1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:27,479 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to 2 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so 3 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: much for tuning in. Uh, let's hear it. Let's get 4 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 1: a let's you know what, let's get a tupperware purp 5 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 1: for our super producer, mister Max Williams. 6 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 2: Gross, no picture a tupperware purp. That is not right. 7 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 2: It's like, do you do what? 8 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: You're an old brown I've been bullets, yeah, breath, breath, tupperware. 9 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: It's like, oh yeah, okay, yeah, there's that. 10 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 3: We're gonna talk about the elephant the room, and it 11 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 3: has to be Oblivion. 12 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 2: Oblivion. 13 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 3: Nobody knows this biggest news and gaming. 14 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: We're recording on Tuesday, April twenty second, twenty twenty five, 15 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,959 Speaker 1: about eleven am local time. And uh during this time, 16 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,919 Speaker 1: during this recording, uh, we have asked our pal Max 17 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: to pull some double duty and keep an eye on 18 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: the news regarding Bethesda's latest re release of Oblivion, which 19 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:32,760 Speaker 1: is a game we enjoy. 20 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 3: Also, jumping real quick, the serious thing that I actually 21 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 3: wanted to put up here on the top. Happy four 22 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 3: years boys? 23 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 2: Is that right? 24 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 3: Hey? 25 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 2: For twenty was four years of me on the show. 26 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 2: Oh nice, Yeah, congratulations to you, Max, and happy for 27 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 2: twenty and happy Jesus' rebirthday. 28 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, step aside, Pope Francis, there's bigger news. 29 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 2: I think he did step aside in a terminal kind 30 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 2: of sense. Yeah. 31 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, we've we've been going back and forth about you know, 32 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:11,680 Speaker 1: the news is crazy these days, it's chaotic. People are 33 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: in uncertain times, and so we decided off air that 34 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: we were going to look into some stuff that is 35 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: not necessarily breaking news, but a story that needs to 36 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: be told. With the help of our research associate Ren Fellow, 37 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: ridiculous historians, Noel Max and I are going to do 38 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: some justice to the world of tupperware. We're going to 39 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,919 Speaker 1: tell you a story of an unsung hero you may 40 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: not have heard of up to this point. Her name, 41 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: real name, Brownie Wise. I think it's a cool name. 42 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 2: It's a very cool name. It seems like a concept 43 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:01,639 Speaker 2: like being Brownie Wise. You know, a good brownie when 44 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:03,680 Speaker 2: you see it. Ben, you know, I'll tell you what 45 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,399 Speaker 2: I think whenever I hear the word tupperware, aside from 46 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 2: you know, keeping my leftovers fresh is the idea of 47 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 2: a Tupperware party? Yeah, I think we're gonna explore that 48 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 2: a little bit today. And number two, that scene in 49 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 2: Napoleon Dynamite where Uncle Rico is selling tupperware and he 50 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:21,920 Speaker 2: enlists I think Napoleon and Pedro to help out, and 51 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 2: he does a thing where he like runs over a 52 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 2: piece of tupperware. No, I know who it is. It's 53 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 2: Napoleon's brother runs over a piece of tupperware in a 54 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:32,080 Speaker 2: van and it breaks, and then he just runs away 55 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 2: or he drives away. That was the thing that I 56 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 2: always remember hearing, like it's indestructible, this this tupperware. 57 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: I love that we're bringing up film because I think 58 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,600 Speaker 1: of I want to say it was Edward Scissorhands. Isn't 59 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 1: there like a tupperware party scene in there? 60 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 2: It seems like there would be. It was very much 61 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 2: about Suburbia. It was I think, well they did. The 62 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 2: main character played by Dan we is a what is 63 00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 2: it Avon Avon lady. That's what it came. Ball mark 64 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 2: of Suburbia was the Avon calling and the tupperware part, 65 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 2: the direct marketing. Yeah, here's the thing. 66 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: As Ren points out, if you have a plastic container 67 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: that you use to store leftovers in your fridge or 68 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: you know, in your bread basket or whatever. You probably 69 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: casually referred to it as tupperware. In the United States. 70 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:30,839 Speaker 1: It's one of those things that became a universal name 71 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: like xerox or to Google, or band aid or Kleenex 72 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: or you know, Frisbee, even a coke you know sometimes yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 73 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: the old soda pop. And right now we're coming to 74 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: you from the past. We want to rip off the 75 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 1: band aid first and let you know that Tupperware as 76 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: an organization, filed for bankruptcy in the fall of twenty 77 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: twenty four. 78 00:04:57,360 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 2: Say it ain't so. 79 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,480 Speaker 1: I wish we could say it ain't so. Maybe it overturn. 80 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: But in the Halcyon salad days, this company, NOL Tupperware 81 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: was known for that business model we're describing and comparing 82 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:18,039 Speaker 1: to Avon. It relied upon people that you would describe 83 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:24,840 Speaker 1: as housewives, right, and they're often, unfortunately a population that 84 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:27,919 Speaker 1: is treated as though they were on the margins. And 85 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: the idea was, look, we're not going to put this 86 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:34,600 Speaker 1: stuff immediately in stores. We're going to build a community 87 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: around these products. 88 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:40,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're selling an image with their stackable measuring 89 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 2: cups and plastic pictures and party ware and you know, 90 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:47,640 Speaker 2: things for storing your leftovers. And it's sort of like 91 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 2: pitched as this sort of innovative, sort of futuristic solution. 92 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 2: This is back when, like if I'm not mistaken, plastic 93 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 2: was still seen as kind of like a technological marvel. 94 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:01,720 Speaker 1: A real up and comer right in comparison to it. 95 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 1: It's also ran material bake light for anybody who remembers 96 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:15,160 Speaker 1: bake like. So, look, we're all accustomed to story leftovers, hopefully. 