Ray Manzarek's Student Movies

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

At film school Ray produced 3 films.
Not particularly any good but Historically valuable to Doors fans, especially the 2nd one.

I criticise Ray and also Jim for lack of talent as film makers but I'm a Doors fan so concede this stuff is History and as such I want to see it.
Only two of Rays films still exist (as far as we know) the third seeming lost but the one with the one Ray acts in is in the possession of Ray's archive which I'm sure you would want to see it as much as I do.

1. Evergreen by Ray Manczarek 1964






Made in 1964, this 12 minute, 16mm, black and white film stars his girlfriend Dorothy Fujikawa along with fellow film student Hank Olguin.
The film is a series of scenes that show Dorothy and Hank in different life situations, while the narration is a conversation between Hank and Dorothy discussing different topics.
The central theme is the life of a jazz musician and his girlfriend.
Portions of Evergreen are filmed at Ray and Dorothy’s upstairs apartment on Fraser Avenue on Venice Beach. This is the same apartment Ray and Dorothy would share with Jim after the famous “meeting on the beach”.
Robby Krieger would later move into this same apartment after Ray and Dorothy moved out.

This film was created as part of a “sync sound” project, thus all of the audio was recorded separately and synced to the film. Ray provides the male voice for Hank, and Dorothy provides her own voice.
Ray includes a “Rick and the Ravens” tune for the soundtrack, using “Henrietta” as the backdrop of the scene where they are driving past the Whisky a Go Go.
It's ironic that the final shot is of a door. Spooky.







21-5-1965
The UCLA Daily Bruin
Ray's film Evergreen is part of this student film weekend at Royce Hall UCLA Friday 21st May until Saturday 22nd May 1965.
Ray also stars in The Wino & The Blindman by Jose Gonzalez.




5-1965
The Catholic Standard and Times

This is interesting.



On October 1st, 1965 UCLA presents the first National Student Film Festival at UCLA's Royce Hall.
Sponsored by the Graduate Student Association and the National Student Association, 75 films are chosen from universities across the country to be shown and judged by a panel of film experts and critics.
In a Newsweek article dated October 25th, 1965 the festival is profiled with an opening quote from Ray Manczarek, who likely had his film Evergreen submitted and shown in the festival.




2 Induction by Ray Manczarek 1965



As with Ray's Evergreen dull as dishwater but stars Ray & Dorothy so it is worth a look. Famous for a few glimpses of Jim Morrison during the party scene.
But I'm sure there are a few names we would be familiar with.
One of those is Rick & The Ravens doing Dancing In The Street. Jim Manczarek on piano & Rick playing guitar.










Ray & Dorothy at the Lucky U

22nd/23rd May 1965
Royce Hall UCLA.
The program for the weekend of student films contained 'Induction' which was Ray Manczarek's second film and Jim's pal, Paul Ferrera's film 'End Of Summer'




I was not particularly impressed with either 'Evergreen' or 'Induction' and to this day do not think much of Ray and his film-making 'talent'....like Jim he was far better in the music field than film.....and its my belief that between them they possessed the collective film-making ability of your average Malaysian Tree Frog... ;D
Having said that both of Rays student movies are essential for Doors fans as they give a wonderful glimpse of the two soon to be Doors before fame and fortune reared its ugly head.....
'The Wino and the Blind Man' would be cool to see and maybe worth your while emailing Rays site and putting a word in for it.....from the plot line that you can find on Rays site it looks like a sketch from The Fast Show......Ray plays a guy pretending to be blind and scamming people by begging.
Ray looks really cool with the beard and shades....

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

3. Who And Where I Live 1965

“Op, Pop & Kicky Flicks – An Evening of Student Films From Out Where It’s All Happening Hey 1965”

Made in 1965 as a silent film and was chosen to appear at UCLA’s sixth semi-annual “Evening of Student Films” at Royce Hall in autumn 1965.
It's possible Ray's other film Induction also appeared over the weekend of December 10/11th 1965

As Who And Where I Live had no sound Ray who was now semi-pro/pro with his new band called The Doors asked his bandmates John Densmore, Robby Krieger and Jim Morrison along with his girlfriend Dorothy Fujikawa and Jim's squeeze Mary Werbelow to come along and play instruments during the showing.
The theme of the film, is as the title suggests, Ray & Dorothy at their flat in Fraser Avenue doing stuff. My friend Helen and I had a wander up there to gawk and take photos in 2013.
It's not been seen yet by us fans but hopefully

147 Fraser Avenue in 2013




It is interesting as the program highlights Jim Morrison's name on several shorts during that weekend.
Also we see a couple of familiar names here. Felix Venable who was a bit of a bum and Nettie Pena a perhaps unfamiliar name but without her we would not have the London Fog tape and photos.
Five Situations for Camera, Recorder and People by Alexander Prisadsky featured classmate Jim Morrison on sound.



