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 58
It was clever of Billy to figure out that wearing men ' s clothes would make her
actual sex invisible , despite the disadvantage of being only five feet five inches
tall . But within a few years of this first stint of cross - dressing , Billy achieved a
style ...
It was clever of Billy to figure out that wearing men ' s clothes would make her
actual sex invisible , despite the disadvantage of being only five feet five inches
tall . But within a few years of this first stint of cross - dressing , Billy achieved a
style ...
Page 62
She returned to Oklahoma City wearing men ' s clothing and began auditioning
for jobs . As the saying goes , if they didn ' t ask , Billy didn ' t tell . A rare early
glimpse of this strategy survived in the memory of the musician Clarence Cagle ...
She returned to Oklahoma City wearing men ' s clothing and began auditioning
for jobs . As the saying goes , if they didn ' t ask , Billy didn ' t tell . A rare early
glimpse of this strategy survived in the memory of the musician Clarence Cagle ...
Page 104
The next time I saw Billy he was wearing a man ' s clothes and a man ' s haircut .
This memory illuminates the second turning point in Billy ' s story . In 1939 the
Depression was ending in the buildup to war , but Billy ' s career was stalled .
The next time I saw Billy he was wearing a man ' s clothes and a man ' s haircut .
This memory illuminates the second turning point in Billy ' s story . In 1939 the
Depression was ending in the buildup to war , but Billy ' s career was stalled .
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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
Born Naked 21 January 1989 | 5 |
But Who Was She? 18891928 | 13 |
Kansas City 19291932 | 33 |
Copyright | |
16 other sections not shown
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Common terms and phrases
asked band became began Bess Betty Bill Billy Tipton Billy's body booked boys brother called Carrie claimed clothes Club couple dance Dave death didn't Dorothy Dorothy's dressed Earl father female friends gave George girl hand interview with DM jazz Joplin June Kansas City keep kids kind Kitty knew later letters lived look male married Maryann Mayer mother moved musicians needed never night nightclub Norma Oklahoma City once performed person piano player playing radio recalled records Reggie Reggie's remembered road role seemed shared sister Sobol social Spokane started stayed story Swing talk tell things thought told took town trio turned wanted wearing week wife woman women wrote young
Bibliographic information
| Title | Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton Peter Davison bk |
| Author | Diane Wood Middlebrook |
| Contributor | Diane Wood Middlebrook |
| Edition | illustrated, annotated |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin, 1998 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | 14 May 2010 |
| ISBN | 0395654890, 9780395654897 |
| Length | 326 pages |
| Subjects | › › Biography & Autobiography / Music Biography & Autobiography / Women Music / Genres & Styles / Jazz |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |