U.K. Publicity Still #… uh…

Posted on 29th March 2023 in "Times Square"
1. Nicky Marotta (ROBIN JOHNSON) is arrested. A scene from "TIMES SQUARE" distributed by COLUMBIA/EMI/WARNER Film Distributors. 1. Nicky Marotta (ROBIN JOHNSON) is arrested. A scene from "TIMES SQUARE" distributed by COLUMBIA/EMI/WARNER Film Distributors. (Number is given as "1" in caption on reverse; there is already a "1" in the series; the number also appears possibly to be a "7" which also is already present in the series.)

1. Nicky Marotta (ROBIN JOHNSON) is arrested.
A scene from “TIMES SQUARE” distributed by COLUMBIA/EMI/WARNER Film Distributors.

The black and white 8 x 10 stills released in England tend to have a lot of things in common, but the attributes are not absolute… Most of them, but not all, are full-bleed, with no borders. Many of them, but not all, have a caption pasted to their backs. Most, but not all, have a tiny number inset near the bottom. In at least one case, two nearly-identical photos with the same number are cropped slightly differently, and the number inset is visibly different and in a different spot, implying that they came from two different print runs.

For this shot of Nicky being hassled by the man, the caption pasted to the back clearly numbers it as 1.
1. Nicky Marotta (ROBIN JOHNSON) is arrested. A scene from "TIMES SQUARE" distributed by COLUMBIA/EMI/WARNER Film Distributors. Reverse of a black and white 8x10 publicity shot from TIMES SQUARE (1980), distributed in the U.K., with pasted slip of paper bearing the photo caption. (Number is given as "1" in caption on reverse; there is already a "1" in the series; the number also appears possibly to be a "7" which also is already present in the series.) The only problem with that is, there’s already a #1, that came in the UK press kit. There’s a number inset on this picture, but I’m damned if I can make head or tail of it. It could be a 1… it could be an upside-down 7 (but there already is a 7)… I’ve decided it’s a screwy-looking 2. (The problem with that is, there was a 2 in the press kit, just not in the copy I have, and its description is not this photo.)

On the other hand, I do have two different photos both very clearly numbered 4. I’ll leave this one as 2 for the time being, and if a different 2 turns up I’ll make it a second 1. But, as the only person I know of trying to keep track of this stuff, I reserve the right to change my mind about this at any moment on a whim.

For what it’s worth, I have 22 numbered photos from this British publicity blitz. The highest number I have is 41. So, hard as it is to believe, there are still at least nearly 20 Times Square publicity stills that apparently no one in this century has seen…
 

 

Would you like to know more?
15 or 16 UK Promo Photos
UK Promo Photos 4, 13, and 21, 1980-81
UK publicity still #22
UK Promo Photos 20 and 26, 1980-81
UK Promo Photo #29
More stills from the UK series
 

[Maybe I just do another roundup post of these… someday…]

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

Jackie No. 884, 13 December 1980

Posted on 25th March 2021 in "Times Square"


 

Join the Professionals…

 

The December 13, 1980 Jackie led off their “Hot Gossip” section on page 36 with a promotional piece for the Times Square soundtrack album, attached at the layout to a promo piece for the debut album by The Professionals, providing the extremely tenuous and only known link between Times Square and Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains.

 

Jackie No. 884, December 13, 1980, p. 26 reviews of the TIMES SQUARE soundtrack and the first Professionals album.  Text:  HOT Gossip More hot news about your pop TV and film favourites.  AHEAD OF OF TIMES  “Times Square" is a double album that will add a bit of everything to any record collection.  The album is the sound track of the movie of the same name, and if the track listing is anything to go by then the film must be dynamite too.  To list all the bands contributing to the album would probably take up the whole Hot Gossip page, but to give you a taste of what’s in store, here’s just some of the top names included: the Pretenders, Roxy Music, Gary Numan, Joe Jackson, XTC, Suzi Quatro and a host of others.  Whetted your appetite? Then get hold of a copy now — it’s on the. RSO label.  [photo caption] Nicky, one of the main characters from the movie.

 

HOT Gossip
More hot news about your pop TV and film favourites.

AHEAD OF OF TIMES

“Times Square” is a double album that will add a bit of everything to any record collection.

