'Valley of the Dolls' Is No Accident in Sydney Sweeney's Savage X Fenty Campaign
The boys club led by Gore Vidal, and Truman Capote totally panned ‘Valley of the Dolls’, turning up the heat on author Jacqueline Susann, saying she looked like a “truck driver in drag” on The Tonight Show. Other critics said Susann must have written her best seller on a “cash register.”
Vice generously provides a key link to a 2000 Vanity Fair article ‘Once Was Never Enough’ about Susann’s life pre and post dolls. She died an early death from breast cancer , saying “Yeah, I think I’ll be remembered . . . as the voice of the 60s . . . Andy Warhol, the Beatles and me.”
Rihanna and Susann
Besides the obvious connection that the drug scene is at play in ‘Euphoria’, with Sydney Sweeney’s character Cassie having lived in Susann’s head, consider also that Rihanna is channeling Susann here. The author’s response to critics of her tacky, talentless self was “Too many male writers are writing for the critics,” she declared. “I write for the public.”
Susann’s feminist success was a precursor to Rihanna’s own self-created success in business, not only the music industry. Riri brings the same “I create for the people” attitude to everything she does. Last week, Rihanna made her debut on ‘The Sunday Times Rich list. Her third place spot on the richest musicians list had her overtaking legends Elton John and Mick Jagger.
