HISTORY

CARL ROLLINS HAMMONDS - HEDY JO STAR 
 

Hedy Jo Star was born Carl Rollins Hammonds on Feb. 10th, 1920 in Prague Oklahoma.  Her mother was Bertha Hammonds; she lived at 1522 Westwood St. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Her father and her mother are deceased. 
Hedy had two brothers and four sisters. Hedy was the eldest. Her brother’s reaction to her sex change was, “it should have been done years ago.” 
 

Carl Hammonds lived as a woman since the age of 18. Her age during the time of her writing her autobiography was 42; she died in 1999 at the age of 79, in Las Vegas, NV.  Although she was male outside, she knew she was female and ended up completely converted into a woman.  A team of five of the foremost doctors in their various specialized fields did the final operation.  This consisted of plastic surgeons, urologist, psychiatrist and two other surgeons. Hedy Jo was intersex and displayed gynecomastia and other female phenotypical traits as she progressed through puberty.
 

Hedy entered the hospital June 23rd, 1962 and she was released July 31 from the final operation at Methodist Hospital in Tennessee. However, she underwent two previous operations, one at New York’s Park East, which led to this final operation. She was examined by a team of doctors at John Hopkins for possible transformation, (we have papers to verify this), but was turned down.  These doctors will verify that she was a man with deformed genitals.  The proof is obvious that after the surgery that her body was female in every sense of the word. 

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Her doctors believed, at that time, she was by far the most complete sex change accomplished in the USA; the change was a perfect success.  
 

The first surgery was done by Dr. La Roe (Elsie La Roe), one of the world’s foremost plastic surgeons.  A naturalized citizen, she wanted to do the complete operation but because of her status, she could only make the introductions that eventually led to the completed operation.  
 

Hedy Jo spent thousands of dollars on these doctors and pulling the necessary strings to get the final work done. This was over a period of approximately 10 years.  A great deal of the monies went toward the hormone shots alone.  This has been responsible for the development of much larger busts, lessening of hair growth over the entire body and her voice has become much higher pitched.   Always rather thin, her hips have become that of a true woman.  
 

Hedy Jo was owner-manager and operator of a show billed as the “Hollywood State Revue” which played large outdoor fair dates during the season.  She usually had a show and stage crew of thirty-five people.  During the winter season, she worked nightclubs as a Hypnosis expert.  She is very adept at this art.  Miss Star was very well known in show business circles and was always a good drawing card for anyone she worked for.  Thus, she was always in demand.   
 

With the approaching final surgery, she was very tense, but determined to go on.  She was completely fearless of any pain.  Unknown to most people, a person of Hedys’ type never thinks of the pain involved. She thought of only the final, result. She was on the operating table for five and a half hours during which she was given a lot of blood. She was very low at one point. The one thing that really bothered Hedy came out later.  She revealed that just before she went on the table, she had a strange feeling “almost holy”.  She felt the need to talk to her God.  This she did.  She asked our Lord not to let her live to leave the operating table if she was doing wrong and going against His will. She said she was looking at a picture of Jesus on the wall, and after asking that, it was as though He smiled at her; she then had the peace to go through with the operation. 
 

There had been a great change in her mind and heart.  She thought better and clearer.  She was very, very happy.  If it is true that life begins at forty, she had been re-born at forty-two.   
 

Hedy certainly always felt that nature had played a dirty trick on her by putting her here as a man.  She has never ceased to work for and try every angle possible to have this mistake changed. No one expects the person involved can know the tortures suffered by a person faced with this problem.  Hedy Jo had worked so very hard and saved her money for these doctor bills alone.  This was her one aim; she knew she was right and that she could never be happy until the final operation was accomplished.  Now that this has been done, the change was glorious! 
Always a very well-tempered person with a wonderful sense of humor, Hedy kept here true aim to herself. 
 

Some of the newspaper articles written by Hedy Jo contained the following information: As a man, Carl Rollins Hammond’s measurements were chest 38”, waist 29” and hips 34 1/2”.  After ten years of hormones and surgery, Hedys’ measurements were bust 42”, waists 26” and hips 38”.  Also, her busts were so firm Hedy seldom wore a bra.  She found it too confining.  She loved sweaters, which she filled to perfection. She wore a seven and a half B shoe, and size seven and a half gloves. Hedy had a costume shop in the Paul Brown Bldg. in St. Louis. 
Hedy was an accomplished seamstress and a very hard worker.  She frequently worked sixteen hours a day. She had a flair for color and a natural talent for theatrical millinery.     
 

Hedy Jo Star (Carl Rollins Hammond’s) lived a life that many did not understand due to the social prejudices of that day and still this day. But she lived life to the fullest and she died knowing that what she had done was right. As a teenager, he ended up with a small carnival in OKLA. (Note: In the 1930s and1940s there were a lot of female impersonators in both carnival and circus.  
 

They were more comfortable there because show people have always been non-biased of people who acted with different behaviors.  There were 104 females in one sideshow touring in North America in 1948 and 49. Of these about 90% of them had a female impersonator working as a half man, half woman (hermaphrodite); therefore most (if they were good) made good money.  
By about 1942 Hedy Jo Star was operating a store-show (a sideshow presented in a rented store building in the main business district) in the winter in Oklahoma City. Hedy got drafted and had to report for a pre-induction examination. Hedy had her own hair which reached her mid back. She refused to allow them to cut her hair. The next morning the "Daily Oklahoman" had a front-page photo of Hedy Jo behind bars, with the headline "I'll see you in Hell before you cut my hair". During World II there was no "Don't ask don't tell" policies. After his physical induction examination, they discovered his physical abnormalities, and issued him a 4-F draft disqualification, which means she was not qualified to be in the military.  
 

Hedy Jo had two small shows: a half male and half female single act show which she worked herself. She did the barking (doing the talking) and then inside did the act; she also had a small girl show with 3 or 4 performers. Over the years she was in various midway shows. Hedy had one large girl show plus a small one. She had a very big house trailer with a big sewing room in it. She made all the costumes for the people on her shows. She was a great designer and costumer. The people on her shows always had very beautiful wardrobe. She always lived as a female, and in 1962 she had the surgery to correct her gender. She was making some special wardrobes for Circus Vargas and frequently visited with Dale Longmire who was clowning on Circus Vargas at that time. Hedy Jo made her home then in Las Vegas where she operated a costuming business, specializing in feather work.  
 

It is my sincere desire that her story is shared with many people who might have the same life struggles he/she did, and that it might help those who do not understand.  
Roy E. Richmond