Collecting Twin Peaks

A big fan of Twin Peaks, I’ve been collecting anything and everything associated with the television show and film for 26 years. I’ve got some cool stuff and some weird stuff (and some one-of-a kind stuff).

What's in the box?

Twin Peaks generated only a few pieces of official merchandise (books, T-shirts, cards, etc.), most of which were relatively easy to get, back in the day. Still, there were some goodies out there, beyond the official products.  These items were often unique, and fun, and worth having.

Twin Peaks was big hit outside of the U.S. and many overseas tie-in items were amusing and well-designed (check this one out). Promotional materials (press-kits, posters, free merchandise) from both here and abroad were rarer to come by and quite desirable (these pieces have always been highly-prized by me.) Finally, there were those very rare items such as props and cast gifts, which were extremely tough to find.  A lot of these items have been listed and discussed on Dugpa.com forums.  Check them out here.

As a collector, one of the most exciting aspects of the new Showtime Twin Peaks series is the prospect of new merchandise.  I’m sure we’ll get a new soundtrack and assorted books and calendars and such.  But how far will they go this time?  Will David Lynch approve things such as action figures, a common item for almost every series nowadays (I mean, if they can make Breaking Bad figures, surely they can make Twin Peaks figures.) Will there be Funko Pop figures? Card games?  Comic books?

All of this is possible and some of it is probable.  Although I strongly believe David Lynch will not want to dilute the brand, or diminish the magic of Twin Peaks by simply making it a commodity. (Lynch reportedly did not approve the 1992 Twin Peaks calendar, and it’s hard to imagine he will endorse something like a silly bobble-head figure.) Still, I’m certain some interesting treats are on the horizon.

To celebrate collecting Twin Peaks, I’m posting pictures of some of the cool and unusual items I have in my collection.

Today, I’ve got the New Line Home Video Promotional Box.  This unmarked black, cardboard box contained a T-shirt, a thermos and a coffee mug.  

The box was shipped by New Line cinema to video wholesale distributors who used them as incentives: video stores that ordered a certain number of Fire Walk With Me videotapes could get one of these special boxes.  

The mug is quite handsome: it is shiny bright red and displays the FWWM logo.  

The thermos is rather disappointing: it simple lightweight plastic container.  

The T-shirt is the most unusual item as it was “pine-scented.” (I should say, 25 years later, the pine scent is barely noticeable.) All the white areas on the shirt are embossed with a puffy, soft texture.

I don't know how many promotional boxes were made, or how many survived intact to make it into the hands of collectors.  I haven't seen one for sale on eBay in quite awhile. Fifteen years ago, a few sold online for about $100. I don't what, if any value, these boxes would have today.

BONUS: Fire Walk With Me matchbook.

This is a cool piece.  I don’t know where I got it, but I always thought it was the perfect promotional item for Fire Walk With Me.

Hope you like these photos!  More to come!

The Obscure Twin Peaks: The Twin Peaks Hotline (Episodes 11 & 12)

Here are the next two installments in the Twin Peaks Hotline: a service that allowed viewers of Twin Peaks to call and listen to recorded messages that would recount recent plot developments on the series.   The messages allowed listeners “eavesdrop” on Lucy and Andy (and a mysterious, unidentified voice) as they discussed what was happening around the town.

Episode 11:

Lucy:  Hello, Twin Peaks Sheriff's station, Lucy speaking.  Oh hi, I guess you're calling to find out what's been happening.  Well, I'm going to tell you!  All men in the world should be taken to a desert island and forced to eat sand!  If I ever meet another guy wearing an ascot, I'm going to--to--okay, Dick Tremayne is a weasel, a spineless, penny-loafing weasel!  If he thought he could buy is way out of his responsibility to me, well, he has another thing coming!  And--

Andy:  Lucy?

Lucy:  What!

Andy:  You have another call.

Lucy:  Hello?  Mom?

