Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton

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Billy Tipton was a jazz performer who played in clubs throughout the Midwest for nearly 50 years. Tipton never made the big time as a musician and ended up working as a booking agent in Spokane, Washington. Only with Tipton's death in 1989 was it revealed that the five-times-married father to three boys was biologically female. Diane Wood Middlebrook's biography describes the transformation of Dorothy Tipton, a white Oklahoman who was not allowed to play jazz because she was a girl, into Billy Tipton, a male pianist and bandleader. The author traces the life of this itinerant jazz musician over several decades and through changing constructions of gender.

Middlebrook, whose biography of Anne Sexton was noted for its controversial use of tape recordings and notes made during the poet's psychiatric treatment, was approached by Kitty Tipton Oakes, one of Billy's former wives, to write this biography; she interviewed his/her friends, spouses, family members, and colleagues and found them to have different, yet universally sympathetic, readings of Tipton's gender. In addition to examining what gender is, Suits Me also asks to whom it belongs: the individual or the people who interact with the individual. --Rebecca Brown

Book Description

The jazz pianist Billy Tipton was born in Oklahoma City as Dorothy Tipton, but almost nobody knew the truth until the day he died, in Spokane in 1989. Over a fifty-year performing career, Billy Tipton fooled nearly everyone, including Duke Ellington and Norma Teagarden, five successive "wives" with whom Billy lived as a man, and three children who he "fathered." As Billy Tipton herself said, "Some people might think I'm a freak or a hermaphrodite. I'm not. I'm a normal person. This has been my choice." This jazz-era biography evokes the rich popular-music history of the Great Depression and reads like a detective story.

Customer Reviews:

everyone is amazed by this story.......2007-03-04

I read this book several years ago. I heard about the book on National Public radio, and the story was irresistable. I loved the book, and have since told the story to many people. EVERYONE is amazed.

I see that Amazon is packaging Suits Me with a book about transgender that has something to do with basketball player Dennis Rodman. Look, Rodman is a publicity-seeking freak; "Billy" Tipton was a woman forced to dress as a man in the 1940s and '50s in order to get jobs in jazz bands. You can contrast the two, but you can't compare them.

By the way, as a teaser, as it's explained in Suits Me, Tipton had three wives. To this day, one wife says she knew Tipton was a woman, another insists Tipton was a man, and the third doesn't know what to make of the whole story. Like I said, this story is AMAZING!

A great biography.......2007-02-12

I am always on the lookout for interesting books. I got the recommendation from Bob Dylan's show "Theme Time Radio" and I have to admit that I was a bit sceptical about Tipton's dual role and the attempted coverup and whether this book would end up being a dull one.
It was neither, the story was fascinating and apparently true and the writing was vibrant.
I came in with few expectations and ended up with no regrets. Enjoy it.

The Role of a Lifetime.......2006-12-30

Submitted for your consideration: the curious tale of one Dorothy Tipton, AKA Billy Tipton---jazz pianist, husband, father, showman, raconteur, and male impersonator par excellence.

On the surface, this story does seem like fodder for Rod Serling. Billy Tipton was a riddle, wrapped in an enigma, but his story is nonetheless quintessentially American. Nobody excels at reinvention quite as well as Americans. Reinventing oneself is part of the American dream, and as author Diane Middlebrook explains, Dorothy Tipton adopted male clothing and became Billy Tipton in order to pursue her dream of becoming a jazz artist. The chances of female instrumentalists for joining or fronting jazz bands were slim and none in 1935. But Billy/Dorothy was very versatile, likable, and energetic and she parlayed her talents as a musician, arranger and showman into a respectable career, as the leader of small jazz combos in the Western U.S. Paradoxically, her fear of being exposed as a male impersonator, or "cross-dresser" in the parlance of the time, kept her mired in the semi-successful life of a musician who played "the circuit."

