Times Square UK Pressbook, 1980-81, pages 8-12

22 September, 2018 Sean 0 Comments 1 category

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”?

UK Press Book for TIMES SQUARE, p. 9: prodiction info and continuation of the articles on Robin Johnson and Trini Alvarado. Text: ABOUT THE MOTION PICTURE... Times Square bursts on the screen with the earthy exuberance of the famed New York City crossroads, itself and depicts the energy and antics of adolescents imbibing the heady rush of rebellion. It is set to the sound of today's most outstanding rock music and showcases the excitement of three vividly strong performances -- the transformation of an inhibited, awkward teener, done to perfection by Trini Alvarado; the radiance and effervescence of a new discovery in 15-year-old Robin Johnson, and an image-breaking character study of a disc- jockey on-the-edge by Tim Curry. "Times Square" first began to take shape early in 1979 when film director Alan Moyle invited screenwriter Jacob Brackman and singer-actor Tim Curry to the 42nd Street loft in New York City which he shared with writer Leanne Unger above a sleazy cinema on "The Deuce”, the infamous strip of theatres and porno attractions between 7th and 8th Avenues. Moyie's latest project had whisked him from his native Montreal to 42nd Street, where he was entranced by its vitality and people. Brackman agreed to write a screenplay from an original story by Moyle and Unger, and Curry made a commitment to enact the key role of a disc jockey who would figure prominently in the story of two teenage runaways in Times Square. Moyle’s original intention -- making a "little independent film" -- evolved into a major screen event, complete with the closing off of 42nd Street's "Deuce" for a never-before-attempted sequence, courtesy of Robert Stigwood. The Australian entrepreneur, whose RSO entertainment empire includes hit theatrical productions, recordings, television programmes and feature films, decided to make the film the very day he first read Brackman's finished screenplay. Stigwood not only gave Moyle a $5-million budget, but the opportunity to film all over New York, climaxed by a frenetic sequence using 500 teenage girls as extras for a 42nd Street rock concert. A contemporary drama that focuses on two teenage girls from opposite sides of the economic scale, “Times Square" needed two strong, young talents to work effectively as a film. Director Moyle was convinced that his leads would have to be found outside the normal casting pools and talent stables. "I wanted two girls who were those characters", he affirmed. "We sent out flyers, took ads in the Village Voice, Soho News, Aquarian, and contacted record stores and half-way homes. We scouted every rock dive, every disco, eveiy club we could find.” The final result of the massive search saw professionally trained Trini Alvarado cast as Pamela, the shy and inhibited only child of a successful politician, a widower who forgets his daughter amid the demands of his career. Trini had just won rave reviews for a stunning performance in her first film, Robert Altman's “Rich Kids". For the demanding central role of Nicky an abandoned youngster reared in foster homes and the school of tough times, Moyle intended to cast an established, slightly older actress. But in one of those inexplicable chance occasions, out of the blue, Robin Johnson appeared. She had been given the casting director’s number while standing on the steps of her high school in Brooklyn. An exceptionally bright well-adjusted student, Robin certainty didn't fit Moyle’s preconceived notions of what his Nicky was going to be. But with her raspy, husky Brooklyn style of vocalizing, a quick-witted sense of humour and a total lack of pretense, she stunned and charmed not only the director but producer Robert Stigwood as well. "Robin brought a great deal of warmth and an incredible amount of native humour to Nicky”, Moyle says admiringly. Riming on ‘Times Square" began in October 1979 with the company in a race against winter weather. Tim Curry arrived from England for his scenes as Johnny LaGuardia, the disc jockey who befriends the two runaways and turns them into minor media celebrities. Curry, a respected classical actor as well as a cult favorite for his role in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and a successful recording artist, was pleased to be returning to New York for film work. With invaluable assistance from the Mayor's Office for Motion Picture Development, the “Times Square” company covered the town and filmed on such diverse locations as the lower East Side, Washington Square, abandoned waterfront piers, a porno theatre on Eighth Avenue, the Bowery, and, of course, on the streets of Times Square. Traffic was diverted for the filming of the particularly complex climactic sequence which required a barrage of press and the electronic media, and 500 teenage extras. Complementing the heroine’s rock music ambitions and befitting a film for the Eighties that resounds with the throbbing pulses of city life, “Times Square" has one of the most exciting rock soundtracks ever compiled, featuring music by some of today's most popular singers and songwriters. A two-record soundtrack album is being released by RSO Records. “Once again, a script has offered a unique opportunity to marry film and music”, producer Stigwood said. “Even more exciting, ‘Times Square' is the perfect venue to bring all these brilliant new talents on the