Stunning matte-finish 4.5 x 11.5 silver gelatin photo of Wyatt Earp’s wife Josie, showing her dressed in a sheer robe. Blindstamped at the bottom with photographer’s credits, “Kaloma” and “Copyright, 1914—P.N. Co. [Pastime Novelty].” Matted and framed to an overall size of 12 x 20. In fine condition, with silvering to darker areas of the image.
Whether this portrait depicts, or doesn't depict, Josie Earp has become a point of controversy over the years. After the original photo was taken in 1914, the 'Kaloma' model has gone through a myriad of incarnations—as a sheet music cover image for 'Kaloma, Valse Hesitante (Hesitation Waltz),' as a WWI and postwar pinup, and perhaps most famously as the main image for a Vanilla Fudge and The Charles Lloyd Quartet concert poster made by Alton Kelley. Glenn Boyer's decision to use an airbrushed version as the cover illustration for the 1976 book I Married Wyatt Earp quickly aligned the image of 'Kaloma' with that of Josie Earp, who, if she had indeed posed for this photo in 1914, would have been 53 years old.
