Tips for Writing Newsies Fanfic

No, I'm not trying to act like a know-it-all (I know very well I'm not a trained professional). I'm just trying to be helpful, that's all. So here are a few tips . . .

Accents

For the most part you don't have to go overboard with the New York accent in stories, but there's nothing wrong with changing the spelling of some of the words so people know that a character is speaking with the NYC accent. For example:
You=Ya
Your=Yer
This=Dis
That=Dat
Him='im
And=An'
To=Ta
And so on and so forth. Like leaving the g's of off of the end of words (goin', drinkin', ect) or sometimes leaving a letter off of the beginning of a word ('lone instead of alone, 's instead of is or it's).

Another trick with typing the accents is to change 'ir' or 'or' to a kind of 'oi' sound. Words would become 'woids', birds would become 'boids', ect. However, words like look and like stay the way they are, they do not turn into "loik." You can "loik" (lurk) around corners maybe, but you don't "loik" at buildings or "loik" a song.

Anyway, I could spend all day listing words, but I won't. You can use your own discretion when putting the accent in a story. So, onto something else!

Historic Information

Okay, the newsies did not have a bunch of stuff we have now obviously. Computers, microwaves, and televisions are kind of common sense. But there are other things.

Dr. Pepper was invented somewhere around 1899, but it didn't even make it to the World's Fair until 1904, so they couldn't have been able to just grab a bottle of that.

Radios did not become household objects until the 1920s.

Neon lights weren't around until the 1920s.

Telephones were invented around 1876, notice that Weasel uses one to call the cops at one point in the movie.

Electricity had been invented and the streets at that time in major cities like NYC (which you will notice if you pay attention) were cobblestone.

Guns had been around for quite some time by 1899, but they weren't quite to the point of making something as advanced as a tommy gun yet.

Cars started being sold by about the mid-1890s. According to The American people there were about 300 automobiles by 1895 and about 77,988 by 1905. Still, a lot of transportation at that point would probably still be mostly trolleys, carriages, bicycles, and trains. Cars were mostly steam run or electrical and driven by the rich until after 1910. Ford's Model T came out in 1908 and sold for about $950. A few years later assembly lines dropped the price to $250.

The first successful airplane flight was in 1903 (the Wright brothers, of course), but not much else was done with airplanes until after World War I.

Hydroelectric power was developed in the 1890s and made electricity cheaper and more common.

The President at the time of the movie was Woodrow Wilson. He was shot on September 6, 1901 and died on the 14th. After that Teddy Roosevelt was president until 1908, when William Howard Taft was elected.

The 19th amendment, which gave women the vote, was not passed until 1920. The suffrage movement did start in the 1860s and 70s though.

Sources:

The American People, by David Burner, Eugene D. Genovese, and Forrest McDonald. 1980, Revisionary Press, St. James, New York.

Links for Reference:

Lighting in the Victorian Home -Article about types of lighting used.
The Food Timeline -Timeline that shows when all kinds of foods were invented.
Patterns and Images from 1900-1905 -Patterns and pictures of fashions in history.
Museum of the City of New York, The Worth Collection -Pictures of some beautiful dresses from 1860 to 1918.
The 1900s House -All kinds of information about what it was like to live in a Victorian Home.
Hair Care and Styles - Just what it says
Make up in the 1900s -A few facts about make up.
Demode -Tells the difference between day and evening hair styles and things like that
Victorian Women's Fashion -Hairstyles again
Mid Victorian Hair and Hats -Hair and hat styles.
Hair Styles -Victorian hairstyles, and this actually gives directions for doing one of the hair styles!

General Information

The lodging house is run by Kloppman and it is located on Duane Street.

Jack "Cowboy" Kelly, or Francis Sullivan, is the leader of the Manhattan newsies. I think in the original script it was spelled Kelley, but I'm almost positive it's spelled Kelly in the version we know.

Spot Conlon, not Collin or Collins, is the leader of the Brooklyn newsies.

Bumlets, Crutchy, Racetrack, Mush, David and Les Jacobs, Skittery, Kid Blink, Snipeshooter, Dutchy, Snitch, Specs, Jake, Itey, Swifty, Snoddy, Pie Eater, and Tenpin are the rest of the newsies that we see.

The Delancey brothers (Oscar and Morris) work for the distribution center along with Weasel (Wiesel).

Snyder is the warden of the Refuge, which is a jail for kids.

Anyway, that's all for now but I'll try to put more information on here when I think of it.

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