contemporary music scene to the commercial film marketplace." SCREEN BOW figures, “and that’s the reason she admires her. I have trouble with authority figures, too, which means anybody with the upper hand -- my principal, my mother, my teachers.” Of director Alan Moyle, who might be considered the supreme authority figure, Robin has only praise. “We’re alike in certain ways and that made it easier to relate. Alan’s absolutely brilliant for inspiration, for giving you energy for a scene. When he believes you can do a scene better, he gets you to think, but not with bullying or intimidation. I realty want to work with him again." Robin perceives Nicky as a teenager, masking what she realty feels and tried to “make her real”. “She was bitter about being abandoned. Her dad’s a loser. All she can do is pity him, not be mad at him now. Nicky has a lot of gutsiness that I realty admired. Her philosophy always was: ‘When you're mad, show it’.” Gutsiness is a trait Robin and Nicky have in common. Robin, as well as being bright, witty and talented, is seemingly fearless, whether performing atop a 42nd Street theatre marquee or being dunked into the icy December brine of the polluted Hudson River. “Nerves don’t get you anywhere”, she says, simply enough. Robin was coached for “Times Square” by veteran Sue Seaton, who has worked with the spectrum from Katharine Hepburn to Gilda Radner. But that throaty timbre is unmistakably Robin's own, perhaps a result of her ever-present cigarettes. The closest Robin had ever been to a movie set befdre "Times Square” was when “The Wanderers” shot a scene down the block in her neighbourhood. Now, the world of movies is opening for her. "Let me tell you about this movie business”, she says seriously. “There's no right for anyone to get an attitude just because so many people are aware of your job. What I say is, it’s entertainment and it’s a job. I hope ‘Times Square’ does well, but it’s not the answer to my life. Most, I loved meeting and working with so many wonderful people." There is one confession she’ll make when prodded about the rigours of working in the realm of make-believe: "Oh yeah", she says with a grimace, “chewing the roses was pretty disgusting. I’d never tasted flowers before.” “Times Square", starring Robin with Tim Curry and Trini Alvarado, is a Robert Stigwood Presentation, directed by Alan Moyle from Jacob Brackman's screenplay. The new film was co-produced by Stigwood and Brackman, with Kevin McCormick and John Nicolella as Executive Producers and Bill Oakes the Associate Producer. the filming. We were more than lucky. They make the film come alive, together." Members of the "Times Square” crew marvelled at the energy and high spirits of the young leading ladies. But Trini Alvarado is well aware of the hard work and discipline required. "We got up most days by five and then the car came to take us to the day’s location. On a film like “Times Square”, where everything is real, that means all-over-outdoors, in a high-rise on the upper East Side where Pamela, my character, lives, or on 42nd Street. “After being made up and costumed, then you wait until the crew and the director have everything ready. I’ve been going to Professional School, because they don’t mind if your schedule changes for a job. But for this film, I had to have a tutor, who made certain I had done my lessons. When I went home, around seven, there was both school work and script pages to study for the next day’s filming.” That kind of demanding schedule on "Times Square” left little time for contemplating that cute boy in school, Andy Gibb, or high heels. ABOUT THE STORY... “Times Square" depicts the adventures of two teenage runaways, New York girls from different social backgrounds, and the all-night Times Square radio personality who befriends them and gives a boost to their dream of rock stardom. Pamela Pearl (TRINI ALVARADO) is the 12-year-old daughter of a young New York City politician who has been given the job of cleaning up the seedy Times Square area. Nicky Marotta (ROBIN JOHNSON) age 15, is a street delinquent who dreams of becoming a rock and roll star. Pamela is shy, awkward, inhibited. Nicky is rebellious, with a streak of explosive energy and dark humour. They meet while both are undergoing tests at a psychiatric hospital and escape by commandeering an ambulance. Johnny LaGuardia (TIM CURRY), who broadcasts from a studio high atop the Allied Chemical Building, considers Times Square his personal domain. Pamela had written to him anonymously. Intrigued, he promotes the story of the runaways, urging the girls on, and turns them into minor media celebrities. It also makes things uncomfortable for Pamela's father. The girls hide out in an abandoned warehouse overlooking the Hudson River. Calling themselves “The Sleaze Sisters”, they dress in versions of down-and-outers, spray-paint their sleaze slogans around the town, and inspire others to reject the smooth superficiality of the plastic culture and “go sleaze”. They make a second home on "The Deuce" -- the stretch of 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues -- and are adopted by the locals who protect them from potential danger. Events conspire to bring their adventure to a close, but Nicky insists they “go down flaming”. When Johnny publicizes their planned illegal, midnight concert in Times Square, hundreds of teenage girls arrive in “Sleaze Sisters" wardrobe, and the scene is set for a bizarre climactic close.

