0 Comments

“… a pouty thrush named Robin lights up Times Square.”

Detail from start of an article on new celebrities of 1980.  Text:  ARRIVALS A “mogulette” cements her place in Hollywood. A good skate plays Heiden seek. A new Angel sprouts wings and replaces one who couldn’t Hack it. And a pouty thrush named Robin lights up Times Square. They’re just a few of the names who made it in ’80!

Detail from third page of an article about new celebrities of 1980.  Text:  Robin Johnson  Her pouting lips have earned comparisons with Mick Jagger’s. But only a year ago, Times Square bad girl Robin Johnson was just another teen hanging out on the steps of Brooklyn Tech high school with a dangling cigarette. That’s where a talent scout for the Robert Stigwood Organisation spotted her; he encouraged her to audition—and whammo!

RSO’s and AFD’s publicity departments were sure that Times Square would be a hit, and more importantly, that Robin would be the breakout star, and the Hollywood press agreed long enough for US magazine to run her picture as one of the new talents of 1980.

The photo is a crop of Robin from TS-72-8A/14 from the US Press Materials folder, which also appeared in the AFD Campaign Pressbook, on the UK soundtrack sampler, and as the cover of the Japanese soundtrack sampler.

Robin Johnson
Her pouting lips have earned comparisons with Mick Jagger’s. But only a year ago, Times Square bad girl Robin Johnson was just another teen hanging out on the steps of Brooklyn Tech high school with a dangling cigarette. That’s where a talent scout for the Robert Stigwood Organisation spotted her; he encouraged her to audition—and whammo!

The date of this year-end wrap-up issue was December 23. The irony that Times Square had likely already closed across the nation by the time Robin was heralded as an “Arrival,” is far overshadowed by a story on page 62, about the spectacular “Comeback” of John Lennon.

 

 

US, vol. IV no. 18, December 23, 1980
8 1/8 in (W) x 10 3/4 in (H)
(“Arrivals,” pp. 48-50
“Robin Johnson,” p. 50) (work)

 

©1980 Peters Publishing Co.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

“Special Preview of Selected Cuts”

[gallery columns="2" size="medium" ids="1682,1683"] This 6-track, white-labelled, white-sleeved record was used by RSO to promote the Times Square soundtrack in the U.S. As there was no art, it may be the most boring promotional item released. It would have been distributed to radio stations, and copies were later handed out…

Movie ad from a Bucks County newspaper circa. October 1980 showing times for TIMES SQUARE (1980) at several Budco theaters

TIMES SQUARE newspaper ad, Bucks County PA

[caption id="attachment_5734" align="alignleft" width="300"]  [/caption]I was hoping to be able to say, "And here's one of the last post's ad artworks in action," but this newspaper ad from a Bucks County, PA newspaper doesn't use any of the pieces from the two ad sheets. It uses a variation of the…

Tajms Skver – lobby card poster 2 of 3, Yugoslavia, 1981

      Another four "lobby cards", printed together on one poster, having been cut together and reprinted from an earlier series of lobby cards that I didn't have when I found these. Unlike the first one, I think we've seen all these images previously, but, I'll have more to…