WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.919 I want you to imagine trying to break into an 00:00:02.919 --> 00:00:05.679 intensely male -dominated industry. Which is 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:08.439 tough enough on its own. Right, but imagine doing 00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:11.519 it in the 1920s. And you don't just break in, 00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:14.160 you actually succeed. Only to face, well, just 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:16.589 a string of... personal tragedies. Exactly. And 00:00:16.589 --> 00:00:18.929 then having to literally relearn your entire 00:00:18.929 --> 00:00:21.410 craft from scratch. It sounds like fiction, honestly. 00:00:21.629 --> 00:00:23.969 It really does. But welcome to another deep dive. 00:00:24.149 --> 00:00:27.829 Today, we are looking at the extraordinary, really 00:00:27.829 --> 00:00:31.510 just remarkably resilient life of Australian 00:00:31.510 --> 00:00:34.289 comic book artist, illustrator, and fashion artist, 00:00:34.409 --> 00:00:36.880 Marie Horstman. Though her readers knew her as 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:39.159 Molly. Right, Molly Horseman. And we're basing 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:41.700 today's discussion on a biographical Wikipedia 00:00:41.700 --> 00:00:44.320 article about her life and her work. It is a 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:46.560 fantastic source for this. It is. Because our 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:49.520 mission today is to uncover exactly how she navigated 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:53.359 global travels, family breakups, single motherhood, 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:55.899 and eventually physical paralysis to become one 00:00:55.899 --> 00:00:58.399 of Australia's most legendary female cartoonists. 00:00:58.579 --> 00:01:01.039 And you really have to view this entire deep 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:04.359 dive as a masterclass in adaptability. Oh, 100%. 00:01:04.670 --> 00:01:06.870 Because by the end of this, I guarantee you we'll 00:01:06.870 --> 00:01:09.170 view your own setbacks in a completely different 00:01:09.170 --> 00:01:12.209 light. Okay, let's unpack this. Because her childhood 00:01:12.209 --> 00:01:14.870 really sets the stage for that exact adaptability 00:01:14.870 --> 00:01:16.870 you're talking about. It really does. She was 00:01:16.870 --> 00:01:19.930 born Marie Compton Horseman on December 9th, 00:01:19.930 --> 00:01:23.549 1911. This is in Rochester, Victoria, to a farmer 00:01:23.549 --> 00:01:25.989 named Frederick and his wife Catherine, who had 00:01:25.989 --> 00:01:29.689 migrated from Yorkshire. So a rural, fairly traditional 00:01:29.689 --> 00:01:33.049 setup at first. Yeah, but then in 1924, everything 00:01:33.049 --> 00:01:36.709 shifts. Her parents separate. Which in the 1920s 00:01:36.709 --> 00:01:39.010 was a massive deal. The social safety nets for 00:01:39.010 --> 00:01:41.450 separated families just, well, they didn't really 00:01:41.450 --> 00:01:43.790 exist. Right. So Marie ends up traveling with 00:01:43.790 --> 00:01:46.930 her mother to England and then eventually to 00:01:46.930 --> 00:01:49.370 Germany. That is quite the pivot. Seriously. 00:01:49.609 --> 00:01:51.450 And I'm just picturing the juxtaposition here. 00:01:51.530 --> 00:01:54.049 Her mother manages a canteen for the British 00:01:54.049 --> 00:01:56.310 Army. Following the First World War. Yeah. And 00:01:56.310 --> 00:01:59.469 meanwhile, Marie is attending a German finishing 00:01:59.469 --> 00:02:02.269 school. The contrast there is just wild. It's 00:02:02.269 --> 00:02:04.569 like two different universes. But that is exactly 00:02:04.569 --> 00:02:06.829 what makes it so important for her future career. 