Josephine Joseph, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Josephine Joseph

Austrian-born film and sideshow performer

Date of Birth: 04-Jul-1913

Place of Birth: Austria

Date of Death: 04-Jul-1991

Profession: actor, film actor, circus performer

Nationality: Austria

Zodiac Sign: Cancer

Josephine Waas, better known by stage name of Josephine Joseph or Josephine-Joseph was an American performer who was prominent in circus sideshows and the carnival circuits.
She is best known however for her only film role in the Tod Browning, pre-code production Freaks in 1932.
Her body was supposedly split down the middle, one side female and the other male.
She claimed to be a true hermaphrodite, but there is no evidence to confirm whether this was the case or not; she may have just been a very skilled impersonator, in the style of Albert Alberta Karas. Like many sideshow "hermaphrodites" of the early 20th century, she presented a "half and half" trick: woman on the left and man on the right.
One side of the body would be exercised, have hair trimmed, and tanned; the other side would be covered and un-exercised, making it pale and flabby, so the chest resembled a woman's breast while the hair was grown out.
The performer would then wear a split costume: a low-cut, tight top and hotpants on the "female" side and on the "male" side a Tarzan-style loincloth.