I think this book succeeds best as a portrait of Americana. Middlebrook does a fine job of capturing the flavor of Oklahoma, Kansas City, Spokane and the places in between that Billy traversed as a musician. She also delineates very well the fresh-scrubbed, impish, oddly sympathetic figure of Billy herself. Where she stumbles a bit is in her tendency to overanalyze, and to sometimes adopt the tone of Billy's risque and cheap humor within her own writing--she sometimes goes for the too easy and the too obvious turn of phrase. She also sidesteps the issue of Tipton's Lesbianism ( though Billy formed several long term relationships with women and adopted the role of husband to her "wives"). It's all a bit confusing. But because Tipton was not "woman identified" and adopted the role of a man, Middlebrook isn't sure whether to call her a Lesbian. Somehow I don't think the biographers of Romaine Brooks had this problem. Middlebrook is a veteran biographer of high-brow poets like Anne Sexton, and an "odd duck" like Billy must have been a great challenge for her to write about--hence, the somewhat tacked-on, weak resolution in the book's final page.

Still, the book is by and large very entertaining and well worth reading. Americans have an appetite for stories about chameleon-like personalities. Witness "The Great Impostor" with Tony Curtis, and the more recent "Catch Me If you Can" movie with Leonardo DaCaprio. Perhaps people admire these "poseurs'' ability to adapt for their own survival, or maybe it's just that most people at some time in their lives feel as if they are "faking it", or have doubts about their own identity. Billy Tipton was basically a very common and decent person who held on to an uncommon secret for fifty years. Her life celebrates both the value of the groundbreaking individual,who who didn't accept the constraints of gender, and the value of the hardworking common citizen who reaps only the reward of being remembered fondly at the end of life. Hers was a life worth pondering---interesting and troubling,and worthy of this biography.

Good information, incorrect analysis.......2005-08-01

I couldn't tell if the author was ignorant of transgenders, or just prejudiced against the idea of anyone being transgender. While one might cross dress to be able to enter a profession reserved for only one gender, one doesn't live their entire life as the opposite gender just for that reason. All of what we know of Billy Tipton points to him being transgender, and to give equal weight to other theories (lesbian, cross dresser for his job) shows an ignorance of transgenderism.

Having said that, I enjoyed the book for all its information - including all the information about Billy's friends and family, and about the jazz and swing era that he was a part of. If only the author had left the analysis to someone who knew what they were talking about!

An impressive biography that overcomes scanty documentation.......2004-12-31

Diane Middlebrook has been blessed with such a fascinating subject for this biography that it would be a poor writer indeed who sapped the story of its interest. Yet the author faces a daunting challenge because so little documentary evidence remains concerning the life of Dorothy/Billy Tipton, especially for the early years. Fortunately, Middlebrook is up to the task, and where she can't provide content she supplies invaluable context for the life of a locally famous jazz singer now known less for his musical talent than for a closeted, transgendered (and, I would argue, brave) life.

Between her birth in Oklahoma and his arrival in Spokane, Tipton somehow made the transformation from an eccentric saxophone- and piano-playing young woman to a married husband, father, bandleader, and talent agent. In the absence of any firsthand information from Tipton himself, Middlebrook has to rely on a scattered selection of photographs, a handful of letters, and on interviews with the few people still alive who knew Dorothy in Oklahoma and the many who knew Billy in Spokane. She concludes, correctly I think, that Tipton initially became a male impersonator primarily to get a job in the male-dominated jazz circuit and eventually grew so comfortable in the role that what may have begun as a career choice gradually became a social choice. Tipton's lesbianism surely contributed to the self-assured ease with which she made this transformation.

For the early years of Tipton's life, Middlebrook doesn't have a lot to go on, and I was wary when reading that she had "to substitute imagination for the absent documentation." Yet in the pages that follow this statement, the author doesn't depart far from reality: over half of the material describes Tipton's hometown through the eyes of others and a good chunk is directly quoted source material. Even when the record is vague about Dorothy Tipton herself, the reader gets a feel for the small-town culture that she undoubtedly experienced and for the Depression-era jazz clubs in which Tipton surely performed.

Middlebrook likewise speculates that Tipton's fear of exposure nixed his band's big break during the 1950s, which would have included recording contracts and the opportunity to open in Nevada casinos for such star performers as Liberace (an irony of a different sort). Tipton's double life was well-known in Oklahoma, and his success as a father and businessman certainly hinged on keeping his profile within the confines of the Northwest. The author also fills in the gaps in our knowledge of Tipton's life with tangents that are mesmerizing on their own, such as the story of Alberta Lucille Hart, another Spokane resident who became radiologist and novelist Alan L. Hart during the first half of the twentieth century.

