This was one of the fastest published to film adaptation in Hollywood history. I remember all the ladies at swim club reading this while watching their kids at the pool
The UA-cam Channel Be Kind Rewind has two WONDERFUL long form essays about Valley of the Dolls with a lot of focus, not on the stories, but on the actresses and they were treated in Hollywood. It is a fascinating watch
Jacqueline Suzanne's note made me think of Anne Bronte's preface to "Tenant of Wildfell Hall", which, when it was published, came in for similar judgmental criticism. In June of 1848, Anne wrote a preface to the second edition of this novel, and finished it off with this: "...in my own mind, I am satisfied that if a book is a good one, it is so whatever the sex of the author may be. All novels are, or should be, written for both men and women to read, and I am at a loss to conceive how a man should permit himself to write anything that would be really disgraceful to a woman, or why a woman should be censured for writing anything that would be proper and becoming for a man."
Recently learned that Marilyn Monroe joked about making a play for the Prince of Monaco when her friend told her he was looking for a charismatic blonde wife to put Monaco on the map but of course he later married Grace Kelly. On another note, Patty Duke was such an amazing actress more so after learning of her bipolar condition which must have made working quite challenging.
Gotta love good old-fashioned nepotism. Granted I think it’s a fun book and surreally wonderful film but had JS been a housewife in Louisiana married to a mechanic, none of us would’ve heard of her. At some point I hope you do Beautiful Creatures! Book vs movie is night and day but your breakdown style would make it make far more sense. Great job Laura!
*_"NEELY O'HARAAAA!!!"_* 😂 Patty Duke's performance was so wonderfully over-the-top. For years Patty hated the film and refused to even talk about it. I'm glad she finally came around to enjoy the campiness and have a good laugh before she passed away.
Great video! I recommend checking out Naked Came the Stranger. It was a written by a group of people at a newspaper that made a bet to write the most scandalous sex book as a rebuttal to Valley of the Dolls. And see if it’ll be a bestseller…it actually became a bestseller. Every chapter was written by a different person and describes a different sexual encounter a woman makes in revenge for her cheating husband. Its ridiculous.
I saw that! So wild. The sequel sounds like total trash so it's funny someone who became a movie critic wrote it. But I haven't actually watched it so maybe I can't judge.
There is also another Jacqueline Susann novel called “Once is not enough” that was later turned adapted into a film in the 1970’s. I will give a fair warning though, that particular novel and film is about a women who dream of having incest with her father(who is a movie director in the book) but she instead falls in love with an author in the novel, who is in his early 70’s, the main character, her name is January, and she is around late 20’s or early 30’s. It’s a weird novel, but I don’t know why people in the 1970’s were so interested in romance novels related to incest, that was weird time period.
@@WhytheBookWins Yeah, this is film adaptation of novel, that I hope Hollywood never does a remake for, because who in there right mind would want to see a incesty romance film in 2025. A very odd Fun fact, is the actress who play’s January’s best friend in the film, received an Oscar Nomination for her role in the film.
I can answer that. It’s kinda dark though. Child abuse was taken more seriously in the 1970s prior to that it was just an open secret. people (mostly young women) were coming out with stories of abuse by their fathers. It become a hot topic so people wrote both memoirs and fiction about it.
This movie so iconic, even Hollywood had also planned out a “Valley of the dolls” remake film, which never happened, but they should have done a remake of the film. The author also made a cameo appearance in the film as a news reporter, Jacqueline Susann was also actress herself, know for appearing in The Carol Burnett Show. But what’s more important about this film is because of actress Sharon Tate who plays one of the main characters in the film, who unfortunately later in life(while pregnant) was murdered along with other people in her household one night in the late 1960’s by the Manson Family Cult members under the orders of Charles Manson.
This was the name of the band I was in high school, we were a Heavy Metal Industrial Band, that's how we were savage and loud, (think early Nine Inch Nails) this was a great book, I haven't seen the movie yet.
I looked it up on IMDB to see who the director was after your comments about him....but instead found out there was a 1981 TV mini-series adaptation of the book, as well as a 1994 episodic TV series (apparently updated to then present day)...anyway, the director of the 1967 movie was Mark Robson, and the IMDB page says he had a "...very combative relationship with all his actresses..."
