Tupperware!

Who would have thought burping plastic bowls could merit their own documentary? Earl Tupper was proud of his unbreakable, spill-proof products that extended the life of leftovers, but it was a woman named Brownie Wise who made the product famous and enabled some women to make a career out of home-based Tupperware “parties.” Arguing that Tupperware “gave people with limited education a shot at success,” Laurie Kahn-Leavitt's PBS American Experience-aired Tupperware!, narrated by Kathy Bates, claims that some women even became millionaires, though we're not told how many (and the former “Tupperware Ladies” and “Distributor Couples” interviewed here never talk about their own incomes). Indeed, when Wise was eventually forced out of the company, Tupper grudgingly gave her $37,000 in severance pay--well short of a million. Rather, the glass (plastic?) ceiling was in place here as elsewhere, with the top company executives all being male. Filled with cheesy footage of 1950s Tupperware recruiting films, images from Wise's lavish annual “Jubilee” events for the sales faithful, and seemingly endless repetitions of a falling salad container hitting the floor, Tupperware! may have nostalgic value for some, but it strains at being women's history. Optional. Aud: C, P. (R. Reagan)