00:02:07.310 --> 00:02:09.610 If you think about what makes a great cartoonist, 00:02:09.669 --> 00:02:12.169 it's observational skills. Just people watching. 00:02:12.349 --> 00:02:15.969 Exactly. Reading the room, going from a rural 00:02:15.969 --> 00:02:18.610 Australian farm to a rough -and -tumble British 00:02:18.610 --> 00:02:21.849 military canteen, and then straight into a highly 00:02:21.849 --> 00:02:24.490 formalized German finishing school. You'd have 00:02:24.490 --> 00:02:27.050 to learn the unspoken social rules of each place 00:02:27.050 --> 00:02:29.110 really fast. You'd be an outsider everywhere 00:02:29.110 --> 00:02:31.680 you went. which is the absolute best training 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:34.219 ground for a future satirist. So she's absorbing 00:02:34.219 --> 00:02:37.759 all of this. And eventually, they return to Australia 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:41.860 in the late 1920s. Oh, and fun fact, her parents 00:02:41.860 --> 00:02:45.180 didn't officially divorce until 1933. Just goes 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:47.740 to show how painfully slow and complex those 00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:49.919 legal proceedings were back then. Definitely. 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:53.039 But back in Australia, Marie gets a job as a 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:55.219 governess. Right. And she's working for the daughters 00:02:55.219 --> 00:02:57.039 of the famous Australian artist Norman Lindsay. 00:02:57.419 --> 00:02:58.759 Talk about being in the right place at the right 00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:01.520 time. Exactly. Because Lindsay actually notices 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:03.680 her drawing talent. And he doesn't just say, 00:03:03.699 --> 00:03:06.759 oh, nice sketch. He actively recommends she attend 00:03:06.759 --> 00:03:09.439 the National Art School. Which is huge validation 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:12.719 from a major figure. So she goes. She attends 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:15.680 East Sydney Technical College. She gets heavily 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:18.840 influenced by the sculptor Reinerhoff. But then 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:22.069 she has to drop out. Which is just so common, 00:03:22.169 --> 00:03:24.129 unfortunately. Yeah, it was purely for financial 00:03:24.129 --> 00:03:27.030 reasons. The cost of just living while trying 00:03:27.030 --> 00:03:30.330 to study art can be a total wall for creatives. 00:03:30.409 --> 00:03:32.949 But the hustle here is real. Dropping out didn't 00:03:32.949 --> 00:03:37.210 stop her at all. Because by 1929, Marie and another 00:03:37.210 --> 00:03:40.270 artist, Joan Morrison, make history. They do. 00:03:40.389 --> 00:03:42.610 They become the first female cartoonist to be 00:03:42.610 --> 00:03:45.590 permanently employed at Smith Weekly. Now, if 00:03:45.590 --> 00:03:47.509 we connect this to the bigger picture, you have 00:03:47.509 --> 00:03:50.530 to look at the date. 1929. Right when the Great 00:03:50.530 --> 00:03:52.969 Depression is hitting. Exactly. Jobs are vanishing. 00:03:53.990 --> 00:03:56.550 Newspapers are slashing budgets. And the industry 00:03:56.550 --> 00:03:59.189 is entirely an old boys club. So the door wasn't 00:03:59.189 --> 00:04:01.629 just open for women. Not at all. A young woman 00:04:01.629 --> 00:04:03.289 who just had to drop out of school because she 00:04:03.289 --> 00:04:06.150 couldn't afford it, securing a salaried cartoonist 00:04:06.150 --> 00:04:09.490 role in 1929. She and John didn't walk through 00:04:09.490 --> 00:04:11.550 an open door. They kicked it down. It's just 00:04:11.550 --> 00:04:14.770 undeniable talent. It had to be. And her personal 00:04:14.770 --> 00:04:19.120 life is moving just as fast. In 1931, she marries 