97 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: I know some people have some strong opinions about leftovers, 98 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: but you know me, nol, I'm like a reduce, reuse, 99 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: recycled kind of guy. So when I order takeout food 100 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: or something, I do prioritize places that will give me 101 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: reusable containers, so you know what I mean. 102 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:35,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'll work through them and they'll eventually crack 103 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 2: and stuff and I'll throw them away, but I definitely 104 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,280 Speaker 2: get use out of good quality to go containers. If 105 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 2: you're looking for some real good ones in the Atlanta area, 106 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,279 Speaker 2: there's a local chain called Fresh to Order, and their 107 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:52,159 Speaker 2: plastic containers are second to none. I've got stacks and 108 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:55,040 Speaker 2: stacks of them as re inputs. It tumbling out of 109 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:56,480 Speaker 2: my kitchen cabinet. 110 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, look at me. Just we're an audio podcast. But 111 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:06,039 Speaker 1: as you know, Noel MX, I reuse glass pasta jars 112 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 1: as cups for coffee. 113 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 2: You're a beljar man. Thank you. I'm going to take 114 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:16,640 Speaker 2: that as a compliment. We have a look. 115 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 1: We all know the plastic container game here in the 116 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 1: modern US, and we do often refer to those containers 117 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: to your earlier point as tupperware, even if they're not 118 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:34,200 Speaker 1: technically tupperware. The reason this phrase and concept became so 119 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: ubiquitous is not necessarily due to the inventor of tupperware. 120 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 1: This is why we're on a mission in today's episode. 121 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: We come to you to defend the reputation of a writer, 122 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 1: a divorced mother, a brilliant mind, Brownie Wise. 123 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 2: Brownie Wise, he said it earlier, the protagonist of our 124 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 2: story versus, if we must, the big of our story, 125 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 2: the guy tupper himself, the guy. 126 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 1: Who invented, in a burst of humility, tupperware. 127 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 2: Tupperware. But first, Ben, let's talk a little bit about plastic. 128 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 2: Not just any plastic, okay, polyethylene. 129 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: It's science, yeah, yeah, and it's science that is driven 130 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: by necessity, right, the mother of invention. Travel back with us, 131 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: fellow ridiculous historians. It's nineteen thirty seven. The Great Depression, 132 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:33,839 Speaker 1: which is still a terrible name, is very much in play. 133 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: People are having just the roughest time. I remember, you know, 134 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: history is always closer than it appears in the rear 135 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:42,439 Speaker 1: view mirror. 136 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 2: Noel. 137 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:47,720 Speaker 1: Recently, after death in the family, I was going through 138 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:50,840 Speaker 1: some things at an estate and I found a cabinet. 139 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:52,200 Speaker 2: It's so weird. 140 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:54,960 Speaker 1: I found a cabinet that had in the back of 141 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 1: it a collection of small rolled up string because they 142 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:04,559 Speaker 1: didn't want to throw away the string. In the nineteen thirties, 143 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:06,200 Speaker 1: they thought they might need it again. 144 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:09,880 Speaker 2: It was a frugal time, and you know, with everyone 145 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,560 Speaker 2: struggling to make ends meet, including companies you know, who 146 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 2: were having our times selling their goods because people just 147 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:19,080 Speaker 2: couldn't afford to buy it. It's a sort of chain 148 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:22,080 Speaker 2: reaction that triggered a lot of companies going out of business. 149 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 2: Of course, so while today maybe we couldn't picture a 150 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 2: world without microplastics, you know, in plastics, the children and 151 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,760 Speaker 2: everything in all the things. Yeah, at the time, like 152 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 2: we were saying, it was quite a new innovation in 153 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 2: the day of Tupper, and companies were really eager to 154 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:46,360 Speaker 2: start to spin this new miracle material into gold. So 155 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 2: Tupper was hired at a plastics factory, Ben, I believe 156 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 2: you found the actual company name. 157 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: Oh yes, yeah, it's our our old friends at Dupond. 158 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 2: Oh we've heard of them. They were kind of first 159 00:09:57,720 --> 00:09:59,720 Speaker 2: to market in the old plastics game. 160 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,080 Speaker 1: They do a lot of material science, and they're also 161 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:09,840 Speaker 1: finding uses for various fossil fuel products of petros eight 162 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 1: of course, right, yeah, all a pnopoly of products. We 163 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: want to give a big shout out to Professor Marcia 164 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: Bryant's writing for The Conversation back in twenty eighteen from 165 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:25,800 Speaker 1: Slag to Swag, the story of Earl Tupper's fantastic plastic. So, 166 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:30,079 Speaker 1: like you're saying, this guy, he's having a hard time, 167 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 1: as is most of the American population, and he gets 168 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 1: hired by a DuPont affiliated plastic company, plastics company to 169 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: test prototypes. And look, he is not in a silver 170 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 1: spoon situation. Earl Tupper at this point is not the 171 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:56,560 Speaker 1: villain of our story. Instead, he's a man trying to 172 00:10:56,679 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: answer a question that he knows is common for so 173 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: many people struggling with a challenging economy. He says, Look, 174 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: it's hard enough to buy groceries. Less than half of 175 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: America can afford a refrigerator. People are growing their own 176 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:18,360 Speaker 1: food in their backyard out of desperation. Surely there's a 177 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,320 Speaker 1: way that we could preserve food so it doesn't go 178 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:24,679 Speaker 1: to waste. And he came up with this idea. He said, 179 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:29,320 Speaker 1: what if we made a container out of this plastic 180 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:31,160 Speaker 1: that these DuPont guys are pigeon? 181 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. And I was just going to say, 182 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:35,040 Speaker 2: if it seems like you missed an opportunity for a 183 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 2: good slogan here. 184 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 1: Stretch your supper with Tupper, Ah stretcher supper with Tupper 185 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:43,240 Speaker 1: stretched their supper stood out to me as well in 186 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: Wren's research. That's that's a really good turn of phrase. Look, 187 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: the issue was the material science wasn't quite there yet. 188 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:57,320 Speaker 1: The existing substances that Tupper was working with were not 189 00:11:57,559 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 1: super ductile. 190 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:04,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, like uncle, because probably less than a subpar plastic containers. 191 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 2: I mean, granted he probably shouldn't run over regular typeware 192 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:08,960 Speaker 2: with a van either, but it would crack when under 193 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 2: pressure in even before it reached market. In the molding process. 