UK Promo Photos 4, 13, and 21, 1980-81

Posted on 25th May 2018 in "Times Square"

Typically, shortly before my last post was published (but weeks after I’d initially written it), five more stills from the UK series turned up. Two were duplicates of numbers 20 and 29, but the others were new to me. They follow the series’ general conventions of being black and white 8×10″s with no border, a handwritten number on a tiny square inset along the bottom edge, and a paper strip taped to the back with a typed caption.

This first one I’d been passing up for maybe nearly a year, since Robin isn’t in it and it’s essentially a duplicate of TS-117-13/15, although less cropped, but I picked it up along with these others when I realized it was might be part of this series.

 One of a series of black and white 8x10" photos distributed in the UK in 1981 to promote TIMES SQUARE (1980).  The caption taped to the back is likely the caption from a different photo in the series:  Robin Johnson is a runaway teenage product of the streets who dreams of becoming a rock music star and lets nothing get in her way to make it to the top in"TIMES SQUARE".  "TIMES SQUARE" a contemporary drama with music starring Tim Curry, Robin Johnson and Trini Alverado, is a Robert Stigwood Presentation, produced by Stigwood and Jacob Brackman and directed by Alan Moyle from Brackman's screenplay, based on the story by Moyle and Leanne Unger, with Kevin McCormick and John Nicollela the executive producers and Bill Oakes the associate producer. "TIMES SQUARE" is distributed by Columbia-EMI-Warner.

I have some doubts over whether it truly belongs in this series, though, first because the caption sheet taped to the back seems to belong to a different photo, and doesn’t have the photo number on it:

Robin Johnson is a runaway teenage product of the streets who dreams of becoming a rock music star and lets nothing get in her way to make it to the top in “TIMES SQUARE”.
“TIMES SQUARE” a contemporary drama with music starring Tim Curry, Robin Johnson and Trini Alverado, is a Robert Stigwood Presentation, produced by Stigwood and Jacob Brackman and directed by Alan Moyle from Brackman’s screenplay, based on the story by Moyle and Leanne Unger, with Kevin McCormick and John Nicollela the executive producers and Bill Oakes the associate producer. “TIMES SQUARE” is distributed by Columbia-EMI-Warner.

Robin’s not in the photo, Trini’s name is spelled wrong, and the film distributors’ names are separated by dashes instead of slashes. In fact, the caption is identical to the one on the caption sheet attached to this photo of Robin from the US Press Material folder, except for the typos and the addition of the UK film distributors. The strangest thing is, though, I already have a photo #4 from this series, and it’s of Tim Curry. Both these photos are unmistakably labeled “4”. I’m keeping them both until I find out if one or the other doesn’t belong. I suspect this is the one that should be categorized somewhere else.

The other two are definitely part of this series:

#13 appeared in Photoplay Vol 32 No 1, January 1981, and in the Japanese souvenir program book. A copy of this photo is probably the source of those images.

#29 looks to have been taken within seconds of a shot that appeared cropped in the center of Japanese program book and on a lobby card I don’t have (but Karen Dean [DefeatedandGifted] does), and this color shot. Like that last one, this photo as far as I know was never published and may be making its first public appearance here. It’s probably safe to say that any shot of the performance of “Damn Dog” in the Cleo Club, like the 35mm slide, was taken at the same run-through as this one. None of these shots are of the performance given for the take in the film, even allowing for a different placement of the still and movie cameras.

I promised in the last post, which went up twelve days before this one but was written two months before, that I’d post a collection of all the photos I have from this series once I had fifteen of them, and I now have sixteen, counting both number 4s. So, that will be the next post.

Previous posts referenced above:

Times Square Press Material folder (post 3 of 5)
Times Square Press Material folder (post 4 of 5)
Times Square UK Press Kit (post 2 of 4)
Photoplay Vol 32 No 1, January 1981
Times Square Program Book, Japan, June 1981 (post 1 of 5)
Times Square Program Book, Japan, June 1981, pages 12-13 (post 5 of 5)
“Damn Dog”
Aggie Doon

 

 

Times Square publicity still 4 [2nd version]
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (work)
Times_Square_UK_publicity_still_4_auto_1080px.jpg
864 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 368 kb (image)

Times Square publicity still 13
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (work)
Times_Square_UK_publicity_still_13_manual_1080px.jpg
864 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 423 kb (image)

Times Square publicity still 21
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (work)
Times_Square_UK_publicity_still_21_auto_1080px.jpg
866 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 432 kb (image)

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

UK Promo Photos 20 and 26, 1980-81

Posted on 13th May 2018 in "Times Square"

Times Square 8 x 10″ publicity stills from this series continue to turn up. The first ones I found, I didn’t realize where they had come from, but the UK Press Kit’s caption sheet that matched up with some of the numbers on the photos solved the mystery. Their distinguishing characteristic is a small handwritten identification number in a tiny inset square along the bottom edge. Some have “TIMES SQUARE” stamped on the back. These have captions typed on a strip of paper pasted to their backs.

Photo 20 is the most-used publicity still from the movie, with the exceptions of the headshots of Trini and Robin that were used for the North American movie poster and the soundtrack album cover. I listed its various appearances when it showed up in Film Review Vol. 31 No. 1. Not in that list is photoplay Vol. 32 No. 4, where it also appeared, three months later. This specific version, numbered 20, was used as half of one of the two-photos-on-one-print 8×10’s that had Robert Stigwood’s name misspelled. It would make sense if the other three of those images were part of this series, especially since the caption for this one is identical on both versions, but I can’t see any numbers on the others.