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:22.160 William Longford Power. He was an articled clerk, 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:24.740 so like an apprentice lawyer. They have a son, 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:29.060 Roderick. But by 1938, they are divorced. Which 00:04:29.060 --> 00:04:31.459 leaves her as a single mother working in the 00:04:31.459 --> 00:04:34.040 1930s. Yeah. We really shouldn't gloss over that. 00:04:34.139 --> 00:04:36.819 The societal stigma against divorced women then 00:04:36.819 --> 00:04:38.860 was heavy. And there's no institutional support. 00:04:39.259 --> 00:04:41.899 None. Her art wasn't just a passion project anymore. 00:04:41.980 --> 00:04:44.579 It was literal survival for her and her son. 00:04:44.779 --> 00:04:46.740 Well, here's where it gets really interesting. 00:04:47.459 --> 00:04:49.800 Because you'd think she might slow down. But 00:04:49.800 --> 00:04:53.040 she doesn't. Not even close. Just a month after 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:56.759 her divorce in 1938, she remarries. This time 00:04:56.759 --> 00:05:00.079 to Nelson Illingworth. The grandson of the sculptor. 00:05:00.220 --> 00:05:02.300 Yep. And they go on to have four more children. 00:05:02.699 --> 00:05:05.500 One son and three daughters. But eventually this 00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:07.740 marriage ends in divorce, too. So now the stakes 00:05:07.740 --> 00:05:10.779 are even higher. Much higher. By the 1940s, she's 00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:13.060 moved to Brisbane. And she's a single mother, 00:05:13.180 --> 00:05:15.680 raising five children, completely reliant on 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:17.800 freelance illustration to pay the bills. It's 00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:20.879 staggering to think about. She is just relentlessly 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:23.620 freelancing. She's drawing for Man Magazine. 00:05:23.819 --> 00:05:26.220 Then she's doing stuff for the Australian Woman's 00:05:26.220 --> 00:05:28.660 Mirror. She's even in Ridge's Business Journal 00:05:28.660 --> 00:05:31.220 doing a strip called The Tipple Twins. It is... 00:05:31.420 --> 00:05:34.079 Brilliant portfolio diversification. Spreading 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:36.540 her bets. Exactly. She's in men's entertainment, 00:05:36.899 --> 00:05:39.920 women's domestic magazines, and corporate journals. 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:43.300 If one market crashes, she still has income. 00:05:43.639 --> 00:05:46.240 But just imagine the physical toll of that output. 00:05:46.339 --> 00:05:47.980 Right, because there's no email. There are no 00:05:47.980 --> 00:05:50.519 digital tablets. She is physically sketching, 00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:53.540 inking, and mailing massive illustration boards 00:05:53.540 --> 00:05:55.620 across the country. While managing a house with 00:05:55.620 --> 00:05:58.139 five kids, you don't have time for a writer's 00:05:58.139 --> 00:06:00.540 block in that scenario. You produce on command. 00:06:01.100 --> 00:06:03.100 And all that relentless production really set 00:06:03.100 --> 00:06:05.459 her up for her biggest break. Though it happened 00:06:05.459 --> 00:06:08.019 under really tragic circumstances. It did. In 00:06:08.019 --> 00:06:11.259 1946, she joins the Courier Mail. And around 00:06:11.259 --> 00:06:13.879 this time, a cartoonist named Gene Cullen tragically 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:16.579 dies by suicide. Just devastating for the community. 