It is not known if the film featured in the other two weekends of this festival of student work or whether The Doors repeated their musical backing.


10-12-1965
UCLA Daily Bruin

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Wino And The Blindman 1964




In this 1964 student film by Jose Gonzalez, Ray plays the 'blind man' in a tale of a wino who comes into good fortune and ends up learning a lesson in the process.
Of all the student films associated with a Door this one has a pretty decent storyline and it is worth recounting..

It begins with a blind man (Ray) slowly making his way down an alley in Venice with his cane.
He stops and reaches into his pocket for something and a five dollar bill falls out onto the street. The blind man continues on his way.

The scene moves to that of the wino waking up from his drunken slumber on the front of a house.
He looks somewhat dazed, searching for his bottle for his morning drink.
After finishing off the bottle and tossing it aside, he gets up and stumbles down the alley to start his day of wandering the streets looking for his next drink.

He spots the five dollar bill that the blind man had dropped picks it up and is pleased with his good fortune.
He ponders this piece of luck, should he spend it all on alcohol, or should he use it to try and get his life back on the straight and narrow?

As he weighs it up he walks up to a store front. To the left a barbershop and to the right a liquor store.
The wino decides to get a haircut and turn his fortunes around.

Our wino is a new man and pleased with himself drops a quarter into the blind mans cup outside the barber shop.
The wino feeling invigorated decides to help the less fortunate blind man and puts the rest of his change into his cup.

As he is doing so a passing woman accuses the wino of trying to steal money out of the blind man’s cup.
The wino becomes confused and runs off this ruining his day and pushing him back to his old way of life.

Returning to the liquor store he buys some bottles of wine and proceeds to become totally rat arced drunk.
In his stupor he decides that he really does want to help out the blind man after all. Running can back to the barbershop where he remembers the blind man standing.
But he is so drunk he runs into the glass door of the barbershop and crashes onto the sidewalk.

Laying helpless on the ground he is surrounded by a crowd of people who laugh at him.
For a second time that day he is humiliated and the wino stumbles away from them back to the alley where all this began.

As he wanders through the back alleys of Venice trying to make sense of his day he sees the blind man walking across a parking lot.
Before he can speak he sees the blind man fold up his cane, take off his sunglasses and get into a convertible before driving away. The blind man winks to the camera.

The wino is flabbergasted at what he had just seen. He stands there trying to make sense of it all. Then the wino smiles.

Fast forward to the next day to the next day we see the wino now wearing sunglasses and holding a blind man’s cane walking down an alley towards a new day and a new life.

[kopp]

I sure would love to get a copy of this film. My father is the Wino (Niko Kopp). He has a lot of great stories to tell by the way, about Jim and Ray. He’s in his 80’s and strong as ever.

[born21239]

May 24, 2020 13:08:16 GMT kopp said:

I sure would love to get a copy of this film. My father is the Wino (Niko Kopp). He has a lot of great stories to tell by the way, about Jim and Ray. He’s in his 80’s and strong as ever.

I've sent you a message. Cheers.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Open Doors: Watch Ray Manzarek’s student films, ‘Evergreen’ and ‘Induction’

“I’ll open doors to strange and exotic countries.” That’s the first line in Ray Manzarek’s 1965 student film Induction, and one of several moments from his UCLA movies that retrospectively became omens and portents of Ray’s near future—his film.
School classmate Jim Morrison turns up in Induction, too.

Though Induction and 1964’s Evergreen predate the Doors, both of Manzarek’s extant student films contain such seemingly premonitory details.
(In Evergreen, it’s footage of the Whisky a Go Go and the Venice Beach apartment where Ray and Jim lived during the band’s early years.)
Both movies feature Dorothy Fujikawa, who was married to Manzarek from 1967 until the end of his life, and who was instrumental in the formation of the Doors.

“There would be no Doors if it wasn’t for Dorothy Fujikawa,” Manzarek said. “She was the one who supported Jim and me as we put the band together.”
Fujikawa’s character in Evergreen is reading Brecht, whose “Alabama Song” Morrison sang on the first Doors album.
Her co-star, Hank Olguin (stage name Henry Crismonde), let the Doors use his house for their first rehearsal.
Hank was the only person Ray knew who had a piano, so Ray asked him if his new band could rehearse at his place while they looked for a permanent rehearsal space.








Morrison's films are pretty dull even when they have The Doors in them.
Feast Of Friends is abysmal and HWY a pile of junk.
If Jim Morrison had not made them we would not even know of their existence.

One of his student films 'First Love' still exists and it is boring.
Also it turns out Stones portrayal of one of Jim's films was actually correct (sorry Ray) as by chance the Nazis came on the TV as Jim filmed Mary Werbelow dancing in her underwear on top of the TV.

newdoorstalk.proboards.com/thread/4545/first-love-morrisons-surviving-ucla