Andy:  Sometimes I figure you just need to talk to your mom.  I may have jumped over the fence before the horse started--uh--pulling the cart.  I think I was wrong about Lucy seeing other men.  Doc Hayward says I'm better!  And there's no reason I can't jump in the saddle, and gather moss.  Whenever I want.  I guess you want to know what else happened.  Uh, Judge Sternwood arrived.  He'll be handling Mr. Palmer's case.  Harry said that Leland will probably plead temporary insanity.  [Stat­ic]

Voice:  I'll try to stick to the facts.  Jean Renault has made a deal with Ben Horne--Audrey's life for Agent Cooper's, a simple clean exchange.  Jean also removed Mr. Battis from any further business dealings--point blank.  Agent Cooper should be very careful here.  Our visitor from the East, Josie Packard, has returned from her--shopping trip, and was welcomed home by her cousin Jonathan, a mysterious Asian man who's been sniffing around the Great Northern.  They seem to be making plans that don't include Sheriff Truman or the mill.  Jonathan also paid a visit to Hank Jennings to sever his relationship with Josie.  Hank agreed, of course--and is fortunate to still be among the living.  I do hope Donna is as cautious with her friend, Mr. Harold Smith.

Lucy:  [amidst static] --who told my mother?

Voice:  I better go!

Lucy:  Andy Brennan, you come back on this line!

Andy:  I--

Lucy:  Did you tell my mother about the baby?

Andy:  Not exactly.  She asked me how you were, and when was I ever going to marry you, and--

Lucy:  Marry?

Andy:  It slipped out.

Lucy:  Slipped?!

Andy:  Then she said that I should do the proper thing, or she would break my legs.

Lucy:  Oh no!

Andy:  I thought she liked me.

Lucy:  I have to go now.  Thanks for calling.  I'll be here next Sunday with more news.

Length of recording:  2 minutes, 33 seconds.

Comments:  This recording followed episode 11 by Jerry Stahl/Harley Peyton/Robert Engels/Mark Frost (writers) and Todd Holland (director).

Lucy's anger at men results from Tremayne's offer to pay for an abortion for her.  (She plans to keep the baby.) 

While Lucy talks to her mom, Andy updates the listener on various plot developments. Andy's comment about his being "better" refers to the impotency test that he "flunked" but was allowed to re-take.  (Although, he doesn't get his test results back until episode 12.) The mysterious voice then takes control of the line. Obviously, the quick recitation of facts fails to convey any of the story’s nuance, particularly regarding Harold Smith and Donna.

Episode 12:

Lucy:  Twin Peaks Sheriff's--uh, actually I'm over here in Tacoma at my sister's, helping her out because she just had a baby.  So I came out her to help and to clear my own head, which, as you know is a little clogged up at the moment.  I also got the name of a clinic upcomplete amateur.

here that can help you with decisions about ba­bies, and life, and what a huge mess I'm in.  So, I'm here, which means that I won't be at the station, which means the phones are in the hands of a

Andy:  Ow!  Hello?  Miss Zipman?

Lucy:  Andy?

Andy:  Lucy?

Lucy:  What are you doing on this line?

Andy:  I was talking about Miss Zipman about her--where are you?

Lucy:  None of your business!

Andy:  I've been looking all over--

Lucy:  So what's happened in town?  The caller would like to know.

Andy:  Oh.  Hi!  This is Deputy Andy.

Lucy:  They know who you are.

Andy:  Uh, Mr. Palmer got bail.  I did a drawing of his head, and it might go in the newspaper.  Leo isn't going to stand trial until he stops being a vegetable.  So I guess he's going to go home so Shelly can take care of him.

Lucy:  Poor Shelly!

Andy:  I don't even think she likes vegetables.  Lucy?  I want you to know--[static]

Voice:  This is all very interesting, but I don't think it's why you called.  Let's get to business.  Donna Hayward and Harold Smith have gotten quite friendly--so friendly, that with the help of Maddy, Donna tried to steal Laura's diary.  It didn't work; he caught them.  And now they're both in big trouble.  Ben Horne tried to play it fast and loose, setting Cooper up to get killed when he tried to rescue Audrey.  Cooper had other plans, and, with a little help from the Bookhouse Boys Truman and Hawk, dear Audrey is back and safe, with only a few casualties sustained by the rabble at One-Eyed Jacks.  Although thanks to Jean Renault, good old Blackie has bought the farm instead of the casino.  How we will miss her!  My time is just--[static]

Andy:  Lucy, everything is going to be all right.  Lucy?

Lucy:  Andy, are you there?

Andy:  I'm here.  I can hear you.

Lucy:  Is that you, Mrs. Zipman?

Andy:  It's me!

