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Facts About Marston
Inventor of the lie detector and Wonder Woman. His pen name for his comics was Charles Moulton. A Famous psychologist who was interested in the Women’s Rights suffrage Movement. He Died of skin cancer at age 53. Marston was a Harvard Graduate, PHD in Psychology. There was controversy over whether or not Wonder Woman was a feminist project just some form of soft porn. Olive Byrne was a student for Marston, then became his secretary and mistress. When Elizabeth Holloway died in 1993, an obituary that stated she was the inspiration for Wonder Woman, which is not true. He was Credited with inventing the first systolic blood pressure test - came to the conclusion that when people lie, their blood pressure rises - which helped lead to the first polygraph. The Process of the first polygraph was to first take the criminals blood pressure, and then ask a question, and if the blood pressure spikes, it is determined that the criminal is lying. Marston was obsessed with uncovering other people's secrets which is why he created the lie detector. Olive Byrne was a senior in Marston’s psychology class. Marston gave his wife Elizabeth Holloway two options, either Byrne moved in with them, or he divorced her.
Basic Info on Marston
William Marston was born on May 9, 1893 in Cliftondale, MA. He got a BA from Harvard in 1915, LLB from Harvard Law School in 1918, PhD in psychology from Harvard in 1921, and was a teacher at American University. He published his first book “Emotions of Normal People” in 1928. His second book was called "Integrative Psychology" in 1931. He was married to his wife Elizabeth Halloway and also lived with his mistress Olivie Byrne. In 2006 he was inducted to the comic book hall of fame. He died May 2, 1947 in Rye, NY, from cancer.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions:
1. Was Wonder Woman truly based off of Olive Byrne?
Yes, we believe Wonder Woman was truly based off of Olive Byrne because of all of the similarities that are seen. She wore the same big bracelets and jewelry, and had similar features. They both represented how women could have larger roles in society. He created Wonder Woman based off of the new hope Olive Byrne inspired in him about gender roles.
2. What effect has the stigma about Wonder Woman’s persona and her creator’s life had on the legacy of her character?
When Wonder Woman was first created there was a lot of stigma around her character. She was the first woman in comics and wasn’t accepted by most. People thought she only represented sex and lust. This reflected poorly on Marston as he was the creator of her character. This has had long term effects on both of them. Although Wonder Woman is most definitely more accepted now, she is still thought of as the disliked character when she was first created. Since she was created during a time of controversy about gender, that has had long lasting effects on her image.
3. What were the true intentions behind William Marston’s creation of Wonder Woman?
Marston wanted to prove that women were just as, if not more, capable than men when it comes to certain tasks. He wanted to inspire women to stand up for themselves and push the country towards more equality. He highlighted the strengths of women to show how important they are to society in his character, Wonder Woman.
4. How did the lie detector invention play a role in Wonder Woman’s creation as character?
The invention of the lie detector was based off of the lasso of truth that Wonder Woman had. Marston gave his comic creation a lasso that would make people tell the truth. This connects to his invention of the lie detector because it was a source of inspiration for his invention.
5. What was ironic about how Marston raised his kids?
Marston seemed very fascinated by the truth, hence the lie detector and lasso of truth. He seemed to be an honest guy, yet he lied to his kids their whole life. He never told his kids that two of them were birthed from his mistress Olive. He told everyone that she was his widowed sister-in-law. His whole family atmosphere was a lie and his kids didn’t find out the truth for a long time.
1. Was Wonder Woman truly based off of Olive Byrne?
Yes, we believe Wonder Woman was truly based off of Olive Byrne because of all of the similarities that are seen. She wore the same big bracelets and jewelry, and had similar features. They both represented how women could have larger roles in society. He created Wonder Woman based off of the new hope Olive Byrne inspired in him about gender roles.
