The Mystery of the Double-Sided Poster, Side Two

Posted on 28th June 2015 in "Times Square"

Designed to be opened one fold at a time, the blue side is a promotional presentation for "Times Square" and its soundtrack, and the red side is a full poster. This is the red side.  Text:  TIMES SQUARE Can you feel my fever? Can you hear me howl? I'm just a Damn Dog. Tune into me because I am tuned into you. STICK IT IN YOUR EAR. NO SENSE MAKES SENSE They tell me I'm crazy. But the truth is I just know bullshit when I see it.Fully opening the two-sided poster reveals my favorite version of the image most associated with Times Square.

As I mentioned last time, I find the red background more visually pleasing than the yellow used on the movie poster and soundtrack album cover. There are several other differences in this version, as well. The Seiniger designers have collaged the black and white photos of Robin and Trini, but here they’re of equal height; the future versions will make Trini seem significantly shorter than Robin. Also, this is the only time we get to see Robin’s right shoulder; the movie poster and album cover cut her out at the lapel.

This side doesn’t use the DYMO label-style typeface, but it does use Nicky’s pins as a design element, floating quotes from the film and Tim Curry’s image in badges. The Tim Curry button will later find its way to Nicky’s left lapel, which for now plays host to a button with the RSO cow. The buttons-scattered-across-the-poster idea will later be used by the Japanese promotion artists, although their choices of what constitute statements of rebellion will face a bit of a language barrier.

The artists do a masterful job of colorizing the black and white photographs, but either they had no color reference photos or they made an artistic decision for reasons of their own, because they made Robin’s eyes blue. Robin’s eyes are green with a trace of brown. Trini’s eyes here are pretty much the color of Robin’s eyes in real life. I don’t know what color Trini’s eyes really are.

There are color photos that were taken at the same time as the black and white shot of Nicky so I also don’t know why they felt the need to slather eye shadow on Nicky that she certainly wasn’t wearing. I’ve never once had the feeling that Nicky was an eye shadow kind of girl. The closest thing we ever see to her applying make-up is to paint a mask across the entire top half of her face. Even though the poster designers had finally gotten a very good handle on what the film was trying to get across, they didn’t quite understand the character of Nicky. It’s another attempt to make her just a little more girly, like the Press Folder’s misspelling her name as “Nikki.”

 

 

[“Times Square” double-sided promotional poster, inside]
color, 39 in (H) x 25.75 in (W) (work);
712 px (W) x 1080 px (H), 510 kb (image)
1980, Seiniger & Associates

inscription:
TIMES SQUARE
Can you feel my fever? Can you hear me howl? I’m just a Damn Dog.
Tune into me because I am tuned into you.
STICK IT IN YOUR EAR.
NO SENSE MAKES SENSE
They tell me I’m crazy. But the truth is I just know bullshit when I see it.

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

The Mystery of the Double-Sided Poster, Side One

Posted on 19th June 2015 in "Times Square"

