Once Is Not Enough offered a multiple-choice "audience participation" review, in which the reader was given four choices (ludicrous, bad, terrible, horrendous) by which to evaluate the movie. Despite the reviews, the film was a commercial success, earning $15.7 million at the box office (equivalent to $65.2 million in 2017). Brenda Vaccaro, as Linda Riggs, received an Oscar nomination for her performance. Once Is Not Enough Once Is Not Enough is the third novel by Jacqueline Susann, following her huge best sellers "Valley of the Dolls" (1966) and "The Love Machine" (1969). With "Once Is Not Enough," Susann became the first writer in publishing
Jacqueline Susann out. Let's just say that now we're not speaking louder." Referring to Philip Roth and his best-selling novel "Portnoy's Complaint", notorious for its graphic descriptions of masturbation, she said to Johnny Carson, "Philip Roth is a good writer, but I wouldn't want to shake hands with him." Not everyone, of course was a fan. Gore Vidal said, "She doesn't write, she types." In July 1969, Truman Capote appeared on "The Tonight Show" and announced that Susann looked "like a truck driver in drag." On Susann's next visit to the show, Johnny Carson, gave her a chance to respond to Capote