Jacqueline Susann Jacqueline Susann Jacqueline Susann (August 20, 1918 – September 21, 1974) was an American writer and actress. Her first novel, "Valley of the Dolls" (1966), is one of the best-selling books in publishing history. With her two subsequent works, "The Love Machine" (1969) and "Once Is Not Enough" (1973), Susann became the first author to have three consecutive #1 novels on "The New York Times" Best Seller List. Jacqueline Susann was born on August 20, 1918, in Philadelphia, a single daughter to a Jewish couple: Robert Susan (1887–1957), a portrait painter, and Rose Jans (1892–1981), a public schoolteacher. As a
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