194 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 2: It was a flaw of the way this plastic that 195 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,080 Speaker 2: they were using was being manufactured. 196 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:24,440 Speaker 1: So this guy is looking for his golden goose, right, 197 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:28,000 Speaker 1: the holy grail, the next step in material science, and 198 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 1: he starts taking little pieces of different types of plastic 199 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:37,200 Speaker 1: home and experimenting on his own time, you know, off 200 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: the books. He eventually lands upon something called polyethylene. Nobody 201 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:48,640 Speaker 1: had thought to test polyethylene for its ductility because it 202 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 1: was considered a byproduct. It was considered kind of a 203 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 1: trash plastic people, kind of like. 204 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:58,679 Speaker 2: Bacon back in the day of Edward Burnet's. Yeah, I mean, 205 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:01,320 Speaker 2: like the idea that you could a by product like 206 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 2: bacon of a slaughtering process, a manufacturing process to create 207 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 2: pork chops or pork products, and what was seen as 208 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 2: something that to be discarded or as like trash meat 209 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,800 Speaker 2: in that situation was ultimately spun into a marketing miracle 210 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:19,839 Speaker 2: by Edward Burnet's early stuff that I want you to 211 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 2: know episodes about the Father of Marketing there you can 212 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,160 Speaker 2: check out. But this is even more like a functional thing, 213 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:28,960 Speaker 2: this byproduct that was referred to by the folks that 214 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 2: you know, we're manufacturing this stuff as slag. Tupper saw 215 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 2: something in it, literally, the idea that it could potentially 216 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:39,360 Speaker 2: be more durable and be molded because of some properties 217 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 2: that he found in it when kind of digging into 218 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:44,280 Speaker 2: the samples that he brought back. 219 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is to be fair, after he's taken 220 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:53,080 Speaker 1: multiple samples of things we will call slag in the 221 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:57,679 Speaker 1: plastics industry and tested them at home. So travel with 222 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:01,600 Speaker 1: us to Tupper's kitchen. He's at home in his kitchen, 223 00:14:01,679 --> 00:14:05,720 Speaker 1: and like you were saying, no, he says, wow, this polyethylene. 224 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,959 Speaker 1: It is stinky. It is slag, but you can melt it, 225 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 1: and his kitchen probably smelled terrible. If we're being honest 226 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:15,520 Speaker 1: at this point. You can melt it and you can 227 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: put it into a mold and it's not going to break. 228 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 1: This is where he starts returning to the you know, 229 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 1: to his day job and saying, guys, let's call it 230 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 1: poly t material of the future. 231 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 2: The issue now is. 232 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 1: Okay, So we got two issues. First, the issue is 233 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 1: the smell. Second, the if you haven't thought about the smell. Second, 234 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:45,200 Speaker 1: the issue is the lid. Right now, we can make 235 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 1: a bowl. How do we make a lid? 236 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, this is confusing to me. Maybe you can 237 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 2: help shed some light on this, the idea that there 238 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:54,720 Speaker 2: was a catch that, like, you know, people were used 239 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 2: to just closing a bell jar, a Mason jar with 240 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 2: a screw top, but there was like a an extra step. 241 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 2: I guess before you were storing your stuff. I guess 242 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:05,280 Speaker 2: you wanted to get the air out of it, or 243 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 2: get as much air out as possible, so you had 244 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 2: to burp the seal, and it was tough. Smithsonian Magazine 245 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 2: points out for people who were accustomed to glass jars 246 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 2: and ceramic containers to kind of figure this out. And 247 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 2: maybe I'm just spoiled by a life of luxury surrounded 248 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 2: by Tupperware, But I guess I don't understand the I know, 249 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:29,280 Speaker 2: a Tupperware burp is referred to as the sound that 250 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 2: it makes when that seal is released, But what does 251 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:35,080 Speaker 2: this mean? The idea that like you had to burp it, it. 252 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 1: Really means you had to teach the population how to 253 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:41,440 Speaker 1: use the product. And I love that we're pointing out 254 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: Smithsonian because Kat Eschner did some fantastic work in her 255 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: article The Story of Brownie Wise, the ingenious marketer behind 256 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: the Tupperware Party Light spoiler. It makes sense. We've talked 257 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: about it before. With other big rollouts of new products, 258 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:03,960 Speaker 1: you kind of have to teach the people or normalize 259 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 1: the consumer base towards certain behaviors. So, like you were saying, Noel, 260 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,040 Speaker 1: if you are used to canning, right, you got your 261 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 1: mason jar and you got your screwtop lid, you already 262 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:19,320 Speaker 1: know about soda at this point, and how to open 263 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:23,160 Speaker 1: cans right the can opener as an invention already the 264 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:26,280 Speaker 1: people who are making tupperware are trying to figure out 265 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 1: how to teach folks this extra step. You've got to 266 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:35,960 Speaker 1: leverage up one corner of the container and then push 267 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:39,680 Speaker 1: down a little bit to get that excess air out. 268 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,280 Speaker 2: That's what it is for sure, yep. And then you 269 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 2: know and it's not like required, but he was pitching 270 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 2: this as a tried and true method for getting the 271 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,600 Speaker 2: most out of your preservation right of your food. So 272 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:54,280 Speaker 2: a good example too is if you used to maybe 273 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 2: using plastic wrap. I learned this back when I first 274 00:16:56,720 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 2: worked in a restaurant in my in my younger days. 275 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 2: But you put plastic wrap on the top of the thing, 276 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 2: and you're supposed to push it down so that the 277 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:05,679 Speaker 2: air gets forced out of the sides, and it almost 278 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 2: creates like a vacuum seal where it kind of, you know, 279 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,199 Speaker 2: bows inward a little bit. It's just a simpler method 280 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,160 Speaker 2: of doing say what like a vacuum sealer food saver 281 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:17,480 Speaker 2: situation does, where it literally sucks all the air out. 282 00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:20,400 Speaker 2: But by lifting that lid and pushing down a little 283 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,400 Speaker 2: bit and forcing that air out, you're gonna do exactly 284 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:26,240 Speaker 2: what the best possible sales pitch for this thing was, 285 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:28,240 Speaker 2: preserve your food for longer. 