I have never read the book. It sounds like the movie subverted some of the characters' goals, like having the main character want to return to small town New England! I didn't know that in the novel she loathed the thought of returning
I love both the book and the movie. And I do agree with you that the book is much better. It gives us more substance while the movie just shows us nothing but the surface stuff. I was hoping you'd do a video for this one since you mentioned it in a previous video. The book has a sequel "Shadow of the Dolls" that follows Anne, Neely, and Lyon into middle age. It's apparently based on notes that Susann left behind for another book. I read it ages ago and it was....ok. Wasn't dreadful but could have been better for sure. Great video like always!
@@WhytheBookWins Oh yeah "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls". That movie is off the rails lunacy lol. It has nothing to do with the original storyline or characters. Shadow of the Dolls is fun if you just wanna see what happens to Neely and Anne in the long run. Susann didn't write that one. But she did leave some notes that they used for it.
Your content was great but once I realized I had one of the books behind you, I began playing bookshelf bingo. Is there bookshelf bingo? Anyway, I have the blue book on the top shelf closest to the teacups next to the VHS tape. It's the B&N fancy copy of Arabian Nights. There are two copies of Grapes of Wrath. There are two copies of The Picture of Dorian Gray. I believe there are two copies of Peter Pan, if that's what's with the Dune books next to the book with the thriftbooks sticker. There are two copies of Dracula. I think there are three copies of Frankenstein, though it's hard to tell on one of them. There are four copies of Jane Eyre, one of which can't be seen unless you move your head.
Nice work 😁 But you were wrong about Arabian Nights, that one is The Count of Monte Cristo! I'll probably film a new bookshelf tour in the coming months, even though tbh I have bought very few books in the past year so my collecting hasn't changed too much from last time.
‼️‼️‼️‼️ AAAAAA IM SAT ONCE I GET DONE WITH LISTENING TO, “ Dolls, Dolls, Dolls” by Stephen Rebello & Re-Watching The Movie 🤧🍿🙌 ugghhhh I just adore this Book & Movie 📖🎥 :)
The film Valley of The Dolls is not a camp movie IMO. It’s a melodrama or a night time soap opera. It dealt with topics that were considered taboo at the time and it exposed drug abuse in Hollywood.
So happy to see the book I voted for winning! I discovered Valley of the Dolls when I was doing research on campy movies. But, regarless the campiness of both book and movies, I think they are a true testament of the horrible things that the industry has do to women. Specially the movie adaptation with the horrible and abuser director. This is one of the few cases I really like to see a new adaptation of the book. It has so much potential that was wasted back in the day! With a appropriate female director this book can become into an even greater movie/TV show!
I totally agree! I would love to see a woman director remake this and do the book justice. And thanks for voting on that poll! Not gonna lie, I hadn't expected this one to win so it had been a pleasant surprise 😊
Jacqueline Susann was the target of jealous writers and film critics IMO. No film would have been acceptable to the film critics. Jacqueline Susann was a Hollywood insider exposing the underbelly of drug addiction in Tinsel Town.
I fully agree the book is better than the movie ... but I love the movie. I first saw it on commercial-ridden broadcast tv, and Patty Duke's final scene has stayed with me to this day - overblown melodramatic, scenery-chewed, but oh, such power! Such belief in what she's doing! The move has one the book can't: that song, which, in its way, gives us the interior meaning of the stories in a way the movie never does. I also heard the song on the radio a long time before I saw the movie, and always loved it: ua-cam.com/video/9xKkSSKmjbk/v-deo.html
I would love to see Valley of the Dolls as a mini series with each season being a different decade of their lives.
That would be cool in the right hands. Lots of story to flesh out from the book.
That's a great idea!
This was one of the fastest published to film adaptation in Hollywood history. I remember all the ladies at swim club reading this while watching their kids at the pool
Yeah i read that the author kind of invented the book tour because she was going around promoting it like crazy- and it worked!
The UA-cam Channel Be Kind Rewind has two WONDERFUL long form essays about Valley of the Dolls with a lot of focus, not on the stories, but on the actresses and they were treated in Hollywood. It is a fascinating watch
BKR is such a great channel!
Wow! I can’t believe you actually done this movie vs book comparison video, absolutely love them both! ❤❤❤
Jacqueline Suzanne's note made me think of Anne Bronte's preface to "Tenant of Wildfell Hall", which, when it was published, came in for similar judgmental criticism. In June of 1848, Anne wrote a preface to the second edition of this novel, and finished it off with this: "...in my own mind, I am satisfied that if a book is a good one, it is so whatever
the sex of the author may be. All novels are, or should be, written for both men and women to read, and I am at a loss to conceive how a man should permit himself to write
anything that would be really disgraceful to a woman, or why a woman should be censured for writing anything that would be proper and becoming for a man."