It's impossible not to finish this book with a sense of appreciation for Tipton's daring. Tipton's first triumph, of course, is the amazing ability to pull it off. But, even more impressive, he managed to do so and leave behind him an astonishing number of people of all ages and backgrounds--wives, adopted sons, in-laws, and show business colleagues--who clearly loved and admired him and who, although stunned by the posthumous revelation that he was biologically a woman, continue to think of him fondly.

Suits Me - The Double Life of Billy Tipton - Unabridged Audiocassette

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Suits Me - The Double Life of Billy Tipton - Unabridged Audiocassette

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Suits Me The Double Life of Billy Tipton

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Suits Me The Double Life of Billy Tipton
Diane Wood Middlebrook
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Co.
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ASIN: B000J0VJRO

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SUITS ME: DOUBLE LIFE OF BILLY TIPTON
DIANE WOOD MIDDLEBROOK
Manufacturer: VIRAGO PRESS LTD
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Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton

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ASIN: 1402892586

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From the Publisher Suits Me is the biography of a 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 of 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. Locked away in Billy's office closet lay the record of a lifetime's achievements: clippings and photographs documenting the transformation of Billy from she to he, and a legacy of annotated comic routines, musical arrangements, and program notes that tell an extraordinary story. These reveal how, night after night, Billy scattered clues and riddles about the drag she wore, including risque gags about homosexuality and jokes that called attention to the disguise. These convey the pride of an artist in his success in achieving a lifetime of deception -- and they wree so bold that they helped conceal Billy's secrets. Suits Me tells the life story of this brilliant deceiver with brio and pathos. To live at once in two skins, one of each sex, is not an everyday experience, yet we can hear Billy's loves and ambitions through the voices of those who knew him -- his "wives," his family, his musical colleagues, and those who encountered him on the road as he traveled with the Billy Tipton Trio from town to town, bandstand to bandstand, gig to gig, during the jazz decades.

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Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton
Diane Wood Middlebrook
Manufacturer: Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Company
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Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TAAB2I

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Updated text and new maps bring this standard introduction up to date . . .

Throughout Christian history, the works of Josephus have been mined for the light they shed on the world of the New Testament. Josephus tells us about the Herodian family, the temple, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. He mentions James the brother of Jesus, John the Baptist, and even Jesus himself. In Josephus and the New Testament, an internationally acknowledged authority on Josephus introduces this first-century Jewish historian to readers who want to begin to explore his witness to environment in which early Judaism and Christianity took shape.

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Resource For Scripture Study.......2006-12-17

Many people engaged in Bible study, whether it is a casual study or formal training in scripture, have found the writings of Flavius Josephus intriguing and helpful. The famous historian's writings were penned at the same time as many New Testament writings, and for this reason alone they are valuable. We hear Josephus talk about the major religious groups during New Testament times: those mentioned in the gospels and those not mentioned specifically but may have had an indirect influence on Christianity. We also find a detailed account of the fall of the Jerusalem Temple as well as references to John the Baptist, James "the brother of the Lord" (possibly dubious entries) and Jesus himself (most scholars, including Mason concede these brief and pious references were probably added by Christian copyists). The writings of Josephus are indispensable in studying scripture.

As important and helpful as the writings of Josephus can be, author Steve Mason points out that his writings have been misused over the centuries. Early Christian authors believed Josephus' account of the destruction of the Temple proved that God's favor had left Israel and had been transferred to Christians. His writings have supported many anti-Semitic campaigns in the past. He also contends that Josephus fell out of favor with many Jewish groups because he was considered a traitor during the battle with the Romans at the time of the Temple's destruction. While one could debate whether he was in fact a traitor, but most scholars do agree that Josephus did have a gift for self preservation. In this tract, Mason hopes to strip away Christian misinterpretations of Josephus and traditional historical biases and see Josephus as he intended to be seen: as a Jewish apologist defending the Jewish faith and people as an ancient and noble faith and worthy of respect in Ancient Rome. Mason contends that it is only by viewing Josephus in this light we can appreciate his writings.

