As Bannon explained in the 2001 edition foreword to Odd Girl Out, Gold Medal Press publishers had control over the cover art and the title.

Lesbian pulp fiction books usually showed suggestive art with obscure titles that hinted at what the subject matter was inside.

Jack Mann finds Beebo Brinker wandering the streets of New York City's Greenwich Village.

Jack helps Beebo get a job delivering pizza (one of the advantages is that she can wear pants) for Pete, who is a little creepy, and his wife who cooks.

When she admits her frank admiration for a woman she sees, Jack tells her about lesbians, and she reacts with obvious fascination.

She is roused a couple days later to make a delivery to the apartment of an outrageous movie star, Venus Bogardus, who lives with her lonely teenaged son whom Beebo befriends.

In fact, she takes jobs that are clearly below her abilities (elevator operator and delivery boy) and declines a higher education because she knows these vocations would limit her to wearing feminine clothing.

A writer who adapted three of the books into a play explained Beebo's draw: "She’s a brave person who tried to pass as a guy at a time when most lesbians were totally under cover.

[4] However, "Gene Damon" was a pseudonym for Barbara Grier, who started Naiad Press — the publishing company that re-released all of Bannon's books in 1983.

"[5] Upon its release by Cleis Press in 2001, the Lambda Book Report claimed, "Though four decades old, [Beebo Brinker] remains a delightful — and now instructive read.