At the time, the film was one of the lowest grossing live-action movies in Walt Disney Pictures history.
Although many newspaper moguls of the time hosted Christmas dinners and other holiday events for their newsboys, after the Newsboys strike, Joseph Pulitzer even went as far as to host weekend events in vaudeville houses, the period equivalent of "Kids' night at the movies".
While Jack Kelly (Christian Bale) is singing "Santa Fe", there's a part where he's riding a horse. The part when his arms are thrown out and he is bent back, he is actually riding on the shoulders of his stunt master.
Originally intended as a drama, not a musical.