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A point of information...
Mar. 7th, 2005 02:14 amSome information you may not have known or even imagined that struck me again this weekend, and I'd like to post it here for your reference and enjoyment. The following quotes are taken from Wonder Woman: The Complete History by Les Daniels.
William Moulton Marston, inventor of the lie detector test, created Wonder Woman in 1940-41, as a female heroine with all the allure of a good and beautiful woman, but the strength of a powerful man. Even more interesting to me is some of the personal family background in Marston's life as Wonder Woman came into existence. Married to Elizabeth Marston in 1915, he went on to study law at Harvard. In the late 20's, Bill Marston met Olive Byrne, a student at Tufts during his time there as a teacher. Their son Byrne Marston continues the story: " He met her and she became friends with him later on. And they pretty much lived together, the three of them, from then on - there may have been a hiatus, but almost always. Then the children came. Elizabeth and Bill Marston had two children... Olive Richard had two children.. as far as any of us really know, Olive Byrne was never married, because 'Richard' was a pseudonym she used. But we were the biological children of Bill Marston. It was an arrangement where they lived together fairly harmoniously. Each woman had two children, and my brother and I were formally adopted by Elizabeth and Bill somewhere along the line."
While living arrangements like these grow slightly more acceptable today, this was extraordinary in the 1940s, and Bill Marston may have sacrificed his academic career to maintain his family, as few colleges would have countenanced a professor who was living with two women and having children with both of them. His editor Sheldon Mayer described him as "the most remarkable host, wth a lovely bunch of kids from different wives and all living together like one big family - everybody very happy, and all good, decent people." His family endured, even after his untimely passing.. Elizabeth and Olive looked after the children and kept everyone together. Byrne Marston: "It's kind of crazy, but it worked out and they got along quite well. They were just a pair from then on until they died."
William Moulton Marston was not only ahead of his time in his belief that women were the wave of the future, but he was also apparently poly.. in one form, at any rate. If you read through the early run of the comic until Marston's death in 1947, the theories he held come through quite clearly. An entire generation would grow up reading his work and find themselves inspired to begin the feminist movements of the 60s and 70s.
Anyone interested in further information on not only Bill Marston and his work, but on Wonder Woman, please check out the book. It's a really interesting read.
-Me.
William Moulton Marston, inventor of the lie detector test, created Wonder Woman in 1940-41, as a female heroine with all the allure of a good and beautiful woman, but the strength of a powerful man. Even more interesting to me is some of the personal family background in Marston's life as Wonder Woman came into existence. Married to Elizabeth Marston in 1915, he went on to study law at Harvard. In the late 20's, Bill Marston met Olive Byrne, a student at Tufts during his time there as a teacher. Their son Byrne Marston continues the story: " He met her and she became friends with him later on. And they pretty much lived together, the three of them, from then on - there may have been a hiatus, but almost always. Then the children came. Elizabeth and Bill Marston had two children... Olive Richard had two children.. as far as any of us really know, Olive Byrne was never married, because 'Richard' was a pseudonym she used. But we were the biological children of Bill Marston. It was an arrangement where they lived together fairly harmoniously. Each woman had two children, and my brother and I were formally adopted by Elizabeth and Bill somewhere along the line."
While living arrangements like these grow slightly more acceptable today, this was extraordinary in the 1940s, and Bill Marston may have sacrificed his academic career to maintain his family, as few colleges would have countenanced a professor who was living with two women and having children with both of them. His editor Sheldon Mayer described him as "the most remarkable host, wth a lovely bunch of kids from different wives and all living together like one big family - everybody very happy, and all good, decent people." His family endured, even after his untimely passing.. Elizabeth and Olive looked after the children and kept everyone together. Byrne Marston: "It's kind of crazy, but it worked out and they got along quite well. They were just a pair from then on until they died."
William Moulton Marston was not only ahead of his time in his belief that women were the wave of the future, but he was also apparently poly.. in one form, at any rate. If you read through the early run of the comic until Marston's death in 1947, the theories he held come through quite clearly. An entire generation would grow up reading his work and find themselves inspired to begin the feminist movements of the 60s and 70s.
Anyone interested in further information on not only Bill Marston and his work, but on Wonder Woman, please check out the book. It's a really interesting read.
-Me.