Photo 26 is making its first and only (as far as I know at the moment) appearance here. It was part of the UK series of stills, but not used in any other country, and never published in any magazine or newspaper. (That I’ve yet found, at least.) It was evidently taken at the same time as the shot of Johnny and Pammy used on the Italian lobby poster, which will also later be a German lobby card.

The captions pasted to the photo backs both include the text “A scene from “TIMES SQUARE” distributed by COLUMBIA/EMI/WARNER Film Distributors”, Columbia/EMI/Warner being the film’s distributor in the UK.

The highest number photo in this series I’ve yet found is 36. I have thirteen of them. If I get an even 15 I’ll put up a gallery of just them. Till then, you can see them in these posts:

Times Square UK Press Kit (post 2 of 4)
Times Square UK Press Kit (post 3 of 4)
“6”
the page you’re reading right now
UK Promo Photo #29
“34”
Nicky Marotta, 1980

 

[In the two months that elapsed between my writing this page and my writing this note, shortly before this post is scheduled to be published, I did indeed acquire two more pictures from this series, plus one more that looks like it belongs but has the same number as another photo… so they will go up as soon as I can get them ready, followed by a post showing them all at once.]

 

 

Times Square publicity still 20
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (work)
Times_Square_UK_promo_photo_20_manual_2_1080px.jpg
866 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 397 kb (image)
Times_Square_UK_promo_photo_20_back_1080px.jpg
858 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 92.7 kb (image)

 
Times Square publicity still 26
black-and-white photograph, AAT ID: 300128347
UK ; 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (work)
Times_Square_UK_promo_photo_26_auto_1080px.jpg
865 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 332 kb (image)
Times_Square_UK_promo_photo_26_back_1080px.jpg
855 px (H) x 1080 px (W), 96 dpi, 108 kb (image)

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

Record World, Vol. 37 No. 1729, September 13, 1980

Posted on 1st May 2018 in "Times Square"

Back cover of Record World Vol. 37 No. 1729, September 13, 1980, p. 126.  Text:  JUST RELEASED The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture TIMES  SQUARE A Robert Stigwood Production A 2-RECORD SET Featuring Music by... SUZI QUATRO, THE PRETENDERS, ROXY MUSIC, GARY NUMAN, MARCY LEVY & ROBIN GIBB, TALKING HEADS, JOE JACKSON, XTC, THE RAMONES, ROBIN JOHNSON & TRINI ALVARADO, THE RUTS, D.L. BYRON, LOU REED, DESMOND CHILD & ROUGE, GARLAND JEFFREYS, THE CURE, PATTI SMITH GROUP, DAVID JOHANSEN RS-4-4203 INCLUDES THE FIRST SINGLE: "Rock Hard" by Suzi Quatro DL-104 RSO Records, Inc. ® ©1980 RSO Records, Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the “new” items that turn up now are variations of things we’ve already seen. This Times Square soundtrack ad is identical to the ones shown here, but unlike those two it’s still attached to the magazine it was published in. It’s page 126, the back cover, of Record World Vol. 37 No. 1729 from September 13, 1980, a recording industry trade publication, which also has an announcement of the soundtrack on the front cover…

 

 

… and coverage of the soundtrack’s announcement at 1980’s RSO Convention, featuring an appearance by Suzi Quatro.

The most intriguing thing in the article, however, is this:

A forty-minute video presentation highlighting key scenes and music from the motion picture was shown.

There was a promotional video nearly half the length of the entire film!

This was published a month before the movie’s premiere, and only says the event happened “recently.” The five-and-a-half minute in-store soundtrack promo video contains many brief tantalizing clips of footage not in the movie… who knows what lost footage might have appeared in the RSO Convention promo video!

 

 

“Hits of the Week -Albums – “TIMES SQUARE” (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).” (article, AAT ID: 300048715)
“‘Times Square,’ ‘Shogun’ Soundtracks Previewed at RSO National Convention” (article, AAT ID: 300048715)
[Just released – the original soundtrack from the motion picture Times Square] (advertisement, AAT ID: 300193993)
Record World, Vol. 37, No. 1729, September 13, 1980, pp. 1, 9, 118, 126 (magazine (periodical), AAT ID: 300215389)
32.4 x 24.3 cm., 126 pp (work);
Record World Vol 37 No 1729 p126_back cover manual 2_1080px.jpg
1080 px (H) x 809 px (W), 96 dpi, 656 kb
Record World Vol 37 No 1729 p1_1080px.jpg
1080 px (H) x 808 px (W), 96 dpi, 217 kb
Record World Vol 37 No 1729 p1_detail_800px.jpg
348 px (H) x 800 px (W), 96 dpi, 401 kb
Record World Vol 37 No 1729 p9_1080px.jpg
1080 px (H) x 796 px (W), 96 dpi, 594 kb
Record World Vol 37 No 1729 p118_1080px.jpg
1080 px (H) x 784 px (W), 96 dpi, 563 kb
Record World Vol 37 No 1729 p9_detail_800px.jpg
800 px (H) x 596 px (W), 96 dpi, 401 kb
Record World Vol 37 No 1729 p118_detail_800px.jpg
800 px (H) x 761 px (W), 96 dpi, 409 kb (images)
 
Record World ©1980 RECORD WORLD PUBLISHING CO., INC.
Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+