286 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:39,280 Speaker 1: And this is where we introduce our protagonist Max a 287 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: little bit of protagonist music, if we may, for the 288 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:55,720 Speaker 1: one the only Brownie Wise, while not the inventor of 289 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:59,800 Speaker 1: what we call Tupperware, Brownie Wise is I would argue 290 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:04,640 Speaker 1: the reason Tupperware is still considered a thing today. 291 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 2: For sure. She had a vision. 292 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:09,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, she has a vision. She knows how to speak 293 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 1: with the people, right and at this time, tupper they're 294 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:18,440 Speaker 1: calling the new invention the wonder Bull. And you've probably 295 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: seen a picture of this or you've probably you might 296 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:25,959 Speaker 1: have one in your cabinet. Now let's learn a little 297 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: bit about Brownie Wise. 298 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:32,359 Speaker 2: She is from Georgia, that's right, rural Georgia born in 299 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:35,199 Speaker 2: nineteen thirteen. A bit of a mystery in terms of 300 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,199 Speaker 2: her backstory. We do know that she dropped out of 301 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:40,600 Speaker 2: school at the age of fourteen to work with her 302 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:45,200 Speaker 2: mother as an organizer for union, the hat makers Union, 303 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:48,639 Speaker 2: And from a very very early age she had a 304 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:52,000 Speaker 2: lot of drive. She was a dreamer. She had that 305 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:54,840 Speaker 2: vision very early on. She wanted to be a writer 306 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:58,520 Speaker 2: and an illustrator. And in nineteen thirty six she won 307 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,360 Speaker 2: a chance to paint a mural at the Texas Centennial, 308 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:05,840 Speaker 2: which is call back to another Rent episode, a World's 309 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:06,760 Speaker 2: Fair exhibition. 310 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:11,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, great stuff. And while she's in Texas for this fair, 311 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:14,919 Speaker 1: she meets a guy named Robert and she kind of 312 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:19,119 Speaker 1: digs them, and later they get married. Robert is in 313 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:23,000 Speaker 1: charge of an exhibit for the Ford Motor Company at 314 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: the World's Fair or at the Texas Centennial. When they 315 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:31,480 Speaker 1: get together, picture every amazing rom com meet you you've 316 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:35,879 Speaker 1: ever seen. They eventually have one child, Jerry, and then 317 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 1: they move to Detroit. While they're in Detroit, Brownie Wise, 318 00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:45,439 Speaker 1: who was always a very talented writer and illustrator, we 319 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 1: know that she would contribute to a column called Experience 320 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:56,200 Speaker 1: published in Detroit News. It's a reader's forum wherein people 321 00:19:56,320 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: write under different pseudonyms like jin wis so uh no, 322 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,920 Speaker 1: Canci get it uh and hippity hop. 323 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 2: Way ahead of his time. They invented hip hop back 324 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,600 Speaker 2: in Detroit in the thirties. So whys had her own 325 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 2: pen name, and it was Hibiscus. That just sounds very 326 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 2: southern and genteel Hibiscus and Hibiscus, as I guess in 327 00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:25,800 Speaker 2: the role in the character, that the sort of lore 328 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,800 Speaker 2: she was stilled the world building, uh huh. She had 329 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,800 Speaker 2: a devoted husband by the name of Yankee. Despite his 330 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 2: unwavering love, She missed her family mansion back home in Mississippi. 331 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:42,679 Speaker 2: Oh how long? How long for the indeed, with a 332 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 2: mint julib on the porch, the conveniences, as she put it, 333 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:51,000 Speaker 2: of a Southern bell. Hibiscus and Wise were very much 334 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 2: too completely different. Becau's not the real story. This is 335 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 2: so funny. It's sad. 336 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:02,879 Speaker 1: It's so sad because Hibiscus, although Brownie Wise is writing 337 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:08,760 Speaker 1: this character, Hibiscus is not real and Brownie is leading 338 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: a very different life. 339 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 2: Her husband Robert. 340 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:17,160 Speaker 1: From this centennial that we talked about earlier. He is 341 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:23,760 Speaker 1: nothing like the strapping Yankee. He is addicted to booze. 342 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:28,640 Speaker 1: He is also abusive. Eventually the couple divorces. It's nineteen 343 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:32,520 Speaker 1: forty two, so divorce is still very unfair to women 344 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: in this country for sure. And now she's a single mother. 345 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,200 Speaker 1: She's still got Jerry. Like you said, she has dropped out. 346 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:43,080 Speaker 1: She doesn't have too much formal education to speak of. 347 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:44,760 Speaker 2: It's the height. 348 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:49,399 Speaker 1: Of World War two, so things are already not great again, 349 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:53,640 Speaker 1: and she's working multiple it's like a gig economy, right, 350 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:54,960 Speaker 1: she has coperate jobs. 351 00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 2: And then she finds her way to sort of a 352 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,840 Speaker 2: proto version of the business model that we're are really 353 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 2: you know, getting to the idea of being a door 354 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 2: to door salesman. You know, you hear a lot more 355 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:08,320 Speaker 2: of our salesperson rather I go. You hear a lot 356 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 2: more about that business model from this air aisle. You 357 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 2: think about death of a salesman, for example the Tennessee 358 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:17,480 Speaker 2: Williams play, and just the idea of like being a 359 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:20,640 Speaker 2: vacuum cleaner salesman, where you like bring the little bag 360 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,320 Speaker 2: of dirt and pour it on the ground and then 361 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:24,399 Speaker 2: like show how you can vacuum it up or whatever. 362 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:29,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, sell it encyclopedias or knives, or there's a great 363 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:33,840 Speaker 1: documentary now parody selling clobes. One of the uh, I 364 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 1: don't know if I told you guys, one of the 365 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:41,240 Speaker 1: weirdest comedy sketches I ever wrote was you know how 366 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:45,320 Speaker 1: you love to take a notion or a dumb initial 367 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: idea and just see how four you can go with it. 368 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:50,679 Speaker 1: I'm gonna pitch it to you guys now, door to 369 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 1: door door salesman. Yeah, it's like buying luggage at the airport. 