Twin Peaks Publicity – AP Leafdesk Photograph of Kyle MacLachlan from July 27, 1992

Mark Frost and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks originally aired at a time before access to the World Wide Web was commonplace. While I dabbled in bulletin boards via CompuServe in the late 1980s, I didn’t access the internet until spring 1995. The early 1990s, however, saw some technological marvels that formed a foundation of the social media-fueled world we experience today. Thanks to an online auction, I now have a relic from that time – an AP Leafdesk photo of Kyle MacLachlan as Special Agent Dale Cooper from July 27, 1992.

AP LEAFDESK PHOTOGRAPH OF KYLE MACLACHLAN ON JULY 27, 1992

On July 27, 1992, the Associated Press (AP) transmitted this “1990 file photo” of Kyle MacLachlan dressed as Special Agent Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks. The publicity photo was taken on the set of the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department. This AP Leafdesk image contained the following caption:

(NY14-July 27)–NAMES IN THE NEWS–Kyle MacLachlan, former star of “Twin Peaks,” says he sees himself in the soul-searching men he has portrayed. “The characters…have so much torment and searching and questioning,” MacLachlan said in the August issue of GQ Magazine. (AP Photo) (sjl22400fls)1992 slug:Names Eds: This is a 1990 file photo.

Download a high-resolution version HERE.

The quote from Kyle comes from an interview by Johanna Schneller for the August 1992 issue of GQ Magazine. He graced the cover of this late summer 1992 issue, something I still need to find and archive on Twin Peaks Blog.

WHAT IS AP LEAFDESK?

The AP transmitted MacLachlan’s image using the AP Leaf Picture Desk, an online digital tool that superseded their Laserphoto technology (the latter discussed in this article with a publicity image of Agent Cooper and Sheriff Harry Truman).

In the 1980s, the AP acquired Leafax which was  a compact and portable picture transmitter held in a briefcase-sized case. According to a Time magazine article from January 1, 2015, AP photographers could “take color or black-and-white negatives, scan them into the Leafax, tone, sharpen, crop and add captions, then send them through to the network.” The Leafax cut the time needed for a photo to travel from a photographer’s camera to the end user.

“The next thing was to set up a digital network which we called Photostream,” explained Hal Buell, AP’s former head of photography, in the TIME article. Photostream was announced in 1989, and offered all digital transmission via satellite. It reduced transmission time from 10 minutes to 60 seconds, and offered a method of delivering higher quality color pictures. AP supplied every U.S. newspaper with a Leafdesk to receive the new digital transmissions.

By 1992, newspapers across the United States had received the AP Leafdesk technology. One of the first college newspapers to receive this photo tool was The Latern at my hometown school, The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The January 1992 issue of the paper offered insight into the AP’s technology:

“The AP Digital Darkroom, better known as the Leafdesk, is a system which enables The Associated Press to send photographs via satellite to The Lantern newsroom where they are received and stored in a computer. These photos can be manipulated and then printed in the newspaper the next day.”

The system could store up to 200 photos for editors to review for their publications. This digital technology reduced the need for darkroom photo processing materials and helped newspaper editors and reporters see how photos would look before being printed.

KYLE MACLACHLAN’S AP LEAFDESK PHOTO IN THE NEWS

Kyle’s AP photo made it’s way to several newspaper articles on July 27, 1992. It’s fascinating now to see his quote as Kyle’s new book, Fictional Selves, is a nod to this same idea.

Kyle MacLachlan, former star of “Twin Peaks,” says he sees himself in the soul-searching men he has portrayed.

“The characters … have so much torment and searching and questioning,” the 33-year-old actor said in the August issue of GQ magazine. “It’s where I am right now as a man – I’m continually questioning who I am.”

Until last year, MacLachlan played FBI agent Dale Cooper on ABC’s “Twin Peaks.” He played another innocent drawn to the underworld in the movie “Blue Velvet” and also starred in “Dune.” In a movie to be released this fall, “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me,” MacLachlan, as Cooper, solves the murder of Laura Palmer.

I love finding these obscure publicity photos from a time when this digital technology was relatively new.