The Doors TV appearances 1965-1972

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

April 1st 1967 The Clay Cole Show WPIX-TV Channel 11 New York, New York.



First Appearance: April 1st 1967 (Break On Through)
Second Appearance: June 13th 1967 (Light My Fire)

22nd July 1967: American Bandstand - ABC Studios, Hollywood

This special midsummer edition of American Bandstand
runs through the countdown of the top-10 hit songs for
July. "Light My Fire" will soon be number one, but
tonight the Doors are sandwiched between Jefferson
Airplane's "White Rabbit" (number three) and Procul Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale" (number one). After the countdown, host Dick Clark sits next to a member of the studio audience and asks him what his favorite tune is. He replies "Crystal Ship" upon which Clark introduces The Doors. They run through a lip-synched version of the song and then Clark does the traditional band
interview between songs. He begins by asking Manzarek about how the band characterizes their music, and then moves on to Morrison.
Dick Clark: "A lot of people seem to think you come from San Francisco. Is that true?"
Morrison: "No. We actually got together in LA. We do play in San Francisco a lot."
Dick Clark: "That's the explanation of why you have that association. Why is so much
happening in San Francisco? You figured it out
yet?"
Morrison: "The West is the best!" (A quote from "The
End")
Dick Clark: (chuckling) "All right! Fair enough!"
Clark then moves to Densmore with questions about
recording their first and second albums, and then asks
Krieger about their future plans. He concludes the
interview by returning to Morrison.
Dick Clark: "Have you selected a name for the new album yet Jim?"
Morrison: "I think it's 'Strange Days.'"
Dick Clark: "All right. Fair enough. We'll do the thing that set the whole music business on fire. Ladies and
gentlemen, again, The Doors!"
The Doors then run through a lip-synched version of "Light My Fire," complete with the appropriate audience hysterics. On both songs, the band does a reasonably good job miming the
songs, which are shot with plenty of close-ups on
Morrison. Manzarek is convincing with his performance, but Krieger and Densmore are clearly not overjoyed with the circumstances.
In fact, during a couple of brief moments they
look as if they're about to start laughing at their
situation.
The Doors On The Road


The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
WCBS TV, New York City, New York - December 4th 1968.



Many TV producers were very reluctant to have The Doors on their show ever since Morrison had been busted at the New Haven Arena in New Haven, Connecticut on December 9, 1967. However, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour were well known for their radical stand on censorship and took The Doors on. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was hosted by brothers Tommy & Dick. The Smothers Brothers Orchestra had backed The Doors on "Touch Me" with Curtis Amy playing sax on this song. "Touch Me" can be seen on the video, "Dance On Fire", with Robbie wearing a black eye and Morrison having missed his cue for the second verse on Touch Me. The show was recorded on December 4 and screened in front of 27.1 million people on Sunday, December 15th.
A Dionysian Experience

'4-3-2-1 Hot and Sweet' Romer Square Frankfurt. September 13th 1968.

At one o'clock in the afternoon The Doors tape a segment for '4-3-2-1 Hot and Sweet' TV show. They lip synch an outdoor presentation to thier two most popular European hits. 'Hello I Love You' and 'Light my Fire'.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Ed Sullivan Show - Ed Sullivan Theatre, CBS TV New York City, New York - September 17th 1967



Since "Light My Fire" was a huge hit by this time, The Doors were invited to perform on CBS's top variety show - The Ed Sullivan Show. On the show that same night there were other celebrities such as Yul Bryner, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, the Kessler Twins, the Skating Bredos and Rodney Dangerfield - but no doubt it was The Doors that everybody had tuned into to see.
The show's director, Bob Precht (Ed Sullivan's son-in-law) had asked The Doors to omit the word "higher" from the line "girl we couldn't get much higher" due to censorship reasons.
The Doors had agreed that they would use another line. The Doors first played "People Are Strange" prior to "Light My Fire". During "Light My Fire" Jim went ahead and sang this song in the usual way. The Doors were never invited to The Ed Sullivan Show ever again.
Unlike Oliver Stone's movie, THE DOORS, Stone had over exaggerated this story, suggesting that Jim didn't want to change the line whilst Ray, Robbie and John had no problem in changing the line. Listening to this recording, the word "higher" isn't shouted out loud as it was in Stone's movie.
A Dionysian Experience.

