Riders On the Storm: Last Days of Jim Morrison

By Jennifer Dennis

While appealing a 6-month jail sentence for public indecency, and on the eve of L.A. Woman's wildly successful release in April of 1971, Jim and Pam traveled to Europe for some much needed downtime and as an attempt to recapture anything that resembled a normal life. In a speculation best left to the romantics of the world, how much peace they found in the aftermath of fame and fortune's gilded cage remains a mystery. This work is a tribute to their tumultuous love affair as much as anything else, and the ties of love that bind us to one another- from one life to the next.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667833231

Book preview

ACT ONE

London, England 1971. Hallway outside the offices at Elektra Records

Clive Selwood opens the door to his office and walks inside, juggling his coffee mug from one hand to the other. He swears under his breath as he spills coffee on his sleeve and walks to his desk, glancing towards his assistant as she signals him from her desk. 

Assistant

No. Of course I wouldn’t be able to confirm that… Yes. I understand…

Clive waves her off as he takes a seat at his desk and looks for something to wipe off his sleeve.

Assistant

I’ll be looking into that right away.  Thank you for calling.

She hangs up and turns around in her seat as he relents and takes his jacket off, sighing. Pauses when he notices her expression.

Clive

What?  What is it?

Assistant

I don’t know.  It could be nothing.  But the Sun and the Daily Star both called… There’s a rumor going around that Jim is dead. The reporter I was speaking with says that police discovered him this morning at his flat in Paris, but I couldn’t get anyone to confirm it…

Clive

That’s hardly anything new.

Assistant

I thought the same thing…

Clive

Did you call the French office?

Assistant

Not yet.  I wanted to…

Clive stands up and reaches for his phone.

Clive

Give me the number.

His assistant hands him a card and he dials out, pacing around the desk.

Clive

Hello?  Who am I speaking with, please?  This is Clive Selwood, London office.  Look, this is going to sound odd, but I’m trying to chase down a rumor and I wonder if you could help me.  It’s about Jim Morrison.  Of course… Yes… No, I just heard….

He glances at his assistant and he turns his back on her as his expression changes, pacing away from her.

Clive

Yes… I agree… And when you asked them, what did they say?

(Scene fades to black) 

Bill Siddons’ master bedroom- night

A phone rings in a dark apartment.  Bill Siddons glances at the clock on the nightstand and turns his head as his girlfriend opens her eyes, wiping his hand over his face as his head drops back to his pillow.

Girlfriend

Are you going to answer it?

Bill

(sighing)

Why encourage it? Let’s just pretend we don’t hear it.

Girlfriend

You know it’s for you. I mean, seriously, Bill.  It’s after three in the morning…

Bill sits up, reaching for the phone.

Bill

All right, all right….Hello?  Who is this?

Clive

(agitated)

Bill, this is Clive.  I’m sorry to wake you up and I just…can’t substantiate it in any way, but were getting reports that Jim died.

Bill

Oh come on, Clive.

Clive

I know.  I know how it sounds.

Bill

Do you know it’s after three AM here? I can’t do this right now. Really.

Clive

Normally I’d agree with you.  Except…

Bill

You know how this goes. He’s probably just sleeping it off somewhere. You want to go chasing him down that rabbit hole, be my guest. I’m going back to bed.

Clive

(lowering his voice)

Look. I agree with you, all right?  But I tried the French office and they heard it too.  And then I called the Embassy, and the police…

Bill

It’s just bullshit, Clive…He does this….

Clive

And then Tammy called me, okay?  And John White.  Both weeklies.  Back to back. Now John and I aren’t exactly friendly, but…I’ve never known Tammy to pass on a rumor like this without something to back it up.  She sounded worried, Bill.  It was like she was waiting for me to reassure her.

Bill reaches for his cigarettes as his girlfriend sits up in bed, passing him a lighter.

Clive

Bill?

Bill

(stands up and paces away from the edge of the bed)

Yeah.  I heard you.  All right?

Clive

I just thought you should know.

Bill

I’ll make a couple of calls and get back with you.

Clive

One way or the other.

