In 2014, long-time Twin Peaks fans were treated to David Lynch’s The Missing Pieces, nearly 90 minutes of deleted or extended scenes from his 1992 theatrical release of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. One of those brief scenes included Dr. Lawrence Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) speaking with Laura Palmer via the telephone. I always felt Jacoby’s beard look awkward in this scene. As it turns out, it was mostly a fake beard as he was staring in a musical theatre production in Portland, Oregon around the time of filming in October 1991.
DR. JACOBY COULD PEAK ONCE AGAIN
Dave Jewett wrote a short article in The Columbian on October 1, 1991 about his role in the SRO Production of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” in Portland, Oregon.
Jewett mentions that Tamblyn had not signed a contract but could appear in Lynch’s new film. By this time, the crew was half-way through production in Washington state, which had began on September 4, 1991 at the Riverside Mobile Home Park in Snoqualmie (home to the Fat Trout Trailer Park scenes).
SHERIFF ED EARL DODD
Tamblyn played Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd in the musical comedy based on Larry L. King’s story about a Texas bordello which opened in 1844. Known as the Chicken Ranch, the house became the center of controversy when a news reporter announced on television that Texas had a whorehouse. The original 1978 Broadway production had 1,584 performances.
Director Greg Tamblyn (no relation to Russ) and choreographer Alex Pope staged this musical at the Portland Civic Theatre from October 3 through November 3, 1991.
“I’ve never played the part of an old crusty, cussin’ sheriff, told Lynn Matthews with The Columbian on October 8, 1991. “I’m having a ball. When I read the script, I was really intrigued and wanted to play the part. I’ve got some good one-liners. If I deliver them right, I should get some laughs.”
Director Tamblyn cast Russ in the show after staging a production of “West Side Story” in 1987. Tamblyn had asked Russ, who had stared in the film adaptation, to speak to the cast about staging. He asked if the actor would ever want to perform in Portland and Russ said, “Sure.”
This wasn’t the first time Tamblyn had appeared on stage. He played Professor Harold Hill in the Musical Theatre of Arizona production of Meredith Wilson’s “The Music Man” from January 3-5, 1986.
DISCUSSING HIS ROLE IN TWIN PEAKS
On October 8, Lynn Matthews published several articles about the “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” for the Columbian.
In the interview with Tamblyn, he shared his feelings about the then recently canceled Twin Peaks. The final episode aired nearly four months earlier on June 10. The last time we saw Dr. Jacoby, he was escorting Sarah Palmer to speak with Major Garland Briggs at the Double R Diner.
Matthews reported that Tamblyn was still “bitter about the series being taken off the air.”
“Do you know anyone who has a [Nielsen Rating System] machine in their home?,” questioned Tamblyn. “I’ve never met anyone who has one or anybody who knows someone who has one. I believe we had a much larger audience than the Nielsen ratings indicated. We drew people who wouldn’t have a Nielsen rating machine. Most of the fans I met were college kids, yuppies, intellectuals and people who watched the news. College kids watched the show in groups and they were never counted because each Nielsen machine counts for about 300,000 people. ‘Twin Peaks’ was a great show and I was thrilled to have a part.”
Like the article about a week early, Russ mentioned Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me stating he had not signed a contract but had read the script. He predicted it would be a smash hit (Editor note – just give it about 25 years).
“I have a small part in the film, but I haven’t signed a contract yet,” he said. “Right now, they’re filming on location and my part wouldn’t come until they go into the studio. If they don’t write my part out of the script, I will fly to Hollywood on my days off (Monday to Thursday afternoon) to film my role. They’ll have to paste a beard on my because I’m clean shaven as Ed Earl Dodd.”
According to the official shooting diary, the day this article was published, the crew was at City Studios in Van Nuys, California shooting the “Party Land” scenes.
But there it is! Tamblyn mentioned he didn’t have a beard because of his stage character Dodd.
