The Cinema 'Scene' by Seymore Flix

H'wood Cleaning Up

Joy Mangano selling her wares

Self-wringing mops and plastic tubs that burp are two hot topics in H'wood - as Jennifer Lawrence and Sandra Bullock (arguably the reigning top female actors) are booked to star in biopics about trailblazing business women.

Lawrence is currently involved in the production of a biopic about Joy Mangano, the inventor of the self-wringing mop and over 100 other inventions.  The title of the movie is 'Joy', which is being filmed in Boston and depicts the career of Mangano, a single mother of three, whose rise from rags to riches is very inspiring. In 1990 she made 100 mops and sold them to shops in Long Island.  Then Mangano went on QVC to sell her mops and sold 18,000 in 20 minutes. Today, they have sold in the millions.  She next invented and sold the very popular Huggable Hangers. She then  broke a record on the Home Shopping Network in 2010 by selling over 180,000 of her Forever Fragrant air fresheners in one day.

Her company, Ingenious Designs was eventually sold to HSN for an undisclosed amount and she now works there as a senior executive.  Mangano is predicting that the film will be a blockbuster hit - and I for one wouldn't bet against her.

For her part, Sandra Bullock (who is also co-producing) the film will be portraying Brownie Wise the brains behind the Tupperware empire. The movie is based on a novel written by Bob Kealing entitled, "Tupperware Unsealed". Basically,  Earl Tupper, the inventor of Tupperware, could not market or distribute his product and hired Wise, a single mother, who had a talent for marketing.  She developed the concept of having sales parties sponsored by stay-at-home-moms, which was the perfect promotion answer during the postwar baby-boom era.

Brownie Wise the Queen of Tupperware

Thousands of women became Tupperware hostesses, many of them becoming rich in the process.  In 1954, Wise was the first woman to appear on the cover of Business Week magazine when the company's sales reached the $100 million mark.  Tupper came to resent Wise's success and in 1957 fired her from the company and gave her an outgoing severance of just $30,000.  Wise died in 1992 at the age of 79.  "She was one of the most important businesswomen of the 20th century, the prototype for all women who are marketing products online", says Kealing, "I'm glad she will finally get the recognition she deserves."

I think both of these films will have huge followings and be great entertainment for both men and women.