Description
Book SynopsisCatalyzed by her notoriously dirty, fabulously successful bestseller Valley of the Dolls, the Jackie Susann Sixties brimmed with camp comedy that now permeates contemporary celebrations of the author, from Pee-wee''s Playhouse to RuPaul''s Drag Race and Lee Daniels''s Star. First christened camp by Gloria Steinem in an excoriating review of Valley of the Dolls and compounded by the publishing juggernauts The Love Machine (1969), Once Is Not Enough (1973), and Dolores (1976), the comedy of Jackie Susann illuminated conflicting positions about gender, sexuality, and aesthetic value. Through a writing formula that Ken Feil calls sleazy realism, Susann veers from gossip to confession and devises comedies of bad manners spun from real celebrities whose occasionally queer and always outré antics clashed with their official personas, the popular genres they were famous for, and the narrow, normative constructi
Trade Review
“For decades, only the die-hard film nerds and LGBTQIA+ pop culture fanatics recognized Suzann’s impact, but hopefully Feil’s book will open her legacy to a wider audience.” - Library Journal
