Fascinating
facts about the invention
of Tupperware by Earl
Tupper in 1945. |
TUPPERWARE® |
|
Earl Tupper knew immediately
that Polyethylene, the new plastic that was formulated in 1942, was exactly what he had
been looking for over the past several years. A Du Pont chemist, Tupper saw that the
pliable, attractive, and very long-lasting synthetic polymer was the right material for a
host of home products. He began by producing a bathroom drinking glass available in a
rainbow of colors and quickly moved on to his famous lidded bowls. His products were
originally sold in retail stores, but he had another marketing idea that would make him a
multimillionaire.
In the late 1940s, Thomas Damigella (in Massachusetts) and Brownie
Wise (in Florida) were selling household products through Stanley Home Products.
Purchasing through local plastics distributors, both began offering Tupperware as part of
their product line, and were moving enough Tupperware to attract Earl Tupper's attention.
In 1948, Tupper met with Damigella, Wise, and several other local distributors at a
Sheraton in Worcester Massachusetts to discuss a new distribution plan. Modelled on the
home party plan pioneered by Stanley Home Products and expanded and refined by Brownie
Wise, the home party plan became and remains the exclusive outlet for Tupperware. |
 |
His Tupperware parties proved to be an
enormous success, and fit in perfectly with the new mobility of Americans in the postwar
era. Wherever Americans moved, and they moved more with every passing year, they would
find a Tupperware party where housewives could meet new neighbors and of course purchase
some more of Earl Tupper’s extremely useful products. |
| Comedians loved to joke
about Tupperware parties, but that just provided free publicity. By 1958, Mr. Tupper was
able to sell his company for approximately sixteen million dollars and retire for life. |
TO LEARN MORE
RELATED INFORMATION:
Earl Tupper
Biography from
The Great Idea Finder
History of Household Items from The Great Idea Finder
ON THE BOOKSHELF:
Why Didn't I Think of That?: Bizarre Origins of Ingenious
Inventions We Couldn't Live Without
by Allyn Freeman, Bob Golden /
Paperback - 224 pages / John Wiley & Sons (1997)
Inventions chronicles the odd origins of famous products,
explores how these inventions changed our lives, and reveals the business side of their
production and distribution.
Tupperware: The
Promise of Plastic in 1950s America
by Alison J. Clarke / Paperback: 241 pages / Smithsonian Institution Press; (March
2001)
From Wonder Bowls to Ice-Tup molds to Party Susans, Tupperware has become an icon
of suburban living. Invented by Earl Tupper in the 1940s to promote thrift and
cleanliness, the pastel plasticwares were touted as essential to a postwar lifestyle that
emphasized casual entertaining and celebrated America's material abundance.
As Seen on TV:
The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s
by Karal Ann Marling / Paperback:/ Harvard Univ Press, Reprint edition (March 1996)
Opening with a photograph of a 1950s Disneyland home designed in the shape of a TV
(by those fun-loving futurists at MIT), this book's text and photos consistently maintain
a balance between insightful social commentary and critique and sensitive recapturing of
the essence of visual broadcast's dawn.
ON THE WEB:
Tupperware
Official site of the Tupperware Company with everything you need to know
about Tupperware, including where to purchase the products.
Five
Decades of Change
The versatility and convenience of Tupper's "miracle" products helped to
launch the plastics revolution of the next decade.
Invention
Dimension - Inventor of the Week
Celebrates inventor/innovator role models through outreach activities and annual
awards to inspire a new generation of American scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs.
Earl S. Tupper Papers
If Tupper personified reverence for the product, Wise personified respect for the
sales force. "If we build the people," she was fond of saying, "they'll
build the business." Their legacy remains an important part of Tupperware's
continuing success.
Patent drawing of bowl and cover
In 1947, Earl S. Tupper, Leominster,
Massachusetts came up with the unique, air-tight, water-tight "Tupper
Seal" for containers that kept food fresh and prevented spills. From the
Smithsonian..Patent No. 2,709,607 (US) issued April 23, 1957 to E. S.
Tupper
DID YOU KNOW?
- A Tupperware demonstration started every two seconds
somewhere in the world.
- Around the world, nearly 118 million people attended a
Tupperware demonstration.
- Tupperware® brand products were sold in over 100 markets
around the world.
- Worldwide net sales were $1.2 billion.
- Tupperware® is such a unique and
preeminent status in the industry that its trademark has become
practically an international generic term.
- One of the first direct sellers for Tupperware was Brownie
Wise, a single mother with a genius for people and a flare for marketing. Wise was so
successful demonstrating and selling Tupper's plastics that he brought her into his
company in 1951 to build the direct selling system that has made the Tupperware party
almost as famous as his products.
|
| Reference
Sources in BOLD Type |
This
page revised March 3, 2006. |
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