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Real Life Newsies Were Very Different Than What We Saw In The Disney Film

Updated on Sep 03, 2019. Originally added on Apr 25, 2016 by Kathy Pinna

These aren't the boys who delivered a newspaper to your home, nor are they singing and dancing like in the 1990s Disney film 'Newsies'.

These are the children, usually age 9 - 15 although sometimes younger, who bought papers on their own dime and sold them on the city streets to try and make a living.

These children became the face of child exploitation during the 19th and 20th centuries. How would you feel if your son had to live the life you see on these pages?

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Photos of Newsboys from 1800 - 1920s

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What kid doesn't like ice cream?

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These newsies are lined up for ice cream - the public thought that they spent their money on the sins of smoking and drinking.

Ohhhhhh, bad boy!

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A 7 yr old newsie paying to enter a vaudeville show.

What's he buying?

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While the photo is titled "Where some of the newsboy's money goes" - we can't tell what he's buying! It may have been obvious to someone in 1910 . . . or you?

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Some of them smoked!

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1910 Delaware - newsboy smoking on the street.

Ah-Ah-Adorable!

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Two darling 8 yr olds - they said that they were selling papers on a day off from school.

Pretty darn smart

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Young newsies begging for tobacco coupons - they're worth a fortune today!

Newsboy - and Woolworth's

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Look at everything for sale for a dime in the five and dime store window. The newsie is 10 and makes 25 - 75 cents a day.

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Newsgirl!

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This newsboy and newsgirl are selling papers at saloon entrances.

What are they looking at?

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These NY newsboys look like they're witnessing some kind of amazing history.

"Flipping a car"

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This newsboy is going to hitch a ride on a streetcar - evidently called "flipping a car" in 1909.

Whose bike?

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These are both newsboys, 5 and 6 yrs old. Wonder if the bike is theirs?

Smoking & Drinking Newsie

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He's 13, sold papers for 7 yrs, worked 9 hrs a day, made $1.25 a week. He drank and smoked and his brother was a messenger who knew where all of the "houses of prostitution" were.

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