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Selling Perfume and Glamour in the 1950s (Cosmopolitan, November 1950)

Posted by Angela on 15 December 2008 47 Comments

Cosmopolitan magazine, Nov 1950In 1950, Cosmopolitan magazine looked a lot different than today's Cosmopolitan, but the audience seems to have been the same then as it is now: young, single women without a lot of money. Unlike Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, which catered to women who had, or at least aspired to, charge-o-plates at Bergdorf's, Cosmopolitan was aimed at the working class woman. I already had a Harper's Bazaar from 1938 that was chock full of perfume ads. How would Cosmopolitan treat perfume twelve years later?

If my issue is any indicator, perfume was a luxury item to Cosmopolitan's readers. It was exotic, expensive, and less important than a fully stocked bar, routing Communism, or finding a husband.

The Cosmopolitan's first ad for perfume comes after the movie star news, Louella Parsons' column, and an ad begging "Buttercup" to keep a handle on her halitosis with Listerine if she wants a second date. The full-page perfume ad is for Lucien Lelong Parfum 6 and Parfum 7, and the copy says, "Lucien Lelong Paris dares to introduce fine French perfumes at $9 for a large 2 oz bottle!...Lucien Lelong believes in perfume for use, day in, day out. Hence this radical move, these two magnificent new perfumes in the plainest, most inexpensive wrappings. Now you know that you're paying for the perfume. Now you can afford to enjoy fine French fragrance. Now you can lavish it on with Parfum 6, a delicious petal fragrance, and Parfum 7, a more worldy scent." I'm guessing that as entrancing as Parfum 7 sounds, Lelong wasn't very successful with this ad campaign.

Two pages later is an ad for D'Orsay Divine with a black and white photograph of a graceful, flame-like bottle with a flat, circular stopper like a saucer set on edge. "Someone lovely has just passed by! That's what you'll hear everywhere when you wear the heavenly new fragrance Divine by D'Orsay. Parfum and Eau de Toilette from $3, plus federal tax."

Over the next few pages is a multiple choice game designed to improve your vocabulary, an ad for California Burgundy with bachelors wearing plaid dinner jackets, and an article called, "What every Divorcée should know". Perfume comes up here in the article's second paragraph: "To the average man...the divorcée is glamorous...He sees her provocatively gowned in throbbing black, reeking of Shalimar, and carrying a pocket edition of Freud." Wow! The rest of the article instructs the divorcée how to land a man despite her obvious handicap (no mention of reconsidering the Shalimar, thankfully).

Moving along, we find an article on how to play Canasta, a novella called Debutante, and an article by J. Edgar Hoover called the "Double-Talk Dictionary" that explains how Communists might try to spin God-fearing Americans to their side. Although Hoover was rumored to enjoy a little cross-dressing from time to time, he doesn't mention perfume once in this article. Next we see a feature on Lana Turner, another "how-to" on finding a man ("Right now there's a man somewhere who'd love to go out with me. But who? Where? How can I find him?"), an article on hosting a cocktail party on the cheap, a profile of a roller derby pro, another how-to article called "How to meet that Man", and finally we get to a perfume ad, this one a few square inches for Cheramy April Showers talcum powder.

On page 99 is a full-page ad endorsed by the American Medical Association that condemns compulsory health insurance. Could these be the same doctors who on page 139 recommend women douche with Lysol?

At the back of the magazine, next to the jump for the cocktail party article, at last we see another perfume ad, a half-page ad for Ciro New Horizons and Ciro's Danger. "It's the one perfume women feel they'd like to own at least once in a lifetime. It's a soaring, stimulating fragrance with an unforgettable personality. Watch her!...And it's not as costly as you might expect." The next page has an ad for Houbigant Chantilly, which is touted as a "perfume that clings" because of its "slower rate of diffusion and evaporation".

And that's it. Five ads for perfume, if you count the one for talcum powder (and 26 ads for liquor, by the way). No wonder so many women grew up seeing perfume as something received at Christmas and saved for special occasions. The reader of Harper's Bazaar was plied with perfume advertising copy every other page. Cosmopolitan's readers seemed to believe that perfume was for the wealthy, or, in the case of Shalimar, the wanton Freud reader. It's enough to drive a woman to straight to Guerlain.

Filed Under: perfume talk
Tagged With: cosmopolitan, magazines, perfume ads

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47 Comments

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  1. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 1:47 pm

    What a great article, Angela! It's funny how back then $9 would get You a bottle of “luxury and exotic” perfume, today You might just get a perfume mini at an online discounter for that price…

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  2. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 2:04 pm

    Oh, I know! As I was reading the issue, I kept dreaming about living large then if I only had my measly pay today. I sure would love to try one of those Lucien Lelongs, though.

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  3. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 2:56 pm

    Well! I would love to hear one of the funnier pieces of advice on “how to get a man” circa 1950 – in case it is anything as wise as that use for lysol…

    I appreciate the idea of perfume for a special occasion- it allows us to find full vintage bottles in estate sales…

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  4. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 3:10 pm

    I had that same thought about finding vintage perfume!

