Elizabeth's Passion

How much of my love for Elizabeth Taylor's sweet, smokey Passion for Men is tied in with my love of the woman herself?  Dated, ridiculous and extravagant are just some of the adjectives applied to both the actress and the product. When this fragrance was created, her days as a movie star were over. However, this is no puny attempt to wrestle money from the public. Her Box Office allure was indeed finished but her fame remained undiminished.

When Passion for Men was launched in 1989, Taylor's attention was firmly on the fight against AIDS,  a disease that was decimating Hollywood. I use the word decimate loosely. It means killing one in ten. I have a horrible feeling that more than ten percent of Hollywood's gay community was wiped out by that epidemic, but the facts were hidden behind the carefully-crafted eulogies... The fact is that nobody wanted to get angry about this "gay" disease until our Liz got angry.  Angry was not the word.  Used to being cossetted and adored, thank God her inner Velvet Brown turned petulant. That anger, that petulance, that MGM-induced arrogance has never been used to such effect. I work on television so have to steer clear of exaggeration for fear of repercussions; therefore I have never said that I believe that Elizabeth Taylor's overwhelming fight against AIDS has saved thousands, perhaps millions of lives.  But, I believe it.

I don't care that she has, media-wise, been given the credit. She deserves it. As the most famous, the most beautiful, the most talked-about woman in the world, how easy to settle into a life of talk shows, comedy roasts and lifetime achievement awards?  When Barbra Streisand was asked why she had not done more for AIDS, she replied: "I have many causes. Liz has only one".  Well, thank God for single-minded Liz.  Let's not forget that eight years before she had settled into the ultimate Middle American Dream of being a Republican Senator's wife.

So, Passion for Men. The world's most appalling bottle? Perhaps! I hope she knocked the design off in minutes. But averting an epidemic seems far more important than a flacon. The fragrance itself is dated, ridiculous and extravagant, which is precisely why I want you to buy a bottle today.

          [by PETER]