Rocker Jim Morrison arrested this day in New Haven

A New Haven Police Department mug shot of Jim Morrison is part of the exhibit, Made in New Haven, An Artist's Collection of Cultural Artifacts Celebrating Civic Pride of Place, by Robert S. Greenberg on the back wall in the Hearing Room in New Haven's Hall of Records photographed on 9/27/2016. less A New Haven Police Department mug shot of Jim Morrison is part of the exhibit, Made in New Haven, An Artist's Collection of Cultural Artifacts Celebrating Civic Pride of Place, by Robert S. Greenberg on the ... more Photo: Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media File Photo Photo: Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media File Photo Image 1 of / 101 Caption Close Rocker Jim Morrison arrested this day in New Haven 1 / 101 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN — It’s been 52 years since he lit our fire?

Yes, on Dec. 9, 1967, Jim Morrison and The Doors were the headliner at the New Haven Arena.

But as many know, before he broke on through to the other side, Morrison was arrested 52 years ago today.

As legend has it, Morrison was surprised and maced by a police officer who happened upon him making out with a fan backstage at the New Haven Arena on Dec. 9, 1967. After Morrison recovered, he went onstage and launched into an obscenity-filled rant about the incident backstage, repeatedly disparaging the police. He was dragged off the stage, which resulted in a riot and charges for Morrison and several others. The charge of resisting arrest was later dropped, but Morrison paid a $25 fine for disturbing the peace.

Turns out Morrison likely could have avoided the whole thing, according to a local musician who was at the arena at the time.

“All he had to do was knock on our door and say, ‘Hi, I’m Jim Morrison.’ We would have asked him for his autograph and none of this would have happened,” Tommy Janette said.

The Register Entertainment Editor Fran Fried once quipped in a story: Blood in the streets? It was more like Mace in the Arena.

“Who could forget it?” said Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist for The Doors, who had one of the best vantage points to see New Haven policemen arrest Morrison on stage.

Photo: File Photo Photo: File Photo Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Celebrities who have been arrested in Connecticut 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

Fried reported Manzarek reiterated the events that a later generation might have read about in Jerry Hopkins and Daniel Sugerman’s Morrison biography, “No One Here Gets Out Alive” - a Saturday night also recorded in the pages of the Register and old Journal-Courier: A half-hour before the show, Morrison had found a shower room backstage to get acquainted with a Southern Connecticut State College co-ed, when a cop tried to shoo them away. Morrison mouthed off, the conversation escalated and the officer sprayed Morrison in the face with Mace. When he realized who he sprayed, he and the band’s crew doused Morrison’s eyes with water. Apologies were exchanged. Shortly after, the show began, and something was amiss. “When we got out on stage, there was a line of cops in front of the stage,” Manzarek said two weeks ago. “We asked why and they told us to protect us. From WHAT? From making love to us?” In the instrumental break of “Back Door Man,” Morrison said, “I want to tell you about something that happened a few minutes ago right here in New Haven. This is New Haven, isn’t it? New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America?”

After Morrison’s arrest, Fried reported, a melee broke out in which 13 more people were arrested, including a music critic for the Village Voice, and a photographer and a researcher for Life magazine. The photographer, Tim Page, according to a Journal-Courier story, was arrested while shooting a policeman “roughing up a kid.” The arrest of a rock star on stage, combined with the apprehension of members of the national press, ensured widespread coverage of the story. The charges were dropped a month later when Morrison failed to appear in Circuit Court a month later; he forfeited his $1,500 bond, but no re-arrest warrant was issued. Morrison immortalized the Elm City in the song “Peace Frog,” on The Doors’ 1970 album “Morrison Hotel” - the song with the line “Blood in the streets in the town of New Haven.”

Related: Generations of rock stars lit up the Elm City

Did you know city fathers and Yale at one point sought to keep out “dangerous” new rock ‘n’ roll from their modern city (Lee banned an Alan Freed show at one point, the Beatles were blocked from playing Yale Bowl by a Yale benefactor, and Morrison was arrested at the Arena).

Related: Do you know the ‘Hidden History of New Haven’?