The World Is Full of Married Men time, Jacqueline Susann's similarly themed novel "Valley of the Dolls" (1966) had already become a huge bestseller and a hit film, and Collins' novel was accepted. Within a week of its publication, "The World Is Full of Married Men" made the best-seller list. The book was a hit in both the United Kingdom and the U.S., but was banned in Australia. Collins' publishers at the time, W.H. Allen, told her that unless she took the "four-letter words" out, the book would be banned in Australia. Collins proceeded in taking the four-letter words out and it was still banned in Australia.
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