Lucy:  Andy, if you're there and not saying anything, like you always used to in high school when you hyperventilated, and had to breathe in the bag in French class--

Andy:  Lucy, I'm trying to tell you--

Lucy:  Unlucky in love:  my life story.  I'll be back next Sunday with more news if my life hasn't completely fallen apart more than it already has.  This is Lucy.  Bye-bye.

Length of recording:  2 minutes 33 seconds

Comments:  This recording followed episode 12 by Barry Pullman (writer) and Graeme Clifford (director).

Andy and Lucy can't seem to agree on the marital status of Ms. Zipman; twice Andy refers to her as "Miss," but Lucy calls her "Mrs."

This recording reveals how Andy knows French—he apparently took classes in high school.

There is no explanation of how Lucy--at her sister's home in Tacoma--answers a phone call into the Twin Peaks Sheriff's sta­tion.  Following recordings handle the situation more logically--Andy answers our phone call, and Lucy calls on another line.

The mysterious voice relates what is happening with Donna, Maddy and Harold, but doesn’t mention Harold’s curious reaction when he is forced outside by Donna--one of the most fascinating occurrences in the episode.  While much of the details of what happened in the episode is conveyed, any of the promised "new information and clues about events on upcoming shows" is completely missing.

The Obscure Twin Peaks: The Twin Peaks Hotline (Episodes 9 & 10)

Twin Peaks began its second season on Sunday, September 30, 1990.  Because of the show's complexity and serial structure, ABC television wanted to help viewers stay up-to-date on plot developments and so initiated the Twin Peaks Sheriff's Station Hotline.  Viewers could call a number and listen to a recorded message featuring some of the show’s characters.  Ostensibly, viewers were calling the actual Twin Peaks Sheriff’s station and “eavesdropping” on Lucy and Andy (and a few other Twin Peaks characters) as they discussed the recent happenings in the town (i.e., the recent plot developments).  Another character—a mysterious, unidentified voice—typically interrupted Lucy and Andy's conversations and relayed information about events they could not know. (This allowed for more detailed story updates.) Then the phone line would be “returned” to the sheriff's station.

Lynch-Frost Productions created the recordings, which were available by calling a 900 phone number.  The entertainment wasn't cheap—it cost callers $2 for the first minute and $1 for each minute thereafter.  Supposedly, parts of the proceeds were donated to environmental causes.

The recordings stand as an amusing sidebar to the Twin Peaks phenomenon.  The writing was in keeping with the tone of the series, including the alternating humorous (Lucy/Andy) versus serious (mystery voice) presentations.  Having Kimmy Robertson and Harry Goaz reprise their Peaks characters provided a legitimacy to the endeavor and made the recordings fun.  Additionally, Angelo Badalamenti's music was part of every Hotline.  The “Twin Peaks Theme” (“Falling”) ended most of the spots.  “Dance of the Dream Man” provided the background music to all of the mysterious voice segments except the final one, which used “Laura Palmer's Theme.”

Nevertheless, despite the oversight of Lynch-Frost Produc­tions and the inclusion of Andy and Lucy, the Hotline cannot be considered part of any official Twin Peaks canon. In Twin Peaks, every episode (with minor exceptions) comprised a single day in the life of the characters.  But in the Twin Peaks Hotline, these one-day accounts are presented as weekly accounts.  Clearly, this was done so that Lucy or Andy could tell callers to “call back next week.”  As a result, there was a strange, off-kilter air to the proceedings, as if everything has been stuck in a time warp.  Perhaps appropriate, now that you think about it!

Here are the first two Hotline messages.  Look for more in the coming weeks.

Episode 9:

Lucy:  Hello, Twin Peaks Sheriff's station, this is Lucy speaking.  Boy, has stuff been happening or what!?  I heard through the Meals on Wheels people--I used to help them on my days off--that Donna went to see this old lady whose little kid took her creamed corn and held it in his hands like it was just a bunch of corn!  Which, I guess it was, except it was creamed, and that is just about the worst food in the history of the world. Speaking of creamed corn, do you believe that story about Deputy Brennan?

Andy:  I like creamed corn.

Lucy:  So now you're listening in on my calls!

Andy:  I was not.  I was just walking by the phone, and it blinked. What are you talking about?

