In a fictional world as rich and mystifying as Twin Peaks, it’s easy to take the practical details for granted. While some featured props and decorations had to be both memorable and believable, others simply had to be present because their absence would be distracting. I recently acquired a small collection of screen-used odds and ends from one of the folks who made sure the audience would never see the seams, season two’s property master Jeff Moore. It has been fascinating learning about the decisions that brought even the most mundane props to the screen, like this one – the microphone to Sheriff Truman’s two-way radio.
HARRY’S MOTOROLA RADIO
The police radio mounted in Sheriff Truman’s vehicle in the second season featured a Motorola brand handheld microphone with a coiled cable. Though the microphone is used onscreen, we never actually see the unit it is plugged into.
Unfortunately, the label on the back of this piece that would identify the part number has been peeled off. However, in my digging, I did learn a bit about how these units work. The circular metal part that juts out from the back isn’t simply a means to mount the microphone when not in use, but rather an electrically active hang-up button. When the button is hooked into a grounded metal saddle, a circuit is completed that triggers the radio’s “squelch” function to mute the white noise on an inactive channel.
POLICE RADIOS IN SEASON ONE
Before we get to the Motorola’s appearances in the second season, we have to address the radios that precede it.
As Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman stake out The Roadhouse in the pilot episode, Harry radios for backup on Coop’s suggestion. It’s difficult to see, but this microphone appears to be black and more square than the Motorola.
The next time a two-way radio appears is in episode 1006, but it is in a different vehicle. Leo Johnson has his gun aimed at Bobby Briggs but is interrupted by police chatter coming from his truck. We get a clear look at the console, and a microphone that looks identical to the prop that Jeff Moore passed on to me! All the logos are taped over, but I thought surely this was the same handset.
Wrong! Jeff told me no police radios from the first season were left for him when he took over at the start of season two.
“The mic I had was mine and it matched what I saw onscreen,” he said. “At one point I had the whole radio, but it wasn’t from the first season…Leo’s was a bit nicer than mine.”
Though the tape covers the identifying text on Leo’s radio, I suspect it to be from the Motorola Micor series based on the color scheme and layout.
We return to the Sheriff’s Bronco in episode 1007. Harry uses his radio as he and his deputies corner Jacques Renault at the water processing plant. It’s impossible to see what microphone is in Harry’s hand in this backlit shot, but a coiled cable is visible from the back seat. I wonder if this is the black microphone from the pilot, the off-white Motorola from episode 1006, or neither.
MOTOROLA IN SEASON 2
Our next radio sighting – and the first confirmed use of the Motorola supplied by Jeff Moore – occurs in episode 2008 when Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman stop Leland Palmer for driving recklessly.
As Leland is about to show Cooper his golf clubs, Harry gets a call from Lucy on the radio. Though it is deep in the background, the face of the microphone is briefly visible. If the prop master himself didn’t tell me this was a different piece from the one used in episode 1006, I would not have believed it.
“All radios from Motorola were the same,” Jeff said, and he appears to be right.
Though a tighter shot of Sheriff Truman follows, his body is blocking the microphone itself and only the cable is visible.
The final appearance of the Motorola handset comes in episode 2013 as the Jean Renault sting operation unravels at Dead Dog Farm. We see the mic sitting on the seat of the Ford Bronco, but still cannot see the console.
Hawk calls for backup as Harry keeps his eye on the action.
I displayed several of my Twin Peaks props at the “Wild World of DAVID LYNCH II” event held The Mahoning Drive-In Theater in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. Event organizer Faye Dorsey took this photo of Michael Horse recreating a shot as Deputy Hawk from episode 2.013.
Several other police vehicles arrive on the scene. Jeff Moore told me that one of the things he remembered being concerned with was whether these cars would have their own radios.
“If another police-type car came to set, we asked [the transportation department] to make sure it had a radio because we only had one,” he said.
We never see a police radio in any of those cars, but I can’t overstate how much I appreciate the prop team for planning out every contingency, whether the audience would see it or not. Thank you to Jeff for passing this TV artifact on to me, and for sharing its history!