I think this was the first promotional piece I found after Times Square had come, been, and gone. (Not this copy, but I’ll get to that.) I don’t recall exactly where it came from… it was a tiny store dealing in rock memorabilia in Manhattan somewhere, probably between 34th and 4th Streets, west of Broadway… The full opened outside of the 2-sided promotional poster.  As this was designed to be looked at while being opened and then turned to the other side, the sections comprising the folded outside are upside down.  Text:  THERE'S NOTHING TO DO BUT PLAY MUSIC AND SCREAM YOUR LUNGS OUT.  TIMES SQUARE ROBERT STIGWOOD PRESENTS  TIMES SQUARE  STARRING TIM CURRY  TRINI ALVARADO ROBIN JOHNSON PETER COFFIELD HERBERT BERGHOF  SCREENPLAY BY JACOB BRACKMAN STORY BY ALAN MOYLE AND LEANNE UNGER  DIRECTED BY ALAN MOYLE PRODUCED BY ROBERT STIGWOOD  AND JACOB BRACKMAN EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS KEVIN McCORMICK AND JOHN NICOLELLA  ASSOCIATE PRODUCER BILL OAKES  R RESTRICTED UNDER 17 REQUIRES ACCOMPANYING PARENT OR ADULT GUARDIAN SOUNDTRACK AVAILABLE ON RSO RECORDS AND TAPES AN EMI RELEASE DISTRIBUTED BY AFD  EMI RSO® Records Inc. AFD  ©1980 Associated Film Distribution DESIGN: SEINIGER & ASSOCIATES  PRINTED IN U.S.A.  THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY AND THAT'S RUNNING AWAY AND HANGING OUT AND SETTING YOURSELF FREE.  TIMES SQUARE THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK FROM THE MOTION PICTURE 2 RECORD SET   FEATURING MUSIC BY "ROCK HARD" - SUZI QUATRO "TALK OF THE TOWN" - THE PRETENDERS "SAME OLD SCENE" - ROXY MUSIC "DOWN IN THE PARK" - GARY NUMAN "HELP ME!" - MARCY LEVY & ROBIN GIBB "LIFE DURING WARTIME" - TALKING HEADS "PRETTY BOYS" - JOE JACKSON "TAKE THIS TOWN" - XTC "I WANNA BE SEDATED" - THE RAMONES "DAMN DOG" - ROBIN JOHNSON  "YOUR DAUGHTER IS ONE" - ROBIN JOHNSON & TRINI ALVARADO "BABYLON'S BURNING" - THE RUTS "YOU CAN'T HURRY LOVE" - D.L. BYRON "WALK ON THE WILD SIDE" - LOU REED "THE NIGHT WAS NOT" - DESMOND CHILD & ROUGE "INNOCENT, NOT GUILTY" - GARLAND JEFFREYS "GRINDING HALT" - THE CURE "PISSING IN THE RIVER" - PATTI SMITH GROUP "FLOWERS IN THE CITY" - DAVID JOHANSEN & ROBIN JOHNSON The poster wasn’t in great shape, but it had a bunch of pictures I’d never seen, so I immediately bought it and took it home and encountered the dilemma of which side to display. I filled the corners with pinholes and “Fun-Tak” stains as I flipped it over every month or so, but eventually settled on the red side (next post, hee hee) because I found it more aesthetically pleasing, in no small part because no matter how I hung this side, part of it was always upside down. Eventually, we moved, and I took it down, rolled it up, and put it away.

Years later, God invented the Internet, and I stumbled across someone selling this same item, in unused mint condition. I purchased it immediately of course, and during the transaction he mentioned he had more of them, and since at the time I could afford to do such silly things, I bought them all. They arrived in a single heavy envelope that remained unopened until a few weeks ago when I decided I needed good scans of all my Times Square posters.

I opened the envelope for the first time, and discovered an extremely nice letter from the seller that I’m sorry I hadn’t seen before. I slid out a few copies of the poster, checked to find one with the least damage from the machine that had folded them, and gingerly started to unfold it to see how to do it without accidentally tearing something, and that’s when I noticed…

(If it’s obvious to you, congratulations, you’re more observant than I. I’d never even suspected there was anything to notice.)

I guess it was because the copy I had back in the day had never been folded in its natural state, or if it had I was too eager to get it open, and when I stored it I rolled it up like you’re supposed to do with posters, but… as I was wondering how best to approach scanning such a huge item (in pieces stitched together with Microsoft Image Composite Editor, If you’re wondering), I noticed that the front and back of the folded item were complete images by themselves. And opening it, there was another complete image. And opening it once more, another one. And the next unfold revealed the other side.

It wasn’t a 2-sided poster, it was a 5-sided poster. This thing is an interactive promotional presentation for Times Square, the movie and the soundtrack. It’s a little movie trailer on paper. That explained something I’d always wondered about: what exactly was this thing for? Evidently it was distributed to theater owners, and maybe record stores, to drum up interest in booking the film and pre-ordering the record, with the red side an option to hang as a teaser poster.

The reason part of it was always upside down was, the blue side was never intended to be seen all at once. Only the other side was a poster. The blue side is supposed to be looked at as it unfolds, as I’m going to try to show below. In real life, each unfolding results in doubling the size of the image, but these images are all going to be about the same size, because it’s the Internet. If you pay me enough I’ll try to do more to replicate the experience of unfolding a big piece of paper.

The “front cover” shows the final promotional logo for the movie. (The logo as used on and in the US Press Materials folder became the logo for the soundtrack.) The back has the movie credits.

