Rickenbacker – Robin Johnson

Star of Pacific, Thailand, September 1981

Sean — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 22:34:03 +0000

Times Square opened in Thailand in August 1981, but here’s a Thai magazine celebrating Robin in September. This was followed by Filmstar Vol. 1 No. 6 that featured a Thai translation of an interview with Robin that had appeared in Seventeen Magazine in October 1980. Did Times Square play in Thailand for three months?

Star of Pacific has no article, but page 49 features Robin on one of a number of full-page color celebrity pin-ups. The main image was used in the first set of UK lobby cards, as the Mexican lobby card, and in the Japanese souvenir program book. The inset was also used in the Japanese program book as well as on a promotional flyer, and was also a UK lobby card, printed in Film Review Vol 31 No 1, in January 1981, and was one of the shots used for the Mexican movie poster.

My copy would appear to have been printed at the same facility that produced my copy of the Australian movie poster, in that the color registration is off, producing an annoying out-of-focus effect. Most annoyingly, this is the only page suffering from this defect. Fortunately for us all, there’s been a properly printed copy at DefeatedandGifted’s Times Square Fandom for ten years.

Would you like to know more?

Times Square UK Lobby Cards, 1st Set (post 3 of 4)
Times Square UK Lobby Cards, 1st Set (post 4 of 4)
Film Review, Vol. 31 No. 1, January 1981
Times Square Program Book, Japan, June 1981 (post 1 of 5)
Times Square Program Book, Japan, June 1981, pages 20-24 (post 4 of 5)
Times Square promotional flyer, Japan, 1981
Guerreras de Nueva York (Times Square lobby card, Mexico, 1981)
Guerreras de Nueva York (Times Square movie poster, Mexico, 1981)
Times Square movie poster, Australia, February 1981

Star of Pacific, September 1981, pp. 1 and 49 (magazine (periodical), AAT ID: 300215389)
29 x 21.5 cm. (work);
Star of Pacific Sept 1981 cover 1080px.jpg
1080 px (H) x 796 px (W), 96 dpi, 515 kb
Star of Pacific Sept 1981 poster scan7 1080px.jpg
778 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 439 kb
(images)

Times Square UK Lobby Cards, 1st Set (post 4 of 4)

Sean — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 17:59:24 +0000

The final cards from the first set of UK lobby cards. These are the last of the items I have that were released contemporaneously with Times Square’s original release, so I’m going to take a bit of a break after this before continuing with the rest of Robin’s brief acting career. It seems right anyway, doesn’t it? After all, she took an (unwilling) three year break after Times Square. I should be back well before that.

Card #13, the WJAD staff dragging Nicky away from the mic, was used in the second set of UK lobby cards, on an Italian lobby poster, and on a Yugoslavian lobby card poster.

Pammy watching Nicky sing “Damn Dog” atop the Times Square Theatre marquee was similarly used in the second UK set of cards and on a Yugoslavian lobby card poster. It didn’t make to Italy though, apparently.

The crowd of Sleez Kidz blocking 42nd Street, looking at Nicky and Pammy, as Simon and JoJo watch from the marquee of the Apollo Theater with half a Blondell visible next to them, was later used on a German lobby card, with a wider crop revealing all of Billy Mernit.

And the final card made its only other appearance, as far as I know, on the Mexican poster for Guerreras de Nueva York.

Would you like to know more?

U.K. Lobby Cards (post 3 of 3)
Times Square Lobby Poster, Italy
Tajms Skver – lobby card poster 1 of 3, Yugoslavia, 1981
Tajms Skver – lobby card poster 3 of 3, Yugoslavia, 1981
Times Square lobby cards, Germany, 1982 (post 5 of 5)
Guerreras de Nueva York (Times Square movie poster, Mexico, 1981)

[TIMES SQUARE UK lobby cards, set 1, 13-16 of 16]
UK : lobby cards : AAT ID: 300208593 : 28 x 36 cm. : 1981 (works);
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_13_1080px.jpg
837 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 499 kb
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_14_1080px.jpg
841 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 447 kb
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_15_1080px.jpg
841 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 507 kb
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_16_1080px.jpg
839 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 546 kb (images)

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

Times Square UK Lobby Cards, 1st Set (post 3 of 4)

Sean — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 17:54:28 +0000

Cards 9 through 12 from what I believe to be the first of two sets of Times Square lobby cards distributed in the UK in late 1980 or early 1981:

David Pearl watching his daughter practice dance moves at the strip club was reproduced on the first Yugoslavian lobby card poster.

