Playing Tom And Jerry

[Niklas Terki]

Thebiggest single problem from a practical point of view is that obviously your perception of time gets all weird. Now, that can be interesting, but I try to avoid extremes of any sort because you have the fundamental problems of playing in tune and playing with everybody else.

I can. I think it was either Garcia or the bass Player, Phil Lesh that told a story- the band had a benefactor- Bear Owsley. Bear was the foremost producer of the finest grade LSD on the west coast and he paid for the best sound systems and all the new toys available. In the late 60s they were in Los Angeles for a bit and rented a house. Bear would be making LSD crystals in the attic and the band played in the livingroom- the LSD dust was everywhere. After a few days of that- you start to see sound.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with David Patrick Kelly about what it was like playing Jerry Horne in both the original run of Twin Peaks and again in The Return. David was really gracious with his time and I hope you enjoy our conversation!

DPK: I made a lot of suggestions on my costume, props and style that were graciously accepted. A few specifics are my Agnes B. suit for my first entrance (which I still have), the smoked cheese pig (Animale Affumicata from Balduccis in NYC), a custom pipe from a since vanished NYC store (which was subsequently stolen from the props truck right before the Louise Dombrowski scene), and a green fur Fedora (from a store called New Republic again in NYC).

MH: Dancing was a recurring thing with your character. There was the scene where Leland enters with his hair suddenly white, you all begin singing and dancing. Was that more improv or a scripted sequence?

DPK: I think we were all suspects at some point in the story and Jennifer Lynch had been dropping some clues in The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer but I watched along with everybody else and was genuinely shocked at the reveal.

DPK: You know, in History classes they call nostalgia for failed rebellions The Lost Cause Syndrome, and I think it is in some ways a prescient for all the recent discussions about monuments and justifications for evil behaviour and tragedy.

MH: Seeing you reunited with your brother Ben after all these years was very moving for us but at the same time still captured the comedy of your original performances together. What was it like working with Richard again?

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Martin Hearn is a Social Media Manager for 25YL who also writes, has a penchant for interviews, watches too much TV, and plays too many video games. He joined the site through his love of Twin Peaks and also has a passion for shows such as The OA, The Crown, American Horror Story, Lost, and Desperate Housewives. His hobbies include insomnia, dancing in secret, and buying too much Twin Peaks merchandise from eBay. Martin lives in Middlesbrough, UK, which is the birthplace of the Parmo (you may want to google that amazingly beautiful delicacy that definitely won't cause a heart attack). He loves spending long weekends binge-watching TV shows with his partner Anthony.

West played the small forward position early in his career: he was a standout at East Bank High School and at West Virginia University, where he led the Mountaineers to the 1959 NCAA championship game. He earned the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player honor despite the loss in the championship. He then embarked on a 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers and was the co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team, a squad that was inducted as a unit into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.

West's NBA career was highly successful. Playing the guard position, he was voted 12 times into the All-NBA First and Second Teams, was elected into the NBA All-Star Team 14 times and was chosen as the All-Star MVP in 1972, the same year that he won the only title of his career. West holds the NBA record for the highest points per game average in a playoff series with 46.3. He was also a member of the first five NBA All-Defensive Teams (one second, followed by four firsts), which were introduced when he was 32 years old. Having played in nine NBA Finals, he is also the only player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP despite being on the losing team (1969). In 1980, West was inducted into the Hall of Fame and named to the NBA 35th Anniversary Team.[3] West was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996, and to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.[4][5]

West was born into a poor household in Chelyan, West Virginia, on May 28, 1938.[7][8][9] He was the fifth of six children of Cecil Sue West, a housewife, and Howard Stewart West, a coal mine electrician.[10] West's father physically abused him, and West has stated that for a time he slept with a loaded shotgun under his bed out of fear that he might have to kill his father in self-defense.[11]

West was an outgoing and aggressive child in his youth. In 1951, his older brother, David, was killed in action in the Korean War, and the grief turned him into a shy and introverted boy.[9][12] Growing up, West spent his days hunting and fishing, but his main activity was shooting at a basketball hoop that a neighbor had nailed to his storage shed. West spent days shooting baskets from every possible angle, ignoring mud and snow in the backyard, as well as his mother's whippings when he came home hours late for dinner.[9]

