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 |
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Page 36
... hand , " she prompted on the Rachmaninoff prelude she was learning . Apparently she learned that lesson well , since Billy's deftness with the left hand was a hallmark of his professional piano style . Bess imposed the discipline of ...
... hand , " she prompted on the Rachmaninoff prelude she was learning . Apparently she learned that lesson well , since Billy's deftness with the left hand was a hallmark of his professional piano style . Bess imposed the discipline of ...
Page 50
... hands , then rinsed them with boiling water . A spot of grease on the floor of the garage would send her into a paroxysm of scrub- bing . She wouldn't put anything dirty in her washing machine , so she washed everything first by hand ...
... hands , then rinsed them with boiling water . A spot of grease on the floor of the garage would send her into a paroxysm of scrub- bing . She wouldn't put anything dirty in her washing machine , so she washed everything first by hand ...
Page 83
... hand . Plainly visible is Billy's right hand , clasping the hand of a guitar- ist from the former Banner Playboys , who is grinning . Morale was high among the Banner Cavaliers in late 1935. They had become a tight group , well ...
... hand . Plainly visible is Billy's right hand , clasping the hand of a guitar- ist from the former Banner Playboys , who is grinning . Morale was high among the Banner Cavaliers in late 1935. They had become a tight group , well ...
Contents
But Who Was She? 18891928 12 | 12 |
Kansas City 19291932 | 33 |
The In Sex 19331934 | 49 |
Copyright | |
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band bandstand Banner Cavaliers began Benny Goodman Betty Cox Bill Pierson Billy booked Billy Tipton Billy Tipton Trio Billy's death boys brother Buck called Clarence Cagle Cotton Club cousins cross-dressing dance Dave Sobol Dick O'Neil Dorothy Dorothy's dressed Earl Eilene entertainment father female George Mayer Gerry Everding girl high school Hotel interview with DM jazz joke Joplin June Kansas City kids Kitty Kelly Kitty Oakes Kitty's knew lesbian Lew Raines lived look Madeline married Mary Lou Williams masculine mother movie musicians never night nightclub Non Earl Norma Teagarden Oklahoma City Paul Jensen person radio recalled records Reggie Reggie's remembered role Ron Kilde saxophone Spokane story Swing talk Teddy Wilson telephone interview things Thomas Tipton thought Tipton to Kitty told took town W. T. Tipton wanted wife William woman women