Lucy:  I'm trying to tell the caller what's been happening.

Andy:  The fire department had its annual hose race.

Lucy:  Hose race?!  Can we stick to business here?  Some of us are professionals. Then Agent Cooper showed Ronette the drawing of Bob, the man in his dream, and it was the man who hurt her and killed Laura Palmer. Then, Leland Palmer recognized him too from when he was a kid up at Pearl Lakes.

Andy:  Yeah, the third man at the train car.

Lucy:  Real quick, Deputy.

Andy:  Then Agent Rosenfield told Agent Cooper that his old partner, Windom Earle, has vanished.

Lucy:  Deputy Brennan won't be joining us for any more of this conversation, now will he? Hello?  [Static begins, then subsides; an unidentified voice takes over the line.]

Voice:  Hello.  Look, I gotta be quick.  Audrey Horne paid a visit on Emory Battis at One-Eyed Jacks with some ice cubes and a vacuum cleaner and found out her father is the owner. She tried to call Cooper but got caught by Blackie. Kids these days! Then Major Briggs told Agent Cooper that messages have come from outer space that say, "The owls are not what they seem." I think he took it quite well.  Ben and Jerry have the ledgers from the mill. They were going to burn them but decided to roast marshmallows instead. Hey, look, I gotta go. Oh, one other thing: I believe Donna is about to go visit this mysterious Mr. Smith. I think it's a mistake.  [Static returns to the line, then sub­sides.]

Lucy:  What the hey is going on with these phones?  Have you heard a word I said?

Andy:  I don't think you should be talking that way from the sheriff's station, Lucy.

Lucy:  Deputy Brennan, how nice of you to join us again.

Andy:  I wanted to say that Hank Jennings used to be a Bookhouse Boy with Harry before he turned to a life of crime.

Lucy:  Man, what is a person to think!

Andy:  Lucy, there's a smelt fry down at the VFW Friday. Do you want to go?

Lucy:  You mean those little fish that look like something you'd feed your cat?

Andy:  You get a whole basket.

Lucy:  How romantic! No thank you! Well, thanks for calling. I'll be here next Sunday with more information. This is Lucy signing off.

Length of recording:  2 minutes, 36 seconds

Comments:  This recording followed episode 9 by Harley Peyton (writer) and David Lynch (director).  It sets the pattern that would be followed for all but one message: banter between Lucy and Andy (and, later, Dr. Hayward), then static as a mysterious voice interrupts the call to give a fairly straightforward plot synopsis (with occasional personal opinions), then finally a return to Andy and Lucy.

Hotline callers expected to receive new information and clues about events on upcoming shows. The only new information in this first recording is the bit about Donna's visit to Harold Smith--all in all a fairly undramatic revelation.

One notable scene from the episode not mentioned in the recording is Maddy's vision of Bob at the Hayward home.

Episode 10:

Lucy:  Hello, Twin Peaks Sheriff's station, Lucy speaking. Oh, hi. I'm kind of depressed at the moment. Well, see, there's this other man I've been seeing, once, Dick Tremayne--he's in men's wear up at Horne's.

Andy:  Hello?

Lucy:  Excuse me, but you picked up the wrong line again, Deputy Brennan!

Andy:  Oh. I thought you might be talking about what's been happening.

Lucy:  No! We were talking about--Austria!

Andy:  I've been to Austria.

Lucy:  Oh, well then please continue since you're such an expert.

Andy:  Um, they have good, really good chocolate, and I bought a pair of these leather shorts, latter-hoses, that the trolls wear, and they gave me a rash, so I--

Lucy:  I think we pretty much covered this area. Thank you for your assistance, Deputy Brennan. I have Doctor Hayward on the other line. He will fill you in on what's been going on over at the hospital.  Doc Hayward, are you there?

Hayward:  I'm here, Lucy. Well, Ronette Pulaski was visited by the killer in her room. He placed a small, typed letter "B" under her fingernail and a blue liquid in her IV. Other than that, Ronette was unhurt. Nadine Hurley, with the help of her husband Ed's singing voice, has come out of her coma with no permanent damage. She does, however, believe she is a cheerleader back in high school and that the nurses are pom-pom girls.  As soon as Doctor Jacoby is recovered enough himself, we expect he'll be of great help in bringing Nadine back to the present.

