Kerry.. my sentiment exactly regarindg Patty Duke and Barbara Parkins..

Gloria.. I know I can't MAKE you ( ha).. but I really wish you'd check out VOD and see Susan in it.. it's worth the price of admission..especially, a particular scene in the dressing room where she verbally puts Barbara Parkins' character "in her place" in no uncertain terms. Susan is only in 4 scenes in the film, but they are unforgettable. The scened which I didn't particularly like was the one in which she "sang" "I'll Plant My Own Tree" It just all seemed so forced, and I can't recall right now whose voice it really was, but it wasn't Susan's. She had on a beautiful gown ( that had been originally designed for Judy Garland), but her hair was "strange"...well, I didn't think she looked her best in this particular scene.

In the scene with Barbara in the dressing room, Susan wore a classy red suit, black rimmed glasses, a cigarette in hand, and was she ever the tough old broad --tough as nails.. I loved it.. ha

I've seen a television interview and also read an interview of Barbara Parkins bashing Susan. She couldn't hold a candle to Susan. I don't think anybody much pays attention to her (Barbara). She seems VERY self-absorbed. I hope she reads this someday.. LOL

Yeah, I thought that was all pretty lame stuff coming from Patty Duke...very insensitive and immature. I don't know what the date of this interview was..hopefully it wasn't recently...my gosh, I hate to think she's hasn't matured anymore than that.

Ginger: the voice in Valley of the Dolls that Susan mimed to was Margaret Whiting's.

Thanks, Gloria.. I had forgotten.

After the pushing incident, Susan went to her trailor & refused to work for the rest of the day (according to Duke's book, "Call Me Anna"). I don't think Susan wanted to have anything to do with her after that. Susan was an aloof loner to begin with, she was dealing with her husband's death around this time, which probably made her even more unapproachable. Just because they worked together didn't mean they had each other's phone numbers, addresses, etc. But if (miscast/too young for the Neely role) Patty Duke really wanted to apologize for the incident, she could have easily found a way to contact her I'm sure (there was plenty of time!). As for Judy Garland, she was such a mess at this point (in her 40's but looked like she was in her 60's) I think they used her as a publicity stunt & never intended to feature her in the film from the get go. Mark Robson (Susan's friend) may have had her in mind all along for Helen Lawson. (Other's who wanted the role were Bette Davis & Barbara Stanwyck). As for Barbara Parkins, I think she was absolutely stunning in this movie. She never looked that beautiful in anything before or since that film. If she was cast as "window dressing", it worked. This was her chance to move from a popular TV show to movies, which is still common practice today. Lee Grant (who played Mariam Polar in VOTD) had this to say in a 1997 interview: "The film was a much-anticipated event of 1967, there was this big push from the studio, that they were making three stars of Barbara, Sharon, & Patty, like an Ava Gardner or Lana Turner. Everybody thought it was going to be huge."