DAVEY (sung) A regular beat for the star reporter!

While the newsies all think of things they'd like for themselves, Davey says what he wants for Katherine, and she looks very flattered by this. It's such a sweet interaction between the two, and I think it aptly showcases how they've come to like and respect each other (which is a clear growth from their first interaction).

Feel free to look up the definition yourself, as mine is quite lousy. Beat reporting is when a journalist has their own specialised topic (or 'beat') they write about consistently and expertly. Davey is essentially saying that Katherine is a real and capable reporter who deserves a promotion.

She sits with Specs, Davey, and Les during King of New York, and I'd say she has the strongest relationship with those three. Here we see her talking with Davey, and they both have a massive smile on their face.

Davey is playful with Katherine during the spoon dance, tapping his spoons on her hands. He still does this in the proshot, but the camera is (rightfully so) focused on Jojo having a blast instead. We can hear Davey excitedly shout "Katherine!" just before he taps the spoons on her hands.

Katherine also says a few things during this section of the dance, but I can't fully hear it: "yes, ???" (I think it's a newsie's name as she's cheering someone on, it might even be 'Dave/Davey') and I have no idea what the second thing she says is, perhaps "yeah, fellas!"

Based on the transcript (following 'but I was a star for one whole minute'), this is all the dialogue. It doesn't assign who says what though, which is unfortunate.

[Instrumental Dance Break] NEWSIE COMPANY & KATHERINE Yeah! / Alright! / Hey come on boys! / Oh my gosh! / Come on man! / You know, I taught him to do this. / Allright Albert! / Yeah! / He’s got things in his pockets! / Spoon Fight! / Come on! / Got ‘em! [Race and Smalls do the splits] Ow. / Got ‘em! Got ‘em! / Here we go! / You guys are great! / Here’s a big one! / Woah! / Come on Katherine! Let us see ya! [Katherine dances.]

However, I'm not sure all of it is fully accurate to the livesies recording as we can hear Davey say "Katherine, that's not fair, I mean he's got things in his mouth," but it isn't included in what I've pasted above. Here's a short audio file showing this:

Davey encourages Katherine the most in King of New York. He eagerly rushes over to her, trying to get her to dance and include herself in the group's fun. They are very similar characters when it comes to confidence, and he notices her reluctance but pushes her to try dancing anyway (similarly to how Jack encouraged him into the strike).

After she holds back and does a poor job, the newsies tease her:

DAVID That’s it? TOMMY BOY You gotta be kidding me. HENRY Boo. ROMEO That’s the best you got?

The newsies are very rowdy, and she responds well to them by putting more effort in and proving that she can dance.

All the newsies are proud of her, but Davey seems to be the happiest. Just look at the bright smile on his face. For Katherine and Davey, partaking in this celebration is so much more than the excitement of the strike making the front page; it's also about feeling at home with the newsies. Neither of them are outsiders anymore, and they are now happy to act silly and have fun with the newsies (which neither of them would have considered doing in the first Jacobi's Deli scene).

He brings her a chair and holds her hand as she kicks on it (he also has one hand on the chair to keep it stable for her). We can hear him say, "Come on, Katherine!" and the pair are just having the time of their lives.

Towards the end of King of New York, Katherine and Davey exchange a look that communicates pride, and a sense of 'can you believe it'.

At this point in the musical, they have a close relationship.

Katherine, Davey, and Les all leave together after King of New York, showing that the three have grown close. She sits on the stairs, and Les stands nearby (I can't see Davey in the clip). He's either spending time with them or he trusts Katherine enough to leave Les in her care (which he does during the search for Jack anyway).

When the newsies are searching for Jack, we can see Katherine and Davey talking. They have to work together to get Jack back, and we can see them spreading what they've just discussed to the other newsies. They make a great team as both of them are united, organised, determined, and calm about the situation.

David is searching for Jack alone, and Katherine is looking after Les, which shows his progression as a character (as he no longer needs Les nearby to know he's safe) and shows how much Davey actually trusts Katherine.