‘Wrapped In Plastic’ – Julee Cruise Write-In Contest, April 1994

When one sets out to collect Twin Peaks memorabilia, the logical place to start is Wrapped In Plastic magazine. This definitive fan publication dutifully covered Twin Peaks and adjacent media from 1992 to 2005. Throughout their 75 issue run, editors John Thorne and Craig Miller arranged several contests where readers could write in to win back issues of the magazine signed by the stars interviewed within. In 1994, four lucky readers received copies of issue #7 signed by Roadhouse singer Julee Cruise.

WRAPPED IN PLASTIC #7

Wrapped In Plastic #7 was published in October 1993 and coincided with the release of Julee Cruise’s second album, “The Voice of Love,” produced by Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch. The cover featured an image of Julee singing on the Roadhouse stage bathed in blue light, as seen in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

Thanks to the shooting diary of Charlotte Fraisse, we know this scene was filmed in Van Nuys, CA on October 14, 1991. As fellow Twin Peaks Blog author Steven Miller uncovered in a recent article, Julee was flown in for a single day of filming as she was performing in an off-Broadway production of “Return to the Forbidden Planet” at the time and couldn’t miss a show.

Issue #7 included a contest to win items autographed by Julee, but not magazines. In conjunction with her interview discussing the new album, Warner Bros. Records provided signed copies of both “Floating Into the Night” and “The Voice of Love” for Wrapped In Plastic to give away to readers. The team found Julee and her representatives open and agreeable. As was their policy with the many creatives they interviewed, Julee was added to the publisher’s comp list and received a copy of each issue going forward. The door was open for future collaboration.

Issue #10 was published in April 1994 and featured the magazine’s third write-in contest. Fans would answer challenging trivia questions for a chance to win copies of issue #7 signed by Julee Cruise, and one grand prize winner would also win issues #3 and #5 signed by Frank Silva and Catherine Coulson respectively. Winners were announced in August 1994 when issue #12 was published.

Thirty years later, I stumbled upon one of these signed magazines on eBay. Though I did have the pleasure of meeting Julee Cruise once in 2016, I didn’t have the foresight to bring her issue of Wrapped In Plastic with me, so I jumped at the chance to pick this up. Much to my surprise, a letter from Craig Miller was tucked within the pages.

Sadly, Craig passed away in 2012. With Julee Cruise gone, this was already a special piece to add to my Twin Peaks collection, but this letter from Craig is more than provenance for a piece of autographed memorabilia. It’s a memento that’s symbolic of all that Wrapped In Plastic did for the fan community over the years, giving Peaks die-hards something to be excited about during a time when no one expected the show to return.