I don't understand who the woman singing about her son Patrick is?
I mean she's not mentioned again and none of their names are Patrick. I've watched the movie like nine times in the last two days and that's the only thing I don't understand about the movie.
Could someone please tell me who they think she is?
If memory serves, she's there to show how rough life was during those days.
Back then, it was common for kids to run away to escape from problems at home (too many mouths and not enough food, physical abuse, alcohol issues, the issues were many and varied) and start making a living for themselves. It was more-or-less considered a better option than sitting around at home waiting to die. Especially because the kids often sent some of the money they'd earned back home to their families.
~Sing as though no one is listening~
I always assumed that there was a subplot that got cut from the movie.
Having that woman wandering around singing about "Patrick" makes ZERO sense.
No it's not a subplot. IIRC the newsies are getting bread from the church during that verse. The woman singing is likely a mother, but she represents all the nuns/orphanages who believe young kids shouldn't be living out on the streets selling papers.
The newsies, meanwhile, don't give a damn, they just need some bread and "half a cup, something to wake me up" before heading off to work. Just listen to her words:
Patrick?
Darling?
Since you left me I am undone.
Mother loves you, god save my son.
I love this verse, both her lines and the Newsies. "I gotta find an angle," is perhaps the best line of the movie.
Not everything has to have a story behind it. In the beginning Race talks about orphans and runaways. Time was hard back then and still us. Like the outsiders cherry says ITS ROUGH ALL OVER.
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