The last of the Yugoslavian lobby card posters features four images we’ve seen before: Johnny at the mic, Roberto watching Nicky watching Pammy dance, Pammy watching Nicky sing, and Aggie Doone’s debut, which hasn’t appeared on this site, but if you follow the links you’ve seen it at Karen Dean’s (DefeatedandGifted’s) page.

And that is the solution to the mystery of where exactly the images on the Yugoslavian posters came from, as they’ve been obviously cut and pasted together with the ZF logo pasted into them. We’ll see it in more detail in the next few posts. Meanwhile, here are the individual images from the poster, separated as if they were actual lobby cards, which they were not.

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Times Square lobby cards, Germany, 1982 (post 2 of 5)
U.K. Lobby Cards (post 2 of 3)
U.K. Lobby Cards (post 3 of 3)
 

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.

Here are the first three:

 

 

 

They’re not actually numbered, so I’ve put them in an order that makes sense to me.

These three distinguish themselves by all being a rarity in Times Square publicity: a photo of the actor, on set and in costume, looking directly into the camera. The first is familiar, the photo by Yoram Kahana that was taken at the same time as the shot which became the image on the soundtrack album cover and the North American movie poster, and which was at some point distributed as a slide (one of which is owned by DefeatedandGifted), and printed in Movie 81 No 2, as an inset on the Japanese movie poster, and in Filmstar Vol. 1 No. 6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shot of Trini made its only previous appearance, as far as I know, on a British lobby card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But this shot of Tim Curry as Johnny, lounging in the WJAD control room, only ever appeared on this card.

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Nicky Marotta, 1980
Times Square Press Material folder (post 1 of 5)
The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack “TIMES SQUARE”
Movie 81 No. 2, February 1981
Times Square movie poster, Japan, June 1981
Filmstar, Vol. 1 No. 6, Thailand, October 1981
U.K. Lobby Cards (post 1 of 3)

Times Square opened in West Germany on May 21, 1982. The poster reproduced the painting by Cummins that had graced the other European posters, although with a different pair of photos than the British, Spanish, and Yugoslavian posters, and the addition of a paragraph of ad copy that seems to take its cue from the Belgian poster.

ROBERT STIGWOOD Presents “TIME SQUARE”
Starring TIM CURRY • TRINI ALVARADO • ROBIN
JOHNSON • PETER COFFIELD • HERBERT
BERGHOF • DAVID MARGULIES • ANNA MARIA
HORSFORD

Executive Producers KEVIN McCORMICK
JOHN NICOLELLA • Directed by ALAN MOYLE
Produced by ROBERT STIGWOOD and JACOB
BRACKMAN • Screenplay by JACOB BRACKMAN
Story by ALAN MOYLE and LEANNE UNGER
Associate Producer BILL OAKES
An EMI-ITC Production

Soundtrack erschienen auf dem RSO-Label bei der
DEUTSCHEN GRAMMOPHON GmbH

mit Superstar TIM CURRY
(“ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW”)

mit TRINI ALVARADO
und ROBIN JOHNSON

Nach “SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER”, ”GREASE”, “JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR” und “TOMMY”
präsentiert ROBERT STIGWOOD jetzt den frechsten und fetzigsten Film über die Teenies
auf der wildesten Meile von New York!

TIMES SQUARE
…ihr könnt uns alle ’mal!!

schröder-filmverleih

DOLBY STEREO FSK FREIGEGEBEN

 

Soundtrack from RSO appears on DEUTSCHEN GRAMMOPHON GmbH

with superstar TIM CURRY
(“ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW”)

with TRINI ALVARADO
and ROBIN JOHNSON

After “SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER”, “GREASE”, “JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR” and “TOMMY”
ROBERT STIGWOOD now presents the sassiest and craziest movie about teens
on the wildest mile of New York!

TIMES SQUARE
… you can all [kiss our asses]!

schröder-film distributors

DOLBY STEREO FSK RELEASED

The other European posters:

Times Square U.K. Movie Poster
Times Square Movie Poster, Belgium
Locandina Times Square (Movie Poster, Italy)
Tajms Skver – Times Square Movie Poster, Yugoslavia, 1981
“Toda la Basca!” … a Times Square – Times Square movie poster, Spain

May 1982, and Times Square was about to have its final premiere, in West Germany. Why did it take this long, over a year and a half after its initial premiere, and a year after the rest of Europe had seen it? I have no idea. But someone still had hope for the movie, as shown by the two-page spread in Bravo, featuring the same sort of excited plot synopsis published in Filmstar No. 3, Sonido No. 56 and Film Review Vol. 31 No. 2.

