Valley of the Dolls the Mount Everest of her dreams, only to find herself back in the valley of the dolls. Susann had apparently been thinking about the novel for some time. Some years earlier, she had begun "Underneath the Pancake", a show business novel, with her actress friend Beatrice Cole (c. 1910–1999). Later, she considered writing a novel about drug usage in show business to be called "The Pink Dolls". "Valley of the Dolls" is considered to be a "roman à clef", with its characters based on famous figures such as Judy Garland, Carole Landis, Dean Martin, and Ethel Merman. In 1973, after
Yargo (novel) Yargo (novel) Yargo is a romantic science fiction novel by Jacqueline Susann. It was written during the 1950s, but not published until 1979, four years after Susann's death. "Yargo" tells the story of Janet Cooper, a young woman from Avalon, New Jersey, who is abducted by aliens from the planet Yargo. During her interplanetary adventures with these intelligent but emotionless extraterrestrials, she falls in love with their leader. Jacqueline Susann had long been interested in science fiction; her widower, Irving Mansfield, said that when they first met, she wanted to spend their dates at the Hayden Planetarium instead of at