Jack Kelly is the main character of the movie Newsies and its Broadway adaptation.
Jack's childhood[]
Not very much is known about Jack's life growing up, other than that his mother is dead and his father is imprisoned. In the Newsies novel by Johnathan Fast, Jack finds a picture of his parents that they took in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Eventually, he finds the Newsies and becomes one himself.
Jack and Santa Fe[]
Jack dreams of going to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Even dedicating a song to it in the movie. During the movie, Pulitzer makes him a scab worker by giving him the opportunity to go to Santa Fe. He later stops being a scab worker and goes back to the strike. In the end, he is given another chance to go to Santa Fe when Teddy Roosevelt comes. In the original script, he takes this opportunity and goes to Santa Fe. But in the movie we have now, he turns back and stays in New York.
Musical[]
Act I[]
In the Broadway musical, Jack Kelly is introduced as a 17 year-old orphan newsboy living in New York. He despises the city, believing it to take advantage of the poor until they can no longer work. He sleeps on the rooftop of a lodging house where he and several other newsboys stay for the night. Before selling newspapers for the day, Kelly shares his dissatisfaction with his friend, Crutchie on the roof. In the song "Santa Fe", he expresses his desire to explore the American West and tells Crutchie that someday they'll take a train out of the city together. After the clock chimes, Jack and the rest of the newsies prepare for work and discuss their different tactics for selling papers in the song "Carrying the Banner". They're frustrated by the poor working conditions and unfair wages, but also appreciate the freedom the job allows. On their way to purchase their stock of newspapers for the day, Jack tries to charm a girl on the street, who quickwittedly rejects his advances. The group of boys are disappointed to find that the headline story for the New York World is still covering ongoing trolley strike -- a story the general public hasn't been interested in for weeks. Jack protects Crutchie from Oscar and Morris Delancey, an antagonistic pair of brothers work for Mr. Wiesel at the circulation gate. After purchasing his papers, Kelly notices two new boys at the gate: Davey Jacobs and his younger brother, Les Jacobs. Jack sees potential in Les' ability to evoke pity in unsuspecting pedestrians and offers to teach the two how to hawk headlines. Though Davey is skeptical about Jack's offer, Les negotiates to split their profits 60-40 (with Kelly receiving the larger sum, and the brothers taking home the remaining 40%) at the end of the day. After shaking on the deal, the group of boys disperse onto the streets of New York.
Jack uses deceptive methods to sell the paper to uninterested pedestrians, much to Davey's disapproval. Jack offers to treat the two brothers to dinner after a day of working. Jacob reveals that they're parents are waiting for them at home. The brothers dropped out of school to earn money when their father was laid off of work after suffering an accident on the job. The two invite Jack to come home with them, but Jack, noticeably uncomfortable with the idea, pretends he has somewhere else to be. Snyder, the warden of a children's refuge, interrupts the boys' conversation and chases them. Jack, Davey, and Les evade capture in a vaudeville theatre. Kelly explains that Snyder locks up homeless children to receive more money from the state and keeps it all to himself. Medda Larkin, the star performer and owner of the theatre spots the boys and tells them leave. Kelly makes his identity known to Larkin and the woman greets him with a hug. Larkin tells the boys that they can stay all night, and thanks Jack for painting a backdrop in her show. Kelly dismisses the compliments he receives from Medda and the other boys, believing his artistic talent to be unremarkable. As Medda sings "That's Rich" to an entertained audience, Jack notices the girl he saw earlier in the day seated in a private box. Jack teases and flirts with her for a second time. She reveals that she is a reporter writing a review of the show for the New York Sun, and rejects his advances. While the show plays, Jack expresses how he feels caught off-guard by his feelings for the reporter ("I Never Planned on You/Don't Come A-Knocking"). After sketching her portrait on a piece of newspaper, he leaves the the critic's box.
The next morning, the group of newsboys are distressed to find the price of newspapers has gone up to sixty cents per hundred. Kelly refuses to pay the inflated price, and convinces the rest of the newsboys to hawk a different newspaper's headline instead. Specs, a fellow newsie, informs Jack that the owner of the The New York World, Joseph Pulitzer, convinced every newspaper in New York to increase their price. Enraged, Jack suggests the newsies go on strike, refusing to sell another newspaper until the price of newspapers is brought down to the original rate. Davey is tentative about the idea, but Kelly convinces him by reminding him that a worker's union would have protected his father from being fired. The newsies form an unofficial union, with Jack acting as the group's spokesman and Davey suggesting the group's subsequent moves. The newsboys sing their frustrations in The World Will Know, and march to Pulitzer's office. The boys are kicked out of the building and retreat to Jacobi's deli and plan to tell the newsies from the neighboring boroughs of the strike. All the newsies refuse to go to Brooklyn and convince its newsboy leader, Spot Conlon, to join the strike, until Jack concedes to take Davey and Les with him to Brooklyn. The reporter from Medda's theatre enters the deli and questions the boys on their attempt to strike the most powerful man in New York City. Jack and the reporter exchange jibes until she promises the newsies a front page story. Jack tells the reporter to be ready at the circulation gate in the morning with a camera and sends the newsies on their way. The boys plan on preventing the newspaper wagons from delivering the papers across the city. After the other boys leave, the reporter introduces herself to Jack with her pen-name, Katherine Plumber. She asks Jack if he is attending art school, and reveals that she kept his portrait of her from the night before. Katherine remains uninterested in Jack's romantic advances, and asks him more questions about the strike. Jack confesses that Davey is "the brains of the operation". Katherine is taken aback by his moments of humility and wit, and wishes him luck off the record.