370 00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:57,960 Speaker 2: I love it. Thank you for the support of that one. 371 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:01,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, if I can jump in here real quick, We've 372 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:02,960 Speaker 3: already referenced one timber in film, so I think we 373 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 3: should reference another one, which is a big fish. Which 374 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 3: in Big Fish Ewan McGregor's character, who's like the younger 375 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:15,919 Speaker 3: father thing. Watch the movie. He sells door to door 376 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:18,960 Speaker 3: like it's a hand that holds things because the fish 377 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:20,359 Speaker 3: is always is kind of a movie that's like a 378 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 3: little bit off and one of my favorite things about 379 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,399 Speaker 3: because obviously I came out after Edwards Scissorhands. They were 380 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,040 Speaker 3: very intentional because the thing was the hand would hold 381 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 3: a bunch of different things. They made sure for it 382 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 3: to never have scissors in the hand. 383 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:32,200 Speaker 2: Ah. 384 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: I guess perfect a solution to a problem that doesn't 385 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:39,840 Speaker 1: exist for most people. That's what made for TV products. Sorry, 386 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:43,479 Speaker 1: I love it to just give everybody a sense of 387 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:49,360 Speaker 1: how far down the rabbit hole we walked on that sketch, which, 388 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,880 Speaker 1: as stute listeners can find on YouTube. I imagine the 389 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: door to door door salesman sells doors themed doors like 390 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:03,399 Speaker 1: Jim Morrison. Oh that's a galaxy brain to me, dude. 391 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:10,840 Speaker 1: So Brownie Wise, like you were saying, is already getting 392 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:12,119 Speaker 1: her feet on the street. 393 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 2: Right. 394 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: She's selling these Stanley Home products knock knock, ring the doorbell, 395 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:21,399 Speaker 1: walking into people's homes and saying, check out this cleaning product. Here, 396 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:26,640 Speaker 1: these cool brushes, maybe a vacuum cleaner. She looks around, right, 397 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,720 Speaker 1: she's the top seller at this point for Stanley Home products, 398 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:35,199 Speaker 1: and she says, hang on, what's this tupperware thing? I 399 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:35,880 Speaker 1: go on a tick. 400 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:39,639 Speaker 2: What's this? Why isn't it selling? Well? 401 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 1: The wonder bowl is a great idea. 402 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 2: Yes, and she kind of had to ask herself why, 403 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:47,679 Speaker 2: Like what this doesn't make sense? This is such a 404 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:51,600 Speaker 2: great idea, such a great concept must have something to 405 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,240 Speaker 2: do with the communication with the public that these things 406 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:59,120 Speaker 2: should potentially be absolutely blowing up with, which led her 407 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,920 Speaker 2: to this concept of burping the container before putting into 408 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 2: the fridge. So Wise kind of figured that she could 409 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:11,040 Speaker 2: come up with a better way of selling this stuff 410 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:15,399 Speaker 2: to the public, specifically to housewives. Housewives we talked about 411 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:18,880 Speaker 2: that she understood their lives. She was able to kind 412 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:22,040 Speaker 2: of speak that language because that was her absolute background, 413 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 2: especially in being a single mother, having to stretch the 414 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:28,080 Speaker 2: food that she puts on the table coming by this stuff. Honestly, 415 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 2: she figured that she could sell this product using the 416 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:35,200 Speaker 2: home party method that she had learned at Stanley. M M. 417 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:39,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, And a home party method means that our protagonist, 418 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:43,359 Speaker 1: our hero of this story, Brownie Wise, is not just 419 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:47,960 Speaker 1: going door to door solo. She is introducing people to 420 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,320 Speaker 1: a community. So now we can have folks get together 421 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,560 Speaker 1: and talk about how much they love Stanley home products. 422 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:59,600 Speaker 1: She thinks, maybe I could build a community around Tupperware. Again, 423 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 1: it's very difficult to be a single mother, right, She's 424 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:07,760 Speaker 1: a single bomb. Quite motivated. She moves with her son 425 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:13,359 Speaker 1: from Detroit over to Florida and she found her own 426 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:19,320 Speaker 1: company called Tupperware Patio parties, I like saying Patio. So 427 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: Whise started hosting tupperware parties at her own home, and 428 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:32,159 Speaker 1: while she was at these parties, she would tell people like, 429 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:35,600 Speaker 1: she would solve the problem Earl tupper couldn't figure out. 430 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:39,560 Speaker 1: She would normalize the idea of burping the tupperware, like 431 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,359 Speaker 1: showing you how to do it, and she also would 432 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,000 Speaker 1: make it just like a cool hang It's a cool 433 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,119 Speaker 1: house party. That's what she nailed. 434 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:51,520 Speaker 2: Very community focused. I mean, I would argue that there's 435 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:54,680 Speaker 2: a lot of, you know, outside of the marketing genius 436 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:58,080 Speaker 2: of it all, this was a time where folks were 437 00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:01,160 Speaker 2: feeling kind of isolated, you know, and then to give 438 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:04,480 Speaker 2: them a reason to kind of connect with other like 439 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,679 Speaker 2: minded or you know, people from the same background in 440 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:10,159 Speaker 2: their community. I think that's really neat that she was 441 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:13,639 Speaker 2: kind of fostering that with these tupperwear parties, and she 442 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:15,600 Speaker 2: also kind of had a bit of flair while she 443 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,600 Speaker 2: would demonstrate, you know, the technique of burping the tupperwaar, 444 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 2: normalizing and making it part of it obviously household naming 445 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 2: the concept of a tupperware burp. While I didn't really 446 00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:29,240 Speaker 2: fully understand before this exactly what it was referring to 447 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,399 Speaker 2: I certainly knew the term, and you can thank Wise 448 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,560 Speaker 2: for that. She also speaking of flair a little bit 449 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:40,120 Speaker 2: of theatricality. She would toss around to the folks attending 450 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,400 Speaker 2: the party a bowl, one of those tupperware bowls full 451 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,920 Speaker 2: of grapefruit je showing that it wouldn't leak. Yeah. 452 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,160 Speaker 1: Again, the wonder bowl is sort of the flagship product 453 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,840 Speaker 1: at this point, and she would take grape juice, demo, grape. 454 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,919 Speaker 2: Juice, Yes, grape fruits. Yeah, yeah, even better because like 455 00:27:56,960 --> 00:27:59,720 Speaker 2: that's the scary stuff that I know will stay right. 456 00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: The class ad banter, the pattern we used to call 457 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: it back in the UK. And she is able to 458 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:11,199 Speaker 1: take this wonder bowl, show people how to successfully close 459 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:17,000 Speaker 1: the lid and burp the tupperware, and yeah, she's thrown around, 460 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:20,879 Speaker 1: Look this will leak, which is amazing. So it doesn't 461 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,199 Speaker 1: take long, It's less than a year. It's just a 462 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:29,840 Speaker 1: few months. And Brownie Wise has expanded tupperware patio parties. 