Bill

Yeah.

He hangs up and holds his hand on the cradle of the phone for a moment as his girlfriend gets out of bed.

Girlfriend

What is it?

Bill

(dialing out)

I don’t know. Who the fuck knows? Clive said there’s this rumor going around that Jim might be dead.

Girlfriend

Again?

Bill

That’s exactly what I said.  I tried to tell him that this is all just part of the Morrison experience but try explaining that to…Hello?  Pam?…This is Bill…Yeah, Clive called me…Just a few minutes ago…Are you all right?…What?

Glances at girlfriend and picks up phone, pacing away from the bed.

Bill

Okay, all right, slow down.  Start again.  Tell me exactly what happened.  No.  Just…Start from the beginning.

(Scene Ends)

Vineyard in the French Countryside- Day

A scattershot of Super 8 images, all of Pamela Courson

She turns to Jim, smiling and shaking her head as she walks away. He follows her through a field of wildflowers and then pauses as she runs. Fade out to white. Fade up to a dark Paris apartment in the hours just before dawn.  Jim is filming Pam from across the room.  She is unaware.  She is seated against the arch of an open window looking out over the street, books and poetry scattered all around her.

Jim

(V.O.)

Maybe we’ve gone too far.  Maybe we wanted too much.  There’s just no way to know.  No way of telling.  My Ophelia, still. Waiting and restless. Resting here in the catechism of our last, gentle dream.  Did you pretend that life would wait for you when you left?  Did you feel it at all when the world finally fell?

Int. Jim and Pam’s Apartment in Paris- 3 months earlier

Pam is sitting on the floor in front of the balcony window, looking out over the dark street in the hours before dawn. She glances up as she notices Jim filming her, shaking her head as she glances away.

Jim

The Lady Ophelia.  Up before dawn.  What’s the occasion?

Pam

I don’t know.  I’ve been keeping weird hours.

Jim

Still enjoying exile?

Pam

Very much, thank you.

He pans the camera around the open notebooks at her feet.

Jim

Going through my things?

Pam

Just your latest.  It’s really good, Jim.  Maybe some of your best.

Jim

Think so?

Pans in on a close-up of her face.

Jim

And is there anything in particular you want to do now that we’re fugitives from the law?

Pam

I don’t know.  Is it too late to start a revolution?

Jim

Good question.  Want to find out?

Pam turns her head and then holds her fingers up to her lips, beckoning him closer.

Pam

Shh.  Listen.  Do you hear it?

Jim

Hear what?

Jim lowers the camera and it’s the first time you see him as he walks over to join her at the balcony.

Pam

Someone was playing a violin out in the street a few minutes ago.  I could hear them from the other room.

Jim

I don’t hear anything. Maybe you just dreamed it.

Pam

God, I love it here.  Do you know how I told you I was having all those dreams about waking up in a forest and kind of knowing that, like, almost a decade had passed but I couldn’t find my way out?  And I knew you were somewhere, looking for me too…

Jim

Hmm… Maybe. You were saying something about a boat…

Pam

No.  It was always a forest.  Last night, for the first time, I didn’t have it at all.  It was just us slow dancing in front of that little café downtown.  And everyone was standing around watching, as if it were the most natural thing in the world…

Jim sets the camera aside and sits down in the opposite archway, reaching for one of the half-finished bottles of wine that line the wall behind him.

Pam

Jim.  You promised.  Not until noon.  Remember?  Do you remember saying that on the plane?

Jim

This may not be your morning to play that game.

He takes a drink, she turns her head

Pam

Tommy called last night.

Jim

He did?

Pam

After you went to bed.  I think he forgot about the time difference.

Jim

What did he have to say?

Pam

I don’t know.  I think he’s just lonely.  Funny, isn’t it?  No one would ever guess.  He misses you, you know.  I think he’d come out if we invited him.

Jim

Yeah.  I don’t know.  Let me think about it.

Pam

We definitely have enough room…

Jim

Yeah, maybe.  I thought we were kind of doing a Hemingway thing.  Expatriated Americans- searching for meaning on some abandoned beach in a foreign land…

Pam picks up his copy of The Old Man and the Sea and flips through it, running her fingers over the pages he’s earmarked.

