Jim Morrison High School & College

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The following is a listing of Jim Morrison's report cards:

Kindergarden 1948



Notice Clara signed her name Mrs G.S. Morrison. An anachronism from the days when women were more chattels than actual people

Elementary School:

Grade Two Progress Report Card, 1950-51
Fairfax County Elementary School Fairfax County, Virginia
One of Morrison's teachers noted that he "was adjusting well" to his new school.

Report card for Jim age 7

Grade Four Progress Report Card, 1952-53
Kingsville Public School - Charles Flato Elementary Kingsville, Texas
Morrison's teacher, Mrs. Irene Atwood, wrote, "It was a pleasure to work with Jimmy."

Grade Five, 1953-54
St. John's Methodist School
Certificate of Promotion, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Grade six, 1954-55
Longfellow School Sixth Grade Graduation Program
San Diego, California


The handwritten notes on the front of the program are from Jim Morrison's mother, Clara. Morrison presented a history of the class.


At Longfellow Elementary School, he wrote his earliest known poetry, dated 5-21-54 and called the Pony Express:


The Pony Express carried the mail
Over hill, over dale
Over rough rugged trails...

At Longfellow, he scored an A in Home Economics. He graduated sixth grade from Longfellow on June 16, 1955.
Around the same time, he was also a Cub Scout, San Diego Troop 17. Though he earned a merit badge for hiking, he later claimed he was kicked out of the Scouts for swearing at the Den Mother.




At age 11, Morrison lived at 2634 Arnott Street and attended Pioneer Congregational Church

High School:

Jim would graduate high school in 1961 from George Washington High School in Alexandria, Virginia.

College:


After graduating high school, Jim moved to live with his grandparents while attending St. Petersburg Jr. College in Florida. The following year, Jim became tired of living with his grandparents and of life at St. Petersburg and decided to transfer to Florida State University (FSU) and major in theatre. He lived a mile from campus in a three bedroom house with five other FSU students, only two of whom he had known previously. Due to his heckling and shenanigans, his roommates asked him to move out.

His time at FSU was productive, however. It brought about several important events which would greatly influence Jim's life. First, he took Philosophies of Protest and Psychology of Crowds, which he identified later as two of his favorite classes (that would in the future aid him in his role as lead singer of The Doors). He also wrote a research paper on the imagery of heaven and hell in the paintings of Heteronymous Bosch. Finally, he managed to get a part in Harold Pinter's play The Dumbwaiter without having any previous acting experience. By 1964, Morrison had gotten tired of the theater arts department at FSU and transferred to UCLA where he became part of the film school.

[ensenada]

Jim was NO ONES bitch!! lol if he didnt wanna smile, i got a feeling the camera man wouldnt be able to win him over with "say cheese little boy, come one smile!" or shite jokes.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

City author unmasks regional ties of former rock icon

Writer and rock enthusiast Mark Opsasnick of Greenbelt has authored a history of the District area rock venues, and is working on a biography of the legendary frontman of The Doors, Jim Morrison.
At age 10, lifelong Greenbelt resident Mark Opsasnick discovered the magic of rock 'n' roll.

He would spend hours at the Greenbelt Library, reading rock publications like "Creem" and "Circus Magazine" from cover-to-cover. He became a fan of The Doors in 1972. Back then, he did not realize that he would retrace the teenage years of Jim Morrison, the band's lead singer.
At that time, Morrison had been deceased for a year and speculations surrounding his life and death had already bombarded the international music scene.
He was found dead in his Paris bathtub July 3, 1971. The official cause of death was heart failure.
At the same time, Opsasnick, now 43,was building a rock 'n' roll record collection impressive for any kid his age.

Though over a dozen biographies have been written about the eccentric rock music icon, few seem to go in depth about Morrison's years in the Washington Metropolitan area from 1959 to 1961.
Opsasnick will provide thousands of "Doors" enthusiasts never-before published facts about Morrison's high school years, in his soon to be completed biography "The Lizard King was Here: The Life and Times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Va."
The book title stemmed from one of Morrison's poems in which he wrote, "I am the lizard king, I can do anything," explained Opsasnick.

"Fans should love it because most of the information about this period is very vague," said Art Wray, 52, manager of Lunadisc LPs and CDs in Alexandria. "Most books seem to get what little information they have about this period wrong. Mark's investigative reporting skills are amazing."
Wray was one source for the book.
Now an income assistant program specialist with the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, Opsasnick did not set his sights on writing early. But in 1993, after hanging out in several nightclubs, local old timers would reveal facts about regional rock history.

