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+

 

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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+

 

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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+

 

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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+

 

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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+

 

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

Posted on 22nd September 2018 in "Times Square"

UK Press Book for TIMES SQUARE, p. 8, with additional articles on the cast, part 1. Text: TIM CURRY ACTING RARITY -- SKILLED IN MODERN AND CLASSIC The performances of Tim Curry have displayed a remarkable range and dazzling versatility. A cult hero for his portrayal of the outrageous rock star in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show", Curry is'a classically trained actor with an impressive list of stage and screen credits. Curry now is starred in a contemporary role, playing an opportunistic, hyper-kinetic Mew York disc jockey who gives his all-night listeners a running account of the adventures of two runaways, in “Times Square”. Bom in Cheshire, England, Curry studied classical drama at Birmingham University before winning his first professional job to sing and dance in the original London cast of “Hair”. Shortly thereafter, he appeared in three Royal Shakespeare Company productions - “Titus Andronicus”, David Mercer’s “After Haggerty”, and as Puck in Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. In 1976, Curry was featured on Broadway in Tom Stoppard’s Tony Award-winning “Travesties”. Tim Curry’s film roles also include Jerzy Skolimowski’s “The Shout”, which won the 1978 Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was featured that year in the New York Film Festival. For the BBC-TV, Curry played the title role in a six-part series, “The Life of Shakespeare", and appeared in "Three Men in a Boat", Stoppard's adaptation of a Victorian comedy classic. Curry is an accomplished singer and songwriter with two successful rock albums, “Read My Lips" and “Fearless”, to his credit His third album is to be released later this year. “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, 15-year-old Robin Johnson was discovered by an (unknown) casting scout on the lookout for possible candidates for the leading role in “Times Square”. “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 centres, punk rock clubs, and placed ads in papers such as the Village Voice, Soho News, and Aquarian. “We are looking for someone who WAS Nicky", Moyle admits. “Robin is definitely not that doomed child. Luckily for the film, Robin brought a lot more humour to the character than what I had originally envisioned. Her youthful innocence and energy boost 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 programme 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, 12-year-old Trini Alvarado. Both exhibited an almost non-stop flow of dedication, energy, high spirits and raucous good humour. 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-conformity, 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 TRINI ALVARADO-SHOW BUSINESS “PRO” AT 13 Most 13-year-old girls spend their waking hours contemplating that cute boy in school, the newest Andy Gibb record or when they’ll wear their first pair of high heels. But not Trini Alvarado, who has been deep into the psyche of runaway Pamela Pearl, the girl she portrays in "Times Square”, an October release from AFD (Associated Film Distribution). Sitting on an abandoned Manhattan waterfront pier -- one of the many diverse “Times Square” locations -- Trini concentrated on her scenes for one of the most challenging roles she will experience in her still-young screen career. Following a sensational film debut in Robert Altman’s “Rich Kids", Trini was cast as a teenage runaway in “Times Square". Her character, Pamela Pearl, is the only child of a widower-father whose career as a rising young politician makes him insensitive to his daughter’s growing pains. Pamela is withdrawn, inhibited, convinced that she is awkward, ugly and unable to express herself verbally. The role is beautifully realised, but the actress herself is hardly the image of that withdrawn, rebellious teenager. Trini was a “show biz” baby. Her father, who came to this country from Spain, is a classical singer and guitarist, and her mother is a flamenco dancer. Trini’s earliest memories include performing songs and dancing in nightclubs with the entire family. “It was always like a party”, she recalls. Trini first appeared on Broadway in the Tony-nominated musical “Runaways", and then in the film “Rich Kids”, for which she also sang the theme song. Now, in “Times Square", Trini encores her singing and dancing. “She’s so good”, one of the film’s creative personnel observed, “that we held to work hard to make Trini look a little awkward. After all, her character of Pamela is at that stage where she feels disconnected with her body. We had to disguise the fact that Trini’s a trained dancer." An added bonus for Trini on “Times Square” was the friendship she formed with co-star Robin Johnson. “Casting is a risky business", commented director Alan Moyle, "and we certainly looked everywhere before going with Trini and Robin. But you can’t predict how two people will relate on the screen, until you see it. The chemistry that we have up there is larger-than-life, but truly a reflection of how well the two girls got along during

 

 

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”?

 

 

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);
TIMES_SQUARE_UK_Pressbook_p08_1080px.jpg
1080 x 837 px, 96 dpi, 618 kb
TIMES_SQUARE_UK_Pressbook_p09_1080px.jpg
1080 x 841 px, 96 dpi, 700 kb
TIMES_SQUARE_UK_Pressbook_p10_1080px.jpg
1080 x 835 px, 96 dpi, 671 kb
TIMES_SQUARE_UK_Pressbook_p11_1080px.jpg
1080 x 835 px, 96 dpi, 523 kb
TIMES_SQUARE_UK_Pressbook_p12_1080px.jpg
1080 x 844 px, 96 dpi, 466 kb (images)

 
Times Square©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

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Times Square UK Pressbook, 1980-81, pages 1-5

Posted on 10th September 2018 in "Times Square"

UK Press Book, cover Text: "GO SLEAZE!" ... IN TIMES SQUARE TIMES SQUARE EMI A Member of the THORN EMI Group.

