Based on her shirt and wig, my best guess is this is from a scene that didn’t make it into the film, after Nicky’s been arrested but before she’s sent to the hospital, where she’s being observed from behind a one-way mirror. There’s another image from this scene that was published in the Australian Women’s Weekly, Vol. 48 No. 45, April 15, 1981, that shows the mirror. It comes from a slide named 5-19A, which I have but haven’t gotten around to posting yet. (Send enough donations through the Ko-Fi link below to free up my time and you’ll see it right away!) The scene appeared in the May 1979 draft of the script starting on page 10, featuring an observation window and not a mirror, but that could easily have been a change made before shooting. Robin had also described improvising a scene in front of a one-way mirror as being part of her audition, in an interview in Seventeen magazine, that used this very photograph.

Among the various things written on the back of this print is “Oct P8-98.” While I don’t have the issue handy to check page 8 (if I locate it in my collection I’ll edit this post), Robin’s interview ran in the October 1980 issue of Seventeen, on page 98. I didn’t realize it when I bought it, but I think this print is the actual object that was used in 1980 by Seventeen magazine in laying out the page.

Today marks 46 years since Times Square opened in general release in the USA. I saw it either that evening, Friday, October 17, 1980, or maybe Saturday the 18th, and then once again the next week, and then it closed and went away, apparently forever… but we’re both still here…

Yes, there already is a cassette copy of the soundtrack represented here, but it’s the Canadian edition. Somehow I’ve managed to neglect to upload any of the other cassettes I’ve glommed onto, so here is a first step to rectifying that.

I also don’t know why it was that the US edition was the second one I found. There seem to be, or at least for a good long while there seemed to be, a lot of Canadian cassettes around compared to US ones.

The US edition, though, is far more elaborate than the Canadian one, which looks in comparison like a budget release. While it doesn’t reproduce any of the LP’s inside gatefold artwork or the back cover, it does have all the liner notes — so much text that it required both sides of the insert.

This specific copy sure seems to have been well-used. It makes me sad nowadays to contemplate the reasons why an item like this that obviously meant something to its owner ended up in the wild to find its way to me as a curio.

As best as I can tell, Tele Pop cards were a single series of pop culture trading cards featuring stars of movies, television and music, issued in Spain by Ediciones Este in 1980. I don’t know in what sort of package the cards were sold individually, but I’m pretty sure complete sets were sold in binders. There were 240 cards in the series, and card #189 was Robin Johnson, star of the hit film Times Square.

The curious thing about this is the train of throught that led to Robin’s inclusion in the set. I don’t know when in 1980 the cards were published, but Times Square came out in the US in October, and as far as I know it opened in Spain in April 1981. Someone at Ediciones Este had to be thinking quite a ways ahead when they were designing the cards to put Robin on one and describe Times Square as a hit, when it must have still been in the editing room at the time. Perhaps part of the process was to contact studios and find films that were currently in production, so the cards would come out more or less at the same time as then-current movies. However it came about, it’s still more evidence that everyone involved were convinced that Times Square was going to be massive, up until the moment it was actually released.

As always, I welcome the input of anyone who knows more than I do about any of this.

In celebration of its inclusion in the recently published 女の子が死にたくなる前に見ておくべきサバイバルのためのガールズ洋画100選 (100 Western Movies for Survival That Every Girl Should Watch Before Wanting to Die – as always, I welcome a better translation if you have one) by Kitamura Sae, a 2K projection of the 4K restoration of Times Square played at Stranger in Kikugawa from July 11, and Cinem@rt Shinjuku in Tokyo ending August 7, and those are just the theaters I know about thanks to the links provided by Alissa in her July comment. This re-release was accompanied by a new chirashi! I actually found this item before I knew about the 2025 screenings and thought it was a third one from 1981… but eventually I noticed the prominent “4K” on it, and I realized something was up…

The 1981 versions are here and here.

This post was made half-possible through the generosity of you Ko-Fi supporters. Thank you so much! Go Team RJ!!

