Jacqueline Susann of her own books. "Valley of the Dolls" spans twenty years (1945–1965) in the lives of three young women: Anne Welles, the New England beauty who liberates herself from her staid small town by coming to New York, where she falls in love with the dashing Lyon Burke; Neely O'Hara, an ebullient vaudevillian who becomes a Hollywood star and self-destructs; and Jennifer North, a showgirl with little talent but a gorgeous face and figure, who becomes a friend to both. All three women fall prey to the "dolls," amphetamines and barbiturates, a euphemism which Susann coined. The book was published
Jacqueline Susann the truck drivers who would be delivering her books. She lavished attention on booksellers, sending them thank you notes, and even bought copies of her book for bookstore clerks. "A new book is like a new brand of detergent," she said. "You have to let the public know about it. What's wrong with that?" In 1998, Susann was played by actress Michele Lee in the television film "Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story" (USA), based on Barbara Seaman's biography "Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann". Peter Riegert played Mansfield; also in the cast was Barbara Parkins (who played Anne