final credits - rebecca webb carranza
Waste not, want not. That was Carranza's credo, and her thrifty ways led to the development of a staple for junkfood junkies.
In 1950, the Los Angeles El Zarape Tortilla Factory automated the production of tortillas. While the machine-made corn and flour disks slid off the conveyor belt more than 12 times faster than they could be made by hand, many came out "bent" or mis-shapen. The rejects were usually thrown away.
Carranza decided to take the discards, cut them into triangles and then fry them. After getting the thumbs up from friends and relatives, El Zarape sold "Tort Chips" for a dime a bag in southwest LA. The chips soon evolved into the company's primary business.
Carranza met her husband on a blind date. After making ties for a neckwear company while he worked in finance at an appliance maker, Carranza took the advice of a friend and the couple bought a tortilla shop in East Los Angeles. Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, who played Jack Benny's valet on radio and television, was a frequent customer.
Divorced in 1951, Carranza signed the business over to her husband. She started her own chip factory but closed it in 1967 due partly to competition from national companies who muscled into the chip territory. She the worked as meat wrapper at grocery stores and later as a U.S. Census taker. Carranza is survived by two sons, 12 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
January 19, 2006 at age 98. Complications of old age.