Lucy:  Thanks Doc! Hello?  [Static]

Voice:  Hello. The doctor doesn't know what kind of games his daughter is up to.  She visited Harold Smith, Laura's mysterious friend. He gave her a flower to put on her grave. Affairs of the heart. I believe this Mr. Smith has taken a liking to Donna--as he did to Laura, whose diary he has secretly kept. Oh, and do keep an eye on the last of the Renault brothers, Jean. He plans to kill Agent Cooper, and dear Audrey is caught right in the middle. I think they're on to me!  [Static]

Lucy:  Doctor Hayward?  Are you there?

Hayward:  I'm here.

Lucy:  There's something strange going on around here.

Andy:  Hi, Doctor Hayward!

Lucy:  Andy, are you listening again?

Hayward:  I have to get to a patient.

Andy:  Bye, doc!

Lucy:  Deputy Brennan, has anyone seen that one-armed man around here since he had that fit and injected himself with something?

Andy:  No.

Lucy:  Boy, what a day! And to top it all off, Leland Palmer was arrested for the murder of Jacques Renault! Well, thanks for calling. I'll be back next Sunday with more news. This is Lucy. Good-bye!

Length of recording:  2 minutes, 33 seconds

Comments:  This recording followed episode 10 by Robert Engels (writer) and Lesli Linka Glatter (director).

Lucy's depression results from her lunch date with Tremayne in which she tells him she's pregnant, and his response is far from encouraging.

"The Voice" provides no new plot information; Renault's plan to kill Cooper is alluded to in the episode.  (The word "kill" isn't specifically used, but the context is clear enough.)

This is the only Hotline recording that includes Dr. Hay­ward.

The Obscure Twin Peaks: Theosophy and The Devil's Guard

The Dweller Upon the Threshold?

In The Essential Wrapped In Plastic, I include a quote from Mark Frost about the origins of the Black Lodge and other supernatural elements found in Twin Peaks.  Speaking to the British newspaper, The Independent, Frost explained that Dion Fortune’s Psychic Self-Defense was “exactly where I got the Black Lodge from. The whole mythological side of Twin Peaks was really down to me, and I’ve always known about the Theosophical writers and that whole group around the Order of the Golden Dawn in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century—William Butler Yeats, Madame Blavatsky, and a woman called Alice Bailey, a very interesting writer.”

John Clute writes about the origin and tenets of Theosophy in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: “The Theosophical Society is an occult organization founded in 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891).  Blavatsky claims to have been accorded wisdom by the Hidden Masters, who have resided in a keep in the heart of Tibet, in a holy sanctuary known as Shamballah or Shangri-La.  The Masters’ messages to Blavatsky are an enabling, highly paranoid secret history, given to her to (among other things) justify the existence of the “inner government of the world”, i.e., the Great White Lodge of the Hidden Masters.”

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a great many authors of high fantasy and weird fiction found creative inspiration from the Theosophical ideas.  These include H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Robert E. Howard. A lesser known writer named Talbot Mundy was also highly influenced by Theosophy.  In 1926, Mundy wrote a book titled, The Devil’s Guard, a pulp novel of high adventure and magic set in India and Tibet.  The book borrowed heavily from Theosophical canon.

Mundy constructs his tale around the struggle between the Black and White Lodges. He also throws in the idea of dugpas, bodily-possession by evil spirits, and the hallowed nature of the Dalai Lama. Many of these plot elements would find a new and wider audience when they re-emerged on Twin Peaks, sixty five years after The Devil’s Guard was published.

An Early Edition of The Devil's Guard

The first half of The Devil’s Guard is classic pulp adventure.  The main characters, Jimgrim and Ramsden, must make the dangerous trip to Tibet through blizzards and across mountains where they encounter bandits and conspirators, all of whom attempt to stop their entry into the country.  In the middle of the tale, Jimgrim and Ramsden are confronted by a menacing man who warns them not to continue their quest. This stranger seemingly appears out of nowhere.  Jimgrim and Ramsden soon discover that this man is known as a dugpa.

The dugpas, according to the novel, are master hypnotists who seek to take over the world.  They can “possess” the bodies (and minds) of others and easily dominate those with “weak wills.”  These kinds of people, the book states, “render themselves unable to resist the imposition of other wills on theirs.”