CASTING DR. JACOBY IN TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME
According to an article by Dave Jewett for The Columbian on October 15, Tamblyn told the audience at the Friday, October 11 performance of “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” that he would return as Dr. Jacoby. This means his contract was finalized at some point between October 8 to October 11.
He joked with those in attendance that Jacoby may have a “thick accent because he using a Texas drawl as the sheriff” in the play.
Tamblyn mentioned he would need to fly to Los Angeles on Mondays through Thursday afternoons as those were dark days at the Portland Civic Theatre. This means he could have flown to California on either October 14-17, October 21-24 or October 28-31.
According to the shooting diary, October 14 had Roadhouse scenes filmed. Donna Hayward’s house interiors were shot on October 17. Jacques Renault’s cabin scenes were shot on October 21, and convenience store scenes captured on October 22. This means that Jacoby’s scenes could have been shot on October 15-17, 23-24, or 28-30. Without an actual production schedule, it’s difficult to confirm the exact date, but we know it’s after October 11.
The Columbian ran a short blurb on October 31 about the final performances of “Best Little Whorehouse” which included a black and white image of Tamblyn. It appears he had a mustache at the time, which could explain how the makeup crew completed Jacoby’s look for the film (the mustache was real while the rest was applied).
THE MISSING PIECES – DR. JACOBY CALLS LAURA PALMER
In both an early draft of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and the script dated August 8, 1991, the scene between Dr. Jacoby and Laura Palmer remains unchanged. The only difference is scene number, placing the final draft at scenes 187-188.
It’s an extremely short exchange between the two characters with hardly any action described in the scene.
The scene in Jacoby’s office opens with a close up of a carved mermaid figurine. I have yet to find a match for that prop. Above the carving are blue shoes.
The camera pans up to see two blue shoes.
Dr. Jacoby has worn blue shoes since the pilot episode where he was seen talking to two nurses at Calhoun Memorial Hospital.
We see them again throughout season 1.
He also wears them throughout Season 2. I’ve also not found an exact match for these shoes.
The camera continues panning up to see Jacoby speaking on a red telephone. I combined all three shots in Lightroom to create the image above.
If you look carefully you can see where his mustache starts and ends. The crew appears to have colored in the attached beard to look like the mustache extends down to his chin.
This is how he would have appeared in the pilot episode. The ring he wears in The Missing Pieces seems to be similar to one seen in the pilot episode.
It changes hands by episode 1.005. Also an item I’d love to identify one day.
After the call concludes, the camera continues panning up while “South Seas Dreams” by Angelo Badalamenti plays faintly in the background. Jacoby takes a drink from his cocktail umbrella-adorned glass.
MURAL OF SUNSET AT TUMON BAY, GUAM
The camera follows the palm trees at sunset mural first seen in episode 1.001.
The image collage above was combined in Lightroom and I filled in a few spaces with generative fill to get a better ideas of how it could have appeared.
It appears to be part of the same mural best seen in episode 1.007. I again used the photo merge feature combined with Generative fill to get a better look at the mural.
It looks like the mural was mounted on some kind of curved wall as seen in a combined image from episode 1.005.
I always thought the image was from Hawai’i, perhaps Diamond Head. But it looks like the sunset image could be from Tumon Bay in Guam. If you examine the postcard image above from eBay, the mountain’s shape appears to match the mural. In the episode and film, furniture or actors block the developed areas on the island outcropping, or the mural image could be from a time before the island was developed.
Most likely, the mural was probably sold in wallpaper stores similar to Gordon Cole’s mural from his Portland, OR-E-GON office from earlier in the film. I have yet to locate a match but I’m glad to know of the photo’s location.
More importantly, my suspicions about Jacoby’s awkward beard has finally been put to rest.
DANCING ON THE EDGE
In case you missed it, Russ Tamblyn has published a memoir titled “Dancing on the Edge” which can be ordered here.
He is also speaking at the Hollywood Heritage Museum on June 8 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Tickets are available here.