The Ed Sullivan Show (The Toast of the Town),
debuted in 1948 and was one of the most successful
television shows in history. Ed Sullivan personally booked all of the performers himself, although he seldom met them until the afternoon dress rehearsal, where he painstakingly surveyed the acts with a somewhat dictatorial
approach and requested that any questionable material be deleted. During the Rolling Stones' appearance in 1965, they obliged Sullivan by altering the lyrics of their
song "Let's spend the night together" to "Let's spend
some time together." Sullivan's producer, Bob
Precht, requests that the Doors modify "Light My Fire" by substituting "higher" with another adjective. The band had acquiesced to a similar request previously when they were asked to delete the word "high" from their studio release of "Break on Through." At the rehearsal, the Doors indicate they will oblige but instead keep the original lyrics intact during the critical live broadcast that night. One account from New York's Village Voice reports that while backstage just prior to going on, Morrison is so incensed with the censorship that he threatens to substitute "Let's spend the night together!"or "fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" in place of the
offending word.



The Doors perform a straight-ahead version of "People Are Strange," shot with a significant portion focusing on a heavy-lidded Morrison, and interspersed with solemn shots of the band members' faces.
Later in the show, they come back on with a terrific
"Light My Fire," and the camera angle incorporates
wide-angle stage shots with the close-ups. Morrison's vocals on the concluding stanza of the song are
particularly forceful, including a fierce closing shout on
"Fire!" where the camera successfully captures the savage fire in his eyes. Some accounts of the broadcast
indicate that Morrison exaggerated "higher!" during the
broadcast, but such is not really the case. The song is
presented in its standard, albeit shortened, form. Producer Bob Precht is reportedly enraged and tells the band they will never appear on the show again. Despite
Sullivan's reputation as a man who doesn't hold a grudge, the Doors were never invited back.
The Doors On The Road.

September 22nd 1967 - Murray the K in New York

For this special, the Doors are filmed at Battery
Park in New York City (probably earlier the same
month) and rather than lip-synching, Jim Morrison is
given a live microphone to use over prerecorded music.
He is in a mischievous mood, and it requires
numerous takes to get a complete take of "People Are
Strange." For that number, the band members alternately sit and stand around some large planters on a very windy afternoon without their instruments, and remain relatively motionless throughout the filming. The clip itself is interspersed with a succession of "strange" faces in an attempt to give visual impact to the song.
Following this is a bizarre chase scene with Morrison dressed in black while the others wear white. It parodies the secret agent fervor of the time. This leads into "Light My Fire," which is primarily portrayed through a collage of shots featuring the band members and models hired for the occasion. This particular show
receives a good deal of criticism for being disjointed and
humorless. The fast-paced editing leaps from locations as diverse as Wall Street to the Bronx Zoo, and relentlessly portrays Murray the K as the foremost champion of the rock
generation. Credit must be given for the technical
achievements of the program, as the "live" vocals with music are mixed directly onto the film without the usual
safety net of post-production work. The "People Are
Strange" segment is released on a Murray the K promotional record.

May 9th 1972 BBC TV Centre London England. Old Grey Whistle Test

The Old Grey Whistle Test is a magazine-format program devoted to covering music beyond the top 20 and presenting it in a documentary framework. It was first broadcast on September 21st 1971, as a successor to Disco 2.The program includes the finest of British and American music with a special emphasis on presenting American groups on tour in the United Kingdom. In addition to the Doors, other bands featured this spring include the Beach Boys, Don McLean, Buddy Miles andCarlos Santana, Kris Kristofferson, and more.
The Doors played two songs during the show, one at the start and one at the end of the programme, live in the studio. I am not 100% on it but I almost certain they did 'Tightrope Ride' to close with and began with either 'I'm Horny I'm Stoned' or 'Down On the Farm'. Sadly back then we did not have video and I had no way to connect the family TV to the record player. Its never ever turned up in bootleg circles and I would venture that like TOTP has been either wiped or thrown out along with so much from rock shows at that time...
The Doors On The Road

August 25th 1972 Dick Cavett Show
ABC Studios - New York, NY

The Doors give their final television performance as The Doors on Dick Cavett's late-night talk show.
They play 'The Mosquito' and 'Good Rockin' live in the studio.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Malibu U (ABC TV) Leo Carrillo State Beach
Los Angeles, California - August 25th 1967.

Ronny Krieger replacing Jim on the shoot has his back to the cameras!
The Doors spend two day in late July or early August filming a video for 'Light My Fire' while standing around a 1940s fire engine on Leo Carrillo State Beach
north of Malibu, California. The shooting goes as scheduled however unbeknownst to the directors Morrison never shows up. Jim has become so disgusted with lip synch television presentations that he simply dissapears for this one. The Doors convince Robby Kriegers (non-identical twin) brother Ronny to stand in for Morrison and never allude to Jims abscence.