West attended East Bank High School in East Bank, West Virginia, from 1952 to 1956. During his first year, West was benched by his coach Duke Shaver due to his lack of height. Shaver emphasized the importance of conditioning and defense, which were lessons that the teenager appreciated.[13] West soon became the captain of the freshman team, and during the summer of 1953 he grew to 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m).[9] West eventually became the team's starting small forward, and he quickly established himself as one of the finest West Virginia high school players of his generation. He represented East Bank High School at a high level on and off the court, attending the 1955 session of Mountaineer Boys State[14][15] and was named All-State from 1953 to 1956, then All-American in 1956 when he was West Virginia Player of the Year, becoming the state's first high-school player to score more than 900 points in a season, with an average of 32.2 points per game. West's mid-range jump shot became his trademark and he often used it to score while under pressure from opposing defenses.[9] West led East Bank to a state championship on March 24 that year, prompting East Bank High School to change its name to "West Bank High School" every year on March 24 in honor of their basketball prodigy. This practice remained in effect until the school closed in 1999.[16]

West made himself available for the 1960 NBA draft, and he was drafted with the second overall pick by the Minneapolis Lakers, shortly before the team relocated to Los Angeles. West became the first draft pick ever of the relocated franchise.[24] His college coach, Schaus, was also hired that same season to coach the Lakers. He played West as a guard, in contrast to West's college days as a forward.[9] The Lakers were captained by Hall-of-Fame forward Elgin Baylor, who was complemented by centers Jim Krebs and Ray Felix; forwards Rudy LaRusso and Tom Hawkins; and guards Rod Hundley (from West Virginia, like West), Frank Selvy, and Bobby Leonard.[25] This team perennially had strong forwards and guards, but was constantly weak at center, giving them a disadvantage against the Boston Celtics with their Hall-of-Fame center, Bill Russell.[26]

In the postseason, the Lakers defeated the Chicago Bulls in a four-game sweep,[53] then went on to face the Milwaukee Bucks, and defeated them in six games. In the 1972 NBA Finals, the Lakers again met the New York Knicks. Although West suffered a terrible shooting slump during Games 1 and 2, the Lakers tied the series at one win each, and in Game 3, he scored 21 points and helped L.A. win Game 3. In this game, he reached 4,002 playoff points, which set an all-time NBA record.[54] After winning Game 4 due to a superb outing from Wilt Chamberlain, West scored 23 points and dished out 9 assists in Game 5, helping the Lakers to win the game and the NBA championship. The championship was West's first-ever NBA title.[54][55] West conceded that he had played a terrible series and credited the team for the success. Years later he said "I played terrible basketball in the Finals, and we won... It was particularly frustrating because I was playing so poorly that the team overcame me. Maybe that's what a team is all about."[52]

Those championship-winning Lakers were coached by Pat Riley, and featured superstar players Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy. After a slump in the early 1990s, West rebuilt the team of coach Del Harris around center Vlade Divac, forward Cedric Ceballos, and guard Nick Van Exel, which won 48 games, and went to the Western Conference semifinals. In 1995, West received his first Executive of the Year Award for his role in turning the Lakers around.[66]

In 2002, West became the general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies. He explained his decision with the desire for exploring something new: "After being a part of the Laker's success for so many years, I have always wondered how it would be to build a winning franchise that has not experienced much success. I want to help make a difference."[69] West's Memphis stint was not as spectacular as his Los Angeles stint, but he turned a franchise which was about to be sold into a reliable playoffs team, making few trades but getting the maximum from the players he had available (such as Pau Gasol, James Posey, and Jason Williams) and signing coach Hubie Brown, who became Coach of the Year in 2004.[70] West himself won his second NBA Executive of the Year Award in the same year.[66] In 2007, West retired as a Grizzlies general manager and turned over managing duties to Chris Wallace.[70]

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