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Date and Issue: August 28, 1977.
Wonder Woman has twirled herself into a lot more than a star-spangled bodice and bloomers since last season as an on again off again series on ABC.
In the striking form of Lynda Carter, she has spun herself all the way over to CBS for a weekly fall series and all the way up to present day 1977 where the comic book heroine will fight topical troubles, like water shortages, instead of 1940s Nazis.
Lynda Carter, who brings Wonder Woman, alias Diana Prince to life and to television, is a beautiful, ambitious and so far surprisingly level-headed young woman. She may wear her silk shirts in what Rhoda calls "the yes position" and toss her hair around Farrah Fawcett-Majors style, but there's more sense in the skull underneath than one might expect from a former Miss World-USA-turned instant star.
That sense, possibly fostered in a strong family life growing up in Phoenix, Ariz., will stand its share of tests in Hollywood. Ilei new husband and personal manager Ron Samuels, also manages an-other TV "superwoman," The Bionic Woman, Lindsay Wagner, who is al ready showing the signs of stress that kind of success can cause.
Wonder Woman, and the new CBS se-ries, "The New Adventures of Wonder, Woman" are strictly fantasy but-Carter has a firm grip on the reality of her own life, her career and what she wants from both.
"I've grown into the responsibility have to my audience -- the people who keep me working," she said. "Whenever I've gotten into a big ego thing something has happened to bring me back to reality, like God's saying, 'Cut it out!'
"I get mail from almost every agegroup, some scribbled in crayon, some typed. I got one recently from a deaf girl that really made me think how much I take for granted.
"And my family helps too," she said. "They never talk about the show when I'm home." Carter didn't go out much as a teenager and remembers herself as insecure in school. "I was so tall (5 foot eight) and the boys were so short. I covered my insecurity by being very boistrous. I was the one who made everybody laugh.
"I took dancing lessons and I remem-ber my teacher telling me to forget about show business, I'd never make it."
Last spring and this summer Carter traveled across the country singing. doing talk shows including a stop in Seattle.
"Wonder Woman has given me the visibility I needed," she said. "When people hear my name they know who Lynda Carter is. But my singing will have to stand on its own ultimately."
It will also take a back seat to Wonder Woman which Carter says she'll keep doing as long as it's a challenge.
"After that I don't think Ill have trouble breaking the image and getting other roles," she said. "As long as you're a `good property,' and I hate those words, but if you're saleable people want to see you."
Carter's "saleability" started when she was named Miss World-USA in 1973 and she says beauty contests can be worth the strain. "If someone's not strong or secure enough about themselves they can really get pushed around in that kind of competition," she said. "Too much emphasis is put on being a 'winner' and a 'loser' and that's wrong.
"It's a job, a glorified public relations job. You go places, open' up shopping centers, get some money and some expo-sure and that's it.
Carter had established herself in Holly-wood and in the role of Wonder Woman before she met and married her husband-manager Ron Samuels. But she says that alliance has helped her strength.
Samuels has a reputation as "The Bionic Manager" having one of the richest deals in TV history for Lindsay Wagner as the Bionic Woman. He also manages Jacklyn Smith, one of Charlie's Angels.
"He's not an agent," Carter explained. "There's a big difference between that and a personal manager. For one thing he makes a lot more money!"
He helps make decisions and slays the corporate dragons.
"But there's also a big difference between our relationship and some other star-manager marriages," she said. "He was already successful and I already had my show when we met, so neither of us is 'making' the other one and we're not competitive.
"In our marriage vows we said 'Not to compete but to complete.'"
About the time Wonder Woman and Super Manager got married ABC TV had decided the series would "burn itself out" and wanted to keep it on only as an occasional special. NBC wanted it too, but only for 1.3 weeks. CBS offered the best deal with 22 weeks and decided to update the show to the present to keep it fresher.
She does about 40 minutes of exercis-ing morning and night, swims, plays tennis and works on the trampoline with Samuels pushing her all the way. She calls him a slave driver.
Carter says the show's success is largely due to her being a role model for an audience of between eight and 16-yearold girls who like what Wonder Woman stands for.
"She's the epitome of idealism," Carter said. "A woman who hasn't been subject-ed to negatives. The good old-fashioned happy ending where reality isn't shoved down your throat. All girls, everybody, wants to believe there is a Santa Claus."
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