In 1986 a million dollar painting, The Weeping Woman by Pablo Picasso, was quietly unscrewed from the wall of Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria. And then came a bizarre series of ransom notes from a group calling themselves the “Australian Cultural Terrorists,” Weeks later, a brown paper package appeared in a locker. Would it be The Weeping Woman? Or something else...

And that's a wrap on season one of Mystery For Two Podcast! We'll see you in season 2.

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Sources:

Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (2019, September 14). Retrofocus: Picasso’s Weeping Woman and the famous unsolved art heist. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-14/retrofocus-picasso-weeping-woman-famous-unsolved-art-heist/11498936

Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (2024). Art, politics, crime: The true story of the stolen Picasso. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/art-politics-crime-the-true-story-of-the-stolen-picasso/103689440

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Theft of The Weeping Woman from the National Gallery of Victoria. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_of_The_Weeping_Woman_from_the_National_Gallery_of_Victoria

At the height of 1950s America, no woman was more synonymous with success than Brownie Wise, the single mother who turned Tupperware from a failing product into a cultural phenomenon. But when a glamorous company retreat descends into chaos during a violent storm and Brownie mysteriously disappears, her carefully crafted world begins to unravel.

But how does the face of a household name vanish almost overnight? And what really led to the downfall of the so-called Tupperware Queen?

One more episode until the end of Season One! Lucky number 16 will bring us to the close of our first season, next week. Let us know what you'd like to hear about next.

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Special thanks to Sarah Schilling for the assistance with research for today's episode.

Sources:

“How Tupperware works: The history of Tupperware.” (n.d.). HowStuffWorks. https://people.howstuffworks.com/tupperware2.htm

National Women’s History Museum. (n.d.). Brownie Wise. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/brownie-wise

NPR. (2024). Planet Money: How Tupperware took over our homes (with Decoder Ring). https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1238535892

PBS. (n.d.). Brownie Wise. American Experience. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tupperware-wise/

Schmidt, S. (n.d.). #20: Tupperware’s Brownie Wise – Erasing history? Medium. https://silkeschmidt-32637.medium.com/20-tupperwares-brownie-wise-erasing-history-d7e237898ceb

Smithsonian Magazine. (n.d.). The story of Brownie Wise, the ingenious marketer behind the Tupperware party. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/story-brownie-wise-ingenious-marketer-behind-tupperware-party-180968658/

By the Victorian era, vibrant emerald pigments known as Scheele’s Green and Paris Green had taken Europe by storm, coloring everything from dresses and desserts to children’s toys and wallpaper. The problem was: both dyes contained deadly arsenic. But how long would it take for people to realize that the trendy color of the time was slowly killing them?!

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Sources:

Colwell, B. D. (n.d.). A history of arsenic. Retrieved from https://briandcolwell.com/a-history-of-arsenic/

Gosio, B. (historical overview). (n.d.). Bartolomeo Gosio (1863–1944): An appreciation. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251448954_Bartolomeo_Gosio_1863-1944_An_appreciation

Kvadrat Interwoven. (n.d.). Emerald green: The history of a toxic pigment. Retrieved from http://kvadratinterwoven.com/emerald-green

Magic Decor. (n.d.). The wallpaper tax: A look at Britain’s 18th-century luxury tax. Retrieved from https://magicdecor.in/blog/the-wallpaper-tax-a-look-at-britains-18th-century-luxury-tax/

Tax Fitness. (n.d.). 1712: Queen Anne introduces a wallpaper tax in Great Britain. Retrieved from https://taxfitness.com.au/blog/1712-queen-anne-introduces-a-wallpaper-tax-in-great-britain/

Textile Society of America. (n.d.). Toxic textiles in libraries. Retrieved from https://textilesocietyofamerica.org/12112/textile-tuesdaytoxic-textiles-in-libraries

Esquire Philippines. (n.d.). The deadly history of Paris green. Retrieved from https://www.esquiremag.ph/the-good-life/pursuits/paris-green-history

Newspapers.com. (n.d.). Historical newspaper reference to Scheele’s Green. Retrieved from http://kvadratinterwoven.com/emerald-green