Page 2 / News, Trends, Gossip and Stuff To Do : Light Reading : Prosperity With Plastics

“I just want to say one word to you. Plastics! There’s a good future in plastics.”

--”The Graduate,” 1967

Roughly 20 years before Walter Brooks immortalized these words, Earl S. Tupper was paving the way for a plastic future with Tupperware--stylish storage containers that epitomized modernity and efficiency when first introduced in 1946. The party bowl, the ketchup pump. Innovative products like these helped elevate Tupperware to the status of American icon.

Chronicling the company’s rise and cultural relevance is Allison J. Clarke, whose book “Tupperware: The Promise of Plastic in 1950s America” (Smithsonian Press) will be available next month. Specifically, Clarke focuses on Brownie Wise, the woman who invented the Tupperware party. This sales tool combined two of the things women most liked to do--socialize and shop--and allowed homemakers and mothers not only to bake the bread for their families but to help bring home the bacon.