PARIS - A Florida politician's proposal to move the grave of The Doors' lead singer, Jim Morrison, to Florida's Space Coast from the 210-year-old Pere Lachaise Cemetery is getting a thumbs down from the representative of the iconic musician's estate, the cemetery and fans of the 1960s rock star.
"This is just a bunch of silliness," said Jeff Jampol, a Los Angeles-based music executive who manages The Doors brand as well as Morrison's estate on behalf of the singer's heirs.
West Melbourne City Councilman John Tice, president of the Brevard Hall of Fame, proposed moving Morrison's grave to the hall in Melbourne last month. He said he had heard that cemetery officials had offered to move the singer's remains to his birth home in the Florida town. Morrison's grave would help promote the region, he said.
Morrison's father, George Stephen Morrison, was a rear admiral stationed at the Naval Air Station in Melbourne for flight training during World War II.
Official: Move Jim Morrison's remains back to Melbourne
The cemetery, which draws a steady flow of tourists to Morrison's grave, said it has not received any request to move the body. According to its website, only Morrison's family could request to move his remains.
Jampol said the idea has not crossed cemetery officials' minds despite what Tice might have claimed. "It's like asking if the incoming president wants to be inaugurated in a clown suit."
In his will, Morrison designated his then-girlfriend, Pamela Courson, as his sole beneficiary. She died in 1974 from a drug overdose, and her family and Morrison's family are co-owners of his estate, Jampol said.
"There is not a chance for this to happen," said Regis Dufour Forrestier, president of the Association of the Friends and Lovers of the Pere Lachaise. "There is a cult of Jim Morrison's grave."
Since his death in Paris in 1971, Morrison has been buried amid other renowned artists that include Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf. About 3 million people visit the cemetery annually. On the 40th anniversary of Morrison's death in 2011, Forrestier said, 4,000 fans paid their respects at his gravesite.
Shortly before his death, Morrison moved to Paris. He was found dead in a bathtub at the age of 27, the victim of heart failure. Claims that he died of a drug overdose have never been confirmed by French authorities.
One of those making that claim is Paris nightclub owner Sam Bernett, who wrote a book about how Morrison died of a heroin overdose at his club, the Rock 'n' Roll Circus, and was carried back to his apartment. Bernett said the effort to return the rock star's remains to Florida is a very American impulse.
"What is incredible here it that Americans don't differentiate between Jim Morrison the huge international star who died in Paris and is buried in Paris from the boy born in Melbourne who is American and should be buried in the U.S.," Bernett said. "This is a very American type of reaction: ‘We never leave an American behind.' "
Tice said he did not request to move Morrison's body back to Melbourne, but explored the idea based on local chatter about the city's best-known native son.
"Some traditional Europeans spend their lifetimes trying to bring back people, especially people of stature, to their homeland. If that's true there, why wouldn't it be true here?" Tice asked.
"With that said, the bottom line is: Everybody's heard over the years that that cemetery has not been happy with the traffic or the vandalism or the graffiti for years. And that's common knowledge," he said.
Fans who visit the grave place photos, flowers, notes, ribbons and candles on his modest tombstone, which bears the inscription "True to Your Own Spirit" in Greek. Visitors often stick chewing gum on a nearby tree as a sign of independence and flouting of authority — hallmarks of Morrison's life.
"The chewing gum is just a way for people to say ‘I was here,' " said Paul Bauer, a tour guide who has worked at Pere Lachaise for 30 years. "Also many people come and drink whisky, they smoke," he added disapprovingly. "It is a cemetery, not a cafe."
On a recent day, a constant flow of visitors speaking many languages lined up to see the grave. "This is where he wanted to be," said Amanda Arp, 37, an artist and stay-at-home mom from Tennessee who decided to visit the cemetery as soon as her husband announced they were traveling to Paris as a surprise Christmas present. "He was so private, and toward the end, he wanted to be alone. So I think that's the best place for him."
She rejected the idea of moving Morrison's remains. "If he were in the States, I think he would be hounded even more than he is now," Arp said. "When a body is at rest, it should stay at rest."
Dyer reported from Newark, NJ. Contributing: Rick Neale, Florida Today
The local connection
The Doors' lead singer Jim Morrison left his mark in Tallahassee while attending Florida State University in the early 1960s to study theater and psychology.
On Sept. 28, 1963, he went to watch FSU play Texas Christian in Doak Campbell Stadium and entered local lore in an infamous way, according to a 2013 Democrat article by Mark Hinson. A drunken Morrison jeered at the football players on the sideline, yelled at the fans in the stands and swiped some poor fellow's umbrella. Then he grabbed a helmet from a police officer's parked cruiser.
Morrison was arrested by the Tallahassee Police Department and taken to jail, where he was charged with petty larceny, disturbing the peace, resisting arrest and public drunkenness. His mug shot marking the occasion eventually became one of the most popular jailhouse photos of the late 20th century.
The charges were eventually dropped and Morrison headed off to UCLA in Los Angeles in 1964.