463 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:36,119 Speaker 1: Now she has not quite franchising, but she has tupperware dealers, 464 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:40,920 Speaker 1: she has a crew. She's building out the organization such 465 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:45,880 Speaker 1: that there are home party managers, most of whom are women, 466 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 1: and they are running the game as well. So we 467 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: have to understand the context. Right, this is post World 468 00:28:55,120 --> 00:29:02,240 Speaker 1: War two at this point, and the US needed needed resources, right, 469 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 1: needed employees. So women entered the workforce at an unprecedented 470 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:12,280 Speaker 1: level for the country. But now that the war is 471 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:18,360 Speaker 1: over and these men are returning, they're taking these women's jobs, 472 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: and there's this huge, incredibly unfair cultural push to put 473 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:29,680 Speaker 1: women away from public workforce, right and put them back 474 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: into the kitchen, back into the housewives situation. There's nothing 475 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:39,080 Speaker 1: wrong with whatever path people choose to take on their own, 476 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:41,840 Speaker 1: as long as you're not hurting people. But a lot 477 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:46,360 Speaker 1: of women felt that they were unfairly getting pushed out 478 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 1: of the workforce. 479 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 2: This was not a glass ceiling. 480 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:55,280 Speaker 1: This was a matter of US companies aggressively firing women, 481 00:29:55,960 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 1: pushing them out for nothing other than misogyny. 482 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:02,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. I mean, like it's one of those 483 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,000 Speaker 2: things where it's like, oh, you're we're good enough to 484 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 2: take your jobs while you're away at war, but when 485 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:09,840 Speaker 2: you're back, it's like you just toss this out, like 486 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:11,640 Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I don't mean to speak for women, but 487 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:15,760 Speaker 2: certainly the sentiment and the idea of you know, really 488 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,400 Speaker 2: carrying the weight while the men were off at war 489 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:22,360 Speaker 2: and then being treated like second class citizens. Yeah, and 490 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:24,200 Speaker 2: no appreciation. Yeah. 491 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,400 Speaker 1: And as a result, there are a lot of people 492 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:34,160 Speaker 1: in this demographic who want to continue working in some capacity, right, 493 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:38,200 Speaker 1: And so these folks hear about Brownie wise, they hear 494 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:42,280 Speaker 1: about tupperware patio parties, and they want to get involved 495 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: in the business because now it is a thing they 496 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,840 Speaker 1: can do that is gainful employment and is less unfair. 497 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,400 Speaker 1: I don't want to say completely unfair, but it's less 498 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,400 Speaker 1: unfair than the rest of the American job market. 499 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,200 Speaker 2: I guess that's looked at as like safe for something, 500 00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 2: you know, the powers to be here. It's sort of like, 501 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,120 Speaker 2: oh yeah, let them have that little topperware parties, you know, 502 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:10,720 Speaker 2: which is incredibly dismissive and gross, you know, in retrospect, 503 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 2: but it was it was a place that they could go. 504 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,560 Speaker 2: And not to mention, the TopWare company was also very 505 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:20,920 Speaker 2: diverse and it's hiring practices. You would see black women 506 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 2: coming from urban and rural areas participating in these Tupperware 507 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,640 Speaker 2: parties and again stretching out these networks to other areas 508 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:29,200 Speaker 2: where they live. 509 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:42,680 Speaker 1: And this is incredibly successful. The secret to Wise's success, 510 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:48,080 Speaker 1: by the way, is not entirely based on the Stanley 511 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:53,160 Speaker 1: Home Products model. It's the community that she builds. She 512 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:56,160 Speaker 1: has a great She has a great quotation that we 513 00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:00,480 Speaker 1: found in Smithsonian and a couple of other places. Wise, 514 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:05,640 Speaker 1: one said if you build the people, they'll build the business, 515 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 1: which I thought was super insightful. And of course this 516 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:11,400 Speaker 1: is where our turn occurs. 517 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:14,479 Speaker 2: Noal, because it is insightful. It's a little on the 518 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:16,840 Speaker 2: corp pretty side. He could look at it as the 519 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:21,680 Speaker 2: corp pretty kind of slightly decermonizing way of looking at things. 520 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 2: But I don't know that that's how she intended it. 521 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:25,600 Speaker 2: But I guess maybe be hindsight, it. 522 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:28,440 Speaker 1: Might be our internalized BIS. 523 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:31,680 Speaker 2: Right, that's right, That's what I'm getting dot. So this 524 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:34,480 Speaker 2: was the turn though, however, right, this is a point 525 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:40,320 Speaker 2: where the world changed and Tupperware somewhat got left behind. 526 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:45,040 Speaker 1: So here's our turn. We introduced the guy, the inventor, 527 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: Earl Tupper, right, the dude smuggling plastic pieces and slag 528 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 1: into his home. It's the early nineteen fifties. Earl Tupper, 529 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,760 Speaker 1: inventor of the Wonder Bowl, is following the Tupperware boom 530 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,640 Speaker 1: in Florida. What's going on down there? What's up with 531 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:06,240 Speaker 1: this patio company? H And he does his homework. He 532 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: is incredibly impressed. He is astonished at how great Brownie 533 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:17,000 Speaker 1: Wise is at at popularizing Tupperware, which, to be clear, 534 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: it was, uh it was a chestnut he himself could 535 00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:22,480 Speaker 1: not crack, or a walnut he could not crack. 536 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:27,480 Speaker 2: You're both difficult to crack anyway. Well, it's tough to 537 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 2: crack a tough nut, all right. Well he can't get 538 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:30,880 Speaker 2: that tree nut. 539 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:35,440 Speaker 1: And so he reaches out to Brownie Wise and he says, look, 540 00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:38,720 Speaker 1: you're awesome. You are so good at this. You have 541 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:42,840 Speaker 1: pretty much saved this product. Please be vice president of 542 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 1: the entire company, my company. So Earl Tupper knows a 543 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:50,240 Speaker 1: good idea when he sees it, and after or based 544 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:54,640 Speaker 1: on his conversations with Brownie Wise, he switches the sales 545 00:33:54,880 --> 00:34:01,120 Speaker 1: strategy of Tupperware Company entirely to this home party, build 546 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:04,920 Speaker 1: the community field, a dreams type plan. This direct marketing, 547 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:11,040 Speaker 1: and this is a huge boom to Tupperware. American culture 548 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:15,120 Speaker 1: now is in that golden post World War two era, 549 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: right the time of retro futurism atop atomic energy, making 550 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: the world clean despite all the unclean things Adam Baumbs did. 551 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:31,880 Speaker 1: And now we see a booming middle class. People are 552 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,920 Speaker 1: buying cars, more people of refrigerators, two point five kids, 553 00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:41,880 Speaker 1: nuclear family at home. Entertaining becomes a fixture of social life. 554 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,000 Speaker 1: This is also just side note for our friends at Savor. 