2. What effect has the stigma about Wonder Woman’s persona and her creator’s life had on the legacy of her character?
When Wonder Woman was first created there was a lot of stigma around her character. She was the first woman in comics and wasn’t accepted by most. People thought she only represented sex and lust. This reflected poorly on Marston as he was the creator of her character. This has had long term effects on both of them. Although Wonder Woman is most definitely more accepted now, she is still thought of as the disliked character when she was first created. Since she was created during a time of controversy about gender, that has had long lasting effects on her image.
3. What were the true intentions behind William Marston’s creation of Wonder Woman?
Marston wanted to prove that women were just as, if not more, capable than men when it comes to certain tasks. He wanted to inspire women to stand up for themselves and push the country towards more equality. He highlighted the strengths of women to show how important they are to society in his character, Wonder Woman.
4. How did the lie detector invention play a role in Wonder Woman’s creation as character?
The invention of the lie detector was based off of the lasso of truth that Wonder Woman had. Marston gave his comic creation a lasso that would make people tell the truth. This connects to his invention of the lie detector because it was a source of inspiration for his invention.
5. What was ironic about how Marston raised his kids?
Marston seemed very fascinated by the truth, hence the lie detector and lasso of truth. He seemed to be an honest guy, yet he lied to his kids their whole life. He never told his kids that two of them were birthed from his mistress Olive. He told everyone that she was his widowed sister-in-law. His whole family atmosphere was a lie and his kids didn’t find out the truth for a long time.
Marston's Review
"He created the most famous female superhero in history, empowering her to triumph in a male-dominated world, yet he lived together with a wife and a mistress, fathered children with both, and was eager to keep the complex relationship secret. Now a majority of his personal papers are at Harvard." - A review on William Marston's life by Jill Lepore.
An interview with Jill Lepore about William Marston
Background on His Lie Detector
On December 12, 1941 William Marston sent a letter to the President of the US - FDR - where he offered for him to use the lie detection and apply the test to military problems. In this letter Marston essentially writes the President his resume on why he was suited for the job of interrogation and the use of lie detection. His qualifications include being the originator of the Lie Detector Test, which is generally used at the Harvard Psychological Laboratory. He also discusses using the Lie Detector test in the first World War and he has now extended the use. He also had used the Lie detector test in the Boston Criminal Courts; where he claimed to have uniformly successful results.
William Marston's Gillette ad
William Marston's lie detector was involved in a Gillette ad. In this ad William Marston had to conduct an experiment on 16 volunteers, in which they recorded their different emotional changes whilst shaving with different blades, one of which was a Gillette. Gillette used this experiment as evidence that the Gillette was the far superior razor blade for shaving as it was faster, and proven less stressful.
However, after further investigation, it was discovered that after the initial testing, approximately 50% of the subjects found the Gillette blade to be superior, and the remainder found one of the other razor blades superior. Marston, being dissatisfied with these results promised his assistant that if he’s able to convince all the subjects to swear the Gillette blade superior they would both earn a large sum of money. This scheme eventually fell through, yet Marston was able to escape with $30,000 from Gillette.
William Marston and His Relationship with Olive Byrne
Olive Byrne was Marston’s second relationship that openly coexisted with his relationship with Elizabeth Holloway. Olive Byrne and Marston first met in 1925, when Byrne was a senior at Tufts, and Marston was her psychology professor. When Marston fell in love with Byrne he gave his current wife the offer to allow Byrne to live with them or he would leave her. Once she accepted the deal Byrne would care for the children while Holloway would go to work. Both Byrne and Holloway gave birth to two children, however when anyone asked such as census takers, they would tell them that Byrne was Marston’s widowed sister-in-law. Due to this lie, it wasn’t until 1963 when Byrne’s children found out that Marston was their father. The reason they found out was due to Holloway admitting it after she extracted a promise to never raise the subject again. After the children were born they were legally adopted by Elizabeth and William, yet Byrne still played a large role in raising the children. Pete, who was a son of Marston and Holloway said that the parents had their part of the house, while the kids had their own. They children were not allowed to know what was going on at the parents side of the house, and often used the term “who cares” to explain why they never explored. After Marston’s death Olive and Elizabeth lived together until Olive died.