The double-sided poster, designed by Seiniger & Associates, is the pinnacle of the artistic design for the film’s promotional materials. This is the only time that the text appears as strips of DYMO hand-embossed labels, a brilliant move to signify that you’re looking at something made cheaply by hand. (I was surprised and gratified to find they’re still being made; they were the height of label-making technology in the 1970s.) In all future posters, the text would be distressed typewriter-style lettering on uneven black stripes, and sometimes just white lettering on black stripes. Strangely, I didn’t realize that until this project: I always pictured all of the posters’ text appearing as it does here, evoking a punk DIY aesthetic echoing yet totally different from the cut-out ransom-note letters in Jamie Reid’s designs for the Sex Pistols."Times Square" Screenplay by Jacob Brackman, 1979,  page 127 of 129  Text:  127 CONTINUED NICKY All right!  Nothin' to do but SCREAM YER LUNGS OUT! and PLAY MUSIC! The kids love this rhetoric.  They call to her. KIDS Tell it Nicky!  We love you! NICKY There's only one way and that's RUNNING AWAY and HANGING OUT and SETTING YOURSELF FREE! The crowd roars its approval. NICKY starts a chant and the kids take it up, faster and faster. NICKY Got to.  Got to.  Got to.  Got to. Got to.  Got to.  Got to.  Got to. I'm gonna stay up here till they blow me away. BUT THEY CAN'T BLOW ALL OF US AWAY, CAN THEY? Her fans scream with pleasure,  NICKY is completely caught up in her own theatricality.  She strikes another giant chord. NICKY They're gonna kill me, but when I'm dead I won't give a shit . . . cause I'm a DAMN DOG! THE BLONDELLS launch powerfully into the song. The rehearsals have paid off.  Within moments, everyone knows NICKY is a success as a singer. NICKY realizes it too.  She has moves.  She begins to laugh as she sings. Five policemen burst onto the roof. CONTINUED

The line using the DYMO typeface shown in the first unfolding (“There’s only one way and that’s running away and hanging out and setting yourself free”) does not appear in the film. It is, however, on page 127 of the May 1979 draft of the screenplay. The dialogue in the scene as shot is far better than what appears on the page, so it would appear that this was heavily rewritten and the poster designers were working from photos and an outdated screenplay. Although the soundtrack was locked (as is seen on the next unfold), no one had yet seen the movie, which was probably still being edited and re-edited. I don’t think any of the photos on this page appear anywhere else. I would love a full print of Nicky and Pammy in front of the adult book store.

The next unfolding reveals an ad for the soundtrack. The line here (“There’s nothing to do but play music and scream your lungs out”) is misquoted from the film, and oddly the screenplay has the line correctly. Either someone at Seiniger made an editorial decision, or the draft they were working from was an intermediate one in which Jacob Brackman had changed the line to this, and then changed it back before shooting. The photos again are immediately recognizable, but aren’t the shots from the film, and as of this writing I don’t think they appear anywhere else. The shot of Nicky and Pammy at the microphone is from before they blacked out the word “Rickenbacker” from the guitar’s headstock.

The image is split through the middle with a bit of the red poster showing through. Getting the poster’s edges to meet perfectly would have been extremely difficult, plus it was a good idea to make it obvious that there’s more unfolding to do. This is what really proved to me what this item was: I’d been looking at this for years without realizing that the top and bottom of the unfolded blue side were really the middle strip of a single image when it was folded this way. And a circular splatter of day-glo color, whose edges become musical notes… where have we seen something like that before? Oh yeah, here, where it’s a cloud of smoke. That’s another thing that makes me think that rejected poster is real: this design element that survives in a vastly improved form on the first official poster.

Coming up next: the full poster side.

 

 

[“Times Square” double-sided promotional poster, outside]
color, 39 in (H) x 25.75 in (W) (work);
715 px (W) x 1080 px (H), 518 kb (image)

