Background
Alber was born September 16, 1892, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Alber was born September 16, 1892, in Birmingham, Alabama.
He attended the local public schools until he was fifteen, when he moved with his family to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in Hollywood High School.
In 1910 he took the role of Shady in a student production of the operetta Pauline, and during his high school years he played football, tennis and baseball. He was baseball team captain. He graduated in June 1912 and returned for Alumni Visitors Day in January 1913, when he gave a talk on Civil War Confederate General Robert East. Lee.
Between 1914 and 1918 he attended the University of Southern California, where he earned letters in baseball and tennis.