The book gives a detailed biography of Josephus and provides a concise summary of Josephus' writings. He then reconstructs the New Testament world based on the historian's writings and looks at similarities and differences between the writings of Josephus and the New Testament. Perhaps what is Mason's greatest aide is that he does not favor Josephus' wrings as accurate and the New Testament as inaccurate, as can so often be the case. Instead he looks at the differences and points to why Josephus may have written what he did, keeping in mind Josephus did have an agenda and was not ashamed to admit it, and looking at why the New Testament recorded what it did. Readers will find that Mason's approach supports New Testament writings from a historical point of view.

JOSEPHUS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT is detailed, but it is an engaging read. This book will be helpful to any student engaged in New Testament studies. It's also accessible to any person who has an interest in scripture study. It makes a wonderful companion to the actual writings of Josephus and helps us to see the historian, as a historian and use his contributions appropriately.

good overview of Josephus.......2004-12-09

I'm no scholar, just a layperson. But I enjoy learning and facts. I was familiar with Josephus in a vague type of way and knew his writings gave us much background and history for understanding New Testament life and times. And I wanted to learn more about Josephus and his writings. This book seemed the best option. It was somewhat "hard" reading for me, but I feel it was worth my efforts. The author, in my opinion, is somewhat on the theological liberal side. (I'm very conservative...) But I felt the book gave me a good overview of Josephus. It was what I was looking for...

Good introduction to Josephus and NT writings.......2002-11-17

Recommended!! Written by an author who is a specialist in the literary traditions and content of first century authors like Josephus. Provides useful detailed insights and commentary on the comparitive style and content of Josephus and NT writers. For most of the book the author stays on-topic, and readers will find the Luke/Acts chapter one of the best in the book. The author should have pruned some of the off-topic wandering into biblical interpretation of the NT with no real connection to Josephus; fundamentalists might find the author's comments annoying, but there are enough plain interesting quirks in the NT text that the author cites to be useful nevetheless.

Connects Luke to Josephus.......2000-12-31

Great book that tells the affect that the Jewish revolt in A.D. 70 had on the Roman Empire and the writers of the time. Talks about the different groups within the Jewish Community. Gives a comparison between Luke and Josephus in treatment of events and N.T. characters. It describes how Josephus contradicts himself and sometimes seems to change his view on an event. So reading a single one of Josephus' books may not give a clear picture. This book does. I have never read Josephus, but I feel that I know what to expect.

One of the Best Overall Introductions to Josephus.......2000-01-23

As a Jew, I was not looking for a pietistic Christian work, but one that would give me insights into how Josephus was received and utilized by the Church Fathers. I found Steve Mason to be an amicable and informative guide to the Christian perspective as well as a wonderful introduction to Josephus' life, works and world in general. I have read all of Josephus in the annotated Loeb editions and found new insights throughout this excellent little survey. Further, it contains one of the most incisive and reasonable discussions of the highly controversial Testimonium Flavianum -- Josephus' alleged witness to the life and mission of Jesus. I have since have had the pleasure of reading other books by Steve Mason on Josephus and have corresponded with Dr. Mason by e-mail. He is, along with Louis Feldman (who focuses on Old Testament issues) a leading authority on Josephus. This book illustrates why he is not only a great authority but a most effective instructor. Highly recommended.

Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary : Judean Antiquities 1-4

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The Definitive Josephus

Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary : Judean Antiquities 1-4
Flavius Josephus , S. N. Mason , and Louis H. Feldman
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
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Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary Judean Antiquities, Books 5-7

ASIN: 9004106790

Customer Reviews:

The Definitive Josephus.......2000-01-28

Most will want to compare this edition to the Loeb Classics version. Loeb offers facing page Greek text, which this edition does not. However, since I don't read Greek, this was not a problem. Whereas Loeb carries a modicum of footnotes explaining disputed points, the Brill edition is about 75% commentary, contained in extensive and enlightening footnote/essays on every page. The general introduction to Josephus as well as the introduction to Antiquities in particular has something to say to both novice and the reader familiar with Josephan scholarship. My own interest is in the War and the Life, which will not be printed for a few years. So I ordered Antiquities to see whether the project was worthwhile for future reference. I will have no hestiation in ordering other volumes as they become available. Louis Feldman's masterful commentary is a compendium of current scholarship on Josephus' rendition of the Old Testament. Even Books III, which concern matters of Jewish law, chiefly as concerns ritual and observance, but also social strictures, were enlivened and made relevant to Josephus' aims and historical context by Dr. Feldman's expert insights. The indices key on ancient texts,including the Torah, Rabbinical commentary (Midrash) and parallel relevant Greek and Roman historical works, plus persons, places, and modern authors. I compared the translation of the opening paragraph to the same passage in the Loeb. The differences are quite interesting and clearly show how Dr. Feldman and his colleagues picked up nuances from the original that Thackeray (the Loeb translator) had missed. I unhesitatingly recommend this edition. Of course the entire set will be prohibitively costly. University libraries will carry them no doubt. However if you are intrigued with Josephus, as I am, you will want to own some selected volumes. This is truly a work of reference to which I will return again and again.

