The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 1966 The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 1966 This is a list of adult fiction books that topped "The New York Times" Fiction Best Seller list in 1966. Only three novels topped the list that year, which was dominated by Jacqueline Susann's "Valley of the Dolls" which spent 28 weeks at the top of the list and 65 weeks in the top 10. "Valley" was toppled by Robert Crichton's "The Secret of Santa Vittoria", a World War II story based on fact, which sold more than 100,000 copies in the first month of its release. It spent 18 weeks
Jacqueline Susann friend, actress Beatrice Cole (c. 1910–1998), Susann wrote a play called "The Temporary Mrs. Smith", a comedy about a one-time movie actress whose former husbands interfere with her scheme to marry a man of wealth. Retitled "Lovely Me", the play, directed by actress Jessie Royce Landis, and starring Luba Malina (1909–1982) and Mischa Auer, opened on Broadway at the Adelphi Theatre on December 25, 1946. Said to be an "audience-pleaser," the play nonetheless closed after just 37 performances. Four years later, Susann and Cole wrote another play, "Cock of the Walk", which was to open on Broadway with Oscar-winning actor