She was always in the room.
It started with a camera at five.
Born Ronnie Rosenthal on August 9, 1939, she grew up between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Her father put a camera in her hands at five, and the two of them cut his home movies together.
At ten she made The New York Times for raising money for the March of Dimes. At fifteen she finished high school and left for Boston University to study theatre.
Hollywood cast her. She kept shooting.
She played Sparrow opposite Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin in Come September. Between takes, the camera came out. The people on set became her first subjects.
- Come September 1961
- Ben Casey Season one
- The Untouchables Television
- The Fugitive Television
- Dobie Gillis With Bob Denver
- Death Valley Days 1962
- Wide Country 1963
- My Three Sons Television
- The Munsters Television
She rewired the Sunset Strip.
In 1965 Elmer Valentine hired her to do publicity for a struggling club called the Whisky a Go Go. She pushed for a kitchen so teenagers could get in, sold the plan to City Council, commissioned a psychedelic new logo and turned the room over to live rock.
A week. Her starting pay as assistant publicist.
Weeks until she ran publicity for the whole club.
The new door age. A kitchen dropped it from 21 and filled the room.
She found The Doors.
She caught them at the London Fog the night they got fired. A week later they auditioned at the Whisky.
First night as the house band, on a bill with Captain Beefheart and Buffalo Springfield.
They shared the stage with Love, Them and The Turtles. She got them into the musicians union, Local 47.
A Hullabaloo Club contract for $300. Signed by Robby Krieger, and by Ronnie, listed as agent.
The first woman to manage a rock band.
© Ronnie Haran
© Ronnie HaranShe signed Love and The Doors on a handshake, then rehearsed them, fought for their gigs and stood her ground in a room full of men who later took the credit.
Her photographs landed on the back of Love's Forever Changes in 1967. A year later she shot the cover of The Gentle Soul.
The archive is still talking.
Photographs, contracts, magazines and recollections, with faces still being identified. Ronnie keeps a collection of more than 1,500 albums and the stories behind them.
Professionals can request access to the private gallery. An NDA is required.
