Robin Johnson

Number 13 looks over Nicky’s shoulder down to the sparse crowd on 42nd Street. This shot occurs as the crowd is assembling when they first spot her, though; it grows to at least five times this size. Still not enough to fill the street, but bigger than what we see here. To the right is a Sleez Girl holding a sign reading “Na Na Na,” which was not shown in the film because it refers to a song that was Nicky’s favorite in the script, that was completely written out of the story during shooting. Evidently it was still in the script when the final concert was shot, but by the time they were done shooting it had become a callback reference to events that never occurred. There’s a better look at it in a photo published in the songbook and the inside of the British edition of the soundtrack, which also implies that “Ooga booga booga” was actually a catchphrase Johnny used on the radio. In the May 1979 version of the script, Johnny only says it once, although it’s during the “Your Daughter Is One” scene (the film replaced it with “Piss off”), not during the fight with Mr. Pearl. If it was said over the air, it was added after this script, and then removed again during shooting. A continuity error just like this that still appears in the film is “No Sense Makes Sense” on the side of the bus, and on the signs in the crowd, despite nobody but Pammy ever hearing Nicky say it.

The “Nicky for Borough President” sign barely appears in the film, but it absolutely should have had a close-up. In fact, it should have been what the girls used to catch Nicky when she jumped, then we wouldn’t have “Where did they get the quilt from so fast?” in our list of things about Times Square that make no sense if you stop to think about them.

Number 14 is the view from street level, which makes the crowd more convincing. It seems to have been a special for the German market, having only previously appeared in Bravo No. 21 and Cinema Vol. 49 No. 6. [Wait — between the time I wrote that and the time this was posted, I found out I’m wrong about that. Another previous appearance of this image is coming up…]

And finally, number 15 is the card that only appeared in the second set of these I found, appearing in place of number 3. Is Nicky pleading for her last, one more thing to say, or is she still singing her guts out? It’s hard to tell from this picture, which to my knowledge never appeared anywhere else.

U.K. Lobby Cards (post 1 of 3)
U.K. Lobby Cards (post 2 of 3)
U.K. Lobby Cards (post 3 of 3)