1980
inscription:
THERE’S NOTHING TO DO BUT PLAY MUSIC AND SCREAM YOUR LUNGS OUT.
TIMES SQUARE
ROBERT STIGWOOD PRESENTS
TIMES SQUARE
STARRING TIM CURRY
TRINI ALVARADO ROBIN JOHNSON PETER COFFIELD HERBERT BERGHOF
SCREENPLAY BY JACOB BRACKMAN STORY BY ALAN MOYLE AND LEANNE UNGER
DIRECTED BY ALAN MOYLE PRODUCED BY ROBERT STIGWOOD
AND JACOB BRACKMAN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS KEVIN McCORMICK AND JOHN NICOLELLA
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER BILL OAKES
R RESTRICTED
UNDER 17 REQUIRES ACCOMPANYING PARENT OR ADULT GUARDIAN
SOUNDTRACK AVAILABLE ON RSO RECORDS AND TAPES
AN EMI RELEASE DISTRIBUTED BY AFD
EMI RSO® Records Inc. AFD ©1980 Associated Film Distribution
DESIGN: SEINIGER & ASSOCIATES
PRINTED IN U.S.A.
THERE’S ONLY ONE WAY AND THAT’S RUNNING AWAY AND HANGING OUT AND SETTING YOURSELF FREE.
TIMES SQUARE
THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK FROM THE MOTION PICTURE
2 RECORD SET
FEATURING MUSIC BY
“ROCK HARD” – SUZI QUATRO
“TALK OF THE TOWN” – THE PRETENDERS
“SAME OLD SCENE” – ROXY MUSIC
“DOWN IN THE PARK” – GARY NUMAN
“HELP ME!” – MARCY LEVY & ROBIN GIBB
“LIFE DURING WARTIME” – TALKING HEADS
“PRETTY BOYS” – JOE JACKSON
“TAKE THIS TOWN” – XTC
“I WANNA BE SEDATED” – THE RAMONES
“DAMN DOG” – ROBIN JOHNSON
“YOUR DAUGHTER IS ONE” – ROBIN JOHNSON & TRINI ALVARADO
“BABYLON’S BURNING” – THE RUTS
“YOU CAN’T HURRY LOVE” – D.L. BYRON
“WALK ON THE WILD SIDE” – LOU REED
“THE NIGHT WAS NOT” – DESMOND CHILD & ROUGE
“INNOCENT, NOT GUILTY” – GARLAND JEFFREYS
“GRINDING HALT” – THE CURE
“PISSING IN THE RIVER” – PATTI SMITH GROUP
“FLOWERS IN THE CITY” – DAVID JOHANSEN & ROBIN JOHNSON

 

Details from [“Times Square” double-sided promotional poster, outside]:
TIMES SQUARE double-sided promotional poster package, folded front
800 px (W) x 609 px (H), 96dpi, 220kb (image)
 
TIMES SQUARE double-sided promotional poster package, folded back
800 px (W) x 611 px (H), 96dpi, 278kb (image)
 
TIMES SQUARE double-sided promotional poster package, unfolded once
1080 px (W) x 408 px (H), 96dpi, 236kb (image)
 
TIMES SQUARE double-sided promotional poster package, unfolded twice
1080 px (H) x 1426 px (W), 96dpi, 733kb (image)

 

TIMES SQUARE, p. 127
Screenplay by Jacob Brackman
1979

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

comments: 0 » tags: , , ,

Robin Johnson’s Times Square Headshot, “TS-Spec.3”

Posted on 10th June 2015 in "Times Square"

Publicity headshot of Robin Johnson for publicity for "Times Square" (1980). This photo was distributed with a caption sheet identifying it at "TS-Spec.3." [Inscription] "TIMES SQUARE" AFD ©1980 Associated Film Distribution

TS-Spec.3
Robin Johnson makes her motion picture acting and singing debut after being discovered by chance at her high school in Brooklyn for the co-starring role with Tim Curry and Trini Alvarado in “Times Square.”


 

This is one of my favorite pictures of Robin, appearing for the first time not in character. I agree with DefeatedandGifted that it wasn’t part of the US press kit, even though it’s designed identically and even came with a folded-over caption sheet, just like the the photos in the press kit. However, none of the press kits I’ve seen contained it; I think if a press kit turns up with one of these in it, it’s because someone has recently inserted it thinking it belonged there.

Also, it has a different numbering system. “TS-Spec.3” sets it apart from the press kit photos, whose numbers imply scene/shot numbers. “Spec.” seems, well, special. And the “3” implies to me that there are a “1” and a “2” somewhere — headshots of Trini Alvarado and Tim Curry, perhaps? — but I’ve never seen anything like that. As far as I know, only Robin got a photo from AFD as herself.
 

