Beyond the Valley of the Dolls his feet, the start of his recovery from paralysis. An epilogue follows, with a preachy, satirical, voice-over monologue and scenes of Kelly and Harris (now in crutches) hiking on a log over a creek, and a final scene with the courthouse wedding of three couples—Kelly and Harris, Pet and Emerson, and Susan and Baxter—with Porter observing from outside the courthouse window. Cast notes "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" was originally intended as a straightforward sequel to the 1967 film "Valley of the Dolls". Jacqueline Susann, author of the novel "Valley of the Dolls" had come up with the title
Jacqueline Susann by Bernard Geis on February 10, 1966, and "took off like a Cape Canaveral space shot." The story was said to be a "roman à clef", with characters in the novel reportedly based on real-life celebrities such as Judy Garland, Dean Martin, and Ethel Merman. Although "Publishers Weekly", in an advance review, called the novel "powerful and sometimes fascinating," the book received largely negative reviews. Gloria Steinem panned the book in "The New York Herald Tribune" as did the reviewer in "The New York Times". "Time" magazine called it the "Dirty Book of the Month," and said, "it might more