Allan Moyle at work

Posted on 28th January 2017 in "Times Square"

Allan Moyle directs Robin Johnson and Trini Alvarado on 42nd Street

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.

Frame grab from "Times Square"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.

 

 

[Allan Moyle directs Robin Johnson and Trini Alvarado on 42nd Street]
black-and-white photograph : AAT ID: 300128347 : 20.8 x 25.4 cm : 1979 (work);
45,35 auto_1080px.jpg
878 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 378 kb (image)

 

vlcsnap-2017-01-14-19h17m08s269.png
frame grab from Times Square
480 x 853 px, 96dpi, 522 kb

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

TS-C-22/27

Posted on 17th January 2017 in "Times Square"

Robin Johnson and Trini Alvarado as Nicky and Pammy dance down 42nd Street

I’m going to have to temporarily abandon my mostly chronological posting order, because I’ve recently obtained a few items that If I’d had them previously, they’d have already gone up.

Although, in all honesty, I don’t know where this would go. It’s a publicity still from AFD, in the fashion of the items from the US Press Material folder, but it has a copyright year of 1981. AFD was the company EMI and ITC had created to release films in the US, and it was in dire financial straits at the time and Times Square wasn’t helping. Times Square was long gone from US theaters by 1981, so there should have been no need to produce more publicity materials. Of the stills released in the UK, some are credited to ITC, some from Columbia-EMI-Warner, and the ones in the UK press kit had no information on them but the kit itself was credited to EMI. Why did AFD print this up in 1981? But since it’s American, I feel that chronologically it should have come before the items produced in the UK.

My copy here has crop marks; someone intended in cutting off the very bottom and an inch off the right to make it fit, but what they were making it fit into, I have no idea. There’s probably a magazine or newspaper out there with this photo, cropped like that, in it. If that should turn up, it might give us an idea of why, when, and where this was made.

The back has some writing on it as well, but I don’t think it’s significant. The same green pen from the front has written “58”, crossed it out, and then written “57%’. A different pen has added “172” and “25” in black.

If this looks familiar, it’s because I’ve posted a color version twice previously, which was originally scanned and posted by Cineplex; I don’t actually have a physical copy, but if you’ve been following me here you know it’s one of the images I believe to have originally been UK lobby cards.

Karen (DefeatedandGifted) has this photo without the crop marks, along with four more AFD stills from 1981. Up till now I was assuming that they were produced for the Australian market, but Times Square was released in Australia by EMI-ITC, so why AFD made any publicity materials at all in 1981 is still a mystery.

 

 

TS-C-22/27
black-and-white photograph : AAT ID: 300128347 : 20.2 x 25.7 cm : Associated Film Distribution, 1981 (work);
TS-C-22 auto_1080px.jpg
849 x 1080 px, 96 dpi, 319 kb (image)

 

©1981 Associated Film Distribution
Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

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photoplay, Vol. 32 No. 1, January 1981

Posted on 6th January 2017 in "Times Square"

Cover of Photoplay Vol. 32 No. 1, January 1981

The January 1981 photoplay featured a cover story on, what else, Flash Gordon.

It also contained a review of Times Square, attributed only to “M.B.”

