BY KEN de la BASTIDE
Throughout history, people are linked together with certain events. Phyllis Hartzell Talbert’s link to history is a picture taken 67 years ago with Kokomo icon Old Ben.
The picture of Talbert and Old Ben was taken at the height of World War II at the request of two Kokomo servicemen serving in the South Pacific to provide proof that the world’s largest steer was located in Kokomo.
The legend states that the Indiana servicemen got into a discussion with a serviceman from Texas over the world’s largest steer. Being from the Lone Star state, the Texan wanted proof.
That led to the soldiers’ unusual request to Maurice Tull, a photographer for the Kokomo Tribune in 1942, to provide the needed proof. Talbert posed in front of Old Ben wearing a swimsuit, considered at the time to be racy, and was witnessed by the chief of police and a judge who provided documents the picture was authentic.
Talbert, now 87, returned to Highland Park Thursday and recreated the famous photograph that was reproduced an estimated 2,000 times on postcards.
“Mr. Tull asked me to pose for some pictures in Sharpsville of some tall corn and in a peach orchard,” Talbert recalled. “I stood in the cornfield with my arms up and climbed a ladder to pick some peaches.”
She said soldiers wanted proof of the big steer.
“Mr. Tull called me up,” she said of the famous pose. “They pulled Old Ben out and I stood in front of him and spread my arms out.”
After receiving the photograph in the South Pacific, the servicemen were more interested in the girl in the picture.
“I received a lot of letters from the soldiers,” Talbert smiled. “The sailors would send me the bands from their hats with the name of the ships they were serving on. I received a Japanese sword and lots of coins.”
Tull was the first to receive a letter from a serviceman in the 1940s, and told Talbert she could answer them.
“I wrote and answered every letter,” she said. “I knew how important letters were. I had two brothers serving — my oldest brother died in a B-24 crash.”
A native of Pennsylvania, Talbert said a soldier from that state was on furlough and wanted to see her. They went to dinner together in the Keystone state.
“I was living with my sister and brother-in law in Kokomo when the picture was taken,” Talbert said. “My bag was packed four times and they coaxed me to stay because there was work here.”
Talbert’s husband of 62 years, Max, said the original picture was sent back to Texas. He said the postcards spread to Europe and throughout the Asian war theater.
“It was a great feeling, all the letters I received,” Talbert said. “All the letters were lost in the 1965 tornado that hit Greentown.”
During the 100th birthday celebration for Old Ben in 2002, Talbert signed approximately 500 reproductions of the famed postcard. Her husband also perpetuates the image, asking people if they would like to meet “the bull lady.” He even drives a car bearing a front license plate of the famed photograph.
Now splitting time in Bloomington and Florida, the Talberts, who met while Phyllis was working at Haynes-Stellite, visit Kokomo on a regular basis to see relatives.
While Talbert was recreating the pose last week, Patti Cummings was visiting the site with her young son and a nephew.
“I was surprised,” Cummings said when she learned Talbert was the woman who posed for the 1942 picture. “Old Ben will always be connected with Kokomo. We drive through the park to see him. I remember that picture, it’s really neat.”