555 00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:49,759 Speaker 1: This is where you see a lot of just terrible cookbooks. 556 00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:54,600 Speaker 2: Oh god, yeah, they'remember lots of lots of mayonnaise based stuff, 557 00:34:54,640 --> 00:34:59,560 Speaker 2: lots of gelat elat based stuff, meat gelatines in fact, 558 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:02,000 Speaker 2: is that I think the biggest gross out. They're all 559 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:06,160 Speaker 2: meant to be these like center pieces kind of and 560 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,440 Speaker 2: they're just so hideous. It's like aspect and. 561 00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:13,520 Speaker 1: I appreciated as sculpture but maybe not food. 562 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:17,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe not. It's definitely was. It was definitely a 563 00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:20,200 Speaker 2: vibe for sure. And the cookbooks were everywhere and they 564 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:21,680 Speaker 2: are a lot of fun if you get a hold 565 00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:24,320 Speaker 2: of them. We actually did an episode quite a while 566 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:28,120 Speaker 2: back on Gelatine on like Jello cookbooks, and we talk 567 00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 2: about all this stuff. So check going out if you 568 00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:32,719 Speaker 2: can find it. And to your point, bent about you know, 569 00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 2: neo futurism and all of that good stuff. Tupperware is 570 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:37,960 Speaker 2: perfect for that because it's sort of pitched as this 571 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,120 Speaker 2: like miracle material, and now there's ways of like making 572 00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:44,880 Speaker 2: it fun colors, you know, and different kinds of stackability 573 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:48,400 Speaker 2: and accessories and things that link together. It's such a 574 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 2: valueable material by its very nature that you can pretty 575 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:53,400 Speaker 2: much mold it into whatever shape you want. And that 576 00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:57,480 Speaker 2: starts to kind of catch up with the change in 577 00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:00,880 Speaker 2: demographic where now people are doing a little bit better. 578 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:04,360 Speaker 2: The Great Depression is a little further in the rearview mirror. 579 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:06,759 Speaker 2: You have a new kind of middle class coming up, 580 00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:09,880 Speaker 2: and people are like having parties, not tupperware parties, like 581 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,680 Speaker 2: hosting events, you know, gatherings or whatever. So they put 582 00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:16,360 Speaker 2: out like I think it was like a section serving 583 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:19,800 Speaker 2: platter that you can kind of put different dips or whatever, 584 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:24,839 Speaker 2: crew tita perhaps gelatine based items in there. But all 585 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 2: of this very much been to your point, matches up 586 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:29,000 Speaker 2: with the kind of images you'd see in some of 587 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:32,400 Speaker 2: these cookbooks in terms of like the spread and highlighting 588 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,360 Speaker 2: the use of the microwave for example. All of this 589 00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:40,560 Speaker 2: like the atomic age kind of of you know, futuristic living. 590 00:36:40,719 --> 00:36:43,120 Speaker 2: They really thought they were, you know, on the cutting edge. 591 00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:46,800 Speaker 1: Hey, what do you think about us doing commercials from 592 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:48,200 Speaker 1: the past in future? 593 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:50,920 Speaker 2: You must there's so many good ones, and all of 594 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:54,120 Speaker 2: that would be public domain audio stuff, so we could 595 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:56,319 Speaker 2: find a ton of great clips and make it like 596 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,279 Speaker 2: a audio clip show. I love it, Ben, Let's do it, 597 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:00,640 Speaker 2: all right, let's do it, Nol. 598 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:05,680 Speaker 1: We also know that by nineteen fifty four, Supperware is 599 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:10,800 Speaker 1: just running the game. They're amazing at this The sales 600 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:15,239 Speaker 1: have reached twenty four million US dollars. And if we 601 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:21,440 Speaker 1: could do an inflation calculator here and a dude about 602 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:26,680 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty four, twenty four million dollars in twenty twenty 603 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:35,640 Speaker 1: five money, that is slight drum roll, two hundred and 604 00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:39,839 Speaker 1: eighty four million, six hundred and eighty two thousand, eight 605 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:41,800 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five dollars. 606 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:45,480 Speaker 2: That's a lot. That is indeed a lot. When I 607 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:47,680 Speaker 2: first looked at it, I think I added some extra 608 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:50,840 Speaker 2: the decimal places and thought it was hundreds of billions 609 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:54,000 Speaker 2: of dollars. But still impressive, Still impressive, Still impressive. 610 00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:58,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, like you were saying earlier, there are over twenty 611 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 1: thousand dealers direct marketers and the Tupperware network. And I 612 00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:07,880 Speaker 1: love this point about the diversity right, the fact that 613 00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:13,480 Speaker 1: we have black women who are given an opportunity, you 614 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:16,960 Speaker 1: know what I mean that would maybe not ordinarily occur 615 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:22,000 Speaker 1: in orthodox industry. And they're saying, look, Tupperware is not 616 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:28,120 Speaker 1: just white, suburban you know, matchbook House. Hell, this speaks 617 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:33,680 Speaker 1: to universal need for so many people. And you also mentioned, 618 00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:37,960 Speaker 1: of course, Brownie Wise is a female executive at a 619 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:41,319 Speaker 1: time where that is quite rare. She doesn't have a 620 00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:45,120 Speaker 1: ton of mentors. So if we go to another Smithsonian 621 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:49,000 Speaker 1: Magazine article from the writer Bob Keeling, we'll see this 622 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:55,319 Speaker 1: argument that without a community appears Brownie Wise sought to 623 00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:58,239 Speaker 1: create one, which is really inspiring. 624 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:03,160 Speaker 2: It super is. And lest we forget that, mister tupper 625 00:39:03,239 --> 00:39:07,480 Speaker 2: himself was you know, introduced as our big bad you 626 00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:10,000 Speaker 2: may think to yourself, thus far, he's doing so much 627 00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:13,040 Speaker 2: great stuff for women, and Brownie Wise made or the 628 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:16,280 Speaker 2: executive and everything. At the end of the day, though, folks, 629 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:19,840 Speaker 2: he was pretty much just as bad as as many 630 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:23,759 Speaker 2: of the men in leadership that tossed women aside in 631 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:28,759 Speaker 2: the workplace. He was more enamored with the idea and 632 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:32,520 Speaker 2: he saw dollar signs you know, dancing over Wise's head 633 00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:35,880 Speaker 2: and a little less concerned with the human being. 