Flavius Josephus on the Pharisees: A Composition-Critical Study

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Flavius Josephus on the Pharisees: A Composition-Critical Study
Steve Mason
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
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In the past two decades, scholars have called for a new, critical history of the Pharisees. Required is a careful analysis of each source's evidence as a prior condition of historical judgements. By analyzing Flavius Josephus' portrayal of the group, this study clarifies some of the crucial evidence that any hypothesis must explain. Josephus writes about the Pharisees in three of his four extant works, describing their actions under the Hashmoneans, Herod the Great, and during his own tenure as Galilean commander of the revolt against Rome. This study tries to show how his discussions of the Pharisees contribute to his literary aims. With the help of K.H. Rengstorf's new concordance, the author explores the ten pertinent passages in their contexts, supplying also introductory chapters on the Jewish War, the Jewish Antiquities, and the Life. This analysis yields the conclusion that, although the Pharisees were the most popular party in first-century Judaism, Josephus was consistently hostile toward them for reasons peculiar to his own situation.

The Topical Josephus: Historical Accounts That Shed Light on the Bible

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The Topical Josephus: Historical Accounts That Shed Light on the Bible
Cleon L. Rogers
Manufacturer: Zondervan
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ASIN: 0310574404

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A study of the writer, Flavius Josephus, a Jew who was born shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His works discuss many of the people who walk across the pages of the New Testament.

Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series)

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Dispelling the Cliched Viewpoints
A Powerful Piece on Pilate

Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series)
Helen K. Bond
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 0521616204

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This study reconstructs the life of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor responsible for the execution of Jesus. The first section provides the historical and archaeological background. The following chapters look at six first-century authors: Philo, Josephus and the four gospel writers. Each chapter asks how Pilate is being used as a literary character in each work, why each author describes Pilate in a different way, and what this tells us about the relationship between each author and the Roman state.

Customer Reviews:

Dispelling the Cliched Viewpoints.......2007-06-26

This is a very refreshing and compelling study, trenchantly argued and comprehensively researched. Do not believe what the History Channel and other media outlets propound; read and assimilate the facts.

A Powerful Piece on Pilate.......2001-10-05

At last, a well argued, clear, thoughful and incisive academic book on Pilate. Bond has a clear grasp of first-century culture, both Roman and Jewish, and handles texts highly effectively. As yet, this book is the serious historical piece on Pilate that has no competition over its academic credentials.
Dr. John C. McDowell, Meldrum Lecturer in Systematic Theology

The Death of Herod: An Essay in the Sociology of Religion

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The Death of Herod: An Essay in the Sociology of Religion
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Historiography and Self-Definition: Josephos, Luke-Acts, and Apologetic Historiography (Supplements to Novum Testamentum)

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Historiography and Self-Definition: Josephos, Luke-Acts, and Apologetic Historiography (Supplements to Novum Testamentum)
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The second book in the series following on from the bestselling Rainforest AdventuresChildren are fascinated with the natural world around them and with facts and information about animals that they have never seen. However often good nature programmes on T.V. or articles in magazines centre on evolution and completely ignore the Creator. Each story has a Bible verse and lesson for the reader to take away. Written by someone who spent his life in the Rainforest this book has the added benefit of being written by someone who has been there lived there and experienced the culture not just someone who has read the encyclopaedias.

Josephus and Faith: Pistis and Pisteuein As Faith Terminology in the Writings of Flavius Josephus and in the New Testament (Arbeiten Zur Geschichte)

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Josephus and Faith: Pistis and Pisteuein As Faith Terminology in the Writings of Flavius Josephus and in the New Testament (Arbeiten Zur Geschichte)
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