Valley of the Dolls the Mount Everest of her dreams, only to find herself back in the valley of the dolls. Susann had apparently been thinking about the novel for some time. Some years earlier, she had begun "Underneath the Pancake", a show business novel, with her actress friend Beatrice Cole (c. 1910–1999). Later, she considered writing a novel about drug usage in show business to be called "The Pink Dolls". "Valley of the Dolls" is considered to be a "roman à clef", with its characters based on famous figures such as Judy Garland, Carole Landis, Dean Martin, and Ethel Merman. In 1973, after
The Valley of Decision (novel) The Valley of Decision (novel) The Valley of Decision is an historical novel by the American writer Marcia Davenport (1903–1996). It was a national bestseller in the 1940s and adapted into a film, "The Valley of Decision", in 1945. During the late 1930s Davenport, best known for her biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, spent several years in Pittsburgh, her imagination caught by the drama of American industry. In 1942, Charles Scribner's Sons published her Pittsburgh novel, "The Valley of Decision". It was an instant success, and its story of four generations of the Scott family—owners and operators of a Pittsburgh