#les jacobs

Les is zeroed in on Jack so intensely, an atom bomb could drop and he’d remain laser focused.

Snaps and my no-name newsie, Calamity, are about to Rock, Paper, Scissors who volunteers to go to Brooklyn.

Denton is creeping up in the background also looking intensely at Jack. Between him and Les, I’m surprised Jack doesn’t have 3rd degree burns.

Poor Tumbler, Slider, and the other kid with no name are all huddled together for emotional support. “We’re safe if we’re in our cuddle bubble.”

Dutchy hiding his face as if he wasn’t buddies with Spot during KONY!! You need to do better than that, Dutch.

So, I was thinking (that's never good. Trust me), and I found that King of New York was pretty dark sometimes. Because, when you look at the lyrics, you get a pretty nasty view on the Newsies' everyday life.

Obviously, we understand that their life isn't good from the start, but at the start of the song, Race talks about how when you're famous, you don't need money and that you get everything you want for free. I, personally, expected something like, a big house, a big company, lots of money or something, but no, he started off the song by saying that he wants a pair of new shoes with matching laces. This states that out of everything he could take from the world, he wanted a pair of new shoes.

Henry talks about wanting a Pastrami on rye (which is a very nice tasting sandwich with lots of meat in it I think (I had to search that up)). He wants food. A basic human need. He's talking about finally getting food for free (this also happens at the very start with Albert literally telling us that he was dreaming of food).

Later, Les talks about wanting his very own bed, meaning that he probably shares with someone, or doesn't have a bed at all (but considering that his father used to work at the factor, it's probably the first one).

Finally, Mush says that he wants a barbershop haircut that costs a quarter, meaning he doesn't have enough money to put a quarter on the side to get himself a haircut (I'm just realising that this kinda parallels the first scene where we see Mr Pulitzer. He's having a haircut. He can afford a haircut, but Mush doesn't have enough money for it and literally fantasises about being finally able to have a haircut when he's famous).