I’d given up all hope of ever finding one of these when, bam, two of them turn up. It’s the EMI version of the pressbook issued in the USA by AFD. It’s shorter in page count, but larger in size, and printed in color on heavier, glossier paper.

It doesn’t include all the articles suggesting inventive ways to promote the movie at your theater, but does include the articles describing the cast and filmmakers. In fact, it includes more about the producers than the AFD pressbook did (which was nothing at all). Most of the text is directly from the US press kit.

The UK press kit didn’t include a synopsis of the movie, but there was a sheet distributed with the credits and a synopsis that was different from the one in the US press kit and pressbook. That sheet is essentially reproduced on pages 2 and 3 here, with translations of the synopsis into French and Spanish. This synopsis includes the scene of Nicky attacking “roadies” from the disco with her switchblade, which appeared in the May 1979 draft of the screenplay, but was never filmed as the scene and Nicky’s character had changed in the meantime.

On pages 4 and 5, the capsule bios of Robin, Trini, Tim Curry, Allan Moyle, Jacob Brackman, John Nicollela, and Bill Oakes, and the half-page on Robert Stigwood, all come word-for-word from the US press kit. The equivalent bios in the UK press kit are worded differently. None of the text so far, other than the film and music credits, appeared in the US pressbook.

 

The shot of Tim Curry on page 4 is cropped from TS-66-28/8 which was distributed in the US press kit and appeared on page 4 of the US pressbook. The shot of Robin as Nicky is not from the film, but was taken at the time of shooting, and as far as I know never appeared anywhere else. The shot of Trini as Pammy dancing in the Cleo Club looks damned familiar, but I only seem to have this unpublished shot that was taken seconds before or after. There are at least two other shots from this moment but neither are this one. I may have finally accumulated so much Times Square stuff that I just can’t keep track of it all despite my best efforts.

If there’s any huge outcry to read the text, I’ll edit this post to add it.

 

 

Times Square pressbook, pp. 1-5
UK : pressbook (theatre manual) : AAT ID: 300213184 : 35.7 x 27.8 cm. : 1980 (work);

TIMES_SQUARE_UK_Pressbook_p01_1080px.jpg
1080 x 841 px, 96 dpi, 398 kb
TIMES_SQUARE_UK_Pressbook_p02_1080px.jpg
1080 x 830 px, 96 dpi, 472 kb
TIMES_SQUARE_UK_Pressbook_p03_1080px.jpg
1080 x 842 px, 96 dpi, 472 kb
TIMES_SQUARE_UK_Pressbook_p04_1080px.jpg
1080 x 839 px, 96 dpi, 704 kb
TIMES_SQUARE_UK_Pressbook_p05_1080px.jpg
1080 x 836 px, 96 dpi, 680 kb (images)
 
Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

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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+

 

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Times Square Program Book, Japan, June 1981, pages 14-19 (post 3 of 5)

Posted on 14th March 2018 in "Times Square"

As before, I have no clue as to the text, but the image on page 14 of the Japanese souvenir program for Times Square is another frame from the movie. The photo of Pammy and Nicky on page 15 is the promotional shot which was used for the cover of the Italian “Help Me!” single, and as the illustrations on the soundtrack album’s paper sleeves. The color shot of Johnny and Pammy on page 15, accompanied for some reason by a button featuring black and white hands cradling a dove, looks like a frame from the film, but isn’t. It will turn up later as a lobby card in Germany. For some reason, it’s reversed.

Both photos on page 17 are frames from the film. The photo of the Sleez Girls on page 18, featuring coulda-been-Nicky Zoe Lund, is a frame from the film, but the shot of Nicky just below is a promotional photo that previously appeared in Joepie No. 365. And Pammy and Nicky dancing at each other in the Cleo Club on page 19 is a shot that had been used as a UK lobby card. Whether they were really “honoring America” is a question only they, and perhaps the Japanese, could answer.

Look again at the photo on page 14, and compare it to the frame capture below. There’s a bit more at the bottom, and lot more at the top, of the photo in the program book. This is the first evidence I’ve seen that Times Square was shot “full-frame;” the entire frame of the 35mm film was exposed with a normal lens, and its widescreen aspect ratio achieved by matting the top and bottom when the prints were made. If it was shot so the extra space was clean of production detritus, a film shot that way could be shown on television using that full frame instead of making a pan-and-scan version and losing the sides of the image. It’s been decades since I’ve seen a television-formatted version of Times Square. Does anyone know if the TV/video print was full frame or pan-and-scan? Because if it was full frame, that would be worthy of preservation in its own right.

Closest frame from <strong>Times Square</strong> to the photo on page 16 of the Japanese program book.

Closest frame from Times Square to the photo on page 16 of the Japanese program book.

