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I recently received a phone call from a friend, asking, “Who is Tom Ford’s Mystery Man?” The caller was a man of science and not familiar with either fashion or beauty.

“What do you know about Ford?” I asked.

“I saw an ad in the Sunday paper about ‘the Black Orchid.’ You see the Black Orchid was in the Brenda Starr cartoon strip. She had an ongoing relationship with Basil St. John, her mystery man who cultivated Black Orchids.”

Okay I’m no aficionado of cartoon strips, but Brenda Starr is the red-headed reporter for the “Daily Flash”. St. John is an elegant man who wears an eye patch, and he needed black orchids for their serum. It was an antidote for whatever ailed him.

So, my friend thinks Ford has a wicked sense of humor because he used a cartoon to invent a $95 fragrance for “society dolls,” his term and not mine. He also tells me to check out the Brenda and Basil doll collection online. He said the doll’s clothes reminded him of what Ford’s model wore in the ad. “I’ll bet you the mystery man is Timothy Dalton.”

You see Dalton starred as Basil in a Brenda Starr movie with Brooke Shields. Well, my friend believes that Ford’s next scent for men will be introduced as a serum. But can the industry endure another Black Orchid launch? During the launch, Ford has acted like Howard Stern, the radio shock-jock.

With revelations that he wears no underwear, that his mother doesn’t like it when he says he wears no underwear, that he doesn’t use deodorant and that he wanted his fragrance to smell like a man’s crotch, even the fashion press seems worn out.

Anyhow, our cyber newsroom believes Tom-Tom (he likes to bang his own drum) is starved for press. After Ford left Gucci a couple of years back because the new owners didn’t want to give him creative control (I wonder why), he lost power and the fashion press kind of ignored him.

Anyhow, the wrong kind of press doesn’t always help. One Saks sales associate said that there was “no money left to market the product because Ford needs to be put up in a duplex.” Others were embarrassed about his comments, believing he denigrated the scent. “Ford doesn’t care about the little guy that’s got to sell his product.”

Those of us in the business know that the sales people working the groundfloor are the gladiators in this arena, and they make all the difference. Sure, the naughty-boy act gets you press, but… .

Well, what do you think? Has Tom-Tom been banging his drum too loud? Is there a mystery man in Ford’s future and a “serum”? Let us know.