00:06:16.939 --> 00:06:20.019 Absolutely. Cullen had been drawing a comic strip 00:06:20.019 --> 00:06:23.759 called Pam. And after she passes, Marie is asked 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:26.720 to take it over in the Sunday Mail. Plus, another 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:28.680 strip called The Clothes Horse in the Sydney 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:30.870 Morning Herald. The emotional weight of that 00:06:30.870 --> 00:06:33.410 is just immense. I can't even imagine. Taking 00:06:33.410 --> 00:06:36.149 over a syndicated strip is already high pressure. 00:06:36.410 --> 00:06:38.709 But taking it over because your colleague took 00:06:38.709 --> 00:06:40.610 their own life. Yeah, you have to honor their 00:06:40.610 --> 00:06:42.689 legacy while trying to make it your own. And 00:06:42.689 --> 00:06:45.290 comfort a grieving readership. It's an incredibly 00:06:45.290 --> 00:06:48.329 delicate balance. But she managed it. She made 00:06:48.329 --> 00:06:51.750 Pam her defining work. That strip ran for over 00:06:51.750 --> 00:06:54.730 11 years. 11 years of syndication is no joke. 00:06:54.990 --> 00:06:56.910 Let's talk about that. Syndication is just a 00:06:56.910 --> 00:06:59.649 weekly content mill, right? How do you not burn 00:06:59.649 --> 00:07:02.009 out? You treat it like a highly disciplined trade. 00:07:02.350 --> 00:07:04.589 Syndication is a furnace that always needs coal. 00:07:04.829 --> 00:07:07.490 You finish one week, you immediately owe the 00:07:07.490 --> 00:07:10.209 next. So you need a really efficient visual shorthand. 00:07:10.290 --> 00:07:13.290 And a bottomless well of ideas. To keep a strip 00:07:13.290 --> 00:07:16.329 popular for over a decade proves she was an absolute 00:07:16.329 --> 00:07:18.709 master of the medium. And she's doing this while 00:07:18.709 --> 00:07:22.610 moving her five kids to Avalon in 1957. Up in 00:07:22.610 --> 00:07:25.069 the northern beaches of Sydney. Yeah. So maybe 00:07:25.069 --> 00:07:28.709 a bit quieter. But into the 1960s, she doesn't 00:07:28.709 --> 00:07:31.069 just rest on her laurels. She starts shaking 00:07:31.069 --> 00:07:33.709 things up. She gets playful. Very. She starts 00:07:33.709 --> 00:07:36.890 contributing to everybody's magazine. sometimes 00:07:36.890 --> 00:07:39.290 anonymously, sometimes using the pen named Vanessa. 00:07:39.509 --> 00:07:41.470 And the Vanessa stuff is very different from 00:07:41.470 --> 00:07:44.029 Pam. Completely different. She's drawing these 00:07:44.029 --> 00:07:48.230 weekly, full -page, sexy man cartoons. And in 00:07:48.230 --> 00:07:51.449 1964, she does a serial called Girl Crusoe. Which 00:07:51.449 --> 00:07:53.490 is such a brilliant move. It's a direct parody 00:07:53.490 --> 00:07:56.040 of the Good Girl Cheesecake comic trope. What's 00:07:56.040 --> 00:07:58.240 fascinating here is how she actively flipped 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:00.319 the script on the whole industry. Because the 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:03.220 cheesecake genre was huge then. Huge. And mostly 00:08:03.220 --> 00:08:06.139 drawn by men. For men. It was always conventionally 00:08:06.139 --> 00:08:09.899 attractive women in these absurd, perilous situations. 00:08:10.339 --> 00:08:13.319 Running from aliens. Clothes mysteriously tearing. 00:08:13.639 --> 00:08:16.360 Exactly. It was the visual standard of male -dominated 00:08:16.360 --> 00:08:19.040 comic culture. So by drawing these sexy man cartoons, 00:08:19.379 --> 00:08:21.720 she's turning that whole concept upside down. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:24.180 She's using the industry's visual language against 00:08:24.180 --> 00:08:26.790 itself. Was it just for laughs or was she making 00:08:26.790 --> 00:08:29.069 a real critique? Oh, it was definitely a critique. 