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Valley of the Dolls is the title of a best selling novel by Jacqueline Susann, published in 1966, the Hollywood film which followed it in 1967, and the 1994 late-night, syndicated television soap opera. It is widely considered one of the most commercially successful novels of all time.
Book
Valley of the Dolls was an instant success when it was first published. Since then it has sold more than 30 million copies. As the first roman à clef by a female author to achieve this level of sales in America, it led the way for other authors such as Jackie Collins to depict the private lives of the real-life rich and famous under a veneer of fiction.
Plot
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The book and film tell the story of three young women who meet when all are embarking on the beginning of their careers. Neely O'Hara is a plucky kid with undeniable talent who is working in a Broadway play which stars the legendary actress Helen Lawson. Jennifer North, a beautiful blonde with limited talent is appearing in the chorus. Anne Welles has recently arrived from New England with hopes of success in New York City and she is working for an agency that represents Helen Lawson. The three women become fast friends, and share a bond of ambition and the tendency to be involved with the wrong men.
In the film version, O'Hara becomes a major success and goes to Hollywood where a lucrative film career follows, but almost immediately falls victim to the "dolls" of the title - prescription drugs, particularly Seconal, Nembutal and various stimulants. Her career is shattered by her erratic behaviour and she finds herself in a sanatorium.
Meanwhile Jennifer has followed her to Hollywood and married nightclub singer Tony Polar. He is afflicted with a Huntington's chorea and his care results in mounting medical expenses. In the book, Polar's half-sister explains that the condition he has is congenital, convincing Jennifer to have an abortion, although she'd planned to keep the child after divorcing Polar for unfaithfulness. In the film, Jennifer finds herself working in "art movies" to pay Polar's medical bills; in the book, Polar's sister pays his expenses out of his own savings, and Jennifer decides independently to do French art house films, since she is only highly regarded for her body.
Anne has fared the best of all three, having become a highly successful model. She too falls under the allure of the "dolls" and uses them to escape the reality of her relationship with her lover, who continues to have affairs after their marriage. Jennifer tries to turn her back on her "art movie" career and forms a relationship with a young Senator, but when diagnosed with breast cancer, she finds that even this man cares only for her body, so she commits suicide with an overdose of "dolls". Neely is given one more chance to straighten up and resume her career, but the attraction of the "dolls" is too strong and she seems to spiral into a final decline.
In the film, Anne manages to escape and abandons both her unfaithful lover and the "dolls" to return to New England; this "happy ending" was cobbled together by studio demands for a happy ending, and none of it is in the book, where Anne stays with Lyon after his affair with Neely and comes increasingly under the influence of the dolls. Writer Harlan Ellison, who wrote the original screenplay, took his name off the project because of the ending and the watering-down of his realistic adaptation of the story.
Much of the narrative is drawn from the author's experiences and observations as a struggling actress in the Hollywood of the early forties. The character of Neely O'Hara with her excess of talent coupled with her self-destructive alcoholism and dependency on prescription drugs, is said to be based upon Judy Garland. Garland was originally cast in the movie as Helen Lawson (based on Ethel Merman, whom Susann had known personally - and reportedly had been involved with), until Garland's unpredictable behaviour led to her dismissal. O'Hara's treatment in the sanitariums is a milder version of the fate that befell actress Frances Farmer. The tragic character of Jennifer North is said to be based upon actress/pin-up girl Carole Landis, who had been a friend of the author during their Hollywood days. Like Jennifer, Landis was seen as an ambitious blonde with little real talent, and after a series of failed relationships and a career that had quickly stagnated, she committed suicide with an overdose of barbiturates. She is also said to be based on Marilyn Monroe. The character of Tony Polar is rumored to be based on Frank Sinatra, but Susann herself was quoted in her biography saying that she got the idea for Polar after trying to interview Dean Martin after one of his shows; he was too engrossed in a comic book to pay attention to her.
Movie
The subsequent film, produced by David Weisbart and directed by Mark Robson, received a great deal of publicity during its production. Upon release it was a commercial success, though universally panned by critics. It was re-released in 1969 following the murder of star Sharon Tate, and once again proved commercially viable. In the years since its production it has come to be regarded as a camp classic. Barbara Parkins, attending a special screening of the film at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, told the sold-out crowd, "I know why you like it... because it's so bad!"[1] The movie was remade in 1981 for television as Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls. Also, the late soap opera actress Darlene Conley had a bit part in the movie as a desk manager at a rehearsal hall that Anne was delivering contracts to.