Movie clip offers early look at rock legend Jim Morrison

Florida State files yield a treat for The Doors fans

Reuters

MIAMI - Florida historians have discovered a 40-year-old film clip of a clean-cut Jim Morrison.

The 1964 black-and-white film, shot at Florida State University, shows a nerdy-looking Morrison, who died in 1971 at 27, acting the part of a young man whose university application has been rejected. The 16-minute video has the Florida native among wholesome scenes of college life.

Jody Norman, archives supervisor at the State Library and Archives of Florida, said the film was turned over by FSU and contained no credit for Morrison, who would have been around 20 when it was shot. He was spotted by a sharp-eyed archivist who was reviewing the films.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Before The Doors' Jim Morrison made it as a rock singer, he wanted to make films.

Now, 34 years after his death, the state of Florida has found and restored what it believes to be the earliest film of Morrison, shot in the early 60s when he attended Florida State University.

It was discovered when the Department of State went through 1,000 films in its archive and may have gone unnoticed if Jaime Madden hadn't noticed a familiarity in the way young Morrison was standing in part of the brief clip.

"He said, 'Oh my god! This is Jim Morrison!'" said Jody Norman, supervisor of the Bureau of Archives and Records Management. "It really tells a lot about an archivists' duty to pay attention to detail."

In the FSU promotional film, Morrison is seen walking to a mailbox and opening a letter. He stops suddenly with his leg thrust forward as a voiceover says, "We regret to inform you that we are unable to accept your application."

A little while later, Morrison is in a university office, dressed in a jacket and tie and questioning authority.

"We would like to accept you," Morrison is told. "Indeed, we'd like to offer more courses, more sections, but we just don't have the space — that together with the lack of professors."

"But what happened?" Morrison asks. "How come my parents, and the state and the university didn't look ahead?"

Morrison later dropped out of FSU to attend the University of California Los Angeles film school.

The clip was discovered last year among films WFSU — a PBS station operated by the university — donated to the state in 1989 and was recently posted to the state's film archive Web site after being digitally converted. It will air on VH1 this Friday.

"To see that this may very well be the very first video footage of Jim Morrison just shows you we have such a rich history in our state," said Secretary of State Glenda Hood, who said she was a Doors fan. "Isn't it exciting to know that he is part of Florida State University history and part of Florida history and now people can experience this?"

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