The girls dropping their first television was on the second Yugoslavian lobby card poster, and had previously been published in Film Review, Vol 31 No 1, January 1981, Movie 81, No 2, February 1981, and on the back of the Japanese promo flyer, and was also in the other set of UK lobby cards, and made its final appearance as a German lobby card.

Nicky with her guitar in the hideout was later used on the sole Mexican lobby card to come to light.

And Pammy and Johnny witnessing Nicky’s meltdown (off-camera) was later on the second Yugolavian lobby card poster, a on a German lobby card, and, reversed, in the Japanese souvenir program book.

Would you like to know more?

Tajms Skver – lobby card poster 1 of 3, Yugoslavia, 1981
Tajms Skver – lobby card poster 2 of 3, Yugoslavia, 1981
Film Review, Vol. 31 No. 1, January 1981
Movie 81 No. 2, February 1981
Times Square movie poster, Japan, June 1981
U.K. Lobby Cards (post 2 of 3)
Times Square lobby cards, Germany, 1982 (post 4 of 5)
Guerreras de Nueva York (Times Square lobby card, Mexico, 1981)
Times Square Program Book, Japan, June 1981, pages 14-19 (post 3 of 5)

[TIMES SQUARE UK lobby cards, set 1, 9-12 of 16]
UK : lobby cards : AAT ID: 300208593 : 28 x 36 cm. : 1981 (works);
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_09_1080px.jpg
840 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 506 kb
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_10_1080px.jpg
839 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 446 kb
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_11_1080px.jpg
842 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 461 kb
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_12_1080px.jpg
842 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 474 kb (images)

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

Times Square UK Lobby Cards, 1st Set (post 2 of 4)

Sean — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 17:33:30 +0000

Cards 5 through 8 from what I believe to be the first of two sets of Times Square lobby cards distributed in the UK in late 1980 or early 1981:

Nicky joining in as Pammy dances and Roberto (Miguel Pinero) looks on bemusedly, was in the other set of UK lobby cards, on the third Yugoslavian lobby card poster, a German lobby card, and on the back of a Japanese promotional flyer.

Aggie Doon at the mic with Artie Weinstein obscured behind her on drums was on the second Yugoslavian lobby card poster, and printed with Artie cropped out in Joepie No. 365.

The wider shot of that scene was used on the third Yugoslavian lobby card poster, and is most notable as far as I’m concerned for being nearly, but not, identical to this color 8×10 that as far as I know was first seen by the public on this very website.

Pammy and Nicky having a giggle performing “Your Daughter Is One” was repeated in the second set of UK lobby cards, and was used on the Yugoslavian lobby poster. The “Rickenbacker” nameplate on Nicky’s guitar was removed before the take used in the film.

Would you like to know more?

U.K. Lobby Cards (post 2 of 3)
Tajms Skver – lobby poster, Yugoslavia, 1981
Tajms Skver – lobby card poster 2 of 3, Yugoslavia, 1981
Tajms Skver – lobby card poster 3 of 3, Yugoslavia, 1981
Times Square lobby cards, Germany, 1982 (post 3 of 5)
Times Square promotional flyer, Japan, 1981
Joepie, No. 365, March 15, 1981
“Damn Dog”
Times Square Press Material folder (post 4 of 5)

[TIMES SQUARE UK lobby cards, set 1, 5-8 of 16]
UK : lobby cards : AAT ID: 300208593 : 28 x 36 cm. : 1981 (works);
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_05_1080px.jpg
848 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 484 kb
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_06_1080px.jpg
841 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 394 kb
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_07_1080px.jpg
842 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 550 kb
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_08_1080px.jpg
835 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 527 kb (images)

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

Tajms Skver – lobby card poster 2 of 3, Yugoslavia, 1981

Sean — Sun, 28 Jul 2019 17:52:04 +0000

Another four “lobby cards”, printed together on one poster, having been cut together and reprinted from an earlier series of lobby cards that I didn’t have when I found these. Unlike the first one, I think we’ve seen all these images previously, but, I’ll have more to say about them later. That will make sense then, I promise. Or, I hope.

