Twin Peaks Publicity – Mädchen Amick on April 11, 1991

Time for another Twin Peaks publicity photo to kick off the weekend. This time, it’s a four-inch by four-inch black and white photo of Mädchen Amick dressed as Shelly Johnson. While researching this photo, I found the newspaper where it was published on April 11, 1991.

TWIN PEAKS PUBLICITY – MÄDCHEN AMICK ON APRIL 11, 1991

This square black and white photo of Mädchen Amick as Shelly Johnson was acquired in an eBay auction containing more than 40 publicity images. You’ll notice there are crop marks along the photo’s white border. The back of the image contained hand written words, “Amick, Madchen” and a date of “4-11-91.”

Crop marks are found on several publicity photos from this lot, similar to the Michael Ontkean photo I previously shared.

I quickly searched for “Madchen Amick” and “April 11, 1991” on Newspapers.com and found an article published in the Modesto Bee that day. Reporter Jon Burlingame briefly mentions Twin Peaks episode 2.019 (#26 of the second season):

“… Cooper and Truman puzzle over the hieroglyph in Owl Cave as the Miss Twin Peaks contest heats up on ‘Twin Peaks‘ (9 p.m., ABC)”

At the bottom of the television programming grid is the cropped image of Amick.

I’m beginning to think these publicity photos may be a part of either The Modesto Bee’s archive or possibly from Burlingame. More research will be required as a continue scanning and writing stories.

ABC TELEVISION PUBLICITY PHOTO OF MÄDCHEN AMICK FROM DEC. 1, 1989

According to additional research, this photo of Amick may have been taken on Dec. 1, 1989 during production of the first season. She was captured in a series of photos against a dingy white door while dressed in her Double R Diner waitress uniform and navy overcoat.

I have yet to find a full color image of the black and white photo above. The closest I located was this shot where Amick is looking slightly to the side.

There were both individual shots and images with co-stars Peggy Lipton dressed as Norma Jennings and Dana Ashbrook dressed as Bobby Briggs taken that day. This would have been around the time that Twin Peaks episode 1.005 was being filmed.

The ABC Television Publicity Department used the Johnson house set in Van Nuys, California as the backdrop. Notice the frosted glass and white door behind Shelly Johnson after she speaks with Deputy Andy Brennan during the episode.

The outfits Lipton and Amick are wearing are seen when they return to the Double R Diner from their day of beauty.

Ashbrook’s outfit is best seen when he goes to family counseling at Dr. Jacoby’s office.

This episode was filmed sometime around the week of either Nov. 20-24 or Nov. 27-Dec. 1, 1989. There were several scenes at The Log Lady’s home in Malibou Lake Mountain Club filmed on Nov. 22. It could be the publicity department grabbed the cast for these photos in between takes. Without production paperwork for these specific scenes, it’s difficult to confirm.

Nevertheless, it’s great to find where this square photo was published. I’ll happily add it to my growing collection of these iconic images. You can download a high-resolution photo on my Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/54492755305