Newsies is a 1992 musical movie produced by Disney. It starred a young Christian Bale, along with Bill Pullman, Robert Duvall, and Ann-Margret. The movie loosely told the story of the New York City Newsboys who went on strike in 1899. This lead to the reform of child labour laws. Despite being set in NYC, Newsies was filmed in Hollywood.
While the movie was not a hit at the box office, it developed a cult following due to it’s catchy music and the large cast of male dancers, which was a rarity at the time. The constant requests from schools to perform Newsies lead Disney Theatrical Productions to greenlight the writing of a theatrical adaption. The show was initially to run just at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey before being licensed to schools and local theatres. However the overwhelming success lead Disney to bring the show to Broadway. It ran for several years before touring North America.
Universal Studios
Despite being a Disney production, much of the filming took place at Universal Studios, on their New York backlot. This area became commonly known as Newsies Square.
During their downtime, a number of cast members used a camcorder to film a short movie called “Blood Drips on Newsies Square”. The plot revolves around actor Don Knotts killing the cast of Newsies in a variety of ways, upset that he can’t be in the film. They filmed all around the Universal backlot. The movie can be purchased here.
The entire New York backlot was unfortunately lost in a fire in 2008. The backlot was rebuilt, but doesn’t resemble the same buildings seen in Newsies.
I visited the Universal backlot in May 2022, and I was able to get some photos of the backlot. Keep in mind, these photos show how the backlot looks now.
Warner Bros. Studios
Despite most of the movie being filmed at Universal, they also made use of the Warner Bros. backlot. The scene where Jack sings “Santa Fe” on the fire escape was filmed in an alley just off WB’s Hennessy Street.