The album is the sound track of the movie of the same name, and if the track listing is anything to go by then the film must be dynamite too.

To list all the bands contributing to the album would probably take up the whole Hot Gossip page, but to give you a taste of what’s in store, here’s just some of the top names included: the Pretenders, Roxy Music, Gary Numan, Joe Jackson, XTC, Suzi Quatro and a host of others.

Whetted your appetite? Then get hold of a copy now — it’s on the. RSO label.

[photo caption:] Nicky, one of the main characters from the movie.

There’s nothing here we haven’t seen before. The picture is an edited version of #34 from the UK series of publicity stills.

 

Would you like to know more?
“34”

 

 

Ahead of of times (article (AAT ID: 300048715));
Jackie no. 889, December 13, 1980, p. 26; England (magazine (periodical) (AAT ID: 300215389))
34.5 cm (H) x 26 cm (W) (work);
Jackie 884 December 13 1980 cover_1080p.jpg
1080 px (H) x 812 px (W), 96 dpi, 636 kb
Jackie 884 December 13 1980_p26_detail._1080p.jpg
1080 px (H) x 1356 px (W), 96 dpi, 816 kb
(images)
 

 

©1980 D. C. Thomas & Co., Ltd.
Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

UK publicity still #22

Posted on 27th February 2021 in "Times Square"

Robin Johnson as Nicky Marotta perming "Damn Dog" under the name Aggie Doone in TIMES SQUARE (1980)

 

Just what it says on the tin. This is the same basic image as would later be published in the Thai magazine Filmstar Vol. 1 No. 3 in August 1981, and used as a publicity still in Germany in 1982. The German version has a tiny number 22 inserted at the bottom like the UK series of photos, which is what led me to suspect that it was derived from a UK still; however, this still, although it’s of overall better quality than the German one, has no number on the front. Instead, it has “22” handwritten on the back in blue ink, and is stamped “MASTER” across the front. Perhaps it was the last copy in the file, used as a reminder of what went in there when more were printed? I have no idea. I do know that it shows less of Robin’s left hand than the Thai version, and less at the bottom than the German one. In fact, the number 22 would disappear if the German one was cropped like this one. It also shows less at the top than the German version, but more of Trini’s knee and hand at the left.

So, although this is the best version of this shot yet to turn up, none of them yet contain the full image from the negative. For whatever that’s worth forty years later.

 

 
Would you like to know more?
15 or 16 UK Promo Photos
More stills from the UK series
 

 

 

[TIMES SQUARE UK publicity still #22]
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK, 1981 ; 8 x 10 in. (work)
TIMES SQUARE UK publicity still 22_1080p.jpg
1080 px (H) x 863 px (W), 96 dpi, 332 kb (image)

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

A face of the 80’s

Posted on 16th August 2020 in "Times Square"

UK poster advertising Robin Johnson as the star of TIMES SQUARE, using the artwork from the UK poster. Most of the Times Square posters have some identifying information on them — a copyright notice, the film’s local distributor, a code number — but not this one, so we have to go on what’s on it.

The logo and the artwork are from the UK movie poster, which was also (the artwork at least) used across Europe. The text is in English, and the AA is a now-replaced British Board of Film Censors rating. (Also, I got this item from a seller in England. Back in April. Current events kept me from doing anything with it until recently.) So I think I’m safe saying that what we have here is a piece of British Times Square promotion, probably produced by EMI Films, almost certainly in early 1981, basically pushing Robin Johnson’s status as Robert Stigwood’s “female Travolta.” As we’ve seen, starting from almost the second the film was released, the promotion tactics became focused ever more closely on its third-billed star, a situation that would continue around the world for the next two years. And in my opinion, an unfortunate victim of this strategy was Robin herself, as the unflichingly honest criticisms she gave of the movie in her interviews caused RSO to reappraise her value, ultimately deciding that her willingness to trash their product in public outweighed her talents as an actress in that product, causing RSO never to cast her in anything again, while simultaneously keeping her under contract so she couldn’t use her obvious abilities in the service of some other film company to compete against Robin-less RSO projects. Again, in my opinion.

So much for a face of the 80s. But even more to the point… that’s an illustration. It isn’t really her face. Obviously the illustration by poster artist Cummins was used so people would make the connection between this poster and the movie poster, but still… Maybe if I find the time I’ll doctor up a version of what I think this poster should have looked like.