The big picture across the two pages was last seen in the February 1981 Movie 81 and on the Japanese movie poster. The picture on the top left of page 34 was the top middle image on the Mexican movie poster. The center photo on page 34, of Mr. Pearl attacking Johnny, is I think making its first appearance here. We last saw the bottom photo in the Japanese souvenir program book and flyer, and on a British lobby card. On page 35, the shot of Johnny at the mic was also a British lobby card, and appeared in Movie 81. And the bottom photo was also a British lobby card, last seen in Joepie No. 365 in March 1981, and first seen in the “Robert Stigwood Presents Times Square” folder from sometime in 1980 well before the movie’s release.

Here’s the text by Peter Rauscher in German, followed by my attempt at a translation.

Jetzt im Kino: TIMES SQUARE
IHR KONNT UNS ALLE MAL

Ein irrer Film mit heißer
Musik über die ausgeflipptesten
Teenager von New York

Die 16jährige Nicky Marotta (Robin Johnson) und die 13jährige Pamela Pearl (Trini Alvarado) liegen zusammen im Zimmer eines New Yorker Krankenhauses. Beide sollen auf ihren Geisteszustand untersucht werden. Nicky, weil sie eine notorische Streunerin ist; Pamela, weil ihr Vater, ein ehrgeiziger Politiker, mit ihr nicht mehr klarkommt.

Eines Tages überredet Nicky Pamela zur Flucht. Im Nachthemd entwischen sie aus dem Krankenhaus, schnappen sich einen Krankenwagen und brausen los. In einem alten Schuppen am Times Square, einem der berühmtesten und berüchtigtsten Plätze New Yorks, finden sie Unterschlupf.

So beginnt der Film „Times Square“ (in Deutschland hat er noch den Untertitel „Ihr könnt uns alle mal“). Die beiden Mädchen finden ihr „freies“ Leben herrlich. Sie tragen die ausgefallensten Klamotten, hören pausenlos heiße Musik und jobben abends in einer Kneipe. Nicky, die gut Gitarre spielt, singt mit einer Band,| Pamela arbeitet als Go-go-Girl.

Natürlich hat Pamelas Vater alle Hebel in Bewegung gesetzt, um seine Tochter zu finden. In den Fall hat sich auch der beliebte Discjockey Johnny LaGuardian (Tim Curry, der Dr. Frank N. Furter aus der „Rocky Horror Picture Show“) eingeschaltet. Er ist so eine Art Thomas Gottschalk. Ihm vertrauen die Teens, wenn er täglich am Mikrofon zu ihnen spricht.

Johnny findet die beiden und verspricht, ihnen zu helfen. So dürfen die Mädchen ein von Nicky komponiertes Lied über den Sender singen. Die jugendlichen Hörer sind begeistert. Johnny erzählt ihnen die Geschichte der beiden Ausreißerinnen.

Nicky und Pamela werden auf ihre Art zu „Heldinnen“. Einer der Höhepunkte des Films ist die Aufforderung von Nicky und Pamela, dem Götzen „Fernsehen“ abzuschwören. Und Hunderte machen mit: Zum Entsetzen der Eltern werfen die Teenager die Fernseh-Apparate einfach auf die Straße.

Doch die beiden Mädchen sehen bald ein, daß ihr Leben so nicht mehr weiterlaufen kann. Und wieder erweist sich der Discjockey Johnny als Retter. Er organisiert für Nicky ein Konzert auf dem Dach eines Kinos.

Aus allen Richtungen New Yorks strömen die Kids in gleicher Aufmachung wie Nicky und Pamela zum Times Square. Das Konzert, obwohl von der Polizei nicht genehmigt, wird ein Riesenerfolg. Nicky ist ihrem Traum, ein Rock- Star zu werden, nähergekommen.

Pamela kehrt zu ihrem Vater, der eingesehen hat, daß auch er viele Fehler gemacht hat, zurück.