The full caption sheet accompanying the "Times Square" publicity headshot of Robin Johnson. Text: TS-Spec.3 "TIMES SQUARE" Robin Johnson makes her motion picture acting and singing debut after being discovered by chance at her high school in Brooklyn for the co-starring role with Tim Curry and Trini Alvarado in "Times Square." ©1980 Associated Film Distribution Publicity Department, AFD, 12711 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA. 91604 "Times Square," a contemporary drama with music starring Tim Curry, Robin Johnson and Trini Alvarado, is a Robert Stigwood Presentation, produced by Stigwood and Jacob Brackman and directed by Alan Moyle from Brackman's screenplay, based on a story by Moyle and Leanne Unger, with Kevin McCormick and John Nicollela the executive producers and Bill Oakes the associate producer. The EMI Films motion picture will be released on Friday, October 17 in the U.S. and Canada by AFD (Associated Film Distribution). ©1980 Associated Film Distribution Publicity Department, AFD, 12711 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA. 91604

 

 

TS-Spec.3
black and white photographic print, 8 in (W) x 10 in (H) (work);
1080 px (W) x 859 px (H), 96 dpi, 178 kb (image)

1980
inscription:
(on border) TIMES SQUARE
AFD
©1980 Associated
Film Distribution

 

[TS-Spec.3 accompanying caption sheet]
7.3 in (W) x 6.5 in (H) (work);
856 px x 757 px, 96 dpi, 136 kb (image)

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

comments: 0 » tags: , ,

Times Square Press Material folder (post 5 of 5)

Posted on 1st June 2015 in "Times Square"
Publicity still of Robin Johnson and Trini Alvarado from the "Times Square" US Press Materials folder. Text: TIMES SQUARE AFD ©1980 Associated Film Distribution

TS-82-30
Robin Johnson and Trini Alvarado are New York teenagers whose runaway antics and revolt against authority make them the talk of The Big Apple through the radio reports of an all-night disc jockey in “Times Square.”

 

 

The last photos from the press kit. To the left, Pammy and Nicky on the roof from which they toss their first television set, although here Nicky appears to be translating a radio broadcast for Pammy. Nothing like this occurs in the film; this photo, however, will be turned into a line drawing and used to advertise the movie’s opening in Germany. Its full code number is nearly impossible to see, as it’s written in white against the white background in the lower right corner. The first three segments (TS-82-30) are on the caption sheet. I think the last segment is “/4.”

 

 

 

 

Publicity still of Robin Johnson and Trini Alvarado atop the Times Square Theater marquee, from the "Times Square" US Press Materials folder. Text: TS-28-28/7 TIMES SQUARE AFD ©1980 Associated Film Distribution

TS-28-28
Robin Johnson, as self-styled “Sleaze Sister,” takes a final rebellious stand against authority atop a Times Square theater marquee, as Trini Alvarado, her fellow runaway and Sleaze Sister, watches in the nerve-tingling climactic scene of “Times Square.”

 

 

 

 

 

To the right is the photo from which the last image on my post of stuff I found on the Web was edited, as Sarah from Vintage Salt informed me shortly after that post went up. I even had a version of that same picture as my Facebook cover image at the time, and somehow I just never made the connection. It’s another of the many photos taken of the concert.

 

 

 

Publicity still of Tim Curry from the "Times Square" US Press Materials folder. Text: (on image) TS-79-28/8 (on border) TIMES SQUARE AFD ©1980 Associated Film Distribution

TS-79-28
Tim Curry, British actor-singer best known for his rock star role in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” is starred as Johnny LaGuardia, all-night disc jockey in New York, whose encouragement on the air to two runaway teenage girls turns them into minor media celebrities in “Times Square.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heeeeere’s Johnny! A glamour shot of Tim Curry as Johnny LaGuardia, in costume for his reporting on the final concert, standing on the balcony of the Candler Building overlooking the Times Square Theater. His telescope is visible there at the right.

 

 

 

Black & white publicity still of Robin Johnson in costume as Nicky Marotta from the last scene of the film, from the "Times Square" US Press Materials folder. Text: TS-104-17A/2 AFD ©1980 Associated Film Distribution TIMES SQUARE

TS-42-11A
Robin Johnson effects a garish costume and make-up as she and her fellow teenage runaway flaunt authority as the “Sleaze Sisters” on their wild dash through the back streets of New York City in “Times Square.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

And finally, Robin. This must have been taken at the same time as this slide, but this is the shot they went with. I’d love to see it in color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To wrap things up, here is the press kit’s biography of Robin. It’s four pages. Trini gets two pages. Robert Stigwood gets three. Tim Curry only rates one page. Someone certainly realized which side their promotion was buttered on.

It features a second, longer telling of her “discovery,” as well as her view of the production as a job, and not one she was necessarily even considering continuing.