Offstage, Spot Conlon refuses join the strike until the other newsies can prove their commitment to the cause. The other newsies in New York refuse to join the strike until Conlon gives his approval, and the group of boys grow disheartened and doubt if the strike will work. Davey encourages them in Seize the Day, with Jack being the first to join him in song. The boys carry through on the their plan despite their limited ranks and threats from the Delancey brothers. Katherine documents the event and photographs the newsies before Mr. Wiesel and policemen brutalize the children. Jack fends off the police and rescues Les from the hands of Snyder, but is unable to help Crutchie as Snyder batters the boy with his own crutch. Jack escapes back to the lodging house rooftop and screams in frustration. Kelly reiterates his desire to leave the corruption of New York City in exchange for a life of freedom in Santa Fe (Santa Fe Reprise).
Act 2[]
Crutchie writes to Jack from the Refuge (Letter From the Refuge), telling him of his dreams of going to Santa Fe together and encouraging him to keep fighting for the other newsies. Jack hides from the other newsies at Medda Larkin's theatre and paints her another backdrop. Though he intially refuses it, Medda hands him payment for his work, and asks him if he plans on running away. Medda tells him that it's impossible to find "the right place" after running away. Davey, Les, and Katherine find Jack and try to convince him to join the other newsboys at a rally. Les suggests they hold the rally in the theatre, but Kelly remains opposed to the idea, believing that it will only cause more harm. He reveals a painting (in the style of a newspaper cartoon) he made on the other side of Medda's new backdrop depicting Pulitzer stomping on the newsies. Davey tells Jack that Pulitzer sent an army of policemen to attack the newsboys because he's afraid of the strike. Katherine, Davey, and Les convince Jack to lead the rally, and the children grow increasingly optimistic in their goals (Watch What Happens).
Meanwhile, Snyder has identified Jack Kelly to Joseph Pulitzer as a petty thief that once escaped his refuge. The mayor of New York agrees to arrest Kelly quietly, but Pulitzer is committed to making an example out of the boy. Pulitzer's receptionist tells the men that Jack is in the building, and Snyder hides behind Pulitzer's desk. Kelly arrives to invite the newspaper mogul to the rally and gives him a chance to bring down the newspaper price. Snyder comes out of hiding and a group of policemen keep Jack from escaping. Pulitzer threatens to lock up Davey and Les along with Crutchie if Jack refuses to call off the strike. Also hidden in the room is Katherine, who Pulitzer reveals as his own daughter. Jack is distraught and feels betrayed by Katherine. Pulitzer offers Jack a sum of money and a train ticket out of the city in exchange for him to call off the strike at the upcoming rally. The Delanceys hold Jack in Pulitzer's cellar where he is forced to sleep on an old printing press. After the New York newsies announce themselves at the theatre (Brooklyn's Here), Kelly arrives to tell them that the strike is futile. He cites the fact that Pulitzer has enough money to hold off longer than any of them, and that they should accept the new newspaper price. Bunsen, Pulitzer's assistant, hands Kelly a wad of cash; Spot and the other newsies are enraged at his betrayal.
Jack escapes to the rooftop again and finds Katherine rifling through his drawings. She finds a sketch of The Refuge, depicting several boys sharing a single bed infested with rats. Shocked and disturbed by the cruelty, Katherine becomes more resolute in her cause, and chides Jack for turning his back on them at the rally. Still upset over her concealed identity, Jack argues with Katherine about her deception. The two exchange words, and Jack dares her to strike him in the face, but the reporter kisses him instead. With his guard down, Jack confesses to Katherine that he doesn't know how to make the strike work considering the power her father holds over his head. Katherine intends to extend the strike to every working child in New York City by printing her plan in an article alongside Jack's drawings. Jack is skeptical about the idea until he remembers the printing press in Pulitzer's cellar they can use. Before leaving the rooftop, Jack and Katherine admit their feelings for each other in Something to Believe In.
Jack and the other newsies print and deliver the new article across the city (Once And For All). A crowd of children flood the streets of New York in protest, as he had hoped. Jack visits Pulitzer's office a second time to return the bribe money and renegotiate the newsboys' terms. Theodore Roosevelt arrives to reprimand Pulitzer for his cruelty and offer advice to Kelly. Jack and Pulitzer compromise to bring the price of the paper down to 55 cents per hundred, provided that Pulitzer buys back the leftover stock the newsies can't sell. The man is initially hostile to the idea until Jack reveals that the added security would entice the newsboys to sell more newspapers, causing his circulation to grow. Pulitzer is impressed by Jack's business-savviness and shakes the boy's hand. Kelly addresses the newsies from Pulitzer's balcony announcing their victory, and is delighted to see Crutchie released from The Refuge and Snyder arrested. To spite Roosevelt, Pulitzer offers Kelly a job as a cartoonist at The World. Jack turns down the offer at first, until his friends convince him to stay and lead the union. With a newfound joy in life, Jack walks up to the circulation gate and pays for a stack of newspapers to join his fellow newsies on the streets (Finale (Newsies)).
Gallery[]
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