In which Gaby and Sarah twist and turn between the triumphant and the tragic. For the very epitome of Camp, we celebrate the good news about the new influences in politics in the USA - a female VP and a first lady who is a college professor and doctor of education, and then hark back to the 'bonkbuster' world of the writings of Jacqueline Susann. She was the novelist of 'Pucci decadence and a big mouth' who broke down barriers with her depictions of taboo subjects in the late 1960s bestseller 'The Valley of the Dolls'. Even camper still came the movie, the casting controversies, the cat fights, and then came the re-makes, and most of all the reality of the female stars. Their lives were reflected in the roles they played, and their fates were even more strange, bizarre, and tragic. How do we process the decline of Judy Garland (reflected in the character of Neely O'Hara in 'Dolls') as she auditioned for the movie only months before her death at 44? How do we fathom the depravity that took Sharon Tate (Jennifer in 'Dolls') from this world at only 26 and eight and a half months pregnant - slaughtered by the Manson family? We use Camp. We use the system of Camp to try and understand the mixture of madness, talent, beauty, and cruelty on show. And also gin - we use gin. In a martini like Jacqui Susann, or simply with tonic. ('I like a cocktail onion in mine, so I'm more of a gimlet girl' - Gaby).
