In a few short days, fans from near and far will gather in the Snoqualmie Valley for the second annual Real Twin Peaks event. One of the things I’m most looking forward to in this jam-packed weekend is joining my fellow Twin Peaks Blog authors Steven Miller and Jason Mattson on a panel with season two’s prop master Jeff Moore to discuss his work on the show. We’ll have a few screen-used props on hand, and this article contains one of them – Hawk’s screen-used name tag.
HAWK’S SCREEN-USED SILVER NAME TAG
A few years back, I acquired a small collection of props from Jeff. I was surprised to find this piece in the lot, as the deputies of the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department only wore silver name tags in the first season before Jeff joined the show.
Deputy Hawk’s name is canonically Tommy Hill, though the citizens of Twin Peaks all seem to know he prefers Hawk. Nevertheless, his name tag in the first season reads “T. Hill.”
The silver “T. Hill” name tag appears onscreen throughout the season whenever Hawk is wearing his jacket.
As Jeff remembers it, he inherited two sets of name tags from the previous season in both silver and gold, but reviewing the footage on VHS tapes made it difficult for him to see what was actually used.
Thankfully for Twin Peaks Blog, Blu-ray has since eliminated this problem. The prop identifications on this site would be far fewer if we only had VHS to work with!
After episode 1.006, the deputies’ silver name tags went the way of the myna bird.
GOLD NAME TAG
According to Jeff Moore, the prop department had a variety of new name tag options made for the second season. In addition to the previous format with the deputy’s first initial and last name, they had full name versions made in both silver and gold, and they even made one that said “Hawk.”
Ultimately, they decided on a slimmer full name format in gold, and Hawk’s reads “Tommy Hill.”
I look forward to digging into these details with Jeff on our panel at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, February 23, discussing what it was like jumping into a show with such a distinct look and expanding on established motifs. This panel is free to attend during Real Twin Peaks 2024. If you can’t be there in person, keep an eye on the Twin Peaks Blog YouTube channel for footage from the event.