If anyone cares, the image here isn’t really an accurate representation of what the actual physical object looks like, because I’ve cleaned it up so much. It is a good representation of what you’d see if you were looking at the poster, though.

 

Would you like to know more?

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

 

 

Robin Johnson – a face of the 80’s
poster, AAT ID: 300027221
30″ (H) x 40″ (W)
Inscription:
ROBIN JOHNSON
a face of the 80’s
starring in
TIMES SQUARE
AA
(work)

Robin_Johnson_UK_promo_poster_1981_1080px.jpg
1442 px (W) x 1080 px (H), 96 dpi, 359 kb (image)

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

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

Posted on 5th October 2019 in "Times Square"

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.

 

 

[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)

Posted on 12th September 2019 in "Times Square"

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.

 

 

 

[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)

Posted on 30th August 2019 in "Times Square"

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.

 

 

[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+

 

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

Posted on 18th August 2019 in "Times Square"

I first encountered lobby cards from this series several years ago in the collection of DefeatedandGifted, and I assumed they were Australian, partly because that’s where she was, and because they used the American form of the logo which was used on the Australian movie poster while listing EMI as the distributor. The movie posters also, however, have a logo for another distributor, either GD or GL Film Distributors, which is absent from the lobby cards.
 

Well, what should turn up as part of a massive sale of British lobby cards, but an apparently complete set of them. And although I suppose they could still really be Australian, the seller assured me that they were indeed from the UK. So, since other than the distributor being EMI, these cards replicate the design of the American publicity materials, and since there’s also a set of UK lobby cards that does use the logo used on the rest of the UK publicity materials, I conclude that these are a first set of cards made for the British market before the British publicity designs had been finalized. Maybe they’d originally been created for the USA, and then repurposed when someone realized that lobby cards weren’t really a thing in America anymore.
 

So, the UK had two separate set of Times Square lobby cards. Or, these really are Australian. Either way, this series of cards was definitely the source for the posters printed in Yugoslavia some months later.
 

They’re not numbered, of course; I’m presenting them in more or less the order they would have appeared in the movie.
 

The first, Tim Curry as Johnny at the mic, was published in Movie 81 No 2, February 1981, and appeared in the other set of UK lobby cards, on a German lobby card, and on one of the Yugoslavian lobby card posters.
 

Kathy Lojac as Nurse Joan introducing Nicky and Pammy made its debut here, and appeared with Pammy mostly cropped out on a Yugoslavian lobby card poster.
 

Nicky and Pammy walking along 42nd Street is from the deleted scene of the girls looking for and finding Nicky’s dad. There were plenty of stills shot during the filming of this but the entire sequence, along with the scene of them dyeing each other’s hair by the banks of the Hudson River, was cut and replaced with the brief moment of them on the subway. (The part where they find Nicky’s dad may not even have been filmed — there’s only photographic evidence of their walk to Times Square.) This photo appeared in the “Robert Stigwood Presents Times Square” folder, and in the other set of UK lobby cards, and as one of the German lobby cards.
 

Nicky cutting Pammy’s wrist for the blood sisters ritual was reprinted from here on the same Yugoslavian lobby card poster as the hospital photo, they only other place either of them appeared. The moment before this, Nicky cutting her own wrist, was shot from a different angle that showed the boom microphone and printed, mic and all, in the center spread of the Japanese souvenir program book. In the film, we don’t actually see the knife touch Pammy’s wrist, and we see Nicky’s wrist cut only in close-up.
 

 

 

[TIMES SQUARE UK lobby cards, set 1, 1-4 of 16]
UK : lobby cards : AAT ID: 300208593 : 28 x 36 cm. : 1981 (works);
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_01_1080px.jpg
847 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 427 kb
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_02_1080px.jpg
848 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 476 kb
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_03_1080px.jpg
847 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 504 kb
Times_Square_UK_lobby_card_series_1_04_1080p.jpg
848 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 432 kb (images)

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

More stills from the UK series

Posted on 28th October 2018 in "Times Square"

TIMES SQUARE (1980) publicity still, black and white 8"x10", #41 from the UK series  Text:  [on front:] 41  [on back:] [stamp:]  TIMES SQUARE  [in Hebrew and English] STILLER FILM LTD. L.A. [illegible] PHONES [illegible] TEL-AVIV  [handwritten]  [Times Square) [in Hebrew]  41  (41?) [in Hebrew?]

