In the 1960s, women got the pill, and Janis Joplin ruled the airwaves, but for the most part, women's lib had yet to hit publishing. Enter Jacqueline Susann, a "trash novelist," and her breakaway bestseller, Valley of the Dolls. Susann and her husband, press agent Irving Mansfield, revolutionized the way books were made and marketed through tactics still used today: tours, TV and shameless self-promotion. But what about the woman behind the glitz?
Paper Doll, the new New York-bound play by Mark Hampton and Barbara Zitwer opening next weekend on Duke's campus, paints a more intimate portrait of Susann and her secrets and emphasizes her marriage to Mansfield. Marlo Thomas stars as Jacqueline Susann and F. Murray Abraham as Irving Mansfield, two accomplished actors with numerous Emmys and an Oscar between them--your parents will know Thomas from the sitcom That Girl in the late '60s and Abraham from his Oscar-winning role in the 1984 film Amadeus. Our generation, or at least those of us with progressive parents, might recognize Thomas as the principal artist on Free to Be You and Me, a
Paper Doll is a presentation of Theater Previews at Duke, the professional arm of the Department of Theater Studies. Theater Previews and non-University co-sponsors have developed a mutually beneficial arrangement--allowing shows like Paper Doll and last year's A Thousand Clowns to develop while giving students a look into part of the theater industry.
"It really is amazing getting to watch professionals at work--it will be exciting knowing that I had a contribution to this show, however small," said senior Talya Klein, the show's assistant director.
The cast is equally excited about performing at a university. Abraham said they are the best audiences, and Thomas added, "I'm a perennial student. I still go to class--for me to be in a performance where a lot of people are coming not only to enjoy, but maybe learn, is very exciting."
Theater Previews hopes that Paper Doll will find relevancy on Duke's campus, as the show addresses issues like the meaning of American culture
Thomas commented on those challenges, especially Susann's insistence on presenting a tidy image to the media: "[It was] her desire to be perfect, her need to be perfect--she carried all of these secrets rather than have anything tarnish this perfect shield." Among those secrets were Susann's battle with breast cancer and her autistic son, both of which she kept hidden. As for Susann's impact on the women's movement, Abraham said, "I think it's dismissed because of the way they treat her literature."
Susann's independent spirit infects the play and holds a special meaning for Thomas. "Being able to know what's right for you and going for it and not letting anybody tell you what's right for you is not only a great gift to have in your personality, but to be a woman in the sixties and have that was really unusual," Thomas said. "Women have it now--I have it. We all have it now, but to have it at that time was really unusual. I can't wait to get on stage and do it."
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