Mar 24, 2008

New releases reveal truth

Biographies take clinical and nostalgic tones

By Terri Schlichenmeyer / Book Reviewer

"Becoming a Woman: A Biography of Christine Jorgensen"
By Richard F. Docter
Harrington Park Press
$19.95, 355 pages

In the new book "Becoming a Woman: A Biography of Christine Jorgensen" by Richard F. Docter, you'll read about the world's first celebrity transsexual: what she said about herself, the real story and everything in between.

When George Jorgensen became Christine some 50 years ago, she made headlines around the world. By chance Docter sat next to Christine Jorgensen one evening at a banquet decades ago. As a behavioral psychologist, Docter wanted to know how Jorgensen felt about modern transsexuals and cross-dressers. Jorgensen didn't give him much more than a few breezy statements, but that was enough for Docter to decide to learn more. What he found was a series of contradictions.

Although Christine's 1967 autobiography indicates that George was a socially rejected loner, many people remembered him as popular and well liked. Others that Docter interviewed said George was "different" (remember: this was the 1940s) and that he was teased mercilessly.

George vehemently denied being gay and rarely dated women, although it appeared that he wanted to. He admitted to friends that he liked men "as a woman does" and he had homosexual relationships. Ultimately, George decided that living as a woman and becoming a woman was what Jorgensen wanted most. He went to Denmark, ostensibly for a vacation, but in actuality for surgery.

George's gender wasn't all that changed.

The almost-reclusive George came back to America as Christine, an outgoing beauty with style and grace. George eschewed attention; Christine thrived on it. George seemed almost shy; Christine reached for publicity. The tabloids went wild.

In the end, though, Christine Jorgensen could not escape George Jorgensen.

Although a little dry, "Becoming a Woman" is fascinating, not because of what Docter reveals about Jorgensen, but because of what he can't tell us. He has obviously dug deep into the life of the woman that intrigued him, but Christine was a chameleon of sorts. Since different people knew her in different ways, we may never know her entire story.

On the other hand, the problem with this book as a true bio is that it's almost too methodical to be a biography. Instead, it reads more like a medical treatise and less like a biography of a beguiling celebrity who brought the subject of sex reassignment into the living rooms of everyday Americans more than half a century ago.

Overlook the aridity of this book, and you'll be rewarded with a peek into the possible life of a transsexual woman who still has the power to captivate nearly twenty years after her death.

"Sit, Ubu, Sit: How I Went from Brooklyn to Hollywood with the Same Woman, the Same Dog, and a Lot Less Hair"
By Gary David Goldberg
Harmony
$23.95, 258 pages

When you're sick and have to stay home from work, nothing feels better than a warm spot on the sofa, a blanket, comfort food and a familiar TV show.

Some of those shows are so familiar, you can almost recite the scripts from memory. And at the end, that funny dog with the Frisbee still makes you smile.

Read "Sit, Ubu, Sit" by Gary David Goldberg, the founder of UBU Productions Inc., and learn about that familiar dog, the day the photo was snapped and the guy who loved the woman who took the picture.

At a party in Brooklyn in 1969, Goldberg saw the woman with whom he would fall in love. She was gorgeous, with long hair and green eyes, sitting on the floor and playing a guitar. Suavely, he sidled up to her and murmured the words "Nice guitar."

Three years later, they were still together and backpacking through Europe with their Labrador retriever Ubu. Diana was four months' pregnant then. Gary hadn't yet met her parents. They didn't yet have a home, a college degree or a career between them. Ten dollars was enough to get them through another day. Another $40 got them all home to the United States, including Ubu.

Fast-forward another decade. Diana was in college. Goldberg worked as a writer for various TV-production companies. He worked with Tony Randall and wrote for Bob Newhart. Goldberg was friends with Steven Spielberg. He had odd jobs with MTM (Mary Tyler Moore's company) and other assorted television show generators.

And then he got the call from Brandon Tartikoff. NBC was picking up "Family Ties," the show Goldberg created. He needed to hire writers and he needed to find a cast.

Michael J. Fox was sent in to read, but Goldberg said "no." Repeatedly.

And therein lies the other half of this beautifully written, sweetly comic, self-deprecating, delightful love story.

"Sit, Ubu, Sit" is a story of one man's adoration for his wife, his family, his work and the friends who gave him the opportunities to follow his dreams.

Written in a back-and-forth-through-the-years style, this book chronicles the friendship of two people that look at one another in awe, not quite believing that they were lucky enough to meet.

And yes, like every good sitcom, there's a funny, happy ending.