MORE THAN Just A Good Rock Group, The Doors Represent Two Things To Their Millions Of Followers. Either

July 1967. Photo by Paul Ferrara.

Regardless of his own aptitude, Morrison appreciated his bandmates’ talent and he made a gesture to them that still resonates with Densmore. “He said, ‘Why don’t we just split all the credits,'” he says. “That moment was pivotal. I don’t think any musical organization since the Thirties had done that. It produced 200 percent commitment from each of the four members. Later, when we played a gig and we were big, and we were introduced as ‘Jim Morrison and the Doors,’ he dragged the announcer back out and forced him to call it ‘The Doors.’ He was the star frontman, but behind the scenes, it was totally equal.”

January-February 1967, Venice Beach, California. © Bobby Klein.

"The biographers seem to have lost Jim's sense of humor. I can't impress upon you enough that it was always there....He was the funniest human being I ever met. Simply that, the funniest human being I ever met." – Fud Ford New York's Central Park, spring 1968. Photo by Paul Ferrara

1967.07.28-30   Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA.

Jim Morrison, Jule 28th-30th, 1967, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA. 📷 Paul Ferrara

The Doors perform at the KTLA SHEBANG show, which took place on February 25, 1967. The Doors are filmed lip synching to a playback of their debut single 'Break On Through'. Band looks very collegiate and the unusual set up places.  Densmore at centre stage on drums between Morrison (stage left) and Manzarek. Krieger stands behind them directly in front of some garden furnishings. The host is Casey Kasem.

“It was our first time doing a TV show and we really had no idea what we were doing. When the director started telling us what to do, we just looked at each other and said, ‘I guess that’s how it is’. We learned later that wasn’t the case, but it was a great initial experience.”(Ray Manzarek)

“This is one of our first TV performances. We were clearly nervous. I mean, Jim won’t even look at the camera or anything. I’m somehow positioned in the front. I’m the ‘lead drummer’. Ridiculous!” (John Densmore)

“We had no say what-so-ever. There was a director telling us exactly what to do, and we did it. We just felt lucky to be there. Shebang was a local TV show, so it wasn’t as big as Dick Clark, but it was great to be on there.”(Robby Krieger)

1067.07. Photo by Paul Ferrara

1967.07.03. Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA.   Photo by James Fortune.

"First New York opening in a while. The Doors - Fresh from Los Angeles with an underground album of the hour - return. This time, they are worshipped, envied, bandied about like the Real Thing. The word is out or 'in' - 'The Doors will floor you'. So not all the pretty people in New York were present at opening night, but enough to keep a few publicity agencies busy. The four musicians mounted their instruments. The organist lit a stick of incense. Vocalist and writer Jim Morrison closed his eyes to all that Arnel elegance, and the Doors opened up. Morrison twitched and pouted and a cluster of girls gathered to watch every nuance in his lips. Humiliating your audience is an old game in rock 'n' roll, but Morrison pitches spastic love with an insolence you can't ignore. His material - almost all original - is literate, concise, and terrifying. The Doors have the habit of improvising, so a song about being strange which I heard for the first time at Ondine may be a completely different composition by now. Whatever the words, you will discern a deep streak of violent - sometimes Oedipal - sexuality. And since sex is what hard rock is all about, the Doors are a stunning success. You should brave all the go-go gymnastics, bring a select circle of friends for buffer, and make it up to Ondine to find out what the literature of pop is all about. The Doors are mean; and their skin is green." (Richard Goldstein, "Pop Eye," Village Voice, Mar. 25, 1967)

🔻March, 1967, photo shoot inside Ondine NYC, New York, photo by Thomas Monaster.

Jim Morrison with model Donna Mitchell, VOGUE magazine session, New York, September 1967. Photo by Alexis Waldeck.