👏👏
Recently learned that Marilyn Monroe joked about making a play for the Prince of Monaco when her friend told her he was looking for a charismatic blonde wife to put Monaco on the map but of course he later married Grace Kelly. On another note, Patty Duke was such an amazing actress more so after learning of her bipolar condition which must have made working quite challenging.
Oh wow 😆
And I didn't know that! That makes me admire her all the more.
I truly like your reviews! ❤ would you consider making one of The age of the innocence?
I've had that on my radar for a while! I don't plan to do it in the very near future but definitely want to at some point.
Gotta love good old-fashioned nepotism. Granted I think it’s a fun book and surreally wonderful film but had JS been a housewife in Louisiana married to a mechanic, none of us would’ve heard of her. At some point I hope you do Beautiful Creatures! Book vs movie is night and day but your breakdown style would make it make far more sense. Great job Laura!
*_"NEELY O'HARAAAA!!!"_*
😂
Patty Duke's performance was so wonderfully over-the-top. For years Patty hated the film and refused to even talk about it. I'm glad she finally came around to enjoy the campiness and have a good laugh before she passed away.
Great video! I recommend checking out Naked Came the Stranger. It was a written by a group of people at a newspaper that made a bet to write the most scandalous sex book as a rebuttal to Valley of the Dolls. And see if it’ll be a bestseller…it actually became a bestseller.
Every chapter was written by a different person and describes a different sexual encounter a woman makes in revenge for her cheating husband. Its ridiculous.
Wow haha yeah I'll look into that!
Is Silver Bullet an option, too?
That'll be in a King poll that I'll be doing in March!
Vaguely related fact: Roger Ebert wrote the screenplay to Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
I saw that! So wild. The sequel sounds like total trash so it's funny someone who became a movie critic wrote it. But I haven't actually watched it so maybe I can't judge.
The movie has some legendary actors. Thanks for the review.
There is also another Jacqueline Susann novel called “Once is not enough” that was later turned adapted into a film in the 1970’s. I will give a fair warning though, that particular novel and film is about a women who dream of having incest with her father(who is a movie director in the book) but she instead falls in love with an author in the novel, who is in his early 70’s, the main character, her name is January, and she is around late 20’s or early 30’s. It’s a weird novel, but I don’t know why people in the 1970’s were so interested in romance novels related to incest, that was weird time period.
Oh wow that definitely sounds disturbing...I do want to read more by her though.
@@WhytheBookWins Yeah, this is film adaptation of novel, that I hope Hollywood never does a remake for, because who in there right mind would want to see a incesty romance film in 2025. A very odd Fun fact, is the actress who play’s January’s best friend in the film, received an Oscar Nomination for her role in the film.
I can answer that. It’s kinda dark though.
Child abuse was taken more seriously in the 1970s prior to that it was just an open secret. people (mostly young women) were coming out with stories of abuse by their fathers.
It become a hot topic so people wrote both memoirs and fiction about it.
You should do The Thin Red Line!
Nice shirt; it’s flattering
This movie so iconic, even Hollywood had also planned out a “Valley of the dolls” remake film, which never happened, but they should have done a remake of the film. The author also made a cameo appearance in the film as a news reporter, Jacqueline Susann was also actress herself, know for appearing in The Carol Burnett Show. But what’s more important about this film is because of actress Sharon Tate who plays one of the main characters in the film, who unfortunately later in life(while pregnant) was murdered along with other people in her household one night in the late 1960’s by the Manson Family Cult members under the orders of Charles Manson.
Yeah it's hard not to think about that when watching something with Tate 😔
This was the name of the band I was in high school, we were a Heavy Metal Industrial Band, that's how we were savage and loud, (think early Nine Inch Nails) this was a great book, I haven't seen the movie yet.
Reminds me of that rock band that named themselves after the book The Devil Wears Prada 😆
I looked it up on IMDB to see who the director was after your comments about him....but instead found out there was a 1981 TV mini-series adaptation of the book, as well as a 1994 episodic TV series (apparently updated to then present day)...anyway, the director of the 1967 movie was Mark Robson, and the IMDB page says he had a "...very combative relationship with all his actresses..."
Oh I didn't even know about those other adaptations! And sounds like he was pretty sexist!