Malibu U is a summer special hosted by Rick Nelson and operates on the ludicrous premise that Malibu U is a mythical beachside university with Nelson as dean.
Doors On The Road

The Jonathan Winters Show - CBS TV Studios
Los Angeles, California - December 27th 1967.



The Doors were billed to play for three nights along with Chuck Berry and Salvation on December 26, 27 & 28 at Winterland in San Francisco. That morning on December 27, The Doors went into the recording studios at CBS TV and recorded "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive".


The Doors played at Winterland on the same night that The Jonathon Winters Show went to air. Densmore (1991) had quite a vivid memory of the Winterland concert that night. The Doors had opened up their set with "Break On Through" and during the middle of their second song, "Back Door Man", the group's T.V performance had just started to go on air. John stopped playing the drums and got up from his drum stool and turned up the volume on the T.V set which was placed on top of a large amplifier for the audience to watch. John sat down with his back to the audience and watched the play back of their T.V performance. Jim, Ray and Robbie soon followed John as well.
A Dionysian Experience

September 5th 1968 - Top Of The Pops BBC Studios, London
The Doors appear on popular Brit show TOTP performing 'Hello I Love You' which peaked at No 15 which was the only decent sucess The Doors had whilst in existence. At the time the cutting edge of British rock music TV but now after 30 years seen as a pile of listless garbage presented by idiots.



Jim Morrison was not amused by it....
"I didn't realise they turned out everyone like sausages on that show. I doubt if we'll do it again'
Melody Maker May 2nd 1970.
It was BBC policy to re-use tape as it was expensive and as such programmes such as TOTP suffered badly from this insanity. BBC has run a series of retrospective programmes of TOTP regularly on BBC2 and also its digital arm and The Doors performance of HILY has never surface pretty much proving it is lost by the BBC.


Some rare tape has turned up in the hands of collectors but as The Doors had little popularity during 1968 its doubtful anyone will have it stashed in a cupboard.

The Doors kicked off their European Tour on September 5th on an English TV show, Top Of The Pops, with a live performance of "Hello I Love You". Top Of The Pops was played back on the BBC 1 at 7:30 p.m that same night.
A Dionysian Experience

October 4th 1968 - The Doors Are Open
Broadcast On BBC/Granada TV (actually broadcast by the ITV independent network who were rivals to BBC and only shown on a couple of thier regional network...it took 10 years to see the show on my Tyne/Tees area)


This special is an earnestly designed semidocumentary that seeks to equate the Doors with the emotional political climate of the time.
Although the inclusion of provocative newsreel footage
from various demonstrations adds an excitement to the
visual components of the show, it frequently creates a
distraction from the band's music. As a historic document,
however, it does well, placing the band in the context of
the times. At the height of their only European tour,
The Doors Are Open is a fitting portrait of the band
from a British perspective.
The Doors On The Road



Following The Doors’ national TV exposure on "Top Of The Pops", they then played at The Roundhouse in London. The Roundhouse was a railway station that had been recently vacated by British Rail. The Doors played two sets each night for two consecutive nights in front of an audience of 2,500 for each set - all four sets were a sell out. The Roundhouse was packed to it’s maximum capacity and there were still another 2,000 people who were queuing up outside and were just dying to get in.
According to rhythm guitarist for Jefferson Airplane, Paul Kantner:
"They were ready for us in England by 1968. I still think it was an underground level, it was a very big underground level, so it was very well organised, not organised, but it was large."

Indeed the English audience were ready for them by 1968 - in fact Paul McCartney attended the first show that night and had witnessed probably one of best shows that The Doors had played. Other rock celebrities that attended The Roundhouse concerts included Arthur Brown, Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi. The English audience seemed to really listen to what The Doors had to say since this was the first time they played in Europe, unlike the American public who started to go to Doors concerts to see Morrison do something "spectacular". Robbie Krieger probably best summarised the differences between the American & European audiences, as he once said to Richard Goldstein of the Village Voice, during a 1969 interview on a PBS educational TV show, Critique.
"It’s actually funny, in Europe the kids were much more politically oriented, you know if we said anything politically they’d go into a furore you know. I mean they love it, especially anything against America you know, but if we just played, then they’d dig that too but, then they really dug the political side of it to you know. But in America, it’s just the opposite really. A lot of people....at our concerts at least, they’re sort of, it seems like they don’t come to hear us speak politics."
"What do they come to hear ?" - asked Richard Goldstein.
"I think they come for the religious experiences", Robbie replied.
Both first and second sets for the September 6 concert were filmed by Granada Television, later fused with footage of political demonstrations, as seen on the video "The Doors Are Open" (originally to be titled as "When the Music Changes, the Walls of the City Will Shake"). The concert was broadcasted on BBC/Granada TV on October 4 that same year but only included footage from the second set.
A Dionysian Experience

