Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
The novel begins immediately after the end of World War II and chronicles the story of three young women who embark on careers that bring them to the dizzying heights of fame and eventual self-destruction. The three characters are brought together by a fictional play called Hit The Sky. Anne Welles recently arrives from New England with hopes of success in New York City, and she is working for an agency that represents legendary Broadway star Helen Lawson, who stars in Hit the Sky. Neely O’Hara a/k/a Ethel Agnes O’Neil is a plucky kid with undeniable talent and vaudeville background who lives downstairs from Anne who uses her friendship with Anne to get a role in the chorus of the play. Jennifer North, a beautiful blonde with limited talent who is squired around by rich men, appears in the play as well. The three women become fast friends, and share a bond of ambition and the tendency to be involved with the wrong men.
Jennifer meets a nightclub singer named Tony Polar. After an ultimatum, Jennifer finally married Tony. She goes to Hollywood with him, and becomes pregnant. Afterwards she learns that Tony is mentally retarded. Tony’s half-sister Miriam explains that Tony’s condition is congenital, convincing Jennifer to have an abortion, although Jennifer had planned to keep the child after divorcing Polar for unfaithfulness. In contrast to the film version where Jennifer finds herself working in “art movies” to pay Polar’s medical bills, Miriam pays Tony’s hospital expenses out of his own savings. Jennifer decides independently to do French art house films, since she is only highly regarded for her body and is desperate for money owing to her mother’s unceasing demands. Jennifer’s real ambition is to have children on whom she will lavish the approval and affection she was denied by her family. Stress and smoking make her an insomniac, and she uses the “dolls” (barbiturates) sparingly as sleep aids. Jennifer returns to the United States after years in Europe, where she gains moderate success as an actress. She meets and falls in love with a Senator. However, when diagnosed with breast cancer and told she must have a mastectomy, she finds that even this man cares only for her body and is horrified at the thought of her losing her breasts. Rather than face mutilation alone, she commits suicide with an overdose of “dolls”. Neely becomes famous on the Broadway scene, and moves to Hollywood to work in movies. She quickly earns a reputation as demanding, spoiled, and difficult to handle. Despite that fact that her movies earn high returns at the box office, they consistently lose money due to her behavior and long shooting periods. She becomes addicted to the “dolls” that Jennifer introduced her to, using them to lose weight and to sleep. At one point, Neely says that she is using up to 50 a day. After numerous suicide attempts, a year long black list from the entertainment world, and two failed marriages, Anne gets Neely committed to a psychiatric hospital. After leaving the hospital, she works with agent Lyon Burke to revitalize her career, and quickly returns to her vicious, arrogant behavior. She begins a relationship with Lyon, despite the fact that he is married to her close friend Anne. Her attraction to the “dolls” is too strong, and she seems to spiral into a final decline. Anne fares the best of all three, becoming a highly successful model after a stint as a secretary. Even in her administrative job, her beauty and class are obvious to everyone. Millionaire Allen Cooper falls for her after six weeks of dating shortly after she arrives in New York, and demands her hand in marriage. Anne, not ready to settle down so quickly, repeatedly refuses. Allen does not take no for an answer. During an out of town trip for the debut of Hit the Sky Anne realizes that she is in love with handsome and charming Lyon Burke, a lawyer at the agency. She has sex with him, and tells Allen the truth. He angrily breaks off the relationship, much to Anne’s relief. Her happiness is short-lived when she realizes that Lyon is not ready for a serious relationship with her. She remains in love with him for years, even when she is a successful model in a relationship with an older man. She meets Lyon again and their passion is quickly rekindled. She and Lyon are married, and Anne has a baby, whom she names Jennifer after her now dead friend. Lyon continues to have affairs, including with Anne’s close friend Neely. Eventually, Anne falls under the allure of the “dolls” and uses them to escape the reality of her relationship. Anne stays with Lyon despite his affair with Neely. By the end of the book, Anne has become increasingly under the influence of the “dolls” to dull the pain of Lyon’s continued dalliances with other women.
Background
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, although her powerfully energetic stage and screen image are closer to those of Betty Hutton. Helen Lawson, the aging stage actress who befriends and uses Anne, is based closely on Ethel Merman, whom Susann had known personally and reportedly had been sexually involved with. Garland was originally cast in the movie as Lawson, until Garland’s unpredictable behavior led to her dismissal and Susan Hayward replaced her. 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 romantically involved with Susann in 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. Certain aspects of her personality resemble those of Marilyn Monroe, particularly her actual yet often overlooked intelligence. 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 when she tried to interview Dean Martin after one of his shows; he was too engrossed in a comic book to pay attention to her.