First Wonder Woman Sketches
Transcript of letter:
(black ink) Dear Dr. Marston, I slapped these two out in a hurry. The eagle is tough to handle — when in perspective or in profile, he doesn’t show up clearly — the shoes look like a stenographer’s. I think the idea might be incorporated as a sort of Roman contraption. Peter
This is the first sketch of Wonder Woman was made by Marston’s artist, H.G. Peter in 1941.
(red ink) Dear Pete — I think the gal with hand up is very cute. I like her skirt, legs, hair. Bracelets okay + boots. These probably will work out. See other suggestions enclosed. No on these + stripes — red + white. With eagle’s wings above or below breasts as per enclosed? Leave it to you. Don’t we have to put a red stripe around her waist as belt? I thought Gaines wanted it — don’t remember. Circlet will have to go higher — more like crown — see suggestions enclosed. See you Wednesday morning - WMM
In this sketch and minor conversation between William Marston and H.G. Peter, we can see lots of the aspects that Marston looked into for developing the Wonder Woman image. For his suggestions to make the circlet like a crown, you can see that Marston wanted Wonder Woman to have a very prestigious image throughout the comic series.
William Marston's Original Wonder Woman Comics
In William Marston’s - or Charles Moulton’s - first wonder woman comic you can find it quite evident that he puts a lot of emphasis on how women are treated as objects by men in society. For example, in one of them it shows how two men are trading over how many women a goat costs where the buyer would offer five women, and the seller demanded at least a dozen.
In the first comic book, Diana Prince was the Queen of Amazonia. In this comic they show Diane’s transformation from the queen to becoming wonder woman. Throughout the comic she shows her powers by being able to defeat men such as Hercules. She was able to accomplish this task through the use of her magic girdle and magic lasso.
Wonder Woman's magic girdle, or Golden Girdle of Gaea, has been fought over throughout the Wonder Woman series. It also serves as an allegory for the women's allure.
Another item that Wonder Woman used was her magic lasso, better known as the Lasso of Truth. This is a direct connection made by Marston to his invention of the lie detector. It was not only a symbol of Marston’s lie detector, but also to the feminine charm. Whenever someone was caught by the lasso they found it impossible to lie.
In the first comic book, Diana Prince was the Queen of Amazonia. In this comic they show Diane’s transformation from the queen to becoming wonder woman. Throughout the comic she shows her powers by being able to defeat men such as Hercules. She was able to accomplish this task through the use of her magic girdle and magic lasso.
Wonder Woman's magic girdle, or Golden Girdle of Gaea, has been fought over throughout the Wonder Woman series. It also serves as an allegory for the women's allure.
Another item that Wonder Woman used was her magic lasso, better known as the Lasso of Truth. This is a direct connection made by Marston to his invention of the lie detector. It was not only a symbol of Marston’s lie detector, but also to the feminine charm. Whenever someone was caught by the lasso they found it impossible to lie.
Works Cited
Flavin, R. D. The Doctor and the Wonder Women: Love, Lies, and Revisionism, www.flavinscorner.com/drww.htm.
Lepore, Jill. “The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Oct. 2014, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/origin-story-wonder-woman-180952710/.
Scalabrini, George Maschke & Gino. “Learn How to Pass (or Beat) a Polygraph ‘Test.’” AntiPolygraphorg RSS, antipolygraph.org/.
Olive Byrne (Kottke.org), kottke.org/tag/Olive%20Byrne.
Lepore, Jill. “The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Oct. 2014, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/origin-story-wonder-woman-180952710/.
Scalabrini, George Maschke & Gino. “Learn How to Pass (or Beat) a Polygraph ‘Test.’” AntiPolygraphorg RSS, antipolygraph.org/.
Olive Byrne (Kottke.org), kottke.org/tag/Olive%20Byrne.