He has written five books since his interests have drawn him to answer unknown facts about natural phenomena, music and Prince George's County rock 'n' roll. His most popular book was "Capitol Rock." Opsasnick said that all of the copies of the first printing have sold out. Xlibris Corp., the publishing company would not provide this information.
"For the past year or so, I did not have a project that captured my interests," Opsasnick said. "I went through my notes from 'Capitol Rock,' and a lot of Doors fans spoke about how [Jim Morrison] grew up in Alexandria." He decided to find the never publicized truth about Morrison's Alexandria experience.

"I was just wowing a guy about 18-years-old who's about to do a Web radio station with a college. He was awestruck struck when he found out that Jim Morrison lived here," Wray exclaimed. "I told him, 'pretty soon we'll have a literary reference on this.'"
Last February, Opsasnick began interviewing Morrison's close friends. One year later, he has completed all the interviews, written six chapters and has seven to go. The finished project will be approximately 120,000 words.
"I wanted to get away from those kinds of stories of drugs and sex, and I wanted to find out if there was anything that he had been exposed to in his teenage years in Alexandria that later influenced his lyrics, poetry and performing arts," he said.
efore Morrison was found dead in 1971, he graduated from George Washington High School in 1961 where he was known for his eccentric and artistic nature.

Opsasnick found that Morrison frequented local nightclubs like Bohemian Caverns in the District. He often wrote poetry and liked to take walks in the District.
In chapter seven of the unfinished biography "We All Eat Small Dogs," the nonfiction outlandish tales of Morrison's high school behavior scream through the pages. This section begins with Morrison teaching his Spanish class on Senior Day. Very much in tune with his character, he wrote "we all eat small dogs" on the board in Spanish and the teacher became upset.

Interestingly enough, Opsasnick also had a chance to visit Morrison's former home in Alexandria.
There he browsed the secluded basement where Morrison resided. Back then the future rock star was a military brat, who relocated to the area for a brief time with his family.

"Since Jim Morrison died in 1971, we were probably the only...fans that had ever been in that house," he recalled.
Stan Durkee, 61, an environmental specialist from Bethesda, was George Washington High School's class president in 1961, and one of Opsasnick's sources for the book.
Durkee ran a carpool service, charging fellow classmates a dime each for a ride to school. Morrison would join Durkee in his 1955 Buick.
"I thought he was probably one of the most creative people that I ever met. I was surprised that he became associated with rock 'n' roll," he said. "He was a very special guy, and we knew it."

Chapters in the book are an eclectic mix of Morrison's poetry, real life accounts and extensive research on Alexandria in the '60s.
The last chapter, "Arizona" is an in depth interview with one of Morrison's former friends, a federal judge who claims he saw the rock star in Arizona 10 years ago.

Opsasnick writes approximately a chapter a month and hopes to finish writing by Labor Day and submit it to his publisher Xlibris Corp. by next January.
"There is a whole lot of information...that has never been published. It's definitely a book geared toward those die-hard Jim Morrison fans," Opsasnick said.
The Gazette.Net
by Natasha Brown Staff Writer Feb. 10, 2005

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Alameda High School 1958 Alameda California

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

George Washington High School Alexandria, Virginia Yearbook 1961.







I seem to recall he was not happy having a photo taken so dressed up hence the miserable look on his face...






Jim seemed to favour the top right hand corner to add his scrawl of a signature.
Never posting an epithet which seemed to add gravitas to the rebellious loner persona he wore at school/college/university.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

St. Petersburg Junior College Florida 1961-62







They had some strange subjects back then. Jim's record card from 1961-1963 with his details from St Petersburg & FSU
Jim Morrison spent 2 ½ years in college in Florida. He attended St. Petersburg Junior College for the 1961-62 academic year, then transferred to Florida State University.
He was at FSU for the 1962-63 academic year and the fall trimester of 1963.

The top section of his transcript is from SPJC, where he got B's and C's in basic classes, including English, math and biology.
The bottom four sections are from FSU, where he got A's in Collective Behaviour and Essentials of Acting, and a B in Philosophy of Protest.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Florida State University 1962-1963





Whilst at FSU Jim appeared (under a pseudonym) as Gus in Harold Pinter's play The Dumbwaiter.
How long it ran is unknown but it was an early glimpse of Jim on stage.