That show was broadcast in November 1980 as I recall, well before my family could afford a VCR. I recorded her appearance on audiocassette — I vividly recall her making a joke about the stage manager’s headphone-mic looking like night braces, and trying to make a joke she must have had prepared ahead of time about her flight to LA… I don’t recall the joke but I remember Merv stepped on her setup which was the word “Turbulence!” so she had to say it twice, in exactly the same way. Unfortunately, in the many decades since, I’ve mislaid that tape — that’s why it’s not already posted here.

This picture now gives us a better date for the color photo by David Loar, which was obviously taken at the same place and time.

Robin Johnson, signing autographs, late 1980

Did you know that before Times Square opened on October 17, 1980, before its big premiere on October 14, there were multiple sneak previews on October 3? Neither did I, until this turned up.

I wonder if the film the preview audiences saw was edited at all differently from the wide release…

This is an 8 x 10 inch black and white negative transparency, containing an approximately 9 1/2 x 6 1/4 inch image of the poster side of the two-sided promotional foldout designed by Seiniger & Associates, with the addition of the words “suitable for mature audiences.” That’s a description and as much as I can swear to being actual fact. Based on that, I’ll say that since this sort of transparency was used to print ads in newspapers and magazines, this was used to print an ad promoting Times Square in a publication aimed at movie theater owners and bookers. I don’t know of any such publication, but it’s hard to believe that such a thing did not exist, and may yet exist. So there may still be out there a catalog of all the upcoming movie releases for 1980 that you may want to run at your theater, containing an extra full page ad for Times Square before the poster design was finalized. Or maybe not, since until such a thing turns up there’s no evidence this ad actually ran anywhere.

I’m starting to think that there are two separate sets of UK black-and-white publicity stills, one with borders, one without. You know, just to make things more confusing. Thankfully, so far at least there isn’t another one labeled “24” but not full-bleed.

On the Times Square commentary track recorded around 1999-2000, Robin says:

“Peter had so much trouble with this… It was hard for him to be rough and violent with me, actually. I remember him having some trouble with that… He’s such a doll… I didn’t want to do that fake, camera-angle stuff so I let him really smack me around. [laughs] It’s my S&M streak. ‘Smack me!'”

Although it’s hard to tell if he’s really hitting her in the film – for instance she’s definitely turning her head several frames before his hand starts traveling – as far as I can tell this still is unique in that it’s actually from the shot used in the film, just from a different, closer angle. I’d assume from that that there was no run-through or rehearsal, or even a second take, in order to reduce the wear and tear on both actors.

It’s impossible to tell from the film angle, but this photo definitely makes it look like a solid face-smashing slap that took something out of both performers. It seems something of a shame that it was never used for anything, as far as I know, and perhaps hasn’t been seen by anybody until now.

Way back in October 2014, I posted a photo of Robin and Trini getting ready to shoot a scene that was later cut from the film, and complained that although the vast majority of Times Square publicity stills don’t actually come from shots of takes used in the film, there was a dearth of genuine behind-the-scenes images.

Well, that dearth is slightly less dearthy now. Here’s Allan Moyle directing the girls on 42nd Street. Judging from the neon sign at the left, it’s just as they duck into and get kicked out of the adult novelties shop. That shot was made from the street, not the sidewalk, so the movie camera is likely directly to our right.

Handwritten on the back is “45/35”. I have no idea what that might mean, or when it was written.

And that’s about all I have to say about this, despite the fact that it’s one of the things I’ve been most excited to find. Except maybe to note that Moyle seems to be wearing the same sweater we saw half of in the other photo. I’m sure, though, that quite a few comments will be inspired by the expressions on Robin and Trini’s faces.

Okay, forget what I said last time about posting the pictures in the order they occur in the film. There are too many without Robin in them to do it in a way that I find aesthetically pleasing without posting them all at once, and I don’t feel like doing that. Besides, the photo I posted last time was #4 in that order, so I’m already not doing it.

So, here are three photos from the AFD Times Square Press Material folder.

