Book Review: Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton, Diane Middlebrook.

By User:Villanueva at hu.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

In Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton, Ms. Middlebrook chronicles the life and career of jazz musician Billy Tipton, who began life as Dorothy Tipton. She addresses the challenges of gender identity, but also explores individual 1930s social responses to gender, and whether or not such identities were truly significant. She further investigates how gender identity significantly helped and hindered women’s access to careers during the 1930s, when women were still limited when men enjoyed nearly full access to a profession of their choice.

Ms. Middlebrook utilizes primary sources like audio tapes and photographs to piece together Tipton’s life. Her reliance on personal accounts of those who knew Billy Tipton strengthens many aspects of her argument. Such intimate details and discussions between spouses and colleagues lends itself to increased insight, particularly on the topic of sex. Some limitations include potential misrepresentation or questionable memories on the interactions, due to age or misunderstanding or personal reasons. This doesn’t belittle the value of first-person accounts, nor the strength of relying on such accounts to provide important insights. What is significant is these sources show how Tipton’s “wives” (for there was never a legal recognition of a marriage) and colleagues often didn’t know, or were largely unphased, by the birth sex of Billy Tipton, and recognized him as a loving father, partner, and musician, though very private and sometimes withdrawn.

Ms. Middlebrook chooses a chronological narrative, which works well to develop both Tipton’s transformation from Dorothy to Billy, but builds a solid foundation for understanding the circumstances surrounding his shift from Dorothy Tipton, an out of work musician, to Billy Tipton, a moderately successful jazz musician in the 1930s.

Ms. Middlebrook contributes successfully to a wealth of biographical narratives covering significant figures during the 1930s. A few contrasts to the Amelia Earhart book Still Missing seems appropriate, in light of the liberal feminist ideologies of the 1920s-1930s. Whereas Susan Ware’s book showcases prominent, talented females like Earhart and Hepburn proving sex to be no limitation to excellence, Ms. Middlebrook’s title character alters his persona to fulfill a role largely excluding women. This desire to fulfill a part Tipton felt born to perform meant securing access to the role by any means necessary. Counter to the figures of Still Missing, however, one would wonder whether Tipton’s life reflects a woman gaining access to greater independence through adopting the masculine persona, or whether Tipton’s goal was more individualistic, in that it served the purpose solely of allowing him to play jazz music. Nevertheless, what binds these two narratives together is an understanding that both Amelia Earhart and Billy Tipton built independent lives in their own way, when it was largely novel or scandalous to do so as women.

This book offers the reader insight into a little known persona, though now without one or two minor weaknesses. The action of cross-dressing and living as a person of the opposite gender seems almost benign for many socially-liberal individuals today. What seems fantastic is how Tipton managed to maintain the ruse for such a long time, especially during intimate moments with partners. Limited expansion over the motivations or reasons for Tipton transforming his identity, beyond desire to play and monetary demands from his family, seems a point of contention with this book. Though the author gives many options, it eventually falls to the reader to decide which is most plausible. Further, just how he did it, though perhaps intentionally left out due to lack of primary resources and being counter to the focus of the book. The interesting childhood, where mixed signals represented by Tipton’s father teaching her masculine activities as her mother desired a feminine daughter, meant Tipton may have been little constrained by traditional gender roles. Whether such actions make a statement about feminism in the 1930s, or mainly showcase the individual’s decision to access a profession through innovative means, perhaps becomes the book’s greater strength, to leave the reader pondering the ramifications of gender and social access to different professions.

The fact that success eluded Tipton, by his own actions, is understandable considering the chance someone would find out the truth under such media scrutiny, it almost seemed like “the game” and “the role” were more significant to Tipton than the success. Fulfilling the role of “father” and “jazz musician” became the key. The narrative is a rather quick read, also offering an easy style. A reader is left to wonder whether or not Tipton’s actions would be considered moral, given that many of the individuals present in Tipton’s life knew nothing of his true birth sex. Though such an accusation is countered by the fact that many who knew, including many individuals who played music with Tipton, show that as long as one could play, it mattered little what gender they identified with (though women were still largely prejudiced against). One almost questions whether Tipton performed a Catch Me If You Can-esque masquerade through gender deception, or if the draw to play music and live life as he saw fit was the primary, driving goal.

Recommended films: Some Like it Hot (1959), Billy Wilder; Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Jim Sharman; Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Chris Columbus; To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), Beeban Kidron