634 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:40,799 Speaker 1: Yeah, and he became Look, they needed each other for 635 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:46,480 Speaker 1: Tupperware to work, but Earl Tupper grew envious. He grew 636 00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:51,080 Speaker 1: jealous because Brownie Wise was getting headlines. 637 00:39:51,239 --> 00:39:52,759 Speaker 2: You know what I mean. She was the face of 638 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:54,399 Speaker 2: the company. She was a face of the. 639 00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:58,879 Speaker 1: Company, sort of like how you would see, oh, who's 640 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:02,520 Speaker 1: that amazing act her who does the progressive commercials? 641 00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:08,880 Speaker 2: Like, oh, what she's talking about the guy from oz Oh. 642 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:11,359 Speaker 1: Sure that guy too. Yeah, but you know what I mean, 643 00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:12,719 Speaker 1: Like she became a par. 644 00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:17,920 Speaker 2: I'm sorry. Now, there's so many celebrities are doing stuff 645 00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:18,200 Speaker 2: like that. 646 00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:22,040 Speaker 1: So she is reaching celebrity, right, that's the point. She 647 00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:26,000 Speaker 1: is the as you said, public face. People are associating 648 00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:30,520 Speaker 1: Brownie Wise with Tupperware, and it's great for the business. 649 00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:33,640 Speaker 1: But Earl Tupper is being a bit of a drip 650 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:38,560 Speaker 1: about it. He's saying, why is this person, you know, 651 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:43,359 Speaker 1: popular as high school as it towns And so he 652 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:48,640 Speaker 1: is consistently getting hostile with Brownie Wise. He starts to 653 00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:53,719 Speaker 1: micromanage the stuff she does, even though she knows what works. Obviously, 654 00:40:54,800 --> 00:41:00,400 Speaker 1: around nineteen fifty seven, Tupper is actively seeking to cut 655 00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:04,680 Speaker 1: Brownie Wise from his company, and that's where we reach 656 00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:09,960 Speaker 1: a disastrous moment in Tupperware history. It is a luau 657 00:41:10,239 --> 00:41:10,920 Speaker 1: gone wrong. 658 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:13,480 Speaker 2: Oh yeah. At first I'm looking at this and I'm like, 659 00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:17,480 Speaker 2: these Tupperware related injuries, I don't understand now. They were 660 00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:22,680 Speaker 2: apparently weather related injuries. Several folks sustained injuries at this 661 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:27,919 Speaker 2: party due to some unforeseen bad weather, and this led 662 00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:31,560 Speaker 2: to some lawsuits against the Tupperware company that went on 663 00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:34,520 Speaker 2: for many years. Very interesting though. We were talking off 664 00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:37,759 Speaker 2: Mike about what would lead to a legitimate claim in 665 00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:40,120 Speaker 2: a situation like this, and I guess you could be 666 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:44,560 Speaker 2: sued for liability or maybe negligence. So in nineteen fifty eight, 667 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:49,080 Speaker 2: having gotten the excuse that he was looking for, Tupper 668 00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:54,080 Speaker 2: fired Wise from the company. And I believe she'd received 669 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:57,840 Speaker 2: no stock options and was just paid one year's salary 670 00:41:57,880 --> 00:41:59,080 Speaker 2: as severance. 671 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:02,640 Speaker 1: Which is an absolute ripoff. You know, this weather was 672 00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:06,080 Speaker 1: beyond her control. It's a private island on a lake 673 00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:09,120 Speaker 1: in Kissimee, Florida, but there are a ton of people there. 674 00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:12,520 Speaker 1: They're like twelve hundred people there. So this is, as 675 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:17,600 Speaker 1: you were saying, an opportunistic move on Tupper's part. Look 676 00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:22,920 Speaker 1: her Brownie Wise. Her life continues post Tupperware. She starts 677 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:27,320 Speaker 1: cosmetic companies using this sales model that if we're honest 678 00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:30,759 Speaker 1: she created. None of them are quite you know, like 679 00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:35,920 Speaker 1: Avon level. They're not super successful. She passes away in 680 00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:40,680 Speaker 1: Florida in Kissemi in nineteen ninety two. She is seventy 681 00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:45,680 Speaker 1: nine years old, and she was a part of buried history. 682 00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:49,080 Speaker 1: Put away as though she was placed in some sort 683 00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:53,120 Speaker 1: of proverbial tupperware container, a tomb a tupperware toom, a 684 00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:57,680 Speaker 1: Tupperware mausoleum. Yeah, until twenty sixteen, and that's when the 685 00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:02,680 Speaker 1: Tupperware Company donated two one hundred thousand US dollars to 686 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:08,800 Speaker 1: name a park after her near their corporate headquarters in Orlando. 687 00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:10,880 Speaker 2: And if you go to the official website of the 688 00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:14,960 Speaker 2: Tupperware Company, you can find mention of Brownie Wise in 689 00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:17,279 Speaker 2: their official company backstory. 690 00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:19,879 Speaker 1: And with that, we have to give a shout out 691 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:24,320 Speaker 1: to an absolute badass. I hope I can say badass 692 00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:27,880 Speaker 1: on air. Ben Thompson or colleague from Badass of the 693 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:32,120 Speaker 1: Week probably knows and loves this story. Big, big, thanks 694 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:34,480 Speaker 1: to our super producer mister Max Williams. 695 00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:35,600 Speaker 2: Huge thanks to. 696 00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:40,920 Speaker 1: Our research associate Ren for bringing some justice to the 697 00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:43,400 Speaker 1: untold story of Brownie Wise. 698 00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:45,520 Speaker 2: Whose do we think? Ooh ooh, real quick, I just 699 00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:47,600 Speaker 2: want to say I went to Tupperware dot com and 700 00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:50,600 Speaker 2: despite having declared bankruptcy in twenty twenty four, that doesn't 701 00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:53,239 Speaker 2: mean the company has gone and you there is a 702 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:55,960 Speaker 2: link at the very top that says host a party, 703 00:43:56,360 --> 00:44:00,840 Speaker 2: so they very much are still carrying on that legacy 704 00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:04,719 Speaker 2: of Brownie Wise to this very day. Huge thanks to 705 00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:10,040 Speaker 2: Max Williams, superproducer extraordinaire Alex Williams who composed this bang 706 00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:10,680 Speaker 2: and Bob. 707 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:16,120 Speaker 1: Big thanks to Jonathan Strickland aka the Twister Big Big 708 00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:20,040 Speaker 1: thanks of course to aj Bahamas Jacobs who does listen 709 00:44:20,120 --> 00:44:23,160 Speaker 1: to the show. Thank you, Bahamas Big. Thanks to Rachel 710 00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:27,080 Speaker 1: Big Spinach Lance. If you like our show, please check 711 00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:31,400 Speaker 1: out the Rude dudes at Ridiculous Crime, good friends of ours, 712 00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:36,640 Speaker 1: and they also will bring justice to buried history. 713 00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:38,880 Speaker 2: Man. If y'all want to get I'm on this Tupperware party, 714 00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:41,359 Speaker 2: you can receive a free host gift special with five 715 00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:45,160 Speaker 2: hundred dollars in party sales Tupperware Wave Stack cooker. It's 716 00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:47,160 Speaker 2: like one of those microwave cover things to keep it 717 00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:49,239 Speaker 2: from splashing. Or actually it's a cast throw and to 718 00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:52,360 Speaker 2: colinder all in one. My mistake. We'll see you next time, folks. 719 00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:02,160 Speaker 2: For more podcast us from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 720 00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:05,320 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.