Review of "Times Square" from Photoplay Vol. 32 No. 1. Text, by "M.B.": TIMES SQUARE Johnny LaGuardia...Tim Curry Pamela Pearl...Trini Alvarado Nicky Marotta...Robin Johnson David Pearl...... Peter Coffield Dr Huber...Herbert Berghof Dr Zymansky....David Margulies Rosie Washington...Anna Maria Horsford JoJo....Michael Margotta Simon....J. C. Quinn Roberto...Miguel Pinero Directed by Alan Moyle. Cert: “AA". Running time: 111 minutes. (Columbia-EMI-Warner) STORY — Nicky, a young punkette suffering from "anti-social behaviour", and Pamela, a misunderstood little rich girl who cracks up at one of her dad's political meetings, are room-mates in a psychiatric hospital. After a shaky start they become friends and decide to run away together. They steal an ambulance for their getaway and set up home in a derelict warehouse, just round the comer from Times Square. Following their plight is local DJ, Johnny LaGuardia. He encourages them as they rename themselves The Sleaze Sisters, sing a few anti-establishment songs, break up TV sets and cover Times Square in graffiti. They become cult heroines and organise a midnight rock concert in Times Square, but the police and Pamela's father are waiting. VERDICT — It's another of those movies about rebellious youth set to rock music. Sound familiar? Whereas Breaking Glass, Quad-rophenia and the like have managed to depict the subject fairly successfully. Times Square fails. It's too naive, the performances of the two girls are weak and even Tim Curry does little to liven up the proceedings. The soundtrack is reasonable, featuring music by The Pretenders, Roxy Music, Gary Numan and Joe Jackson. M.B.


M.B.’s review is atypical, not in that it likes the movie — spoiler, it doesn’t — but in that it goes out of its way to make the point that both Trini’s and Robin’s performances are “weak”. Most of the contemporary reviews were negative but they generally had praise for the girls’ performances.

TIMES SQUARE

Johnny LaGuardia…Tim Curry
Pamela Pearl…Trini Alvarado
Nicky Marotta…Robin Johnson
David Pearl…… Peter Coffield
Dr Huber…Herbert Berghof
Dr Zymansky….David Margulies
Rosie Washington…Anna Maria Horsford
JoJo….Michael Margotta
Simon….J. C. Quinn
Roberto…Miguel Pinero

Directed by Alan Moyle.
Cert: “AA”. Running time: 111 minutes.
(Columbia-EMi-Warner)

STORY — Nicky, a young punkette suffering from “anti-social behaviour”, and Pamela, a misunderstood little rich girl who cracks up at one of her dad’s political meetings, are room-mates in a psychiatric hospital. After a shaky start they become friends and decide to run away together. They steal an ambulance for their getaway and set up home in a derelict warehouse, just round the comer from Times Square. Following their plight is local DJ, Johnny LaGuardia. He encourages them as they rename themselves The Sleaze Sisters, sing a few anti-establishment songs, break up TV sets and cover Times Square in graffiti. They become cult heroines and organise a midnight rock concert in Times Square, but the police and Pamela’s father are waiting.

VERDICT — It’s another of those movies about rebellious youth set to rock music. Sound familiar? Whereas Breaking Glass, Quadrophenia and the like have managed to depict the subject fairly successfully, Times Square fails. It’s too naive, the performances of the two girls are weak and even Tim Curry does little to liven up the proceedings. The soundtrack is reasonable, featuring music by The Pretenders, Roxy Music, Gary Numan and Joe Jackson. M.B.

The accompanying photo is from the scene after the girls escape from the plainclothes detective chasing them through the Adonis Theater. I believe this is its first publication, but I think we’ll see a better quality version in the future.

Image of Nicky and Pammy, illustrating  "Times Square" review by "M.B.":

 

 

M.B., “At the Movies – Times Square” (review (document), AAT ID: 300026480)
photoplay, Vol. 32 No. 1, January 1981, p. 52 (magazine (periodical), AAT ID: 300215389)
29.8 cm (H) x 21.3 cm (W) (work);
1981-01 Photoplay vol 32 no 1_p01_1080px.jpg (cover)
1080 px (H) x 848 px (W), 96 dpi, 628 kb
1981-01 Photoplay vol 32 no 1_p52_detail_1080px.jpg (review)
1080 px (H) x 292 px (W), 96 dpi, 193 kb
1981-01 Photoplay vol 32 no 1_p52_detail_2_800px.jpg (illustration detail)
800 px (W) x 738 px (H), 96 dpi, 311 kb (images)
 
photoplay ©1981 The Illustrated Publications Company Limited

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+