TRAGICALLY (perhaps inevitably) they didn’t realize how much they needed each other. In 1958, their relationship imploded. Earl fired Brownie, sold the company, gave up his US citizenship, and bought himself an island in Central America. Brownie headed up five different home party companies that failed to take off, and retired from the business in the mid 1960s.

EARL AND BROWNIE were never ever able to repeat the success they’d had together. But the people Brownie brought into the business and trained to be Tupperware Ladies were able to carry on without the company’s founders. Working class women from big cities, the rural countryside, and the suburbs all discovered they could make thousands, even millions, selling bowls that burped. Tupperware offered them opportunities they weren't going to get working in factories, on the farm, or at the five and dime. By selling Tupperware, and promoting other women they brought into the business, our interviewees were able to put their kids through college, pay for homes, and take vacations they'd never dreamt of. In a culture that rarely applauded the efforts of working class women, the Tupperware Ladies were showered with praise, prizes and applause.