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The Newsy and the Tramp

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The Newsy and the Tramp is a 1911 silent short film featuring child star Marie Eline.[1] It was produced by the Thanhouser company motion picture studio, and released on December 5, 1911.[2] Although Marie Eline was a girl, she played the role of the newsboy Ragsy, and dressed the part.[3] According to a contemporary review,[4]

The Newsy and the Tramp
A black and white film still. A couple embracing. A girl in the background at a blackboard, having written the words KISS HER in chalk.
Featuring child star Marie Eline
Production
companies
Thanhouser Films, New Rochelle, New York
Release date
  • December 5, 1911 (1911-12-05)
CountryUnited States

The small newsboy comes as a reforming force into the tramp's life. After protecting him from the designs of other tramps, the tramp obtains a position at a blacksmith's, and sends the boy to school. The boy becomes the teacher's champion. He introduces her to the reformed tramp, who becomes her pupil. In the last scene - a clever and humorous concert - the boy starts a love affair with a sly 'kiss her' on the blackboard when her back is turned. Then the man apparently begins to wake up, and the rest is left to the imagination of the spectator, which shows rare art and discretion for a present day picture.

— The New York Dramatic Mirror, December 13, 1911

Possible sources and influences

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The title may have inspired other uses of a word ending in "y" plus "and the Tramp" such as the H. G. Wells 1915 comic novel Bealby, with a chapter titled "Bealby and the Tramp,"[5] and the more famous Lady and the Tramp. It was preceded by a vaudeville act, "The Girl and the Tramp," although the relationship between the two is unclear. "The Girl and the Tramp" also appears in some ephemera of the 1890s.[6][7] Its name is similar to another 1911 silent film, The Child and the Tramp.

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AFI Catalog.

IMDb.

Thanhouser biographies.

 
Another 1911 film with a similar title, The Child and the Tramp.

References

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  1. ^ "The Newsy and the Tramp". Photoplay. 2 (1): 12–13. February 2, 1912 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ Saunders, Alfred H. (ed.). "The Newsy and the Tramp". The Moving Picture News. p. 43.
  3. ^ Horak, Laura (2016). Girls Will Be Boys: Cross-Dressed Women, Lesbians, and American Cinema, 1908-1934. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-8135-7483-7.
  4. ^ "The Newsy and the Tramp". The New York Dramatic Mirror. December 13, 1911.
  5. ^ Wells, H. G. (1915). "Bealby and the Tramp". Bealby: A Holiday. London, UK: Methuen. pp. 218–259.
  6. ^ "The Girl and the Tramp". Bicycling World Bulletin. XXIV (1). Boston: League of American Wheelmen: 13. October 30, 1891 – via Google books.
  7. ^ "The Girl and the Tramp". Philip Williams Posters, The Poster Museum.
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