UK Press Book for TIMES SQUARE, p. 10: articles on Allan Moyle and the soundtrack album. Text: FILM DIRECTOR MOYLE KEEPS HIS COOL ON FIRST MAJOR FILM “Sure it took getting used to the idea that my film idea was about to become a five-million-dollar Robert Stigwood Presentation”, film director Alan Moyle said, then added: “It took about two minutes to get used to the idea.” Alan Moyle is the 33-year-old Canadian actor-director and his new film is “Times Square". The movie’s script by Jacob Brackman is based on an idea developed by Moyle and Leanne Unger. While working on his first directorial credit, “The Rubber Gun", in Canada, Moyle found a portion of a young girl's diary tucked into the bottom of an old sofa. That fragment suggested the possibility of focusing on today's alienated teenagers, the adolescents who never expect to live to be 21. “There was sheer poetry in her writing, and I became obsessed by this girl I would never know”, Moyle recalls. When Brackman’s screenplay was written and when entrepreneur Robert Stigwood read it, the project quickly became a viable film project. Moyle’s initial obstacle was casting the girl, now named Nicky Marotta, and her runaway partner, a slightly younger teenager named Pamela. Talent scouts were sent everywhere that casting agents normally never search -- to punk clubs, to half-way houses, to Greenwich Village Voice readers. The unexpected result was the casting of Robin Johnson, a nonprofessional, for her first film role, as Nicky. A show biz veteran at 12, Trini Alvarado was signed, fresh from a smash screen debut in “Rich Kids”, as Pamela. Working with a film crew of seasoned professionals was also a new experience for director Moyle. His film work was principally of a communal nature, with a skeleton crew often doubling in several capacities for the shooting. “The New York film crew members were most helpful”, Moyle says without qualification. “We shot on many different locations, with two teenagers as our stars, sometimes on a six-day week. They gave me their very best.” One crew member commented: “When Alan finished a scene, he’d turn to everyone and say, ‘What’d you think?’ That was something new and it took the veterans by surprise. They weren’t used to being consulted for their creative opinions. While everyone recognized Alan as the boss, they appreciated this trying to make everyone feel a part of the process.” “Of course," Moyle says, “I believe we were all in this together. Jacob Brackman would be on the set wherever it was for conferences and discussions. Naturally, as you film, there are revisions in the script, and with Jacob there a lot it made adjustments to the film much easier.” Moyle’s greatest challenges lay in the sequences that were shot on 42nd Street. Not only was this the first time a film company would spend a week of night shooting on the infamous strip of porno houses and theatres (“Taxi Driver” had shot in front of one theatre for a night), but the scenes also required 500 young teenage girls as extras. This amounted to an invasion by the film company on “the turf” of the street people. Ironically, these very street people are the ones who in the film are being threatened by Pamela’s father, a City Commissioner charged with a Times Square “clean up” campaign. “The police were generous beyond the call of duty”, Moyle said. “We had absolutely no problems with any of our people, although there were real bullets flying a half block away one night.” Moyle referred to the incident where he was atop a camera crane readying the final sequence in the film. Below, a siren suddenly wailed and a police car sped through the extras massed on the street What initially looked like an auto theft of one of the props from the street turned out to be a real armed robbery-in-progress alarm answered by police and ambulances. The incident over, Moyle turned on his megaphone and told his crew and extras, “We can’t top that for excitement but let’s keep that excitement for this scene”. “Times Square” is a Robert Stigwood Presentation, directed by Moyle from Brackman’s screenplay, based on the story by Moyle and Leanne Unger. Robert Stigwood and Brackman are the producers, Kevin McCormick and John Nicolella the executive producers, and Bill Oakes the associate producer. “Times Square” also stars British actor-singer Tim Curry. MUSIC FROM “TIMES SQUARE” NOW DOUBLE-ALBUM SOUNDTRACK ON RSO RECORDS At a time when movie soundtracks are among the most popular records available and when music is acknowledged to play a major role in the appeal of many films, comes a stunning, new double album from RSO Records -- the music from “Times Square”. The soundtrack, for many reasons, is one of the most exciting ever compiled. The music plays an integral part in the “Times Square” drama. The new film depicts the adventures of two teenage runaways, New York girls from different social backgrounds, and the all-night radio disc jockey who befriends them. Pulsating throughout the film is the music which captures and strongly reflects the contemporary, raw message of the film. The songs developed for the soundtrack comprise a unique anthology of music, written and performed by some of the strongest, most popular of today’s rock artists from both England and the United States. The score features new songs written especially for "Times Square”, as well as a number of rock classics. It is as compelling as the motion picture itself. Robert Stigwood (presenter of “Times Square”) believes that "once again a script offers a unique opportunity to marry film and music. ‘Times Square’ is the perfect venue to bring brilliant new talents on the contemporary music scene to the commercial film marketplace.” The film’s associate producer, Bill Oakes, who developed the music, adds: “The vitality, the raw energy, the lyrical awareness that pulses through the music is an accurate reflection of the film’s two runaways. I’ve never found a subject so compatible with a sound, and that’s what I believe we have captured on the soundtrack.” The fact that it is RSO Records who is releasing this two-record soundtrack is particularly noteworthy. RSO is the company that made industry history with “Saturday Night Fever" and “Grease" and now is succeeding with the platinum-selling “The Empire Strikes Back” and the gold-selling “Fame” soundtracks. And now there is “Times Square”, a spectacular and innovative album from an extraordinary film. “Times Square” is a Robert Stigwood Presentation, produced by Stigwood and Jacob Brackman, with Kevin McCormick and John Nicolella the executive producers and Bill Oakes the associate producer. Alan Moyle directed from Jacob Brackman’s screenplay, based on a story by Moyle and Leanne Unger.