Pam

Still reading it?

Jim

I couldn’t remember what I liked about it.

Pam

And now?

Jim

I haven’t made up my mind.  I think he was talking about his soul.  About people tearing it apart- bit by bit.  And he just found a way to go on living.  To find meaning in life after he’d lost all faith in humanity.

Pam

That does sound like you. I always loved the way he wrote. He just never wasted a word…

Pam turns her head as the sound of violin drifts back to him and then gives him a triumphant smile

Pam

Didn’t I tell you?

Jim

You did.  You really did.

Pam sets the book aside and crawls closer

Pam

You know we really can start over here.  If you want too.  We can be anyone we want to be.  We can just make it up as we go along.

Jim shifts her hair away from her face and then runs his fingers over the inside of her arm as she curls it away from him.

Jim

Maybe. I’ve been wondering.

Pam

You know I haven’t done it in weeks. 

She takes the bottle out of his hand and sets it aside

And I could give it up.  I could.  But you’d have to try.  I won’t watch you disappear again.  I had enough of that back home.

Jim

I always came back for you, didn’t I? I would always come back for you…

Pam crawls into his lap,  pulls away until they are in silhouette

Pam

I mean it this time.  I don’t want to follow you into the abyss anymore, Jim…I want to leave all that behind.  It was a nice dream, but it was a dream, you know?

Jim

It’d be nice to think that, wouldn’t it?  Maybe it’s true…

Pam

The world’s taken enough of you.  I want you to let it go.  I want you to be here, in this life, with me…

Jim

Sweet Ophelia.  Always waiting.  I’ve always been yours.  And you’ve always been mine….

They kiss as the music plays

(Scene Ends)

morrison1

Ext. Jim and Pam’s Apartment in Paris- Day

Jim walks down the steps of his Paris apartment and out onto the street.  He is in sunglasses, jeans, untucked paisley shirt, corduroy jacket and looks almost like a local.  Summer’s Almost Gone plays throughout the montage.  He glances up as Pam runs out onto the balcony and yells something to him as people pass him on the street.  He replies, holds up his hands and she blows him a kiss and heads back inside.  CUT to him walking on a busy Paris street, angle is in front of him as he walks.  He passes an open butcher’s market, glances at a group of teenage girls smiling at him and making eye contact.

He stops and flips through a couple of paperback racks, talking to an older man selling used books. CUT to him walking past a handful of street artists towards the Louvre, his jacket slung over his shoulder.  He turns his head at the fountain as a girl (20’s) calls to him.  He approaches as she calls over her friends, flirts with them, poses for pictures and holds onto the girl’s hand as she walks away. He smiles, saying something as she hugs him before running away.  He calls after her and then watches her for a few seconds before turning and heading towards the museum. (song ends)

(Scene Ends)

Paris Street in front of the Rock and Roll Circus- Night

Jim walks up the street at dusk.  The cafes are alive with people and music and he is drinking a bottle of whiskey from a paper bag. He pauses as a group of girls rush out of a bar (The Rock and Roll Circus) hand in hand and glances after them as they nearly collide.

Jim

Hey…

Girl

(smiling and rushing past)

Excusez-moi…(Excuse me…)

Jim

Don’t worry about it.

Jim turns his head as rock music blasts out onto the street and glances up at the sign over the bar as she pauses at the street

Girl

Attendre. Je te connais…?(Wait. I know you…?)

Jim smiles after her as her friends jostle her forward and tucks his bottle into the inside pocket of his jacket as he ducks inside. He heads down a narrow staircase as a group of people run past him, following the sound of the music.  At the bottom of the steps is a dark underground club- smoky, dark walls, an impromptu stage near the front where a band is set up and playing full throttle.  Scuffed wooden tables line the walls facing a long bar at the far right.  He wanders through the crowd, watching the band play and then heads to the bar, glancing at them as the bartender glances up.

Bartender

What’ll you have?

Jim

Um… Maybe a