Die beiden Hauptdarstellerinnen sind Neulinge. Nicky (Robin Johnson) wurde von der Schule weg engagiert, Pamela (Trini Alvarado) drehte bereits einen Film. Toll natürlich Tim Curry. Die Musik stammt unter anderem von Suzi Quatro, Pretenders, Roxy Music, Gary Numan, XTC, Ramones und Robin Gibb von den Bee Gees.

Text: Peter Raschner

Auf dem Dach eines Kinos gibt Nicky ihr erstes, umjubeltes Rock-Konzert

Wutenbrannt stürzt sich Pamelas Vater auf Disc-jockey Johnny

Die 13jährige Pamela Pearl jobbt als Go-go-Girl, nachdem sie zu Hause ausgerissen ist

Nicky (rechts) und Pamela träumen von einer Rock-Karriere — Disc-Jockey Johnny (rechts) hilft ihnen dabei

Nicky und Pamela auf dem Times Square. Sie sind in dieser Gegend bekannt wie bunte Hunde

In theaters now: TIMES SQUARE
YOU CAN ALL (KISS OUR ASSES)

A crazy film with hot
music about the freaky
teenagers of New York

16-year-old Nicky Marotta (Robin Johnson) and 13-year-old Pamela Pearl (Trini Alvarado) lie together in the room of a New York hospital. Both to have their mental health examined. Nicky because she is a notorious stray; Pamela because her father, an ambitious politician, can’t handle her any more.

One day Nicky persuades Pamela to escape. In their nightgowns they escape from the hospital, steal themselves an ambulance and zoom off. In an old shack in Times Square, one of the most famous and most notorious places in New York, they find shelter.

So begins the film “Times Square” (in Germany it also has the subtitle “You can all […] our […]”). Both girls find their “free” life wonderful. They wear outrageous clothes, listen to hot music nonstop and in the evening work in a bar. Nicky, who plays guitar well, sings with a band; Pamela works as a go-go girl.

Naturally Pamela’s father has pulled out all the stops to find his daughter. On this case the popular disc jockey Johnny LaGuardian (Tim Curry, Dr. Frank N. Furter from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”) is also involved. He is a Thomas Gottschalk type. The teens trust him when he speaks daily through the microphone to them.

Johnny finds them both and promises to help them. So the girls sing a song composed by Nicky over the radio. The young listeners are inspired. Johnny tells them the story of the runaways.

Nicky and Pamela become in their own way “heroines.” One of the highlights of the film is the call of Nicky and Pamela to renounce the idol “television.” And hundreds join in: to the horror of their parents the teenagers simply throw their television sets to the street. But both girls soon see that their life cannot continue this way. And again Johnny the disc jockey comes to the rescue. He organizes a concert on the roof of a cinema for Nicky.

The Kids stream from all areas of New York to Times Square in outfits identical to Nicky and Pamela. The concert, although not authorized by the police, becomes a huge success. Nicky has come closer to her dream to become a rock star.

Pamela returns to her father who has realized that he also has made many mistakes.

Both leading actresses are newcomers. Nicky (Robin Johnson) was hired away from her school, Pamela (Trini Alvarado) previously made a film. Of course Tim Curry is terrific. The music is by, among others, Suzi Quatro, Pretenders, Roxy Music, Gary Numan, XTC, Ramones and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees.

Text: Peter Raschner

On the roof of a cinema Nicky gives her first rock concert performance

Pamela’s father falls furiously on disc jockey Johnny

13-year-old Pamela Pearl works as a go-go girl, after she has run away from home

Nicky (right) and Pamela dream of a rock career – disc jockey Johnny helps (right) them at it

Nicky and Pamela in Times Square. They are known in this neighborhood as colorful dogs

I think that last caption might be better translated as “they are well known to the locals,” but I had a hard enough time rendering the German subtitle into colloquial and printable English.  

Would you like to know more?

Movie 81 No. 2, February 1981
Times Square movie poster, Japan, June 1981
Guerreras de Nueva York (Times Square movie poster, Mexico, 1981)
Times Square Program Book, Japan, June 1981, pages 14-19 (post 3 of 5)
U.K. Lobby Cards (post 2 of 3)
U.K. Lobby Cards (post 1 of 3)
Joepie, No. 365, March 15, 1981
Times Square Press Folder