All About Albert/ Alberta

For the last day of Pride Month — a few fragments on Harry Caro (1899-1963), who billed himself in show business as the He/She (hermaphrodite) Albert/Alberta. Scant info is available on this performer, but there is advertising material plugging appearances on the Loew’s Vaudeville Circuit,Hubert’s Museum in Times Square, and the World Circus Sideshow, Coney Island. A/A is unfortunately not the He/She in the movie Freaks (1932) as some people believe (that was Josephine Joseph) but is in a 1952 documentary called Coney Island.

Little is known about the reality of this person’s story. One has to take the biography in the pitch cards with a grain of salt. The legend was that she was originally biological female until the age of ten, then grew one breast, and became muscular on the other side. In reality these kinds of performers were usually biological males who shaved and built up muscles on one side, cultivated pretty locks and wore make-up on the other side, and wore a bifurcated costume. Albert/Alberta’s heyday appears to have been the 1930s through the 1950s.

For more on the history of show business,consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, and pleasestay tuned for my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.