" - but their experiments are based on some well-established traditions. Their stage act consists of a series of disjointed theatrical sketches; there is a jolting improvisation on guitar, organ and, drums, against which Morrison speaks, snags and acts out his songs. .... American audiences rise to their feet and join in, but the audience who had paid 35 shillings to be squashed in the heat of the Roundhouse floor watched impassively."
Robin Denselow Manchester Gaurdian September 1968.


"They were one of the best audiences we’ve ever had. Everyone seemed to take it easy. It was like going back to the roots again and it stimulated us to give a good performance. They were fantastic. That’s all I can say. ’Cept that we enjoyed playing at the Roundhouse more than any other date for years."
Jim Morrison to Mike Grant of Rave magazine.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

September 18th 1968: Television-Byen, Gladsaxe, Copenhagen, Denmark

The Doors appear in the TV studio at 10 in the morning which is not exactly a good time to capture them live especially as they were on stage in Frankfurt 12 hours previously.

They have no audience to interact with but they try their best to recreate a live performance for the camera's.

The show introduced by Edmondt Jensen goes surprisingly well and the band manage to pull off a memorable performance.
They steer clear of the hits and include When The Music's Over and Texas Radio as well as an energetic Unknown Soldier.


May 3rd 1972: Beat Club Bremen, West Germany
The Beat Club was the name of the television show that featured prominent musicians. It was recorded live at the Radio Bremen TV studio.

The Doors do a good set although it may have lacked the immediate vitality that a live audience could have provided. The band is in high spirits and has a good natured laugh at themselves when they 'blow' the intro to 'Ships w/Sails' and have to start again.

September 14th 1967. CBC TV Studios: Toronto Canada. The Rock Scene.
The Doors are among the musicians selected to appear on this CBC showcase on contemporary music. Actor Noel Harrison (Mark Slate in The Girl From UNCLE) introduces all the acts after replacing Brian Epstein.
The Doors perform a noteworthy version of 'The End' (with the Oedipal section either left out deliberately or skillfully edited) This is a remarkable selection considering the norm for television broadcasts at that time and is reportedly one of the few times the band is truly satisfied with a performance designated for television.

Variety Magazine commented that "By the time The Doors came on the viewer was totally acclimated. In thier sequence The Doors did one number 'The End' with the audience standing, dancing, lying on the floor and hugging the stage. Shots of the group were superimposed on the audience and into it giving the effect of confluence. There were many visual treats in this number and some superb musicianship demonstrated particularly by the groups drummer'
Variety October 18th 1967.

PBS Studios: Critique Recording Sessions
New York City, New York - April 28th - 29th 1969.



The Doors appeared on a National Education Television network on May 13, 1969 in New York City. The group performed for over 25 minutes and were also interviewed by Richard Goldstein, a rock critic for New York’s The Village Voice. Critique was broadcasted on May 23rd and included on Goldstein’s discussion panel where Al Aronowitz, Rosko (Bill Mercer) and Patricia Kennealy. This time The Doors left their string and brass arrangements in the recording studio and played four of their new songs from their soon to be released album "The Soft Parade" as well as their well known "Alabama Song" medley. All songs were performed and recorded on April 28 and the interview by Richard Goldstein was held on April 29th.
A Dionysian Experience


December 1970: GTK ABC-TV Australia - Doors Office L.A. Video

December 1970
(exact day in December unknown)
GTK (Get To Know) ABC-TV Australia
Filmed in December 1970 at the Doors Office in Los Angeles
The film crew filmed The Doors either rehearsing or recording a version of Crawling King Snake.