A college prank earned Jim this mug shot.
Possibly this one. While attending Florida State, Morrison was arrested at a football game for disorderly behaviour. A favourite professor took him for a haircut before his court date.
.

Most Doors fans know that Jim Morrison studied film at UCLA where he met a graduate student named Ray Manzarek. But before enrolling at UCLA, Morrison attended Florida State University in Tallahassee. At FSU, in 1962, Jim studied art and psychology and fell in with a bohemian crowd. He also appeared in a student production of Harold Pinter's play, The Dumbwaiter. Here, in an exclusive interview with American Legends, the late Gerry McClain remembers his fellow FSU student, Jim Morrison.

AL:
How did you meet Jim Morrison?

GM:
I was a film student at FSU. At that time, the department consisted of two people: myself and Werner Vagt who ran the operation. There were no formal classes. Werner made short films for the university and some outside clients. He had been a director in Germany. Jim Morrison appeared in a short we did for United Way. As I recall, he walked to a mailbox and mailed a letter.

AL: Was Jim interested in film then?

GM: His whole interest was film. He did some editing work under Werner and would go to the FSU library to read film reviews in back issues of The Village Voice. Jim also made an 8 mm film on campus--guys peeking around bushes, that kind of thing.

AL: What was Jim Morrison like back then?

GM: He hung around with a bohemian crowd: people who liked to wear pants with holes in them. Jim posed as a model for the art department, and they would all sell blood to the Red Cross to get a few bucks. Once, I saw Jim go around the college coffee shop eating scraps off tables. I felt he--and the others--were living an image--the starving young artist.

AL: Was Morrison interested in music?

GM: The only time I heard Jim mention music at FSU was at a party. He said, "I want you to hear this guy. He's really great." Jim put on this record by a singer nobody had ever heard of. It was Bob Dylan.

AL: A recent biography by Patricia Butler suggests that Jim Morrison may have had a gay experience in St. Petersburg before enrolling at FSU.

GM: At FSU, he had a girlfriend, Mary Werbelow. Jim brought her to a party. Some guy was bending over to talk to her and Jim got jealous. He grabbed the guy by the belt and threw him across the room. Jim got very drunk when he drank. I realized drinking made him crazy. Another time, Morrison grabbed the wheel of my car and wanted to drive to Georgia to this carnival where girls danced nude. Jim Morrison wasn't gay.

AL: Did Morrison talk about leaving FSU?

GM: No. One time I hadn't seen him for a couple of days and over semester break I dropped by Werner's office and asked if he'd seen Jim. Werner said: "Morrison's gone. He's going out to California to film school at UCLA."

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Whilst at FSU a very clean cut besuited Jim Morrison took part in a short promotional film as a student who is rejected for the college and comes there to find out why?

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

University of California, Los Angeles 1964-1965



Morrison was involved in the making of several of his fellow students films as soundman or cameraman.
Only one of his own efforts, First Love, still remains after he reportedly burned the rest.
Apparently the film shown in Oliver Stones The Doors was not far off the mark despite Ray Manzarek's constant whining.
Part of it featured Mary Werbelow dancing scantily clad on a TV and as Jim was filming a feature about Hitler & the Nazi's came on.





Jim was in charge of photography for Patient 411


See Jim Morrison Film Projects for more information and links to all 3 films.

“My first impression of him at the UCLA – he was quiet, somehow hidden and soft-spoken. Jim almost
disappeared in the presence of Ray Manzarek or Bill Curby, who used to be a Hollywood screen writer.

I remember I went to the UCLA library one day and believe it or not, Jim had a job at the library stacking books.
I was wandering around in the library looking for books to read and I came across him. He was sitting in the
back of the library on the floor with a bunch of books next to him. He wasn’t sorting these books and putting
them back on the shelves – he was reading them! And I said, “No wonder we can’t find any books in here!”

Well, that’s the kind of guy he was. He was behind the scenes at UCLA a lot. I also remember him the first time
he was on stage at the London Fog – he kept his back to the audience, whispering and croaking into that
microphone. I left the London Fog shaking my head saying, “That guy will never be a singer!” He really wasn’t
that Jim Morrison we know from the film clips and stuff.

It took a while to really develop the Jim Morrison we know now. He was very shy, not much to go out there and be an extravert.
When I came back I saw them at the Shrine Auditorium, I think it was in December of 1967, and he was magnificent, he was in full command of
the audience, of himself and his power on stage. He had transformed himself into a performer. He had
discovered the power of transforming himself into what he wanted to be by the force of his own personality.”
Frank Lisciandro