 

 

Times Square program book, pp. 14-19
Japan : souvenir program : AAT ID: 300253341 : 29.4 x 20.5 cm. : 1981 (work);

Press Book Japan 1981_14_1080px.jpg
Press Book Japan 1981_15_1080px.jpg
Press Book Japan 1981_16_1080px.jpg
Press Book Japan 1981_17_1080px.jpg
Press Book Japan 1981_18_1080px.jpg
Press Book Japan 1981_19_1080px.jpg
96 dpi (images)
©1980 Butterfly Valley N. V.
 
vlcsnap-2018-01-14-20h03m40s089.jpg
vlcsnap-2018-01-14-19h55m01s851.jpg
vlcsnap-2018-01-14-20h08m42s834.jpg
vlcsnap-2018-01-14-20h06m54s669.jpg
vlcsnap-2018-01-14-20h14m05s134.jpg
608 x 1080px, 96dpi (contrast-adjusted frame captures from Times Square (1980))

 

Times Square©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

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Times Square Program Book, Japan, June 1981 (post 1 of 5)

Posted on 18th February 2018 in "Times Square"

1981 Japanese program book for TIMES SQUARE (1980), p.1 (cover)

This was almost certainly aimed at theatergoers and not the press, but I can’t be 100% certain, since as I’ve noted before, Google Translate makes a total hash of Japanese, and I don’t have the funds to have it professionally translated. (If anyone wants to help on that score, by donating some dough or a homemade translation, I’d be too happy to accept.)

 

It’s a very slick publication and gives the impression that EMI and Towa expected the movie to do well in Japan. I don’t know if it was any more successful there than in the rest of the world, though. It’s most impressive due to the many photos in it that were published nowhere else (as far as I know, as of this writing [and even as I’m writing this, I’m finding previously published examples]), and its use of misapplied pseudo-Americanisms, also present on the Japanese movie poster and promotional flyer.

 

The cover features the image most prominently seen on the picture sleeve for Roxy Music’s “Same Old Scene” Japanese single, released as a Times Square tie-in. The image also appeared in the press folder, on the inside of the soundtrack album, in the songbook, and in Movie 81 No. 2. The other shot, of Nicky and Pammy atop the Times Square Theatre marquee, previously appeared also in Movie 81 No. 2, and as a UK lobby card. The logo is a redesign of the US one, now incorporating a pair of portable headphones.

 

The inside front cover features a photo that had previously appeared, cropped differently and much smaller, in photoplay Vol. 32, No. 1.

The first small photo on the title page appeared, cropped much differently and in color, in the previously mentioned Movie 81 No. 2. The other led off the “interview” with Robin in Joepie No. 365, also in color.

Page 4 is a photo that had been a UK lobby card.

The small inset on page 5 had appeared in color in both Film Review Vol. 31 No. 1 and Movie 81 No 2. The larger photo is a first, I think: an actual frame from the movie (shown below). All the previously published photos had been stills taken at the time of shooting, or during pre-take run-throughs, none of which match up precisely with any similar images from the movie. The Yankees logo was probably there as a token of American and New York authenticity, and I’d bet appeared without the payment of any applicable license fees.

On page 6, the shot with Jay Acovone as the plainclothes cop, and the large photo of Mr. Pearl watching Pammy in the Cleo Club, are making their first, and possibly only, appearances here. The shot of Nicky with her guitar in the hideout is making its first appearance, but will turn up later in color. And the inset of Nicky singing Damn Dog had seen print in color in Joepie No. 365.

On page 7, the shot from the concert in Times Square had appeared on the sleeve for the UK soundtrack sampler. Nicky kneeling on the theater marquee with Pammy standing behind her, is similar to others that had already seen print but is making its first appearance here. The shot of Nicky and Pammy squeegeeing windshields is another frame from the film (!). And the “Burn Pot Not People” button probably signaled “American subculture” to a Japanese audience, but the most generous I could be is that it might be an unfortunate leftover from an early draft of the script, which I doubt anyone involved in making this program book had any knowledge of.

This booklet is 24 pages in total. Another batch of pages next time.

 

 

Times Square program book, p. 1-7
Japan : souvenir program : AAT ID: 300253341 : 29.4 x 20.5 cm. : 1981 (work);

Press Book Japan 1981_1_1080px.jpg
Press Book Japan 1981_2_1080px.jpg
Press Book Japan 1981_3_1080px.jpg
Press Book Japan 1981_4_1080px.jpg
Press Book Japan 1981_5_1080px.jpg
Press Book Japan 1981_6_1080px.jpg
Press Book Japan 1981_7_1080px.jpg
96 dpi (images)
©1980 Butterfly Valley N. V.
 
vlcsnap-2017-12-25-13h28m27s734_1080px.jpg
vlcsnap-2017-12-25-14h50m18s056_1080px.jpg
608 x 1080px, 96dpi (contrast-sdjusted frame captures from Times Square (1980))

 

Times Square ©1980 StudioCanal/Canal+

 

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