Business: Tupperware

During most of his adult life, easygoing Earl S. Tupper, 40, has described himself as "a ham inventor and Yankee trader." By last week, one of his inventions—an unbreakable, flexible, shape-retaining plastic which can be moulded into all sorts of containers—was forcing him to temper the "ham" and drop the "trader" entirely.

At his big-windowed brick factory in Farnumsville, Mass., orders for Tupperware were pouring in—from the American Thermos Bottle Co. for 7,000,000 nesting cups; from Canada Dry Ginger Ale for 50,000 bowls to sell with beverages; from Tek Corp. for 50,000 tumblers...