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Apparently, in 1980, RSO sent this videotape to record retailers to play in-store to promote the soundtrack to Times Square. It features the two songs performed in the film, “Your Daughter Is One” and “Damn Dog.” The fact that the lyrics to “Your Daughter Is One” consist primarily of curse words and racial slurs guaranteed that it would never be played in any store for more than thirty seconds. The fact that nobody at RSO, from the tape’s conception to its distribution, realized that would happen, boggles the mind.
 

 

The middle portion of the tape is an edit of the dance the girls do along 42nd Street to “Life During Wartime” by Talking Heads. Much of this sequence is made up of shots that do not actually appear in the film; unfortunately here they’re only four or five frames long. Even more unfortunately, this digitization is at such low resolution that individual frames turn into pretty smears of color.
 

This video was originally digitized and uploaded on February 24 2012 by “PsychoticNorman”. I’ve offered to buy or borrow the tape to make a higher quality transfer, but have not received a reply. I have fixed the aspect ratio and brightened and sharpened the image a little. You can see PsychoticNorman’s original upload here. My file is technically at a higher resolution, but that’s an artifact of my editing software refusing to save at the small resolution of the original file. I’ve tried to make it easier to look at, but there isn’t really any more detail.

 

 

 

TIMES SQUARE soundtrack promotional video (trailer (motion picture) AAT ID: 300263866), videotape promoting the film and soundtrack for use in record stores, 5:29 (work); H264 – MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (avc 1), 480 px (W) x 386 px (H), 19.4 MB (video); MPEG AAC (mp4a) stereo 48000 Hz (audio)
(video modified 25 December 2015 from the file digitized by PsychoticNorman at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S38UzHtkmeA)

 

RSO Promo Video Image4.png, RSO Promo Video Image5.png, RSO Promo Video Image15.png, RSO Promo Video Image17.png, RSO Promo Video Image21.png, RSO Promo Video Image22.png: frame captures from “TIMES SQUARE soundtrack promotional video”, 655 px (W) x 486 px (H), 72 dpi (images)

 

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First two pages of a three-page article about TIMES SQUARE (1980). [Text:] TIMES SQUARE EL MUSICAL DE LAS "TEEN-AGERS” «Times Square» es el corazón de Manhattan, la isla donde se asienta parte de la fantástica urbe neoyorkina. También es el nombre del último musical producido por Robert Stigwood, en cuyo currículum profesional hay títulos teatrales como «Hair», «Jesús Christ Superstar», «Pippin», «Oh! Calcuttal», «Evita» y «Sweeney Todd», y cinematográficos como «Jesús Christ Superstar», «Tommy», «Fiebre del sábado noche», «Grease» y «Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band». Toda una garantía a la hora de presentar este último musical «Times Square». Robín Johnson y Trini Alvarado Trini Alvarado Las adolescente en la noche neoyorkina La escapada del hospital psiquótrico Robín Johnson Una oportunidad para ambas de expresarse. [Translation:] TIMES SQUARE THE MUSICAL OF THE "TEENAGERS" "Times Square" is the heart of Manhattan, the island where part of the fantastic New York City sits. It is also the name of the latest musical produced by Robert Stigwood, in whose professional curriculum are theatrical titles such as "Hair", "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Pippin", "Oh! Calcutta!", "Evita" and "Sweeney Todd", and movies such as "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Tommy", "Saturday Night Fever", "Grease" and "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band". A guarantee when presenting this latest musical "Times Square". Robín Johnson and Trini Alvarado Trini Alvarado Teenage girls in New York night The escape from the mental hospital Robin Johnson A chance for both of us to express ourselves.

Fotogramas No. 1650, March 25, 1981

    Two months before Times Square opened in Spain, the film magazine Fotogramas ran the same kind of promotional article we've seen in Mexico, Thailand, and Germany. The article contains nothing new, but four of the six stills from the film never appeared anywhere else as far as I…

Film Review, Vol. 31 No. 1, January 1981

[caption id="attachment_2973" align="alignright" width="211"] 22TIMES SQUAREThe adventures of two teenage girls (Robin Johnson and Trini Alvarado) and the all-night Times Square radio personality (Tim Curry) who gives a boost to their dream of rock stardom.[/caption] "With an off-beat beauty all her own, and an engaging rasping singing voice, Ms Johnson…