This explanation for the dugpas’ ability to possess others meshes perfectly with what happens in Twin Peaks. Leland Palmer was weak-willed and invited Bob inside him.  What’s more, Laura Palmer would have been targeted as a dugpa-host because, as The Devil’s Guard explains, dugpas control others by using “the self-destroying acts of whomever they would conquer.”  Dugpas will attempt to cultivate a person’s evil side.  The book elaborates on this point in a footnote, explaining that “sudden criminal outbursts of otherwise apparently sane people” can be attributed to possession by dugpas. Here, we see that a crucial piece of the Twin Peaks mythology—the possession of human beings by evil spirits— finds its roots in The Devil’s Guard (and by extension, Theosophy).

Dugpas, the book reveals, are agents of a place called The Black Lodge.  In Twin Peaks, Windom Earle also described dugpas as having access to the Black Lodge.  In fact, the dialog describing dugpas in both show and novel match exactly:  In The Devil’s Guard, dugpas are defined as “sorcerers who cultivate evil for the sake of evil!”  Earle, seen on an old video recording, explains, “These, uh, these evil sorcerers, uh, dugpas, they’re called . . . they cultivate evil for the sake of evil, nothing else.”

Earle continues:

“Now this, this ardent purity allows them to access a secret place where the cultivation of evil proceeds in exponential fashion, and with it, the furtherance of evil’s resulting power! This place of power is tangible and as such it can be found, entered, and perhaps utilized in, in some fashion. The dugpas have, have, many names for it, but chief among them is the, uh, is the Black Lodge.”

In The Devil’s Guard, much of what is revealed about the Black Lodge and dugpas comes from another of the novel’s characters, a mysterious Tibetan named Lhaten who befriends Jimgrim and Ramsden.  Lhaten knows as much as he does about the Black Lodge because he is, in fact, an agent of The White Lodge. This revelation establishes a very clear black-white conflict in the book and provides a foundation for the story’s plot.  This same foundation is used in Twin Peaks.  Major Briggs mentions the White Lodge to Cooper in episode 17.  In episode 18, Hawk provide more details:

“My people believe that the White Lodge is a place where the spirits that rule man and nature here reside.  There is also a legend of a place called the Black Lodge, the shadow-self of the White Lodge. The legend says that every spirit must pass through there on the way to perfection. There, you will meet your own shadow-self.  It is said, if you confront the Black Lodge with imperfect courage, it will utterly annihilate your soul.”

But the similarities between book and series don’t end there.  Lhaten explains that the White Lodge has a representative in the outside world -- the Dalai Lama.  In episode 2 of Twin Peaks, Cooper reveals he once had a dream about the Dalai Lama and the “plight of the Tibetan people.”  This dream changed Cooper’s life and ever since he longed to see the Dalai Lama reunited with his people in Tibet.

As the story in The Devil’s Guard progresses, Jimgrim and Ramsden eventually become trapped in the Black Lodge.  In the end, they must find a way to defeat their enemy (a former associate, now turned evil), and escape.  Battles and chases ensue and, unlike Twin Peaks, the novel concludes with a definitive ending.

Clearly, The Devil’s Guard could have been an influence on the creators of Twin Peaks. Mark Frost or David Lynch may have read the book long ago and it made an impression. We know, however, that Talbot Mundy was drawing many of his ideas from Theosophy, as was Mark Frost when he was crafting the second season of Twin Peaks.  Perhaps the striking similarities between Twin Peaks and the Devil’s Guard are mere coincidence, the two works simply share a point of origin in what John Clute calls the “enormous, entrancing honeypots of mythology, cosmology, fairytale, speculation, fabrication and tomfoolery” that is Theosophy.  Whatever the case, the ideas of the Black and White Lodges, and dugpas, and Dwellers Upon Thresholds, found new life in the mysterious world of Twin Peaks.  Will this mythology be further explored in the new Showtime series?  We shall see . . . . 

A Theosophical Symbol

(A version of this article first appeared in Wrapped In Plastic 3, (February, 1993). For more illuminating info on Twin Peaks, check out The Essential Wrapped In Plastic: Pathways to Twin Peaks.)

Catherine E. Coulson - An Appreciation

Catherine Coulson on the cover of Wrapped In Plastic 49

Last year, the Twin Peaks community suffered a terrible loss with the death of Catherine E. Coulson, who played the Log Lady (i.e., Margaret Lanterman) in the series, and in the film, Fire Walk With Me.