    I thought the advice to divorcees on finding a man was the best. One nice piece of advice was that divorcees should not flaunt their jewelry, lest they be thought fortune hounds who married then divorced men to squeeze money out of them.

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  5. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 4:08 pm

    that's great!

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  6. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 4:32 pm

    Still chuckling and marvelling, Angela, great piece. What will the readers of 2058 be thinking of our Allures, I wonder?

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  7. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 4:43 pm

    Great post Angela! Very entertaining at the end of the day when I'm contemplating modern job strees, what I'm going to eat for dinner, and also realizing that my frag has finally worn off. Funny how things change and stay the same for women – hello Shalimar! And halitosis is always a problem!! Although I'd really love to see what the author believes is a “throbbing” black dress! What would we carry today rather than a pocket Freud? Maybe a blackberry with tons of downloads or the smallest ipod? What is the Shalimar of today — the big “it” frag? Hmm…now there's another post.

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  8. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 4:52 pm

    What a wonderfully creative post Angela – thumsb up!

    You got me to giggle in my office on a Monday. Not an easy feat!

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  9. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 5:20 pm

    Good question! One thing that is definitely different about magazines now is that there is a lot less fiction. I guess that pre-TV more people read. Allure publishing a short story would be revolutionary.

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  10. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 5:23 pm

    Maybe a trendy literary journal would be a good substitute for the pocket Freud, but I think Shalimar is today's Shalimar. Makes me want to dab on a few drops right now!

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  11. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 5:49 pm

    Wow, when I read the word “Chantilly” I got a complete sense memory of its smell, which was fleeting, but TOTAL. Wow, it was a powdery, almost honeyed and very feminine smell – I must have had some as a kid.
    I swear, I'm waiting for the article that says: Who Needs A Man?? 12 ways to enjoy life on your own!
    but I think I'll be in my grave by then…

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  12. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 6:18 pm

    Yikes, the 50's were a weird time. This article reminds of Mona Lisa Smile (anyone see that movie?). Not the greatest film-wise, but it gets the point across that the 50's were a time when women wore lots of powder but no perfume (lest they appear whore-ish), and point of LIFE was to find a man at whatever cost.
    Yikes again. So glad we're past that.

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  13. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 6:20 pm

    It's called “Double-Talk Dictionary”, by J. Edgar Hoover. Good luck tracking it down.

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  14. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 6:24 pm

    My uncle gave me a Chantilly gift set when I was about 12, and I overdosed on it then.

    I love your idea for an article. Heck, sometimes it seems that as long as you have a hand truck and one of those rubber things that help open jar lids you're better off living alone.

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  15. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 6:26 pm

    We've definitely come a long, long way.

    I forgot about Mona Lisa smile! Yes, I did see that. It was probably a better movie for the outfits than the artistic genius.

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  16. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 6:59 pm

    Yes, I agree. I think they paid a lot more attention to fidelity to the time period than they did to artistry. I was almost a little scared of the 50's after watching that movie. But back to perfume. Didn't Youth Dew become popular in the 50's? How was perfume perceived in the 60's?

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  17. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 7:23 pm

    Great article, Angela. I used to have a late 40s/early 50s copy of Harper's Bazaar and I love going through old magazines like that. I should have been an archivist or something.

    I wish there were ads these days that were as frank and honest as those Lucien Lelong ads. However, I'm probably the only one they'd speak to since everyone else is trying to aspire to luxury (however, smelling good on a dime might be more timely than ever now, eh?). And pity that “Delicious Closet Queen” was release five-plus decades too late for J. Edgar.

    I wonder if the 1950 dearth of ads was some kind of hangover from wartime austerity. However, 1938 wasn't exactly an economic boomtime, was it? Maybe just a matter of different market positioning of the two publications?

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  18. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 7:24 pm

    Oh, and that bit on page 139 was just a joke you were making, right? Right?!

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  19. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 7:28 pm

    Funny, I thought the “pocket Freud” was a winking reference to a divorced lady's, how shall we say, “experience.”

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  20. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 7:34 pm

    Tama, try this article on for size:

    http://tinyurl.com/6n69kv

    However, “Ms.” is one thing, but it's not the kind of thing that would probably ever end up in the pages of Cosmo.

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  21. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 8:00 pm

    Not just that she's an intellectual bohemian because of her independent ways? Yes, I'm sure you're right. After all, it's not Jung she's carting around.

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  22. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 8:01 pm

    I can't see it in Cosmo, either. I'd love to see someone in 1950 picking up an issue of Ms. in its heyday, though, to see her reaction.

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  23. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 8:05 pm

    Yes, Youth Dew was definitely popular then. My impression is that it became more acceptable, maybe even more expected, for women to buy their own perfume as time went on–in fact, you've probably heard the story about how Estee Lauder helped that along by offering Youth Dew in bath oil that could also be used as a scent.