00:08:29.529 --> 00:08:32.669 She was subverting the male gaze in media by 00:08:32.669 --> 00:08:35.190 reversing the genders. It let her show off her 00:08:35.190 --> 00:08:37.710 technical skills while basically winking at the 00:08:37.710 --> 00:08:40.129 audience about how ridiculous the standard tropes 00:08:40.129 --> 00:08:42.870 were. And the industry honestly didn't know what 00:08:42.870 --> 00:08:46.970 to do with her. In 1963... Everybody's magazine 00:08:46.970 --> 00:08:49.809 published an article calling her Australia's 00:08:49.809 --> 00:08:52.549 only woman cartoonist. Which we know from the 00:08:52.549 --> 00:08:54.950 sources is factually wrong. Right. There were 00:08:54.950 --> 00:08:57.149 other women. But it shows you so much about media 00:08:57.149 --> 00:08:59.169 perception. When someone from an underrepresented 00:08:59.169 --> 00:09:01.490 group reaches that level of undeniable success, 00:09:01.789 --> 00:09:04.649 the media often frames them as a total anomaly. 00:09:05.070 --> 00:09:07.009 Like she's the only one who could possibly do 00:09:07.009 --> 00:09:10.470 it. Right. Culturally, she was viewed as a singular, 00:09:10.629 --> 00:09:13.570 unrivaled phenomenon, the absolute benchmark. 00:09:13.909 --> 00:09:16.690 So she rides this wave through the 60s in Avalon. 00:09:16.809 --> 00:09:19.590 Then she makes another shift. Late 60s, she moves 00:09:19.590 --> 00:09:22.149 back to Brisbane and pivots to book illustration. 00:09:22.429 --> 00:09:25.230 Working for Jacaranda Press. Yeah. And she illustrates 00:09:25.230 --> 00:09:27.629 Cath Walker's My People. Now better known as 00:09:27.629 --> 00:09:30.590 Ujuru Nunukul. Exactly. A profoundly important 00:09:30.590 --> 00:09:33.830 Aboriginal Australian poet and activist. This 00:09:33.830 --> 00:09:35.889 just highlights another layer of her adaptability. 00:09:36.429 --> 00:09:39.210 She can do witty newspaper strips, subversive 00:09:39.210 --> 00:09:42.190 magazine parodies, and then seamlessly transition 00:09:42.190 --> 00:09:45.169 into serious illustration for deeply significant 00:09:45.169 --> 00:09:47.870 cultural works. It requires a totally different 00:09:47.870 --> 00:09:50.139 visual register. A different emotional register 00:09:50.139 --> 00:09:53.000 entirely. It really just shows the sheer breadth 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:56.539 of her talent. After this, she finally decides 00:09:56.539 --> 00:09:59.200 to step back from the commercial grind. She earned 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:01.480 it. She retires to the Blue Mountains to paint 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:04.120 landscapes. It sounds like the perfect, peaceful 00:10:04.120 --> 00:10:07.000 culmination of a crazy career. But life rarely 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:10.019 gives you a perfectly smooth ending. No, it doesn't. 00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:14.179 In 1973, she gets hit by a car. Just awful. The 00:10:14.179 --> 00:10:17.580 physical trauma causes a stroke. and the stroke 00:10:17.580 --> 00:10:20.059 paralyzes her right hand. Her drawing hand. Her 00:10:20.059 --> 00:10:22.820 dominant hand. The tools she used to survive 00:10:22.820 --> 00:10:26.360 for over 40 years, gone. I'd just try to put 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:28.200 myself in her shoes in that hospital. It's a 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:30.720 profound psychological blow. For most people, 00:10:30.740 --> 00:10:32.399 that would be the end of the story. You'd just 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:34.360 rest. You'd say, I've done enough, I'll put the 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:38.039 pens down. But not Marie. At over 60 years old, 00:10:38.139 --> 00:10:40.399 having survived a major accident and a stroke, 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:43.179 she sits down and teaches herself how to draw 00:10:43.179 --> 00:10:45.500 all over again. With her left hand. With her 00:10:45.500 --> 00:10:48.059 left hand, it's unreal. It is the ultimate display 00:10:48.059 --> 00:10:50.940 of resilience. We always say that knowledge and 00:10:50.940 --> 00:10:53.720 passion are only valuable