​​​​​​​Behold The Valley of the Dolls

by David James Mansour 

“I’m not nutty, I am just hooked on dolls!”
~ Neely O’Hara in Valley of the Dolls

     “'You’ve got to climb to the top of Mt. Everest to reach the Valley of the Dolls' began Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls, the top-selling book of 1966. In tribute I say, “You’ve got to climb to the top of Cowles Mountain to behold the Valley of the Dolls.” (towering at 1,593 feet, Cowles Mountain is the highest point in my home city of San Diego). 

'I’m not nutty, I am just hooked on dolls!'
~ Patty Duke as Neely O’Hara in Valley of the Dolls
     Unlike Susann’s wildly popular book, you won’t find the rise and fall of Hollywood starlets, amidst pill-popping and booze-swigging, catfights and scandal. You will find dolls however. Hundreds of Barbie and Ken dolls—fabulously posed for the camera by an adoring collector who himself has gone totally beyond the Valley of the Dolls.  

Before you make the climb to behold the Valley of the Dolls let’s start at the beginning…"

~ The opening to David Mansour's Behold the Valley of the Dolls

​​All the dolls you can handle—and more!
From 1959’s Ponytail Barbie to 1999’s Millennium Barbie  (and four decades of dolls in-between), David Mansour's Behold the Valley of the Dolls covers 40 years of Barbie. Showcasing hundreds of dolls, it’s the history of Barbie done portrait style!​

Yep, I'm a "Barbie obsessive, and honored to be featured in The Guardian newspaper as one of the "people for whom pink is a way of life."

(Read the full July 24, 2023 story by clicking on either photo above.)​​

Writer and photographer David Mansour’s obsession with Barbie has been for a lifetime, which is a longtime since he fittingly shares the same birth year as her boyfriend, Ken. In 1987, a birthday gift of Barbie led to an extensive collection of dolls, toys, and pop culture memorabilia, inspiring him to write the book, From ABBA to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century.  It was an appearance on the Discovery Channel’s Pop Nation TV show, in which David expertly talked about Barbie that made him a nationally renowned “Barbie Expert.” In March 2018, he began a project of photographing his entire Barbie collection, nearly 2,000 dolls captured in one-of-a-kind portraits. This six-year project is the genesis for Behold the Valley of the Dolls. 
     David resides in sunny San Diego, California with husband John Bode, a family of adorable pets, and his Barbie collection.​​

"Sparkle, Barbie, Sparkle!" 

"Seriously amazing amount of knowledge in this man’s head! We were so lucky to have him helping! He’s like a real life Google lens. But faster. Barbie encyclopedia, Barbie expert extraordinaire for sure!"

​~ Replay Toys Boutique​

San Diego, California

(In regards to my identifying dolls for the store).