 
This is the photo of Trini that was used, with the photo of Robin from last time, to make the collage that was the American movie poster and the soundtrack album cover. Even now, I find it a bit disconcerting to realize that that wasn’t really a picture of the two of them together, but was assembled from these two separate photos. Of course nearly all movie posters are put together that way, but, still…

This photo of Tim Curry was probably taken at the same time as the photo published in The Aquarian and Prevue. It’s similar to the image of Tim later used in the poster design, but not identical: he’s looking right at us there, as we’ll see, um, soon enough. In my opinion, though, that picture isn’t as good a likeness as the poster versions of Robin and Trini, so it’s possible the artist used this as the basis for an illustration that changed the pose, rather than repainting the photo directly. I haven’t yet found a photo that matches up to Button Johnny.

 

 

 

And this shot from the “‘NICKY!!’ ‘PAMMY!!!'” scene, which I assume you’ll trust me by now, doesn’t match up to any frame in the film. It’s not shot from quite that angle, and while she’s speaking Robin bends down to Trini’s eye level. As usual, the photo was taken at the time of the filming, but isn’t a photo of what ended up in the film.

All the photo caption sheets also have the title TIMES SQUARE after the ID number, and end with the lines “Publicity Department, AFD, 12711 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA. 91604 / AFD / ©1980 Associated / Film Distribution”. Leaving that in makes the captions here even more unwieldy than they already are. So, it’s here, if you need it.

 
Most of the captions also contain the phrase “revolt” or “rebel against authority,” but I’m leaving those in.

 

Also, here is the “General Information” sheet that leads off the photo pack.

For what it’s worth, it reads:

TIMES SQUARE

PHOTO CAPTIONS

GENERAL INFORMATION

“Times Square,” a contemporary drama with music, stars the bright new talents of Tim Curry, British performer best known for “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Trini Alvarado, who scored a remarkable screen bow in Robert Altman’s “Rich Kids,” and introduces Robin Johnson, dynamic 16-year-old Brooklyn actress and singer in her film debut.

“Times Square,” filmed at diverse New York locations, including Times Square’s infamous “Deuce,” is highlighted by 20 original songs, exemplifying some of the best contemporary rock music and performed by leading recording artists, as well as the feminine co-stars Robin Johnson and Trini Alvarado.

“Times Square” depicts the misadventures of two rebellious teenage girls, one from an affluent environment, the other a product of the streets. Together, they flee from their room in a neurological hospital, commandeer an ambulance and begin a series of wild and bizarre escapades, with their behavior reported by an all-night disc jockey who urges them on as their antics turn them into minor media celebrities. Their flight from authority of any kind is climaxed in a nerve-tingling dramatic conclusion atop the marquee of a Times Square theater, as hundreds of their teenage followers below cheer in tribute.

“Times Square,” a Robert Stigwood Presentation, was produced by Stigwood and Jacob Brackman and was directed by Alan Moyle from Brackman’s screenplay, based on a story by Moyle and Leanne Unger. Kevin McCormick and John Nicollela are the executive producers, and Bill Oakes is associate producer. The EMI Films motion picture is released in the U.S. and Canada by AFD (Associated Film Distribution).

More to come. If you’re really ansty, DefeatedandGifted has already long since posted all of these pictures, including a set that was apparently released in 1981 that I don’t have, so you might as well just go over there anyway. Go on. You were just visiting anyway! GET OUTTA HERE!!! –Sorry about that. See you in week or so.

 

 

TS-11-24/5
1080 px (H) x 857 px (W), 96 dpi, 270 kb (image)
TS-66-28/8
1080 px (H) x 860 px (W), 96 dpi, 254 kb (image)
TS-109-16/12
1080 px (W) x 857 px (H), 96 dpi, 197 kb (image)
black and white photographic prints, 8 in (H) x 10 in (W) (works);
1980
inscriptions: [on photos] TS-11-24/5; TS-66-28/8; TS-109-16/12;
(on borders) TIMES SQUARE
AFD
©1980 Associated
Film Distribution

 

TIMES SQUARE PHOTO CAPTIONS GENERAL INFORMATION
8 in (W) x 10 in (H) (work);
1080 px (H) x 836 px (W), 96 dpi, 258 kb (image)

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+