By Kathy Megyeri
Book review of “Life of the Party, the Remarkable Story of How Brownie Wise Built and Lost a Tupperware Party Empire,” by Bob Kealing
Before Mary Kay and Martha Stewart, there was Florida mom Brownie Wise, a post-WWII optimist who gave economically invisible women an acceptable outlet for making money for their families. It was said that she had the people skills of Dale Carnegie, the looks of Doris Day and the magnetism of Eva Peron. A superb saleswoman, she disappeared until this book was written by writer, historian and biographer Bob Kealing; Wise’s story is especially meaningful on Mother’s Day.
After WWII, chemist Earl Tupper designed a new kind of plastic that could be mass-produced in many colors and in different forms, and in 1946 he patented the double-sealed lid which was air-tight and watertight. (Before, such plastics weren’t used in homes because no one knew yet about burping the lid.)
Meanwhile, Brownie Wise, a 34-year-old divorced mother with only an eighth-grade education, started selling mops, cleaners and detergents door-to-door for Stanley Home Products. She then found Tupperware and started “patio parties” with games, prizes, entertainment, and food and demonstrations like tossing a sealed Tupperware bowl filled with grape juice across the room to prove the quality of the seal.
She got exclusive rights to sell in Florida, gathered a group of saleswomen, took good care of them and wrote a weekly newsletter for all to share their successes. Her saleswomen loved making their own money! She also started “Tupperware Jubilee” in Ft. Lauderdale, a four-day sales meeting that mixed product education with entertainment.
Related: Book Review: What Jackie Taught Us
She was soon named General Manager of the Home Parties Division and sales tripled. She became a Vice President. For the next five years, she moved the Tupperware plastic bowl into every American kitchen and from 1951-58, she recruited 10,000 dealers and was responsible for revenues of $10 million ($100 million in today’s dollars).
She became known as “Miss Tupperware of the 50’s,” created Tupperware art fellowships, and was the first woman to make the cover of Business Week magazine. She moved the company’s headquarters to Kissimmee, had a campus constructed, appeared on talk shows and became an invited speaker at national sales conferences – she was usually the only woman there.
However, she and Tupper fought over management and company strategy. In 1958 Tupper sold the company to Rexall and fired her saying, “I want all evidence of Wise gone,” and “I do the manufacturing, and you do the selling.” Wise got a one-time payout of $30,000 and was evicted from her Tupperware-owned home.
After being fired by Tupper, Wise had limited success in real estate and died in 1992 in Kissimmee at age 79. But after such a colorful and successful life, this Florida Mother left her permanent mark on American manufacturing and marketing history and left us asking, which is more powerful—the product or the “sell”? Florida mothers can be proud of her legacy.
