Looking to get him to ask you out? Desperate to regain your husband’s attention? Or maybe you simply want men killing each other to get at you? David J. Trulove can help.

David J. Trulove is the purported head of Trulove Perfume. Trulove perfume ads peppered comic books in the 1950s. Like many ads for fragrance today, they promise seduction and, curiously, bypass what the perfume actually smells like. But Mr. Trulove doesn’t mess around with fancy models in diaphonous gowns and vague references to the modern woman. No, he goes right to the meat: love and power.

A friend sent me a full-page ad for Trulove Perfume scanned from an old horror comic book. The ad features nine fragrances. Mr. Trulove offered his love potions at bargain prices — generally $2 each, or three bottles for $5 (except Fury, which commanded a full $3 a bottle) — with a money-back guarantee.

Let’s go through the Trulove oeuvre, starting with the most innocuous, and ending with something Lady Macbeth might have been afraid to wear.

As Robin pointed out when I forwarded her the ad, Red Rose is the only fragrance a person might dab on for her own pleasure. “You will thank your ‘Lucky Stars’ that you sent for Red Rose perfume when you SEE the way it will WIN YOU over.” Another benefit is that thanks to its name, we actually have an idea of what this one might smell like.

Now we venture toward seduction. Maybe you’re feeling like a doormat. Mr. Trulove will not have that. “Do YOU want to RULE MEN? Make them GIVE IN TO YOU? Then use BLACK TULIP Perfume NOW! BLACK TULIP has a languorous scent that has the POWER to OVERCOME MEN. Because BLACK TULIP is so strong, I advise you to use only 5 or 6 drops under the arms at night.” Wow!

It could be you don’t actually need to rule over men, you simply want them to obey you. If so, you’ll want to try Chez-Elle. “Do you want him to say, ‘Darling, I adore you. I worship you. I’ll do ANYTHING for you!’ […] Another woman told us that she blesses the day she first used CHEZ-ELLE because now her husband comes home at night to help her.” A scent that encourages your spouse to do chores? I’m not sure why more perfume houses haven’t worked that angle.

If you want to “make STRONG men WEAK,” you’ll want “…a little BLUE PASSION behind your ears. Do this for a few weeks and watch the way BLUE PASSION works for YOU.”

At last you’ve found the man of your dreams, but he’s a slippery one. “If you love a man who doesn’t want to say ‘Yes,’ use TRIKKY. Before he even knows what’s happening to him, he’ll be in your POWER. A slave to YOU.”

Time to reel in the loved one legally. Lovescent will do the job. “Certain perfumes seem to have a MAGIC-like POWER OVER MEN. LOVESCENT is one of these. MAKE him ask YOU to MARRY him.”

It’s not over yet. You’ve got to keep up his interest. Enter Mantrap. “A happily married woman once told me, ‘All my life I dreamed that someday I would find a perfume that could raise a man’s ardor. I wanted a passionate, pulse-stirring, maddening perfume that would make him pull me into his arms and say to me over and over again, “I love you, I love only YOU.”’ […] If you have the courage to try MANTRAP send me your name and address on the Order Card.”

Yikes, now hubby’s attention wanders! Trulove prescribes Gardenia. “Win back your HUSBAND with GARDENIA perfume. […] Apply GARDENIA over your body every night. See if it doesn’t make him want YOU, desire YOU with all the passion of a jealous lover.”

Now we come to the big one, the perfume worth its own storyline: Fury. “DEAR FRIEND: It was in a café in Singapore that I first met FURY. She was the most beautiful and exotic woman I have ever know. Men killed each other just for her favors. And when she beckoned, men leaped to obey. For this was the POWER OF FURY and no man dared to refuse her. […] But please use FURY carefully. It is very powerful.”

For the name alone, I wouldn’t mind a few drops of Trikky, and I admit to being curious about Fury, but I wear perfume for myself. David J. Trulove, if you’re listening, I could use a bottle of Meditation, the perfume that keeps the phone on silent, the bathwater hot, and magically surrounds me with vintage detective novels and old silk kimonos. 

Have any of you heard of Trulove? Do you know what these perfumes smell like?

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