SAUGUS — Did you know that the creator of Wonder Woman was a Saugonian?
William Moulton Marston was born in the town’s Cliftondale neighborhood on May 9, 1893. Marston went on to attend Harvard University, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in 1915, a Bachelor of Laws in 1918, and a PhD in psychology in 1921.
After obtaining his first bachelor’s degree, Marston married Elizabeth Holloway.
Marston spent time working as a psychologist after he left Harvard. He helped to create a key component of the polygraph machine, also know as a lie detector.
He made appearances in advertisements, like one in Life magazine, adorned with visual representations of polygraph readings to signal product trustworthiness and to help bring the machine further into the public eye, as its uses at the time were strictly for police work.
In 1928, Marston published a book titled “Emotions of Normal People,” in which he laid out his so-called Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness theory, which allowed for a self-assessment of personality traits as a predictor of job performance. DISC assessments are still used in a variety of personal and business settings.
On top of his scientific developments, Marston also spent time working as a psychology professor at Tufts University. There, Marston, who was polyamorous, met Olivia Byrne, who would become one of his romantic partners and eventually move in with him and his wife.
In 1940, Byrne, using a pseudonym, interviewed Marston for The Family Circle regarding the topic of comic books. Soon after, in October 1941, Wonder Woman made her first appearance in All Star Comics #8, with artist H.G. Peter helping to illustrate the comic.
Byrne and Holloway are widely believed to have influenced the development of Wonder Woman’s character.
“Elizabeth became the role model for Wonder Woman’s character. Illustrator Harry Peter developed Wonder Woman’s appearance, a medley of Dots’ (a nickname for Byrne) height and Gram’s (Elizabeth Holloway Marston’s) curves, wearing bracelets like those which had adorned Dots’ wrists for many years,” Christie Marston, Marston’s granddaughter, told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017.
After Marston died of cancer in May 1947 at the age of 53, Elizabeth Holloway Marston and Byrne remained together until Byrne’s death in 1990.
More than eight decades later, Wonder Woman remains as popular as ever.
