Sable Starr, at any rate, had waited all her life for Johnny Thunders.  The 15-year old street-wise groupie could often be found at the end of Johnny's arm before running off with Greg Shaw, manager of The Flamin' Groovies and occasional rock scribe.  David Johansen had formed an inseperable relationship with 'sometime actress' Cyrinda Fox: "My girlfriend Cyrinda and I jump on every political bandwagon", said David.  They swiftly married, and their divorce was just as sudden as Cyrinda took a fancy to Aerosmith's vocalist.  Arthur Kane showed unnatural affection for Stacia, an amply proportioned dancer of questionable abilities who could often be found gyrating onstage with Hawkwind but without clothes. 

The Dolls had planned a series of concerts in the UK for July of 1974, including dates at Glasgow, Buxton and London. The actual dates were announced, but the group had to pull out at the last minute due to visa difficulties.  Instead they went to Hollywood to make a film, 'Hey Good Lookin'', for Warner Brothers.  Exactly how the film came about is uncertain.  It was a live action and animated 5-'s caper about The Amboy Dukes, 'the toughest band ever to come out of Brooklyn'.  It featured a collection of dwarves, and the Dolls alternated between their usual regalia and gangster garb.  'Hey Good Lookin'' was never to be released and now remains in the Warners vaults. 

Suddenly, in early 1975, Mart Thau severed relationships with the Dolls claiming that they had broken up.  Although this was not altogether true, Arthur Kane had been ejected and roadie Peter Jordan would take his place until a suitable replacement could be found.  It was at this time that the Dolls decided to return to the New York club circuit.  Detractors viewed this with skepticism and it was often reported that the Dolls popularity had waned to desperate proportions.  After all, there was a sudden demotion from concert halls to clubs.  Reports leaked out of a new 'extreme left' image fostered by their new manager Malcolm MacLaren.  A third album had been planned and was provisionally christened 'Lipstick Killers' and had Rick Derringer, Flo & Eddie and John Lennon lined up to make guest appearances.  The Dolls, complete with new communist pose made sporadic appearances to no reaction.  MacLaren announced that the Dolls' new look was more proletarian than anything else, but Phonogram had already made plans to ditch them.  It was no surprise then that the Dolls, knee-deep in financial trouble, abandoned by father-figure Thau, and also by their guiding management Leber and Krebs, saddled with Johnny and Jerry's heavy drug problems, broke up in mid-'75.  Johansen made a brave face and proclaimed: "No-one in this group is irreplaceable." 

Johnny and Jerry decided to stick together and form their own group, whilst David and Sylvain did the same.

"The Dolls failed because they
didn't practise their skills."
-PATTI SMITH
"The Dolls got six weeks of
publicity before everyone
decided they were a load of
shit."            -KENNY LOGGINS

"The Dolls failed because they
lived their rock & roll fantasy.
They were supposed to be drunk,
and they were." -GENE SIMMONS

"The Dolls....were just....
...the Dolls."  -ARTHUR KANE

Their influence upon what would happen in 1976 with The Sex Pistols cannot be emphasised enough.  That the Pistols took their approach directly from the Dolls is undebatable, and often admitted by the group and their manager... Malcolm MacLaren, who confessed that the Dolls were the only group of the 70s that interested him. But we mustn't gloat with glee upon the Pistols and their tribes.  The Dolls had implied, if barely articulate at times, rejection of the materialistic values with which they had been brought up.  They were directly representative of their generations frustrations.  Adolescent drama had radically changed.  They dressed ambisexually not as a political statement but simply to show that they at least had the ability to laugh at themselves.  The Dolls were never serious.  There was so much undiscovered humour in the Dolls, from David Johansen captivating journalists at a London press reception with: "Listen, Pati LaBelle and her Bluebelles used to be just the most fabulous thing in town!", to their rivetting performance on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' performing JET BOY and LOOKING FOR A KISS which had David bouncing around the studio in court-shoes and a polka-dot blouse (possibly miming), Johnny being a mass of uncontrollable hair, and the programmes 'announcer' looking both repulsed and confused.

There were many handicaps for the Dolls, one of which was most definately Phonogram.  The company never had the remotest idea what to do with them, or how to promote them.  Their disinterest is apparent in the reissue of both the Dolls albums in a grotesque sleeve with embarrassingly dull sleevenotes by an anonymous hack writer.  The New York Dolls symbolise shameful waste,  Their career was perhaps just as disorganised as they were.  It's sad, but Arthur Kane's cryptic statement probably says it all:
"The Dolls....were just the Dolls."