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  24. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 8:06 pm

    Sadly, it was true! (ouch)

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  25. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 8:10 pm

    I think it must be the different audiences for the magazines that drove where perfume companies decided to advertise. After all, both issues are from November, which should be a big perfume month. Also, I have a 1933 Cosmopolitan that has even fewer ads for perfume (but a lot more fiction). (In 1933 Cosmo had a lot less movie star news and lonesome heart articles, too.)

    Poor J. Edgar. Compelled to live in the closet. I see him as a Diorissimo gal.

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  26. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 9:49 pm

    In the late twenties and early thirties, Ladies Home Journal ran gorgeous full-page perfume and cosmetics ads. Think the depression made the difference?

    My fifties Mom wore My Sin. She likes the longlostperfumes version, but she's getting a vintage bottle for Christmas.

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  27. Anonymous says:
    15 December 2008 at 10:46 pm

    Santa is being awfully kind to your mother! I'm guessing she's definitely erred on the “nice” rather than the “naughty” side this year.

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  28. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 2:03 am

    Growing up in the 50's I (think I) remember daytime TV shows where everyone in the audience was given a sample of perfume, usually “My Sin by Lanvin”.

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  29. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 9:51 am

    Nice! I wouldn't always think of game show contestants and My Sin, but everyone needs a little glamour, right?

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  30. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 10:02 am

    Yes, and then Diorissimo (gem) was released in the late 50's… although maybe French perfumes stuck to France back then?

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  31. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 10:41 am

    Oh no! You're right. Well, Hoover was around then, too. I just like the idea of a pugnacious little bulldog like Hoover getting dolled up and then spritzing some lily of the valley behind each year.

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  32. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 12:02 pm

    I had a bottle of Chantily when I was a girl. It was my first frag after Love's Baby Soft. I don't know if it still smells the same, but I have a small bottle from the drugstore that I keep for kicks & giggles. I think the new release of Givenchy L'Interdit is a much more sophisticated but similar version of what I remember from my childhood.

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  33. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 1:49 pm

    That was back when people dressed up a lot more than we do now. When we went shopping “downtown”, my mom would dress to the nines and put on Chanel–and this was Omaha, Nebraska. They'd even put me in little suit and bow tie. I looked like a dwarf accountant.

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  34. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 3:04 pm

    Hey Joe, thanks for the link to that article. I had my own “Boston Marriage” for 2 years after undergrad with my best friend- who moved in with me and my little one- it was such a happy time in my life. We were also just a couple of “straight” girls who preferred each other's company- we are both married with 2 kids now, but have often conspired to chuck the men and “get back together” !

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  35. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 3:20 pm

    One of my favorite things about creative commons licensing is getting to see these old Lysol ads. If you can't read the print, right-click and save the images to your computer, then open in a graphics program. AMAZING.

    Remember, ladies, your vagina is self-cleaning! Lysol no more!

    http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=lysol&l=4

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  36. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 8:14 pm

    “Queen For A Day.” Seriously.

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  37. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 8:43 pm

    I have a sample of Chantilly somewhere–I'll have to dig it out for old time's sake.

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  38. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 8:44 pm

    Sounds adorable! Nowadays people don't dress up for anything, and it kind of makes me sad.

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  39. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 8:45 pm

    That's nice–sort of like you have another sister now.

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  40. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 8:46 pm

    Hey, if I had Lysol in the house even to clean the toilet it would be a minor miracle.

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  41. Anonymous says:
    16 December 2008 at 8:50 pm

    Yep.

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  42. Anonymous says:
    17 December 2008 at 12:17 am

    I hear you. I love to dress up.

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  43. Anonymous says:
    17 December 2008 at 12:52 am

    It's fun! Bring on the rhinestones!

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  44. Anonymous says:
    17 December 2008 at 1:34 pm

    And some people say history is boring! I loved, loved this article! It was like peeking in at my mom's mind when she was a young adult! Thank you for giving me an early Christmas present!

    But I don't thing Shalimar is still the “it” fragrance. I think Angel is -not for me, but for a lot of my peers (early 40's) and the younger generation. The reason I say this is because its all I can smell around me here at work! LOL!

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  45. Anonymous says:
    17 December 2008 at 1:59 pm

    I smell a lot of Angel out there, too, that's for sure! But would Angel be the choice of the risque divorcee? Maybe…

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  46. Anonymous says:
    21 December 2008 at 10:59 am

    This reminds me of a similar article in a 50's mag that advised girls to be quiet in order to catch a man – luring him in by allowing him to do the talking, while seeming “mysterious” and interesting beside her talkative friends. Odd times.
    And as I remember it, the perfume ads were few and far between in those magazines too.

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  47. Anonymous says:
    21 December 2008 at 12:22 pm

    Sadly, I bet we could find that advice in books about dating today, too!

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