Tupperware. The very word can make people laugh. But starting in the 1950s, thanks to Tupperware, a lot of women were laughing all the way to the bank. In post-World War Two America, Rosie the Riveter was supposed to come home from the factory, put on an apron and lipstick, and cajole her husband for “pin money.” But for women who didn’t have a husband or needed to buy more than pins, selling plastic bowls at parties was a ladylike way to make a living.
The Tupperware story chronicles the first tentative steps toward women’s economic empowerment, even as it sounds a cautionary note about what could happen to a woman who dared in the 1950s to rise above the stereotype of happy housewife and find a place for herself in the business world. Pride, ambition and plastic bowls that burp.
For more information on “Tupperware!”, contact Laurie Kahn-Leavitt, Blueberry Hill Productions, 112 Bailey Road, Watertown MA 02472 lauriebhp@attbi.com.
Guests:
Laurie Kahn-Leavitt, director/writer of the documentary film, “Tupperware!”
Anna Tate, first woman to become a Tupperware distributor.