Hollyweird Babylon: Valley of the Dolls '81
Full title: 'Irving Mansfield's Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls 1981; a Special Two-Night Event'
Warning: contains spoilers.

On May 8, 1966, Broadway-alsoran-turned-author Jacqueline Susann’s second novel, Valley of the Dolls, became a New York Times Number One Bestseller for the first of 28 times out of its unprecedented 65 weeks on the list. As of 2025, the book remains one of the all-time biggest sellers in the history of publishing. Susann was paid a $1000 advance, another thousand when she turned in the manuscript and another thousand the day it went to press. The publisher, Bernard Geis, then sold the movie rights to 20th Century Fox for $85,000 while Susann and her husband Irving Mansfield hit the road to feverishly self-promote the book and, along with it, Jacqueline Susann as a celebrity figure.
As her profile rose, Susann used the opportunity to express her disdain towards the film adaptation. At the premiere, she became so incensed she stormed out midway through while loudly declaring it to be a “piece of shit.”