“TIMES SQUARE” STAR ROBIN JOHNSON IS A NATURAL IN SCREEN BOW

At some time in the future Brooklyn’s Technological High School steps may become legendary as the spot where a star was “born,” the 1980 equivalent to Hollywood’s Schwab’s Drugstore. On those steps and waiting for classes to begin, 16-year-old Robin Johnson was discovered by an (unknown) casting scout on the lookout for possible candidates for the leading role in “Times Square,” an October release from AFD (Associated Film Distribution).

“He gave me this card and said to call this number if I was interested in being in a movie,” Robin recalls in her inimitable Brooklyn-accented speech. “I thought: Wow! Another wise guy. But I gave it a shot.”

What Robin didn’t know at the time was that the film’s director, Alan Moyle, who had written the original story for “Times Square” with Leanne Unger, was determined to cast only the young actress who would be precisely right for the crucial central role of Nicky Marotta, a spunky teenager loose and without adult supervision, determined to become a rock star. The talent search already had bypassed many of the traditional avenues and scoured youth centers, punk rock clubs, and placed ads in papers such as the Village Voice, Soho News, and Aquarian.

“We were looking for someone who WAS Nicky,” Moyle admits. “Robin is definitely not that doomed child. Luckily for the film, Robin brought a lot more humor to the character than what I had originally envisioned. Her youthful innocence and energy buoy up what might have been played as too much of a downer.”

Without any previous experience (“I had sung in a choir when I was 12”), Robin won the role over literally hundreds of other candidates. Upon winning the role, she entered an intensive program of singing lessons and a dance and movement regimen. Making this film meant that the novice had to be transformed quickly into a seasoned professional. Robin worked seven days straight for 12 weeks. As a minor, the new “star” had to continue her studies with a tutor on the set and more learning sessions on Saturdays. On Sundays, recording or dancing demands took up the day. Veteran members of the New York film crew were dazzled by the professionalism of both Robin and her even younger co-star, 13-year-old Trini Alvarado. Both exhibited an almost non-stop flow of dedication, energy, high spirits and raucous good humor.

Robin Johnson lives with her older sister Cindy and their mother in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn, New York. Born May 29, 1964, Robin never gave any thought to becoming an actress until “Times Square.” Her inclination previously ran to sketching (“I’m not into landscapes; give me cartoons with some people in there.”) and, whenever the opportunity arose, banging on drums. And although she first started “dating” when she was 11, she’s not worried about permanent relationships at this point in her life. “I’m closest with my sister Cindy, who’s a year older. We’re both Geminis and I like to argue, especially in a friendly way.”

As do many young women her age, Robin can identify with Nicky’s rebelliousness and non-confirmity, traits which land Nicky in trouble with the law and into the arms of a concerned social worker. “Nicky can’t put things over on her like she does with others,” Robin 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 really want to work with him again.”

Robin perceives Nicky as a teenager, masking what she really 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 really 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 theater 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 Kool cigarettes (“Kools are cool”).

The closest Robin had ever been to a movie set before “Times Square” was when “The Wanderers” shot a scene down the block in her neighborhood. 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 rigors 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.

 

 

TS-82-30[/4]
1080 px (H) x 857 px (W), 96 dpi, 330 kb (image)
TS-28-28/7
1080 px (H) x 865 px (W), 96 dpi, 305 kb (image)
TS-79-28/8
1080 px (W) x 855 px (H), 96 dpi, 226 kb (image)
TS-42-11A/2
1080 px (H) x 855 px (W), 96 dpi, 276 kb (image)
black and white photographic prints, 8 in (H) x 10 in (W) (works);

1980
inscriptions: [on photos] TS-82-30[/4?]; TS-28-28/7; TS-79-28/8; TS-42-11A/2;
(on borders) TIMES SQUARE
AFD
©1980 Associated
Film Distribution

 

“TIMES SQUARE” STAR ROBIN JOHNSON IS A NATURAL IN SCREEN BOW, pp. 1-4
8.5 in (W) x 11 in (H) (works);
1080 px (H) x 840 px (W), 96 dpi, 293 kb (image)
1080 px (H) x 836 px (W), 96 dpi, 300 kb (image)
1080 px (H) x 835 px (W), 96 dpi, 293 kb (image)
1080 px (H) x 835 px (W), 96 dpi, 78.9 kb (image)

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+