THE DOORS
Photographer Joel Brodsky had worked with the Doors on their self-titled 1967 debut album, but when it came to the follow-up later that year, the had a problem – the ever-enigmatic Jim Morrison refused to be photographed. Ray Manzarek told Elektra art director William Harvey: “We wanted a Fellini scene, little people, circus folk, people with marvellous faces.” Brodsky’s solution, inspired by 1954 circus film La Strada, was to recruit a troupe of street performers. With the shoot taking place at a 19th century stable on Snifen Court in New York City, that recruitment proved tougher than anticipated. Brodsky and Harvey had to hastily round up a band of willing friends and hired help, resulting in a taxi driver assuming the role of trumpeter, a nightclub bouncer the strongman and the juggler being played by photographer’s assistant Frank Kollegy. The female figure standing in a doorway on the back cover was played by a friend of Brodsky’s wife, Zazel Wild. The band were delighted with the results, Manzarek saying: “It was everything we had asked for, it was all there. Bill and Joel had assembled a La Strada circus troupe, the strongman, the juggler, the little people…”