Sealed with a burp> Tupperware is an American institution

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It’s 10 a.m. on Locksley Lane in Brewer, and veteran Tupperware dealer Gail Roberts is primed for action. Putting the finishing touches on a display of containers that promise fresh food through the miracle of a burp, she greets a gaggle of young women who stroll into Mary Jane Cote’s living room.

The group — mostly young mothers accompanied by kids ages 5 months to 5 years — embark on a ritual that has earned a niche in the journal of great American pastimes, not to mention great American business ploys — a home party filled with laughter, refreshments and a money-making bottom line.

Tupperware, which has been celebrated and sold at millions of parties, is observing its 50th anniversary this year with — what else — still more parties.

A Tupperware party is given every three seconds worldwide, according to company literature. More than 97 million people attended a Tupperware party in 1995.

The one going on at 32 Locksley Lane is swinging into high gear. It looks like a good one, according to Roberts, who has been in the Tupperware business for 22 years. She’ll probably clear more than $100 at the event, which is one of five parties she has booked for that week.

The upbeat crowd oohs and aahs over new microwave dishes with air vents and new summertime tumblers splashed in yellow — the chosen color for Tupperware’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Half a century after Massachusetts inventor Earl Tupper experimented with a chunk of doctored plastic called polyethylene — Tupperware’s ancestor — the product still is making the world safe for deviled eggs and rotund lettuces that otherwise might wilt or create near-toxic odors in the family refrigerator.

Tupperware pitchers and bowls promise organizational zen for hapless homemakers struggling to balance careers outside the home with domestic chores. Plagued with cereal boxes spilling their contents on the floor? Grab stackable Tupperware containers and chuck the boxes.

The glue in cereal boxes serves as a potential health hazard, according to the dishware experts. Supposedly it is a fertile haven for egg larvae from bugs, warn Tupperware consultants, their well-groomed eyebrows raised in a delicate arch. It’s enough to motivate the most slovenly housekeeper to fork over a chunk of her paycheck for the serene, germ-free organizational haven that is Tupperware.

The unassuming dishes with the lids that seal out air have led to a worldwide industry that netted $1.4 billion in 1995.

Even more impressive than the money-earning statistic is the rags-to-riches — at least rags-to-upper-middle-class — stories that permeate Tupperware lore.

“For decades Tupperware has offered the tools of opportunity to people, especially women, from all walks of life. Significant earnings levels are within reach,” states a company pamphlet titled “Generations of Empowerment: Tupperware Careers, Then and Now.”

About 800,000 people sell Tupperware worldwide, according to the brochure. About 100 sell it in eastern and northern Maine, including Roberts.

A former Aroostook County schoolteacher, Roberts realized after the birth of her fourth child she could not return to teaching. Yet she and her minister husband still needed the income, so she started selling Tupperware.

An energetic, people person, Roberts quickly worked up to a managerial position, which meant she and the salespeople she directed generated a minimum of $6,000 a month in sales. The move to manager introduced her to more money and the generous perks of leadership. Every three years, Roberts gets a new van from Tupperware. The vehicle is insured by the company, and she may use it for business or personal reasons.

“I’ve been through a lot of vans,” said Roberts, who relocated to Corinna 10 years ago with her family.

There’s a lot of money to be made in Tupperware, according to Lucille Gosselin of Orrington. Gosselin is the regional manager for Tupperware products for the northern and eastern two-thirds of Maine.

Consultants can earn anywhere from a few thousand dollars to $100,000 a year in the business if they really work at it, Gosselin said.

She did. From modest beginnings in Lewiston, Gosselin gave up her nursing career in the early 1960s when her third child was born with a birth defect that required constant attention.

Describing herself as shy and introverted as a young woman, Gosselin nevertheless began selling Tupperware in 1965 and built a career that eventually employed her entire family.

Her husband, John Gosselin, was a firefighter, but gave up the job when it became apparent that supporting his wife in her Tupperware career would be more profitable for the family than any 9-to-5 job. In 1974, the Gosselins bought the franchise for the state of Maine, later selling the southern Maine portion to another dealer.

“Our children have been to the finest schools and have traveled extensively because of Tupperware,” said Gosselin, a silver-haired executive whose tailored suits and silk dresses hint at an opulent lifestyle, at least for central-northern Maine.

The Gosselins operate their franchise out of a large warehouse off South Main Street in Brewer. They supervise 20 to 30 managers and oversee the disbursement of 32 vans given to their high-earning salespeople.

Now a mentor to the 100 consultants that operate in her region, Gosselin passes out time-saving tips involving Tupperware to anyone who will listen.

Tupperware parties have been an entertainment source for years, and the subject of countless jokes. Tupperware even rates a category of its own in the “Encyclopedia of Bad Taste,” by Jane and Michael Stern — right in there with tattoos and tuna casseroles.

Inevitably, a parlor game kicks off Tupperware home parties.

“They may seem silly but they’re great ice-breakers,” said Roberts.

In Brewer, Roberts passes out paper — shaded in “50th anniversary yellow of course,” she says. She tells the eight women staring at her to make a list.

“Give yourself 25 points if you kissed someone today,” she says. “Give yourself two points for every button you’re wearing.” At the end of the game, the lady with the most points won a small Tupperware container “just right to put candy or snacks in,” according to Roberts.

Ranging in price from a few dollars to $20 or more per container, Tupperware products are a bit expensive as an initial investment, admits Gosselin.

Yet the bowls, pitchers and other Tupperware miracle dishes save money in the long run because of their convenience, preservative powers and their durability, Gosselin said.

Bring a Tupperware container to the grocery store, advises Gosselin. Have the clerks put your delicatessen meat in the little dishes, then cover and “burp” them to assure long-time freshness.

Bring Tupperware to the organic foods store, Gosselin says, where you’ll save about half the cost of spices which usually are packaged in expensive glass containers.

The Tupperware image has been retrofitted to complement contemporary lifestyles.

Tupperware dealers even offer customized parties that instruct people on the go on ways to organize their kitchens for faster cooking.

Gosselin’s consultants even board yachts down in Bar Harbor to show kitchen crews ways that Tupperware can maximize storage space in relatively cramped quarters.

“Tupperware is a good product that fits in everywhere. That’s the secret to its survival,” said Gosselin.