Valley of the Dolls

BY: PROVOKR Staff

After getting rejection slips from a series of squeamish publishing houses, aspiring actress-turned-writer Jacqueline Susann finally got her risque first novel released in 1966. Written with melodramatic, soap-opera-style flair, Valley of the Dolls became the literary embodiment of the 1960s counterculture. It dealt with drug use (the “dolls” in the title is a euphemism for barbiturates), and it became a voice for the burgeoning movement for women’s and gay rights. As soon as it was released, Valley of the Dolls became an instant bestseller. It sold 4 million copies in its first week and has since developed such a following that it currently ranks alongside To Kill A Mockingbird and Gone with the Wind as one of the bestselling novels of all time. Valley tells the story of Anne, Neely and Jennifer, three young women who live in New York City and are determined to make their dreams—including fame, riches, romance and sexual satisfaction—come true. The book became such a social phenomenon that the year after it debuted it was adapted into a film (click the videos to watch the movie trailer and the film’s infamous cat fight scene). To honor the book’s 50th anniversary, Grove Press is publishing a limited hardcover and a revised paperback edition of the groundbreaking book. Given all the attention the book is getting five decades later, it seems that Jacqueline Susann wasn’t entirely wrong when she notoriously proclaimed that because of Valley of the Dolls, “The 1960s will be remembered for Andy Warhol, the Beatles, and me!”