Who Killed Laura Podcast Ep. 2 - Looking for Your Teeth on Queer Street

So in this latest episode, we discuss S1E1′s “The Skill to Catch a Killer,” which, as we mention, aired on 04/19/90, was directed by David Lynch, and worsen by Lynch and Mark Frost. It was watched by 19.2 million ABC viewers, down 4 million from the previous episode, so the show was continuing to lose viewers not ready for what it was offering.

Although we mention having done our research this time, we didn’t note that Jerry Horne is played by character actor David Patrick Kelly, a steadily working actor since the late ‘70s who nonetheless is hard to recognize if you’re looking for someone who looks like spiky-haired Jerry. Kelly has appeared in a number of popular or cult classic series and films including The Warriors, Tales from the Darkside, Commando, Moonlighting, Miami Vice, on up to Bored to Death, The Blacklist, John Wick, and Spike Lee’s just-completed Chi-Raq. He also acted in Lynch’s Wild at Heart.

We might as well mention brother Ben, too, played by Richard Beymer, a North Hollywood High graduate who acted extensively in TV in the ‘50s until getting into films with The Diary of Anne Frank, playing Anne’s pencil (sorry, just seeing if you’re paying attention), and then one of his most well-known roles, Tony in West Side Story (also with future Peaks castmate Russ Tamblyn). Unlike his libidinous Ben Horne, the ‘60s films, Bachelor Flat and Five Finger Exercise, are apparently not very dirty. Screen work was sporadic in the late ‘60s through early ‘80s (perhaps more theatre?), but Moonlighting, Paper Dolls and Dallas got him back into the swing of things, leading to Twin Peaks, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and a surprising number of episodes of Murder, She Wrote, playing different characters (he has that look of a murdering weasel who’s going to be found out by a doddering old novelist, right?).

Scott erroneously calls The Great Northern “The North Woods Inn.” It just happens once.

Chris-Craft is indeed famous for its mahogany-hulled motorboats. The model in this episode is considered a classic and was popular from the ‘40s into the ‘60s, i.e. the era most influential on David Lynch. Despite at least one bankruptcy and many changes in ownership, the company is still going.

And how about that Nadine Hurley, the one-eyed, super-strong, quiet-drape-runner-obsessed wife of Big Ed? She is played by Wendy Robie, who has acted largely in television and often as someone at least quirky, often mentally disturbed. Aside from Twin Peaks, she may be best known for The People Under the Stairs, a decent Wes Craven film, or Vampire in Brooklyn, a not-decent Wes Craven film. She is also apparently in the 2000 Baz Luhrmann film, Romeo + Juliet.

“You’d be looking for your teeth on Queer Street” - we speculate on this, but Wikipedia indicates it’s an old expression referring to someone ending up in trouble, often in the financial sense. It is associated with Clarey Street in London, where the bankruptcy courts were located.

Chris isn’t sure if Grace Zabriskie, who plays Sarah Palmer, is still alive. She is, and was excellent in the most recent season of Showtime’s Ray Donovan as Miss Minassian, matriarch of an Armenian crime family. More on her in a later post.

Scott believes the One Armed Man’s dialogue in this episode holds the key to the mysteries of this series. We’ll see! Welcome to Twin Peaks has the text of Mike’s speech, all the Log Lady intros, and plenty of theorizing. The One Armed Man, Mike, is played by Al Strobel, who has a few other credits besides this and TP:FWWM. His role was expanded because of his impressive performance as Mike.

The Man from Another Place is portrayed by Michael J. Anderson, who used a phonetically reversed speaking style he and his friends developed in school, so it was not a Lynch or Frost idea. He has also been seen in the HBO series, Carnivale, as well as Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and (as a normal-sized man with the use of a prosthetic body) in Mulholland Dr.

“That Gum You Like Is Back in Style” is a track from Northern California rock band Camper Van Beethoven’s 2002 concept album, New Roman Times. Cowritten by David Lowery and Johnny Hickman, who are also in the band, Cracker, it should probably have been a Cracker song, but Lowery felt it fit CVB better, and though it predated the New Roman Times concept, it fit in fine. By Lowery’s admission, the lyrics aren’t particularly meaningful and are just intended to create a weird, Lynchian mood.

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