Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton"Suits Me is the biography of a now notorious jazz musician named Billy Tipton, who grew up as Dorothy Tipton in Oklahoma City and Kansas City but lived as a man from the time she was nineteen until she died at age seventy-four. Billy Tipton's death in Spokane, Washington, made news all over the world, not because he was celebrated as a musician but because the scale of his deception - he had been "married" to five women and had reared several adopted children - and the scarcity of ready explanations endowed the skimpy available facts with the aura of myth." "But locked away in Billy's office closet lay files of clippings and photographs documenting the transformation of Billy from she to he, as well as a legacy of annotated comic routines, musical arrangements, and program notes. These revealed to Diane Wood Middlebrook how Billy scattered clues and riddles night after night about the drag she wore. These hints were so bold that they helped conceal Billy's secrets." "With brio and pathos, Suits Me tells the life story of this brilliant deceiver, who lived and loved in two skins, one of each sex."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
From inside the book
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Page 154
Billy was intelligent enough to know that if he shared part of his life with a female
companion , that gave it respectability and stopped the rumors and the gossip .
He was married to June first , though I use the term “ married " loosely . Then
Betty ...
Billy was intelligent enough to know that if he shared part of his life with a female
companion , that gave it respectability and stopped the rumors and the gossip .
He was married to June first , though I use the term “ married " loosely . Then
Betty ...
Page 232
We shared a bathroom . Yes , we locked the doors , and we didn ' t think it was
unusual . Just because I used to do what I did for a living didn ' t mean I didn ' t
need my privacy . " What kind of loss was this for Billy ? Kitty said that they had
never ...
We shared a bathroom . Yes , we locked the doors , and we didn ' t think it was
unusual . Just because I used to do what I did for a living didn ' t mean I didn ' t
need my privacy . " What kind of loss was this for Billy ? Kitty said that they had
never ...
Page 247
This disturbs him now , but at the time he shared the Tipton family outlook that it
was “ not right ” for Dorothy to go about dressed as a man . Bill ' s wife , Doris ,
commented that Billy ' s look was not at all outlandish . “ You could have taken
her ...
This disturbs him now , but at the time he shared the Tipton family outlook that it
was “ not right ” for Dorothy to go about dressed as a man . Bill ' s wife , Doris ,
commented that Billy ' s look was not at all outlandish . “ You could have taken
her ...
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - bookwormteri - LibraryThingWhile I found this book super interesting, I definitely felt the lack of Billy's perspective in this story. An incomplete read without knowing what he was thinking and feeling and his motivation ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - ursula - LibraryThingThis was a very interesting book about Billy Tipton, a musician in the jazz/swing era who was born a woman but passed as a man almost his entire adult life. It's both fascinating and frustrating ... Read full review
Contents
But Who Was She? 18891928 | 12 |
Kansas City 19291932 | 33 |
The In Sex 19331934 | 51 |
Copyright | |
16 other sections not shown
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Common terms and phrases
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