I have never read the book. It sounds like the movie subverted some of the characters' goals, like having the main character want to return to small town New England! I didn't know that in the novel she loathed the thought of returning
Yeah they definitely made the most changes to Anne!
Valley of the dolls is one of my favorite books. I’ve read all of her novels.
I definitely want to read more by her!
You’re so pretty! And you have such a pretty voice. 💗
Thank you!
Your fashion is gorgeous!
Thank you ☺️ I thought the dots on the sleeves could kind of represent the pills lol
I love both the book and the movie. And I do agree with you that the book is much better. It gives us more substance while the movie just shows us nothing but the surface stuff. I was hoping you'd do a video for this one since you mentioned it in a previous video. The book has a sequel "Shadow of the Dolls" that follows Anne, Neely, and Lyon into middle age. It's apparently based on notes that Susann left behind for another book. I read it ages ago and it was....ok. Wasn't dreadful but could have been better for sure. Great video like always!
Oh interesting, I did read there was a movie sequel made but that Susann had nothing to do with it. I didn't know about the book "sequel" though!
@@WhytheBookWins Oh yeah "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls". That movie is off the rails lunacy lol. It has nothing to do with the original storyline or characters. Shadow of the Dolls is fun if you just wanna see what happens to Neely and Anne in the long run. Susann didn't write that one. But she did leave some notes that they used for it.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is an interesting satirical take on this story.
Anne was inspired by Grace Kelly and Jaqueline Susan herself
Your content was great but once I realized I had one of the books behind you, I began playing bookshelf bingo. Is there bookshelf bingo?
Anyway, I have the blue book on the top shelf closest to the teacups next to the VHS tape. It's the B&N fancy copy of Arabian Nights.
There are two copies of Grapes of Wrath.
There are two copies of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
I believe there are two copies of Peter Pan, if that's what's with the Dune books next to the book with the thriftbooks sticker.
There are two copies of Dracula.
I think there are three copies of Frankenstein, though it's hard to tell on one of them.
There are four copies of Jane Eyre, one of which can't be seen unless you move your head.
Nice work 😁 But you were wrong about Arabian Nights, that one is The Count of Monte Cristo!
I'll probably film a new bookshelf tour in the coming months, even though tbh I have bought very few books in the past year so my collecting hasn't changed too much from last time.
Good summary. I found it a strange book - and an even stranger movie.
‼️‼️‼️‼️ AAAAAA IM SAT ONCE I GET DONE WITH LISTENING TO, “ Dolls, Dolls, Dolls” by Stephen Rebello & Re-Watching The Movie 🤧🍿🙌 ugghhhh I just adore this Book & Movie 📖🎥 :)
The film Valley of The Dolls is not a camp movie IMO. It’s a melodrama or a night time soap opera. It dealt with topics that were considered taboo at the time and it exposed drug abuse in Hollywood.
My favorite cult movie 100% . Especially for the fashion ❤ I love the book too. I've read it 3 times.
So happy to see the book I voted for winning! I discovered Valley of the Dolls when I was doing research on campy movies. But, regarless the campiness of both book and movies, I think they are a true testament of the horrible things that the industry has do to women. Specially the movie adaptation with the horrible and abuser director. This is one of the few cases I really like to see a new adaptation of the book. It has so much potential that was wasted back in the day! With a appropriate female director this book can become into an even greater movie/TV show!
I totally agree! I would love to see a woman director remake this and do the book justice.
And thanks for voting on that poll! Not gonna lie, I hadn't expected this one to win so it had been a pleasant surprise 😊
Jacqueline Susann was the target of jealous writers and film critics IMO. No film would have been acceptable to the film critics. Jacqueline Susann was a Hollywood insider exposing the underbelly of drug addiction in Tinsel Town.
I fully agree the book is better than the movie ... but I love the movie. I first saw it on commercial-ridden broadcast tv, and Patty Duke's final scene has stayed with me to this day - overblown melodramatic, scenery-chewed, but oh, such power! Such belief in what she's doing!
The move has one the book can't: that song, which, in its way, gives us the interior meaning of the stories in a way the movie never does. I also heard the song on the radio a long time before I saw the movie, and always loved it: ua-cam.com/video/9xKkSSKmjbk/v-deo.html
Yeah that song definitely adds to the movie! And yeah Patty Duke was amazing! So melodramatic and just so entertaining.
So many bad casting choices of the male characters in the film. Particularly Lionel
Yeah I didn't like his casting either. I actually had that in my notes but then forgot to say it in the video!
It was never about them 😂 but I agree