Odd things about Sabrina

There were several odd things about Sabrina... here are some of them

20 October 07 - Found when Googling 'Norma Sykes' at Nelson Evergreen's blog. In production by Neil Evans is a comic strip starring Sabrina! It says...

Character studies for a forthcoming six page comic.... Sabrina (aka Norma Sykes) was a frighteningly well equipped glamour model who landed a non-speaking cameo on the UK's Arthur Askey show in the late fifties and became, for a time, very, very popular indeed. The aggressive make up and upholstery make for a caricaturised, even frenzied sort of take on womanliness, but Norma was clearly having the time of her life, and oozes bygone charm.

15 March 07 - Would You Believe - in March 2007 this photo sold on eBay for... $US26.80!

12 March 07 - Sabrina has been appointed the patron of the Vauxhall Victor Club

5 January 2007 - Now here's a beauty.  Meet the 1957 Sabrina caravan! As the ad says, it's "the van for the family man with three children."  More like - it's the van for the man when the wife and three children are out of town!

Now this is something I get unusual and perverse pleasure from.

From the University of Leeds - Honorary graduates

The University has conferred honorary awards on a host of individuals from the worlds of science, art, academia, industry, politics, medicine, entertainment and many other fields.

1959

Norma Sykes (DLitt)

Woohoo! Doctor of Letters!

I guess you can finally say you've arrived if you're on a phonecard!  This was found on eBay on 14 Jan 06...

Sabrina - Vintage Film Magazines Series - £10 unit Phonecard.

This card was issued by Unitel and each card is limited to an issue of 1,000.
It is unused and the Reference Number is UT0027.

The Samba Sabrina? You bet! She was a cultural icon and here is the proof! (1 July 2005) You can enter the competition to record the Samba Sabrina!

The caption reads: 1st May 1965: A wax head of Frankenstein and torso of film starlet, Sabrina at Gem's (Wax Models) Ltd, in the Portobello Road area of west London. The company makes store mannequins and models of all kinds for exhibition all over the world. (Photo by Chris Ware/Keystone Features/ G e t t y Images)

4 Mar 04 - A 1960's lorry made by ERF Limited of Sandbach Cheshire was nicknamed 'Sabrina', reports Carl Johnson. Apparently it had quite a curvy bonnet. Carl will try to get us a picture of an ERF Sabrina!

Recently received an email from a person from the Institute for Cultural Research at the University of Western Sydney! Perhaps there's a major new investigation into the cultural importance of Sabrina?

The Sabrina Society?
Amherst College in 1963 must have been really keen on Sabrina... or maybe not...

Click to enlarge

Sabrina Trademark confusion? From a page entitled TRADE MARKS LIKELY TO DECEIVE OR CAUSE CONFUSION.

4.1 For the ground for rejection to exist, the ordinary person should reasonably expect some connection between the organisation or person and the goods or services for which registration is sought. See, for example, "Sabrina", Charles Kidd & Co's Application., (1959) 24 AOJP 1988. In the case of the name of a well known person there should be a good reason why a connection would be attributed by the appropriate public between the goods or services and the person.

In the above case Sabrina was a famous entertainer renowned for her outstanding physical attributes and the product for which registration was sought was a bust development cream. It was held by the Registrar that an ordinary person would believe that the goods were endorsed by the artist.

(Found and added 21 April 03)

Sabrina was again cited as a legal precedent in
FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, McCorquodale v Masterson [2004] FCA 1247
(i.e. the nasty "Lady Diana's estate vs Franklin mint" saga) which says...

In Sabrina Trade Mark, the opponent was a well-known British actress, who worked under the name “Sabrina”. She opposed the registration of her name as a mark for a cosmetic cream for bust development. The objection arose under s 26 of the Trade Marks Act 1955 (Cth), which required the consent of a living person where the name of that person was used as a trade mark. The applicant for registration submitted that Sabrina was not the name of a “living person” for the purposes of this provision. As to this, the Deputy Registrar of Trade Marks said, at 1990:

I am satisfied that the English actress and stage personality Miss Norma Sykes was well-known by her professional name “Sabrina” in Australia before application 137, 460 was lodged. I am satisfied that the average member of the Australian purchasing public would, when seeing the word “Sabrina”, immediately think of the stage personality who would be far better known by the word/name “Sabrina”, than she would be as Miss Norma Sykes. I consider also that the average purchaser would, when seeing the name “Sabrina” on goods of the kind claimed by application 137460, wonder whether the goods had any association with the stage personality whom they knew by the name “Sabrina”. I think that many purchasers might consider that the person well-known by the name “Sabrina” had some direct association with the goods claimed by application 137460. The motive of the applicants in this matter in adopting the word “Sabrina” as their trade mark would not have any relevance for [the] purposes of this decision.

Added 21 Nov 04

How old is Sabrina? Without wishing to invade a lady's carefully-chosen chronological boudoir, it is vital that we know. There were many contradictory and inaccurate hints and statements in magazines and articles, but the debate about Sabrina's birthday and age has finally been settled conclusively. Sabrina herself settled the day as May 19, and David J provided the final piece of the puzzle.

Where does Sabrina now live? After lengthy doubt about the continent she lived in, we now know she lives in North Hollywood thanks to the Mail on Sunday article. Follow the exhaustive amateur efforts (using only the internet) to narrow down the possibilities. (To protect Sabrina, her residential address is not published here.)

Mike wrote...I thought someone else would have brought this up by now. Back in the mid to late 50's, when Triumph had its TR3 and TR3a sports cars, they made some LeMans cars with special engines. The engines were twin cam, and the cam drivers on the front of the engine were covered by huge protruding humps. Someone in the competitions department made some mention that it looked like or reminded them of Sabrina, and the engines have been forever known as Sabrina twin cams. 18 Feb 2003

Hawker Hunter Sabrinas : F.6A XF832 at Coventry. These large fairings, known as Sabrinas after a 1950s pinup who also boasted a pair of curvy objects, collect used links from the cannon's ammunition belts. The two pipes towards the rear are where used cartridge cases are ejected."

(http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/hunter/fuselage.html)

And here's another picture, courtesy of Lee Russell, who explained...

A Sabrina Site contributor reported that:
Brian Hawes (deceased) used to create metal bust supporters (made by car mechanics) to hold her & push her out - she could leave this appliance on for many hours per day. Brian travelled with her to attach & release her from this construction.

Sabrina denied these allegations - of course!

8 July 2006 - It was believed that there was a road named after Sabrina, but it seems to have been adopted by her after the fact.  The Wolverhampton Transportation Officer says:

I am unable to shed any light on the origination of the name for the road as the name was allocated by Tettenhall Urban District Council (UDC) in 1953, adopted by them in 1963 and when Tettenhall UDC merged with Wolverhampton Borough Council in 1966 it was formally adopted by them then.

Regards
Anthony Patten
Transportation Officer

Transportation Development
Wolverhampton City Council

If the road was named in 1953, it could not have been named after Our Sabrina.  Alas.