This is the center spread of the glossy UK pressbook for Times Square. Of the seven images circling the European logo, four are cropped from photos used on UK lobby cards (clockwise from top left, that would be One, Two, Five, and Seven). Of the three remaining: Four is a more complete version of a shot that would later be printed in Joepie No. 365, March 15, 1981; and Six may be making its first appearance here. It looks like it was taken a fraction of a second after UK black-and-white publicity still #34. That shot looks to me like she’s jumping up, and this looks like she’s coming down. I’m fairly certain this color shot was used elsewhere later on, but as I’ve complained abut other items recently… I can’t seem to find it.
 

That leaves image Three, which I thought was the gorgeously lit shot from the center of the Japanese souvenir program book but with the microphone cropped out, until a second look made it obvious that it’s from a completely different angle. I think it may be making its only appearance here, unless, as above, I’ve just mislaid it. It does seem to be from the same vantage point as US publicity still TS-109-16/12 from the AFD Press Material folder.

If we’re keeping score of appearances, in the collage above the film’s stars rank: Robin Johnson 6, Trini Alvarado 3, Tim Curry 1.

Pages referred to but not linked directly above:

U.K. Lobby Cards (post 1 of 3)
U.K. Lobby Cards (post 2 of 3)
U.K. Lobby Cards (post 3 of 3)
Times Square Program Book, Japan, June 1981, pages 12-13 (post 5 of 5)
“34”

The second half of the US pressbook was entirely made up of variations of the movie poster for different sized newspaper ads. The UK version relegates the available promotional materials to the last three pages, and devotes pages 8, 9, and 10 to reprinting biographical articles from the US Press Material folder. It’s strange how some of this material was rewritten for the UK press kit, but those versions weren’t used for the UK pressbook. Perhaps the pressbook was prepared well in advance of the press kit. Although, the pressbook uses the finished art for the UK movie poster. So, it’s a mystery.

Another tantalizing mystery is exactly what may have been included in the sets of 50 black and white stills, 8 8×10″ color stills, and 16 11×14″ color stills. Is 50 the total number of shots from the series I’ve found about 16 of so far? There were 8 8×10″ color lobby cards… I haven’t come across any 11×14″ stills. And what transparencies were available? Are they the slides that turn up so rarely? And what were the “blow-ups, any size available”?

On page 10, the photo of Robin is TS-57-26/1, UK number 36, the photo by Yoram Kahana used for the North American movie poster and the soundtrack album cover. The photo of Tim Curry comes from the shooting of the twenty second scene where Johnny is informed that “the Zombie Girl is the daughter of the boy wonder at the mayor’s office, and she’s missing,” and may be making its only appearance here. The unusually sultry photo of Trini Alvarado is making its first appearance here, as far as I know, but was later printed in the February 1981 Film Review.

You can read the text of “‘Times Square’ Star Robin Johnson Is A Natural In Screen Bow” here. If anyone is desperate to read the read of the articles, let me know and I’ll post the text.

I’d given up all hope of ever finding one of these when, bam, two of them turn up. It’s the EMI version of the pressbook issued in the USA by AFD. It’s shorter in page count, but larger in size, and printed in color on heavier, glossier paper.

It doesn’t include all the articles suggesting inventive ways to promote the movie at your theater, but does include the articles describing the cast and filmmakers. In fact, it includes more about the producers than the AFD pressbook did (which was nothing at all). Most of the text is directly from the US press kit.

The UK press kit didn’t include a synopsis of the movie, but there was a sheet distributed with the credits and a synopsis that was different from the one in the US press kit and pressbook. That sheet is essentially reproduced on pages 2 and 3 here, with translations of the synopsis into French and Spanish. This synopsis includes the scene of Nicky attacking “roadies” from the disco with her switchblade, which appeared in the May 1979 draft of the screenplay, but was never filmed as the scene and Nicky’s character had changed in the meantime.

On pages 4 and 5, the capsule bios of Robin, Trini, Tim Curry, Allan Moyle, Jacob Brackman, John Nicollela, and Bill Oakes, and the half-page on Robert Stigwood, all come word-for-word from the US press kit. The equivalent bios in the UK press kit are worded differently. None of the text so far, other than the film and music credits, appeared in the US pressbook.

The shot of Tim Curry on page 4 is cropped from TS-66-28/8 which was distributed in the US press kit and appeared on page 4 of the US pressbook. The shot of Robin as Nicky is not from the film, but was taken at the time of shooting, and as far as I know never appeared anywhere else. The shot of Trini as Pammy dancing in the Cleo Club looks damned familiar, but I only seem to have this unpublished shot that was taken seconds before or after. There are at least two other shots from this moment but neither are this one. I may have finally accumulated so much Times Square stuff that I just can’t keep track of it all despite my best efforts.

If there’s any huge outcry to read the text, I’ll edit this post to add it.

This first one I’d been passing up for maybe nearly a year, since Robin isn’t in it and it’s essentially a duplicate of TS-117-13/15, although less cropped, but I picked it up along with these others when I realized it was might be part of this series.

I have some doubts over whether it truly belongs in this series, though, first because the caption sheet taped to the back seems to belong to a different photo, and doesn’t have the photo number on it:

Robin Johnson is a runaway teenage product of the streets who dreams of becoming a rock music star and lets nothing get in her way to make it to the top in “TIMES SQUARE”.
“TIMES SQUARE” a contemporary drama with music starring Tim Curry, Robin Johnson and Trini Alverado, is a Robert Stigwood Presentation, produced by Stigwood and Jacob Brackman and directed by Alan Moyle from Brackman’s screenplay, based on the story by Moyle and Leanne Unger, with Kevin McCormick and John Nicollela the executive producers and Bill Oakes the associate producer. “TIMES SQUARE” is distributed by Columbia-EMI-Warner.

Robin’s not in the photo, Trini’s name is spelled wrong, and the film distributors’ names are separated by dashes instead of slashes. In fact, the caption is identical to the one on the caption sheet attached to this photo of Robin from the US Press Material folder, except for the typos and the addition of the UK film distributors. The strangest thing is, though, I already have a photo #4 from this series, and it’s of Tim Curry. Both these photos are unmistakably labeled “4”. I’m keeping them both until I find out if one or the other doesn’t belong. I suspect this is the one that should be categorized somewhere else.

The other two are definitely part of this series:

#13 appeared in Photoplay Vol 32 No 1, January 1981, and in the Japanese souvenir program book. A copy of this photo is probably the source of those images.

#29 looks to have been taken within seconds of a shot that appeared cropped in the center of Japanese program book and on a lobby card I don’t have (but Karen Dean [DefeatedandGifted] does), and this color shot. Like that last one, this photo as far as I know was never published and may be making its first public appearance here. It’s probably safe to say that any shot of the performance of “Damn Dog” in the Cleo Club, like the 35mm slide, was taken at the same run-through as this one. None of these shots are of the performance given for the take in the film, even allowing for a different placement of the still and movie cameras.

I promised in the last post, which went up twelve days before this one but was written two months before, that I’d post a collection of all the photos I have from this series once I had fifteen of them, and I now have sixteen, counting both number 4s. So, that will be the next post.

Previous posts referenced above:

Times Square Press Material folder (post 3 of 5)
Times Square Press Material folder (post 4 of 5)
Times Square UK Press Kit (post 2 of 4)
Photoplay Vol 32 No 1, January 1981
Times Square Program Book, Japan, June 1981 (post 1 of 5)
Times Square Program Book, Japan, June 1981, pages 12-13 (post 5 of 5)
“Damn Dog”
Aggie Doon