The Log Lady was, of course, one of the most memorable characters from the show.  She embodied many things about Twin Peaks. At first, she seemed to be simple comic-relief (evident from her first appearance, in the pilot, where she repeatedly flips a light switch on-and-off to quiet the large group of townspeople in the town hall). But her importance in the narrative grew as the series progressed.  It was soon evident that the Log Lady knew many things about forces surrounding Twin Peaks; that she was privy to secrets and arcane knowledge about “the evil in these woods” that no other character could ever know.  In effect, The Log Lady became akin to Tom Bombadil in The Lord of The Rings, a character who ostensibly exists outside the main storyline and who sees the world in such a unique and fundamental way that the exigencies of plot don’t really apply.  The Log Lady was free to enter and the leave the narrative at will, dispensing advice and secrets and warnings when she deemed necessary. (She even performed this role in the Georgia Coffee commercials, in which she confirmed the truth of certain matters and later instructed all the characters to “Watch” at a crucial juncture.)

The log image from Catherine Coulson's "business" card.  She often gave these to fans.

So important was the Log Lady that David Lynch essentially reimagined her as an ambassador of Twin Peaks when he created “The Log Lady Introductions” for a later rebroadcasting. These introductions have since become a fundamental part of the show—an essential element of the overall mythology.

Catherine Coulson embraced this ambassadorial role in real life.  She was a tireless advocate for the series, and was one of the warmest, most generous actors in the show’s vast ensemble. Anyone who ever met or spoke with Catherine Coulson found this to be true.  She loved Twin Peaks and she loved and appreciated the fans.  In one of our interviews, she told Wrapped In Plastic, “Twin Peaks fans are really wonderful.  They are very, very respectful people. They are polite, they are helpful to each other, they are just very a lovely and intelligent group of human beings.  It is a real pleasure to talk to them.”  Another time, she said, “What a wonderful thing to become a cult figure in your forties. First of all, I get to talk about Twin Peaks, which is a great world, and I get to talk about my friend, David, who is a great guy. He’s just a terrific human being. What more could a girl ask for?”

Catherine Coulson always supported the work Craig Miller and I did on Wrapped In Plastic. She actually promoted the magazine from time-to-time, going so far as to once mention us in Variety (which was a thrill). She understood our passion for Twin Peaks because she shared that passion. This may be why she was so approachable, why she understood the enthusiasm and love so many people had for the series. Yes, she may have been an actor on the show, but, deep down, she was also the show’s biggest fan!

When the full cast for the new Twin Peaks was recently released, I was most happy to see Catherine’s name on the list. What a great treat it will be to see the Log Lady again! Thankfully, she was able to participate in the new show before her untimely passing.  I don’t expect her part to be much (perhaps she will simply introduce episodes once again). But Catherine Coulson will be there—the Log Lady will be there—fulfilling her role as the indisputable representative of Twin Peaks.

“Watch.”

Catherine Coulson at the 1993 Twin Peaks Festival, Issaquah, WA.

The Obscure Twin Peaks: Reports and Notes about Unusual Twin Peaks History and Mythology

 Installment 1

Welcome to The Obscure Twin Peaks!  Joel Bocko was reading my new book and wanted to know more about the Florence Gould Seminar that is mentioned in the text once or twice.  Here’s a report about that event, which took place just one week after the airing of episode 14 (where Leland was revealed to be Bob).

On November 17, 1990, Florence Gould Hall in uptown Manhattan hosted a fascinating seminar entitled "Return to Twin Peaks." This was a moderated discussion featuring a number of Twin Peaks personalities. 

            The seminar was advertised in an issue of Soap Opera Weekly (probably sometime in late September/early October of 1990).  The advertisement was small and the seminar quickly sold out. (The venue only accommodated about 400-500 people.)

            On the stage, in the auditorium, stood four round tables with chairs, red table cloths, and candles.  The dim lighting, candles and Twin Peaks music playing over the loudspeakers provided an otherworldly ambiance to the room. 

