Highlighted Literary
Story of the Week -
On August 20, 1918, bestselling author Jacqueline Susann was
born in Philadelphia to a schoolteacher mother and artist father. Susann moved
to New York in her early 20s to work as a model and actress. She played minor
roles in several Broadway plays and later moved to Hollywood, with no great
success.
She married Irving Mansfield in 1945, had a son, and
continued pursuing her acting. She tried her hand at playwriting as well, but
the show she co-authored lasted less than a month on Broadway. Her first book, Every Night, Josephine (1963), about her
poodle, was a surprise bestseller. She wrote her next novel in 18 months,
turning her observations of drug use, sex, and insecurity among Hollywood actresses
into Valley of the Dolls (1966). The
book topped the bestseller lists for 22 weeks.
Her next book, The
Love Machine (1969), about the sexual antics of a shallow and powerful
television executive, was a number one bestseller for five months. When her
1973 novel, Once Is Not Enough, came
out, she became the first novelist to have three bestsellers on the list at
once. While critics were harsh in their reviews, Susann defended her books on
the grounds that she told a good story that people wanted to read. Susann died
of cancer on September 21, 1974 in New York City. Her remains were cremated and
disposition is uncertain. It is assumed but not confirmed that her ashes were
interred with her husband at the Church of the Ascension Cemetery in Greenwich
Village when he died in 1988.
Check back every
Friday for a new installment of “This Week in Literary History.”
Michael Thomas Barry is the author of six nonfiction
books that includes the award winning Literary
Legends of the British Isles (2014) and America’s
Literary Legends (2015). Visit Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com for
more information. His book can be purchased from Amazon through the following
links:
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