UK Press Book for TIMES SQUARE, p. 11: price list for publicity materials Text: ROBERT STIGWOOD Presents TIMES SQUARE 100% Starring TIM CURRY 75% TRINI ALVARADO 75% ROBIN JOHNSON 75% PETER COFFIELD 35% HERBERT BERGHOF 35% Executive Producers: KEVIN McCORMICK & JOHN NICOLELLA Produced By: ROBERT STIGWOOD & JACOB BRACKMAN Directed By: ALAN MOYLE Screenplay By: JACOB BRACKMAN Story By: ALAN MOYLE & LEANNE UNGER Associate Producer: BILL OAKES Soundtrack available on RSO Records and tapes an EM1/ITC Production Distributed by EMI Films Limited PRICES Posters One sheet.....................£1.00 Three sheet...................£2.50 Six sheet......................£5.00 Colour stills 20cm x25cm 8"x 10" Set of 8....£3.50 28cmx36cm 1 T*xl4" Set of 16..£8.00 Colour Transparencies 35mm......................£3.00 each Black & White stills 20cmx25cm 8"xl0" Set of 8.......................£4.00 Set of 12.................... £6.00 Set of 20.....................£10.00 Set of 30.....................£15.00 Set of 40.....................£20.00 Set of 50.....................£25.00 Individual stills............. 50p each Blow ups Any size available. Price upon request All prices subject to alteration. 8" tc 2" dc 3" dc 4" sc

UK Press Book for TIMES SQUARE, p. 12: advertisement sizes Text: 8" dc 5" dc 6" tc 6" sc 4" dc 2" sc EMI Films Limited Film House, 142 Wardour Street London W1A 3BY Tel: 01-437 0444 Cables: ANGLEMI LONDON W1 Telex: 22760 EMIDIS G EMI A member of the Thorn EMI Group

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.

Times Square pressbook, pp. 8-12
UK : pressbook (theatre manual) : AAT ID: 300213184 : 35.7 x 27.8 cm. : 1980 (work);
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Category: "Times Square"

Robin Johnson

Times Square UK Pressbook, 1980-81, pages 8-12

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