when applied. Her drive 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:55.799 to create wasn't just muscle memory in her right 00:10:55.799 --> 00:10:58.820 hand. It's part of who she was. A deeply ingrained 00:10:58.820 --> 00:11:02.320 need. To rewire your brain to do fine motor skills 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:04.679 on your non -dominant side, especially after 00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:07.120 a stroke, takes a level of willpower that is 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:09.820 just astonishing. It's an awe -inspiring final 00:11:09.820 --> 00:11:12.820 chapter. She eventually passed away on May 7th, 00:11:12.820 --> 00:11:15.940 1974 at the age of 62 in the Blue Mountains, 00:11:16.139 --> 00:11:18.639 leaving behind this massive legacy. Thousands 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:20.980 of illustrations. And a trail blazed for women 00:11:20.980 --> 00:11:23.500 in the arts. So what does this all mean for you 00:11:23.500 --> 00:11:25.740 listening to this deep dive today? It's about 00:11:25.740 --> 00:11:28.919 how you handle roadblocks. Exactly. Her life 00:11:28.919 --> 00:11:31.240 proves that a nonlinear path is still a path 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:33.759 forward. Financial issues forcing you to drop 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:36.080 out. Shifting family dynamics leaving you on 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:38.759 your own. Massive physical setbacks. None of 00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:41.240 it has to be the end of your story. When you 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:43.700 face something insurmountable, think of Molly. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:46.639 Ask yourself, how can I learn to draw with my 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:50.110 left hand? How can I pivot and adapt? It does 00:11:50.110 --> 00:11:52.149 raise one really tragic question, though. Oh. 00:11:52.330 --> 00:11:55.210 The idea of ephemeral art. Look at the medium 00:11:55.210 --> 00:11:58.330 she dominated. Newspapers, weekly magazines. 00:11:58.710 --> 00:12:01.250 Things meant to be thrown away. Exactly. Yeah. 00:12:01.409 --> 00:12:04.049 Right over coffee, then used to wrap fish or 00:12:04.049 --> 00:12:06.730 light a fire. Trailblazers like her did their 00:12:06.730 --> 00:12:09.169 most culture -shifting work on cheap, disposable 00:12:09.169 --> 00:12:11.490 paper. Not painted on a canvas for a museum. 00:12:11.710 --> 00:12:13.950 Right. So we have to wonder how much brilliant, 00:12:14.309 --> 00:12:17.629 groundbreaking daily art from artists like Molly 00:12:17.629 --> 00:12:21.419 has just crumbled. That is a haunting perspective. 00:12:23.779 --> 00:12:29.840 To think her sharpest observations might be gone 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:31.899 just because nobody saved a Tuesday paper from 00:12:31.899 --> 00:12:34.940 the 1940s. It really forces you to look at media 00:12:34.940 --> 00:12:37.059 differently. It really does. Which leaves you 00:12:37.059 --> 00:12:39.470 with something to ponder on your own. Take a 00:12:39.470 --> 00:12:42.029 look at the content you consume daily, the quick 00:12:42.029 --> 00:12:44.450 videos, newsletters, digital art on your feed. 00:12:44.610 --> 00:12:47.750 What everyday disposable media are we consuming 00:12:47.750 --> 00:12:51.409 today that will one day be viewed as a lost cultural 00:12:51.409 --> 00:12:54.289 treasure? What are we scrolling past and throwing 00:12:54.289 --> 00:12:56.629 away right now that future historians will be 00:12:56.629 --> 00:12:58.710 desperate to find? It's worth thinking about. 00:12:58.929 --> 00:13:01.389 Thank you for joining us on this deep dive. Keep 00:13:01.389 --> 00:13:03.429 adapting, keep observing, and we will catch you 00:13:03.429 --> 00:13:03.929 next time.