Here are the individual “cards”, from when I separated them before realizing that they were never intended to be separated.

[Tajms Skver – Times Square lobby card poster, 2 of 3]
poster, AAT ID: 300027221
Yugoslavia ; 46.6 x 34.5 cm. (work)
TAJMS_SKVER_lobby_card_sheet_Yugoslavia_1981_2_of_3_1080px.jpg
768 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 472 kb
TAJMS_SKVER_lobby_card_Yugoslavia_1981_5_of_12_1080px.jpg
769 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 477 kb
TAJMS_SKVER_lobby_card_Yugoslavia_1981_6_of_12_1080px.jpg
761 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 510 kb
TAJMS_SKVER_lobby_card_Yugoslavia_1981_7_of_12_1080px.jpg
789 px (H) x 765 px (W), 96 dpi, 467 kb
TAJMS_SKVER_lobby_card_Yugoslavia_1981_8_of_12_1080px.jpg
776 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 493 kb (images)

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

Guerreras de Nueva York (Times Square lobby card, Mexico, 1981)

Sean — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 16:11:51 +0000

Mexico’s Guerreras de Nueva York got at least one lobby card, too, and here it is, with the same photo used on two items in Karen Dean’s (DefeatedandGifted’s) collection: one of three lobby cards from somewhere that used the US logo, but had EMI as the film’s distributor; and a pull-out poster from an unidentified magazine.

Organización Apolo, S.A. presenta a
ROBIN JOHNSON
TRINI ALVARADO
TIM CURRY en

Guerreras de Nueva York

NO SOMOS INOCENTES…
NO SOMOS CULPABLES…
¡SOMOS JOVENES!

Director ALAN MOYLE

Organización Apolo, S.A. presents
ROBIN JOHNSON
TRINI ALVARADO
TIM CURRY in

Warriors of New York

WE ARE NOT INNOCENT…
WE ARE NOT GUILTY…
WE ARE YOUNG!

Director ALAN MOYLE

Guerreras de Nueva York
Lobby card (AAT ID: 300208593)
27.6 x 35.6 cm. (10.9 x 14 in.)
Mexico (work);

Times_Square_Mexican_Lobby_Card_1981_1080px.jpg
839 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 479 kb (image)

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

UK Promo Photos 4, 13, and 21, 1980-81

Sean — Fri, 25 May 2018 16:57:59 +0000

Typically, shortly before my last post was published (but weeks after I’d initially written it), five more stills from the UK series turned up. Two were duplicates of numbers 20 and 29, but the others were new to me. They follow the series’ general conventions of being black and white 8×10″s with no border, a handwritten number on a tiny square inset along the bottom edge, and a paper strip taped to the back with a typed caption.

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

Times Square publicity still 4 [2nd version]
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (work)

Times_Square_UK_publicity_still_4_auto_1080px.jpg
864 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 368 kb (image)
Times Square publicity still 13
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (work)

Times_Square_UK_publicity_still_13_manual_1080px.jpg
864 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 423 kb (image)
Times Square publicity still 21
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (work)

Times_Square_UK_publicity_still_21_auto_1080px.jpg
866 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 432 kb (image)

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

UK Promo Photo #29

Sean — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 15:10:06 +0000

“29. In a distressed condition, Nicky (ROBIN JOHNSON) tries to tell her story in the radio station. A scene from “TIMES SQUARE” distributed by COLUMBIA/EMI/WARNER Film Distributors.”

The promotional stills for Times Square in the UK generally had a few things in common. They were full-bleed, with no white border like their US counterparts. When they did have a border, it was even all the way around, where the American ones often had a large area at the bottom with the name of the film and the distributor (and in some cases, a caption). And, where the US stills had a complicated number written near their bottom edge (in the style of “TS-72-8A/14”), the UK ones had a tiny one- or two-digit number written on what looked like a small pasted-in square. Most of them also had “TIMES SQUARE” stamped on the back; this one doesn’t.

