The quest to identify all the Twin Peaks props continues with a look at a lighted picture briefly seen in episode 2.015. I stumbled upon this prop while searching for details about the painting in Big Ed and Nadine’s house. I immediately recognized it as I began my search for this picture well over a year ago.
APPEARANCE IN TWIN PEAKS EPISODE 2.015
The picture first appears behind Deputy Dale Cooper at Blue Pine Lodge in episode 2.015. Pete Martell returns home from a Hungarian-owned dry cleaners in Twin Peaks. He said it took 20 minutes to “get this stuff” as the only words he knew in Hungarian are “paprika” and “goulash.”
Pete hears the phone ringing so he hands over the clothes to Dale. At that point, we get a better look at the lighted picture.
As Cooper sets down the clothes, we see the bottom of the picture.
Deputy Dale takes fibers from Josie’s vicuna coat and her black, leather gloves while Pete is distracted in the other room. I thought it was odd that the photo looked so vibrant in this scene. It never occurred to me that it was illuminated.
IDENTIFYING THE PROP
One of my Google Image searches for “lighted painting” returned this photo. I jumped out of my couch when I saw it as I knew it was the same picture. The Pinterest link lead to a missing page on eBay, so I searched “Helmscene Lighted Picture” and found the following.
Proxibid had a link to an auction from June 2019 where the lighted photo sold for $10.00 (!!). Why can’t I find that kind of auction?
The lighted photo was created by Helmscene, a home decorative company once located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The particular picture is #112 – Bear Lake, Colorado.
Here is the back of the lighted photo.
I’ve been unable to find any additional information about the company but it’s safe to assume they are no longer in business. The did, however, make many of these lighted photos in the 1950s and ’60s.
BEAR LAKE, COLORADO
Bear Lake is an actual place along Bear Lake Loop in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. RockyMountainHikingTrails.com posted details about the spot:
The Bear Lake Loop in Rocky Mountain National Park is located at the end of Bear Lake Road, 9 miles from the turn-off at Highway 36. Due to the extreme popularity of the area you may want to consider using the free park shuttle to reach the trailhead during peak tourist season.
The aspen arrived in this area as a result of a large forest fire that took place in 1900. It burned for two months and its intense heat cracked granite boulders around the area. Many of the lodgepole pines at Bear Lake are dead as the result of a pine beetle infestation.
The mountain in the distance is know as Hallett Peak. And I now want to visit it to capture the same shot as seen the series.
HELMSCENE LIGHTED PICTURE AT WALLIE’S HIDE OUT IN EPISODE 2.011
As a footnote observation to this article, in March 2022, fellow Twin Peaks Blog author Vinnie Guidera discovered this picture appears in episode 2.011 when James Hurley meets Evelyn Marsh at Wallie’s Hide Out.
“While studying the background in a recent rewatch of the series, I spotted a familiar glow over Evelyn’s shoulder in episode 2.011 when she first meets James at Wallie’s Hide Out,” wrote Vinnie. “In the deep background, mostly obscured by a pole, hangs the very same Helmscene lighted picture found at Blue Pine Lodge.”
Curiously, this revelation means that both of the two prominent decorations in the Blue Pine Lodge pantry scene from episode 2.015 first appeared elsewhere in Twin Peaks: the Helmscene photo at Wallie’s, and the tree painting in the lobby of the Twin Peaks Sheriff Department.
You can see the ever-changing tree artwork found at the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department and briefly at the Blue Pine Lodge in this article.
I have the Helmscene lighted photo which is Twin Peaks at Blue Pine Lodge I think it is the same as the one in Twin Peaks episode 2015. I am thinking of selling it.
I am not sure if you are searching for one.