Valley of the Dolls

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In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, when Billy Pilgrim is brought to Tralfamadore for the first time and asks for reading material, he is given The Valley of The Dolls, which is the only physical copy of an English-speaking book the Tralfamadorians have aboard their spaceship. [16] The film was included in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and How They Got That Way) by Harry Medved, Randy Dreyfuss, and Michael Medved. [14] Accolades [ edit ] Award

Valley of the Dolls (film) - Wikipedia Valley of the Dolls (film) - Wikipedia

Valley of the Dolls (1994) starring Sally Kirkland, Colleen Morris, Melissa De Sousa and Sharon Case. As they each start their careers the girls endure the pressures of success as well as heartache with their love life which leads to a slippery slope mixing "Dolls" (Seconals and other pills) with alcohol to cope. As the "dolls" become a constant in their lives it takes a toll and affects all of them. But it's very ordinary writing. It was actually rejected by a publisher calling it "painfully dull,inept,clumsy,undisciplined,rambling and thoroughly amateurish". I am certainly inclined to agree with that view. Curiosity satisfied,I couldn't read it for too long. Despite being a classic had I before I got asked if I wanted to participate in the blog tour never read nor seen the movie version of Valley of the Dolls. But, since I'm a daring person when it comes to books did I not hesitate to read it, despite not knowing much about the book. I do not know how big a hit the book was in Sweden when it was published, but I have never really heard that much about the book, could be because I was not born when it was published. So, it was interesting to read a book that so many people seem to like and that seemed to have been an inspiration source for other female writers. Why was Valley of the Dolls, movie and book, such an extraordinary success? Don Preston believes the answer lies in the Mansfields’ peerless promotional skills. Clearly, it could not just have been the risqué subject matter; more prurient books were available, although maybe not ones a secretary could safely read on the subway. Without doubt Susann had an authentic, almost evangelical empathy for female emotional experience, at the exact moment when women’s place in the world was about to undergo a seismic upheaval. Above all, she knew her audience. Before People or Hollywood Babylon had ripped the scales from the public’s eyes, “ Valley of the Dolls showed that a woman in a ranch house with three kids had a better life,” Susann said, “than what happened up there at the top.”What about the movie then? With Susann's words: "a piece of shit". Pretty to look at, amazing clothes, and Sharon Tate is a lovely Jennifer, but ultimately it's campy in a bad way and doesn't have the book's soul. I also can't forgive what they did to Anne. Utter nonsense! Recent Radcliffe graduate Anne Welles is hired as a secretary at a theatrical agency which represents Helen Lawson, a cutthroat Broadway diva. Helen fears newcomer Neely O'Hara will upstage her, so she has Anne's boss pressure Neely to quit their upcoming show. Anne sours on show business after seeing Helen's cruelty toward Neely, but her boss's business partner, Lyon Burke, dissuades her from quitting the agency.

The ‘camp trash’ that became a classic - BBC Culture The ‘camp trash’ that became a classic - BBC Culture

Neely was my least favorite. I really disliked her early on in the book, which disappointmented me because she starts out as a very likeable character. It didn’t get better, I continued to dislike her to the very end. She showed her true colors only running to her friends when she really needed them but when she was on top she would forget about them even though they tried to be a constant in her life, the "dolls" and stardom were her only worries. Now that I've finished the book, I'm wondering, though, if the people who are calling this book "trash" read the same book as me. It's written in the vein of a lot of other books about superficiality, like Bret Easton Ellis's LESS THAN ZERO (or anything written by Bret Easton Ellis, really), or anything by J.D. Sallinger, but in particular, THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED, or anything by... oh, who the hell else out there plays the siren song for the disaffected and overly ambitious? But those books have received critical acclaim and are praised as literature. This...isn't. Sheesh, the philistines I have to deal with daily! Just makes ya need somethin' to relax with: say, a handful of benzodiazepines, a mug of ice cream and The Captain, the latest issue of The Baffler, and some Esquivel on the Hi-Fi.

Of all the characters in the book was it Neely that I had the most problems with. Right from the start did I feel that she was annoying and towards the end of the book I really hated her. I really mean that I almost had a throw the book away moment because of her. I get angry just thinking about her while writing the review. Jennifer, I feel sorry for, she is so beautiful, but her mother controlled her life and not even her beauty could make her really happy, or rather her beauty would be the end for her since that was all people saw. And then we have Anne, who only wanted real love, and in the end, she got love, but at a cost. In January 1967, columnist Dorothy Manners reported that Oscar nominated actress Elizabeth Hartman had been cast in the role of Neely O'Hara, beating out some more famous Hollywood actresses. Hartman had allegedly made a successful screen test that "floored" director Mark Robson and producer David Weisbart, the former already enthralled with her performance in Francis Ford Coppola's You're a Big Boy Now. However, the following month, it was announced that Duke had signed on to play Neely instead, albeit against her agent's advice. Duke's universally panned "over the top" performance almost ruined her career. This book is a cult classic and I can definitely see why. There is something oddly intoxicating about it. Like it’s kind of trashy but at the same time so ahead of its time. It’s kind of ridiculous at times but still manages to convey a message to readers. Johnston, Laurie. Jacqueline Susann Dead at 53; Novelist Wrote 'Valley of Dolls'. The New York Times. September 23, 1974. Retrieved January 9, 2017. Another important difference is that the film is clearly set in the mid-to-late 1960s and the events unfold over the course of a few years, whereas in the book the story begins in 1945 and develops throughout two decades.

14 Deep Facts About Valley of the Dolls | Mental Floss 14 Deep Facts About Valley of the Dolls | Mental Floss

Century Fox wanted contract star Raquel Welch to play Jennifer but she turned it down, not wanting to play a "sexpot" role. She asked to play Neely but the studio refused. [7] The creation of the novel, film and the never-made film sequel meant to star Parkins and Burke are the subjects of an acclaimed 2020 non-fiction book written by Stephen Rebello, Dolls! Dolls! Dolls!: Deep Inside Valley of the Dolls, the Most Beloved Bad Book and Movie of All Time. Valley of the Dolls is the first novel by American writer Jacqueline Susann. Published in 1966, the book was the biggest selling novel of its year. [1] As of 2016, it has sold more than 31 million copies, [2] making it one of the all-time best-selling fictional works in publishing history. [3] Plot [ edit ] Susann did not ditch her typewriter yet—she and Bea next tried writing an exposé about women in show business, a Valley of the Dolls precursor entitled Underneath the Pancake. Susann also availed herself of the wide-open opportunities of live television, frenetically pushing sponsors’ products—Quest-Shon-Mark bras, Sunset appliances, Hazel Bishop cosmetics, and Vigorelli sewing machines—on a spate of ill-fated programs, some of which she hosted.In an interview with Roger Ebert, Susann offered her thoughts on why Garland was let go. “Everybody keeps asking me why she was fired from the movie, as if it was my fault or something,” she said. “You know what I think went wrong? Here she was, raised in the great tradition of the studio stars, where they make 30 takes of every scene to get it right, and the other girls in the picture were all raised as television actresses. So they’re used to doing it right the first time. Judy just got rattled, that’s all.” 5. PATTY DUKE PARTIALLY BLAMES THE DIRECTOR’S BEHAVIOR FOR GARLAND’S EXIT. Don't bother coming up with complex motivations for when you need your characters to do stupid, destructive shit: just pin it on love. Susann dedicated the book to her poodle Josephine, and to her husband Irving Mansfield. [8] Reception [ edit ] Gino: “Hi Anne I’m so glad you’re going to marry my son instead of some other ‘bimbo’ who only wants him for his money”