Valley of the Dolls
Valley of the Dolls is a 1966 novel by Jacqueline Susann. It follows the lives of three women (Anne Welles, Neely O'Hara, and Jennifer North) from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. They start out as roommates in New York, and each of them achieves fame and fortune, with plenty of ups and downs along the way.
"When you're climbing Mount Everest, nothing is easy. You just take one step at a time, never look back and always keep your eyes glued to the top." |
"Dolls" is a slang term for pills (particularly sleeping pills and weight loss pills). Almost everyone in the book pops them like candy.
The novel was adapted into a film in 1967, which got a sequel in 1970.
Tropes used in Valley of the Dolls include:
- Acceptable Targets: Fat women.
- All Love Is Unrequited
- Better to Die Than Be Killed: Jennifer commits suicide when she finds out that she has cancer and needs a mastectomy.
- Casting Couch
- Downer Ending
- Golden Age of Hollywood
- Happily-Failed Suicide: Neely, three times.
- May-December Romance: Anne and Kevin Gillmore.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Quite a few. Susann spent the 1940s as a struggling actress, and drew on that experience while writing the book.
- Neely O'Hara is Judy Garland. Her time in the sanitarium is based on the experiences of Frances Farmer.
- Helen Lawson is Ethel Merman.
- Jennifer North is Carole Landis with a dash of Marilyn Monroe.
- Tony Polar was inspired by Dean Martin, but isn't supposed to actually be him.
- Stepford Smiler: Anne.