This one also doesn’t have the number anywhere on its front — I’ve checked with varying levels of darkness and contrast, and it’s not just hard to see, it isn’t there — but it does have a piece of paper pasted to its back with the number and a caption. The number is also handwritten in blue ink, and there’s a little blue scribble on the front — I don’t know whether that’s part of its original condition or if it was added later.

The UK Press Kit contained photos 1 – 11, although the eleven photos in my copy are almost certainly not all the ones originally issued with it. The highest numbered shot from this series I’ve yet found is 36, the widely distributed head shot of Robin as Nicky used on the American movie poster and the soundtrack album cover.

This particular photo was also half of a two-photo 8×10, also used for promotion in the UK. This one had a slightly longer caption, and included a credit for Robert Stigwood that misspelled his name “Stigward.” I’ve found two of these 2-on-1’s so far, and finding this item leads me to suspect, or at least hope, that the other three images used on them will also one day turn up as 8x10s.

Judging by the angle, this was taken shortly before the picture on the UK lobby card. The shooting schedule was so short that it must have been the same day as the take that appeared in the film, but the publicity shots are all from either run-throughs or alternate takes, or were staged expressly for the publicity stills.

Times Square publicity still 29
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (work)

1981 UK promo photo 29_manual_color_1080px.jpg
864 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 412 kb (image)

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

“6”

Sean — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 15:16:03 +0000

6/7/8. 15-year-old screen newcomer ROBIN JOHNSON stars as Nicky Marotta, a street-wise young runaway who, thanks to a radio DJ’s patronage, is able to fulfil her fantasies of becoming a star of the “new wave”.

This, I believe, is one of the photos missing from my copy of the UK Press Kit. The photo caption sheet in the press kit lists photos 6, 7, and 8 as pictures of Robin all with the same caption, and my copy only has a 7 and 8. This photo has a tiny “6” inset on the front, and the back has the same black “TIMES SQUARE” stamp as the Press Kit photos. Add in the fact that this came from a memorabilia dealer in England, and I’m satisfied that it was originally part of the Press Kit package.

It’s the same image as TS-69-34A/4 from the US Press Material folder, printed with higher contrast and thus losing some detail, but cropped differently so it shows a little more of the area around Robin. We can now see Trini’s arm, the bottom of the guitar, and not quite enough more of the headstock to be sure whether this was before or after the “Rickenbacker” nameplate was removed. The same image was also used by ITC to promote the film, that one being cropped even closer.

[Times Square UK Press Kit photo 6]
black and white photographic print, 25.3 x 20.2 cm. (work);
1080 px (H) x 865 px (W), 96 dpi, 334 kb (image)
1980
inscription: [front] 6
[back:] [stamped, black:] TIMES SQUARE
[handwritten:] Robin Johnson | 96 | 429

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

Allan Moyle, still at work

Sean — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 16:28:52 +0000

And here’s another shot of Allan Moyle giving the girls direction, this time for the “Your Daughter Is One” sequence. I can only imagine what Trini and Robin are thinking, based on their expressions. I wonder what Moyle was telling them.

Behind Moyle, on the left and out of focus, is the assistant director, Alan “Hoppy” Hopkins. We can’t see the headstock on Nicky’s guitar, so we can’t tell if this was taken before or after the “Rickenbacker” nameplate was removed (it doesn’t appear in the film).

And again, surprisingly for what should be one of the most interesting Times Square finds ever, that’s all I have to say about this. Here are the stars and director hard at work months before things started to go bad.

I still wonder occasionally whether the WJAD interiors were shot at the top floor of the Candler Building, where the exteriors were shot, or if they were on a set built somewhere, and if so, where. I’ve checked with the NYC Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting, and they’ve long since disposed of all the records of location permits for productions that long ago.

The back of this photo has the handwritten notation, “116-16A.” I don’t know when that was written, who wrote it, or what it might mean.

[Allan Moyle directs Trini Alvarado and Robin Johnson in the WJAD studio]
black-and-white photograph : AAT ID: 300128347 : 20.8 x 25.4 cm : 1979 (work);
116-16A auto_1080px.jpg
882 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 330 kb (image)

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+