TUPPERWARE!
“The story of the 1950s Tupperware empire is told with wit and authority in this …documentary from Laurie Kahn-Leavitt.”
Gerald Peary, The Boston Phoenix
“Ms. Kahn-Leavitt deftly balances nostalgia, humor, and appreciation without being saccharine or patronizing the women who cast off their traditional roles and made new lives for themselves. Viewers who tune in will, like me, be in for a treat.”
Kate Flatley LaVoie, Wall Street Journal
“a compelling portrait of a peculiar American success story…TUPPERWARE! takes us on a fun, often funny ride through the optimism and opportunity of the 1950s. You’ll wish the Super 8 footage would just keep on rolling.”
Joe Carter, TV Guide
“It is a tale of intrigue, invention, power, and money, which Laurie Kahn-Leavitt, writer, director and producer of the film, stumbled on by accident...It took two and a half years and more than 300 interviews to put all the pieces together.”
Carol Vogel, New York Times
“Behind every burping bowl, there’s a story. But who knew Tupperware had such a rich history?…Until now, the Tupperware story was long forgotten, sealed as tight as one of the company’s trademark containers.”
Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“There’s a…PBS special on the cultural phenomenon of Tupperware parties narrated by Kathy Bates…Tupperware is finally getting the credit it deserves for coming up with the party at home selling concept. Post WWII, it was one of the only ways that women could make decent money on their own time.”
Charla Krupp on the Today Show
“TUPPERWARE. So uncool, it’s cool (proof: Reese Witherspoon loves the stuff). Narrated by Kathy Bates, this documentary charts Tupperware’s rise from small company to cultural phenomenon.”
In Style Magazine
“The hourlong program is a feast of kitschy archival footage and telling interviews with veteran “Tupperware ladies.” It’s also a revealing glimpse into the 1950s.”
Renee Enna, Chicago Tribune
“The new documentary reveals much more than plastic trivia as it tears down stereotypes of women in the 1950s...(Brownie) Wise led troops of women on the path of entrepreneurship, training them to host Tupperware parties in living rooms across postwar America during a time when women had few economic choices.
Aiden Fitzgerald, The Boston Sunday Herald
“Director Laurie Kahn-Leavitt has assembled a dazzling parade of rare kitschy 1950s footage. The viewer gets a glimpse at Tupperware Ladies' home movies, Tupperware Jubilee footage, ads and television excerpts. This footage is interwoven with stories told by Tupperware ladies who witnessed the company's early years.”
Amy King, American Film Institute, Silverdocs Festival
“A Trailblazer, Rediscovered. In the chauvinistic 1950s, when most women didn’t work or were relegated to menial jobs, Brownie Wise built Tupperware into a multimillion-dollar business. In TUPPERWARE!, a documentary that will appear on PBS this spring, Laurie Kahn-Leavitt assesses Wise’s marketing genius – and her shocking 1958 ouster.”
Nadine Heinz, Inc. Magazine
“Filmmakers have so delighted in debunking the idyllic myth of 1950s America that exposing the era’s seamier side has almost developed into its own genre…Now a new documentary, bereft of salaciousness but chock-full of drama, reveals the surprising truth behind a beloved 1950s trademark: Tupperware.”
Catherine Dupree, Harvard Magazine
“This astounding tale of grit, pluck and door-to-door determination blows the lid off the Tupperware myth, charting the stellar rise and tragic fall of marketing maven Brownie Wise. Keeping it fresh since 1954, the Tupperware tale is anything but stale.”
Carleton Kirkham, Mill Valley Film Festival
“This is the engrossing and oddly inspirational story of the famous “burping” plastic kitchenware invented by Earl Silas Tupper. But the heroine is Brownie Wise, a kind of Lucy Ricardo/June Cleaver role model who convinced women that they could get out of the house and earn an income. The slim glamorous Wise – she has been called ‘the smiling siren of styrene’—became the corporate face of the Tupperware empire. When her story takes an unexpected turn, it is surprisingly touching.”
C.W. Nevius, San Francisco Chronicle
“The documentary is hilarious…this is a must-see.”
Golden Isles Weekend Issue, Georgia
“Tupperware! So uncool, it’s cool.”
What’s Hot Now, InStyle Magazine
“The seven years when Tupper and Wise collaborated were an amazingly productive brand-building time; they represent an intriguing slice of 1950s American life.”
Kelly Alexander, Saveur Magazine
“Laurie Kahn-Leavitt has discovered a rich and colorful history, elevating the story of the bowls that burped into a documentary work of art.”
Linda Matchan, The Boston Globe
“Kahn-Leavitt is never condescending to her subject; even the strangest, silliest old footage comes across with dignity. Tupperware – as strange as it sounds – changed lives, and this fine tribute is touching, inspiring, and not in the least plastic.”
Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times
Quotes from scholars
“I think you've packed a lot of very subtle and important information into a very lean format--the history is there, the impact that sales had on women, the life stories. The object is more at the center of the story as a kind of pivot around which things swing (or bounce)--very effective. And the story of Earl and Brownie comes through very clearly.....You've managed to get the "corporate line" in without allowing it to dominate the story. This is a darker film than "Midwives Tale"! and certainly has many rich veins I could use in a class on women's history, business history, consumerism, and popular culture……You've told a very complex story with efficiency and depth. It's already on my classroom list!!”
Angel Kwolek-Folland, University of Florida, Women’s Studies
“I think it's just about perfect.”
Nicole Biggart, University of California/Davis, Business
“This first-ever documentary of highly secretive Tupperware is a punchy, at times comical, and consistently well filmed story of the innovative methods, origins, and inherent contradictions of this extraordinarily successful enterprise. The film can serve as a provocative teaching tool for a variety of topics – channel strategy, leadership, organizational fit, harnessing distributed intelligence, dynamics of social coercion and the evolution of resilient and remarkably agile organizational design.”
Richard Pascale, Oxford University
former faculty, Stanford’s Graduate School of Business
“You found just the right balance between celebration of the women (including Brownie Wise), critical assessment of the company and the fifties, and humour. It was such fun to see what you did with the interviews, home movies, music, etc. Though the audience seemed to be a great mix of people, you drew everyone in.”
Carol Karlsen, University of Michigan/Ann Arbor, History
“I haven’t seen anything else that conveys so well what the 50s were like. There are many many levels to this film.”
Joyce Antler, Brandeis University, History
