21 Facts About Brownie Wise

Brownie Wise was a pioneering American saleswoman largely responsible for the success of the home products company Tupperware, through her development of the "party plan" system of marketing.

Brownie Wise initially worked as a salesperson for Stanley Home Products to supplement her income, before switching to selling Tupperware.

When Brownie Wise was two years old, her parents divorced, making her mother a single parent.

Brownie Wise's mother worked as an organizer for a hat makers' union, often traveling for months at a time, leaving Wise in the care of her aunt.

Brownie Wise dropped out of school in her teens, and by the age of fourteen was delivering speeches at union rallies.

Brownie Wise met her future husband, Robert W Wise, at the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936.

Brownie Wise worked as an executive secretary at Bendix Aviation, an aircraft manufacturing company, and was a columnist for The Detroit News, writing under the pen name "Hibiscus".

Brownie Wise urged her distributors to demonstrate the products to potential customers, even throwing containers to show their durability.

Brownie Wise moved to Fort Lauderdale, where she set up a company named Patio Parties.

Earl Tupper, the founder of Tupperware, invited Brownie Wise to be vice president of Tupperware Home Parties in 1951.

That year Brownie Wise was paid a salary of $20,933, and the company bought a lakeside house for her near its headquarters in Kissimmee.

Brownie Wise was a writer for the monthly company magazine Tupperware Sparks.

This, along with Brownie Wise receiving credit for Tupperware's success in the media, estranged her from Tupper.

Brownie Wise was accused of "undermining the company's image" when she reportedly used a Tupperware container as a dog dish, and she was forced out of the company by Tupper in January 1958.

Brownie Wise filed a lawsuit against the company for $1.6 million for breach of contract, eventually settling for $30,000.

Brownie Wise owned no stock and many of her possessions, including her Florida house, were company property.

Brownie Wise founded her own party-plan cosmetics company, Cinderella International, the year after leaving Tupperware, but it was unsuccessful and closed down less than a year later.

Brownie Wise was appointed as CEO of Viviane Woodard Cosmetics in 1960 but was still unable to replicate her success at Tupperware.

Brownie Wise later worked as a consultant and in real estate.

Brownie Wise died on September 24,1992, in Florida, where she lived and owned land near Lake Tohopekaliga, after a long illness.

Brownie Wise was to be portrayed by Sandra Bullock in a movie based on the book Tupperware Unsealed, written by Bob Kealing.