 

I nearly passed over this lot of five black and white stills, except it had one photo I’d never seen. Rather than try to haggle for just the one photo, I bought the lot, and I’m glad I did, because they’re all from the UK series, three of them were new numbers, and the others are slightly different again from the previous copies I have.

 

This shot is number 41, and the highest number I’ve yet found. (I have 18 of them.) It’s the one I thought I’d never seen, but I was wrong: it was published on the back of the “Times Square Trailer” UK soundtrack sampler record sleeve.

 

The other four are numbers 20, 23, 34, and 40.

 

 

All five have borders, where most of the series are printed full-bleed, all the way to the edges. Number 20 is the third copy and the third variant I’ve found. The first had the number printed to the right, against the grey background. The second was cropped more generously at the bottom, and had the number against the black of Nicky’s coat, but cut off at the bottom.. This one is cropped like that second version, and has the number in almost the same place, but up a few millimeters so it can be seen clearly. It also looks like it’s the exact same number stuck on the print – the handwriting looks identical in all three. I suppose this is obvious to anyone who works in movie promotion, but I am not one of those people — it would seem that whenever they needed more copies of an image, they dug out the negative, stuck on the number, and ran off a few prints, and every run ended up slightly different from every other.

 

Number 23 is TS-82-30/4, but cropped more generously at the top and bottom and more narrowly on the left and right. Number 34 is a second copy of the first photo I ever found from this series, but it’s printed much lighter, washing out Pammy’s face, and the number has moved from just to the left of the neon “Q” in “TIMES SQUARE” to inside the curve at the right. And number 40 is TS-42-11A/2, printed lighter with higher contrast, and cropped more generously at the left and bottom. Although it seems obvious now, seeing this is the first time I’ve realized that this shot, along with this one and this one, were taken as Robin was kneeling on top of the theater marquee, and the blurred lights behind her are the street below.

TIMES SQUARE (1980) publicity still, black and white 8"x10", from the UK series  Text:  [on front:] 23  [on back:] [stamp:]  TIMES SQUARE  [in Hebrew and English] STILLER FILM LTD. L.A. [illegible] PHONES [illegible] TEL-AVIV  [handwritten]  [Times Square) [in Hebrew]  (photo number?)

 

These prints were distributed in Israel by Stiller Film Ltd., whose partially visible stamp on their backs indicates that they had a local office in Tel Aviv. The prints also have the TIMES SQUARE stamp found on the backs of many, but not all, of the UK series, and what I believe is Times Square in handwritten Hebrew.

 

Pages referred to but not linked directly above:

Times Square Press Material folder (post 5 of 5)
Blast from the Past
Times Square Blue
Times Square UK Press Kit (post 4 of 4)
UK Promo Photo #29

 

 

20
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 8″ x 10″ (work)
UK still 20_1080px.jpg
863 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 362 kb (image)

23
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 8″ x 10″ (work)
UK still 23_1080px.jpg
867 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 353 kb (image)

UK still 23 back b_1080px.jpg
860 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 169 kb (image)

34
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 8″ x 10″ (work)
UK still 34_1080px.jpg
865 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 374 kb (image)

40
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 10″ x 8″ (work)
UK still 40_1080px.jpg
1080 px (H) x 864 px (W), 96 dpi, 309 kb (image)

41
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 8″ x 10″ (work)
UK still 41_1080px.jpg
868 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 331 kb (image)

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

Times Square UK Pressbook, 1980-81, pages 6-7

Posted on 4th October 2018 in "Times Square"

UK Press Book for TIMES SQUARE, pages 6-7: photo montage center spread.  Text:  TIMES SQUARE

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”

 

 

Times Square pressbook, pp. 6-7
UK : pressbook (theatre manual) : AAT ID: 300213184 : 35.7 x 27.8 cm. : 1980 (work);
TIMES_SQUARE_UK_Pressbook_p6-7_1080px.jpg
1080 x 1703 px, 96 dpi, 819 kb (image)


 
Times Square©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+