            A group of people emerged from behind the stage curtain and took their places at the four round tables.  (Who these people were, and why they were there, was never explained. They were likely VIPs, lucky enough to share the stage with the Twin Peaks guests.)  An announcer introduced Mimi Torchin, editor of Soap Opera Weekly and an avid Twin Peaks fan, who would be the moderator for the upcoming panel.  She spoke briefly about the phenomena of Twin Peaks and then introduced Mark Frost, Jennifer Lynch, Dana Ashbrook, Wendy Robie, James Patrick Kelly, and Catherine Coul­son.

            Ms. Torchin provided most of the discussion topics and asked a majority of the questions.  Many of these questions were di­rected to Mark Frost and Jennifer Lynch.  Both talked about David Lynch, with Frost noting that he and David drank a lot of coffee as they wrote Twin Peaks. 

           

Program Guide for the Return to Twin Peaks Panel (with admission ticket)

(Note the misspelling of Catherine Coulson's first name)

A week earlier, the show had revealed that Leland, possessed by Bob, had killed Laura Palmer.  Ms. Torchin took a poll of the audience to see how many people had guessed the identity of the killer.  Over half the attendees raised their hands.  Mr. Frost provided a few details about the Bob plot, explaining that Leland did not know he was possessed.  He promised that more details about the relationship--and Laura's knowledge of it--would be revealed in the next few episodes. 

            Jennifer Lynch spoke quite a bit about her book, The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer.  She talked about the basis for the his­tory of Laura's life before she died and explained how she came up with some of the material in the diary.   Much of it, she said, came from consultations with her father and other writers from the show.  She also visited shopping malls to observe tee­nage girls.  When asked about home life with her father, Ms. Lynch told a funny story of how David once constructed a minia­ture volcano on the dining room table.  For weeks, the family had to eat around this model volcano.

            Dana Ashbrook (who nervously shifted in his chair throughout the seminar) spoke of his early acting career and noted that his older sister was also an actress.  Ashbrook thought it was funny that his character, Bobby Briggs, was supposed to be a punk and a jock combined.

            Wendy Robie, whose character Nadine believed she was 18 years old, said she hoped one day Nadine would notice the eye patch she wore and try to figure out what had happened to her.  Upon hearing this, Mark Frost smiled and pretended to make a special note in a pocket notebook.  Ms. Robie also revealed that the many figurines adorning the shelves of the Hurley house on the show were all disfigured or handicapped in some way (a one- legged dancer, a woman with an eye patch, etc.). 

            Catherine Coulson, after apologizing for not bringing the Log Lady's log with her, spoke of her long-time working relation­ship with David Lynch.  She recounted the now famous story of how Lynch, when working with Coulson on Eraserhead, said that he would someday cast her as a lady with a log in a television show called "I'll Test My Log With Every Branch of Knowledge."  She spoke more about her interpretation of the Log Lady, but was careful not to give too much away regarding the mysteriousness of the character.

            David Patrick Kelly spoke briefly about his character, Jerry Horne, and Jerry's relationship with Benjamin Horne, but had little else to say.

            As the seminar drew to a close, Ms. Torchin took questions from the audience.  Many people were eager for answers to puz­zling loose ends in the story and directed their questions to Mark Frost, but he revealed very little.  When asked why Sarah Palmer saw a horse the night of Madeleine's death, however, Frost explained that the white horse signified death.  Other particip­ants quizzed Frost on some of the show's possible errors, but did not receive any enlightening answers. (Frost was at a loss, for example, when asked about the discrepancy regarding Jacques Renault’s blood type changing between seasons one and two.)

            After only a very few questions from the audience, Ms. Torchin thanked the panel of guests for attending, and the semi­nar was over. 

(This is an edited and revised version of an article by Lorna Thorne that first appeared in Wrapped In Plastic #6.)

Get more interesting facts and history about Twin Peaks in The Essential Wrapped In Plastic!

The Essential Wrapped In Plastic Now Available on Kindle!

A few people have asked if my book would be available as an ebook.  The answer is--yes!  The Essential Wrapped In Plastic is for sale on Amazon as a kindle ebook.

The great thing about the electronic version is that you can search the text (the book does not have an index).  Now you can look for terms, characters, and people you might want to reference.  So, if you were waiting to get the book in this version, now you can!

(Right now, the kindle version and the paper version of the book are not linked on the Amazon site, so you need to search for the title in the kindle section.  Hopefully, the two pages will be linked soon.)