 During the school year he attended Carroll College Academy back in Waukesha, then started at Carroll College, where he majored in oratory, appeared in college plays, and designed, built, and painted scenery.In 1912 he left Carroll and headed east to join a theater company in Boston, where he eventually became a successful stage actor, achieving acclaim in Booth Tarkington's play "Clarence" in 1919.Depite his successful, cosmopolitan career, Alfred remained fond of his childhood home in Wisconsin.