The last “doll” is the stunning Jennifer North, the sometimes model, sometimes actress who claims she has no talent other than her body and sends the money she earns back home to support her family. Neely’s performance in Hit The Sky is a huge success, and she goes on to become one of the biggest stars the world has ever seen. At the beginning of the novel, Neely is part of a dance team known as “The Gaucheros,” however through her connections Anne manages to get Neely a fairly major role in a show called Hit The Sky. The next major character is the self-titled Neely O’Hara, a teenage vaudeville performer who lives in the same apartment building as Anne.

She actually starts out as a secretary to a theatrical attorney named Henry Bellamy, and it isn’t until much later down the road that she starts modeling. Readers follow the lives of three women – Anne, Neely, and Jennifer – as they traverse the difficult world of show business from the 1940s to the 1960s, from their meltdowns to their romances to their drug addictions.Īnne Welles, the beautiful but innocent girl from a small New England town who moves to New York City to escape her boring life, is the only main character in the novel who doesn’t set out to work in show business. If Valley of the Dolls was released today, publishers would probably market it as chick lit. The Basics A shot from the 1967 film of Valley of the Dolls. “You’ve got to climb to the top of Mount Everest It wasn’t until I discovered that this year, 2016, is the 50th anniversary of Valley of the Dolls (it was originally published in 1966), however, that I finally took the plunge and decided to buy a copy for myself and check it out (it does help that it came in the gorgeous Virago Modern Classics edition you see above.) I knew it was supposed to be quite scandalous, that it had a pink cover, and that I was 95% sure it was made into movie.

Truth be told, until a few months ago I didn’t actually know what Valley of the Dolls was about. Valley of the Dolls is one of those books that I’ve known about for a while but I’ve never felt motivated to pick up and read. Only when they reach the peak of their careers do they find there’s nowhere left to go but down – to the Valley of the Dolls.

These three beautiful women become best friends when they are young and in New York, struggling to make their names in the entertainment industry. For Anne, Neely and Jennifer it doesn’t matter, as long as the pill bottle is within easy reach. Summary (from first page): Dolls -red or black capsules or tablets washed down with vodka or swallowed straight.

Valley of the dolls book