Wednesday, February 25, 1998
New bio explores untold story
of cosmic mates
BOOK: Novice author researches tragic relationship between Jim
Morrison and his long-time love
By Stacy Sare
Daily Bruin Contributor
After quitting her job as a secretary and flying to Paris,
author Patricia Butler found herself being chased by police and
hiding in an open grave to escape tear gas, beatings and riot
squads. She had walked into the middle of a melee. What was all the
fuss about?
It was the 20th anniversary of Jim Morrisons death and the
singer was still stirring up a commotion.
Now Butler sits at Borders Cafe, sipping a cup of coffee and
getting ready to promote her recently published book, Angels Dance
and Angels Die. The book tells the love story between The Doors
frontman, rock legend and former UCLA film student, Jim Morrison
and his soul mate, Pamela. Butler recalls the harrowing experience
that led her to six years of extensive research and the publication
of her book.
While officials at Pere Lachaise cemetery expected only 500
fans, 5,000 showed up. But they assumed shutting the doors on Jim
Morrison was going to be an easy feat. When guards tried to close
the cemetery gates, hell broke loose.
But in the cemetery plot, Butler didnt know what was happening,
either.
While I was sitting there (in the grave), I started wondering
what the hell was going on and who causes this much trouble after
being dead for so long, Butler recalls. I started asking around,
hearing fans stories and learned that some people had blown their
life savings just to come for the day.
Fans stories amazed Butler. I wasnt a fan of The Doors or Jim,
Butler says. I didnt know anything about him. Thats why I was so
taken aback. I started asking around and just listening to people
express emotions about Morrison and tell me more about the story
and it really interested me.
This experience inspired Butler to write Angels Dance and Angels
Die.
When I got home, my friends said, Well, you just had a big
adventure, what are you going to do now? and I just said without
thinking, Im going to write a book about Jim and Pam Morrison.
Butler says.
Butler admits to being clueless about where to go from
there.
I didnt know how to write. I wasnt a writer. I was a secretary
still.
Butler had to practice her skill at the pen just to get to talk
to people. The novice writer also knew she didnt want to focus on
Jims life as a rock star. She knew there were other books out there
on Morrison.
There was Jim Morrison the rock star. There was Jim Morrison the
rock star I fucked. There was Jim Morrison the rock star who was my
friend. And that was about it, Butler says.
I was more interested in all the things that led up to him being
put in that position and all the things that went into making him
the person who made all the decisions and the actions he did,
Butler continues.
At first, Butler was going to write the book about Pamela, who
died of a heroin overdose in 1974, three years after Jims death,
because nobody seemed to know anything about her. But Butler soon
learned how inseparable Jim and Pam really were.
In order to understand everything that Jim did, I needed to
understand everything that Pamela did as well, Butler says. I
needed to have an equal understanding of her and her motivations.
Before long, I understood that the real story was the two of
them.
The author admits confronting the biggest fears she had in her
life during the researching process.
I hated it, Butler says. I was very shy. I didnt like to talk to
people. And here I was put in a position where I had to call total
strangers and ask them to tell me the most intimate details of
their lives. Before I picked up the phone, a lot of times, Id
actually run to the bathroom and throw up. I would be so
scared.
Another scary aspect was having to re-live her subjects lives by
listening to their friends and reading their works.
You have to put yourself through a lot of what they went
through, Butler states. Sometimes, its really hard, especially with
a subject like Jim and Pam because its so tragic. Im sitting in a
house of autopsy reports and police reports and I have a body
diagram on my wall and I can tell you how much Pams liver weighed
… stuff like that. Its tough to live with that every day.
On a more positive note, what amazed Butler was how much faith
Jims friends and family placed in her.
They would take family photos that nobody had seen before. Theyd
take them out of the scrapbook and mail them to me and trust that I
would return them, Butler says.
All of this research led to the inevitable question: How did Jim
and Pam meet?
Imagine the typical romantic scenario. Jim saw her across a
crowded room. They were together from that night on, Butler
tells.
She says people were surprised to find out that Jim said Pam was
his cosmic mate, and had no idea about how much Jim and Pam had in
common. Yet she also sees the two as being off-the-cuff. I think
they were different from their peers. They had been the odd folks
out there their whole lives, Butler explains. They didnt have a lot
of close friends. They didnt have much interest in fitting in. When
Pamela and Jim met, it was two kindred spirits together.
I think thats what Jim meant by calling Pamela his cosmic mate,
Butler continues, because they seemed to be the same. It wasnt just
some silly phrase. (Doors keyboardist) Ray Manzarek said, They were
two halves of the same person.
They stayed home and cooked, went to foreign films alone and
went to other countries to shop for Pams clothing store,
Themis.
Their relationship, however, had rocky times as well. What got
between them was Jims alcoholism and his fame, Butler states. They
were in strange circumstances. The band was a big factor that came
between them. Pam was always encouraging Jim to leave the band. She
thought they were sucking him dry and not giving him anything in
return. She wanted him to go be a poet … not a rock star.
Jims and Pams lives ended up like a Romeo and Juliet tragedy.
Three years after Jim Morrison was found dead in his bathtub,
Pamela Courson died of a heroin overdose.
Readers of Angels Dance and Angels Die, have been moved by this
poignant love story.
After reading the book, I feel that Pam and Jim were definite
soul mates, says 26-year-old Doors fan Pamela Davis. I liked the
book because they went more into Pam. I knew in my heart that he
was too intelligent to go with someone who was such an airhead,
like in the (Oliver Stone) movie .
Schirmer Books
Patricia Butler wrote Angels Dance and Angels Die.