[ensenada]

I love the PBS critique show, superb stuff on there. i love the way jim plays with the camera. I didnt know they played on Top of the pops, i dont think i knew anyway. i would like to see that one.
Is the smuthers brothers performance the one where jim fluffed his lines slightly?
I also recognise the one murray the k in new york, as it is used on the people are strange video on dance on fire dvd (think its that one).
and I love the end of the ed sullivan (miserable twat) show where jim cockily and very cooly throws the mic over his shoulder....so cool so so cool.... ;D

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Yeah Smothers Bros is where he mucks up the cmon cmon line.....the band are miming to the music but Jim is singing live.
I do remember the band on TOTP a little but there were a helluva lot better performances than that.....like many bands miming on that drivel they did not show that much enthusiasm.

[jimbo]

wasn't "Wild Child" also played on Smothers Brothers but never released?

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Jimbo said:

wasn't "Wild Child" also played on Smothers Brothers but never released?

Yep Wild Child is part of that show and it is excellent ......better than the Touch Me bit...

[jimbo]

There is so much rare Doors material i have never seen nor heard

[ensenada]

it fascinates me how tastes change etc. meaning back in the sixties, in britain the doors werent very popular. probably because w had a lot of great bands at the time and ditn need to import any. but its also strikes me that we prefered the bubbly pop bollocks back then in britain. now its seems to me and others like me in this country and europe that the doors could have been from any decade and their music doesnt age like the other pap!

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

When the Doors went on Sullivan

Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek remembers exactly where he was when he got the word his band would be on "The Ed Sullivan Show." He was watching "The Ed Sullivan Show."

"We watched every week to see the rock 'n' roll band," Manzarek remembers. "So my wife and I are watching the show, and Ed says, 'Next week, Steve and Eydie, Topo Gigio, and a new rock group called the Doors. [The next day] we get a call from our manager telling us we're going to be on Sullivan. We said, 'We know.' "

There was a catch, though. The band was to perform its chart-topping hit, "Light My Fire," but Sullivan didn't want the word "higher" sung on the show. The demand was passed down through one of the show's producers, who met the group in the dressing room. Manzarek remembers the band publicly agreeing like choirboys.

" 'Yes, sir,' we told him," he recalls. "'Whatever you say, sir. We'll change.' [The producer] looked at Jim and said, 'You're the poet. Think of something else -- 'wire,' 'flyer.' "

Then the Doors went out and did the song exactly as they always did. Sullivan was so furious he didn't even shake their hands.

When the Doors got backstage, they learned they wouldn't be back -- ever. "The producer said, 'You promised,' and we said, 'We were so nervous, we're just boys, we've done it a thousand times, it just came out.' He looked at Morrison and said, 'Mr. Sullivan liked you boys. He wanted you on six more times. ... You'll never do the Sullivan show again.' "

To which Morrison retorted with glee, "We just did the Sullivan show."

The ban didn't hurt the Doors' career, of course. The group's albums continued to go Top 10 and they had another No. 1 single, "Hello I Love You," the next summer. But they never did appear on Sullivan again -- a distinction that has helped immortalize the Doors' appearance over that of the many acts who appeared on the show countless times.

Manzarek laughs. "We're still talking about it 35 years later," he says. "We're still doing Ed Sullivan."
CNN Live. Thursday, October 3, 2002

[ensenada]

sullivan was a c c cock!

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

It seems like the famous Malibu U footage is about to make an appearance in the general Doors world. It will be interesting to see this unusual appearance famous for a Jim no-show due to his refusal to mime 'Light My Fire' standing on an old fire engine..
His place was taken by Ronny Krieger (Robby's non identical twin whom I believe is no longer with us sadly) thier roadie who stodd with his back to the camera.
Some shots of Jim were spliced in later to give the impression Jim was singing.

[ensenada]

really? did he have to dress up like jim? the first ever jimitation!?

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Ensenada said:

really? did he have to dress up like jim? the first ever jimitation!?

He just kept his back to the camera....thats him in front of the fire engine......

[jym]

Isn't that what they tell ian grow the hair long, wear shades & keep your back turned.

[jimbo]

to be fair Ian faces the audience

[eressie]

It confuses me to see Ian with the Doors. The Cult was one of my favourite bands in the 80´s and I still enjoy listening to their albums, Ian is one of my favourite singers. To see him take Jim’s place gives me very mixed feelings.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

I would not worry about it...ian is NOT a member of the Doors nor has he taken Jim's place...just because the former Doors keyboard player says something is so does not mean its true....I try to avoid discussion about that silly tribute act here so ignore these people as they are not even irrelavant...and lets pay tribute to a great band in thier 40th year by discussing THEM not some piss pot kareoke..

[eressie]

TheWallsScreamedPoetry said:

not some piss pot kareoke