This is not really Sabrina... or is it?

22 July 2010 - Found on eBay.

1959 BUICK INVICTA 445 HARDTOP RHD OWNED BY SABRINA

See the Youtube video

Up for auction is this incredible piece of automotive history. This RIGHT HAND DRIVE 1959 Buick Invicta pillarless hardtop was originally owned by legendary British screen starlet "Sabrina" during her extended stay in Australia in 1959.

It is rare to find a car like this in right hand drive. It has been fully registered for many years in NSW, and was even used as a wedding car up until about 2003. It has been off the road since then.

This was one of the most advanced cars available in the late 1950s. It is fitted with the famous "Wildcat 445" V8 with Buick's "Dynaflow" constant velocity transmission.

In 1959, only a movie star could afford a car like this, especially with all the optional extras it has! It is fitted with factory air conditioning, power seats, power windows, power brakes, power steering and station-seeking radio. It was originally Lido Lavender metallic, and looked every bit the movie star's car!

The Invicta was one of the first muscle cars...it combined the shortest and lightest chassis with the biggest and most powerful engine. The Wildcat engine is actually 401 cubic inches. The "445" refer to the massive 445 foot pounds of torque.The car runs well, drives well and stops well.

Interior is very tidy. All original metallic bronze upholstery - as sat on by Sabrina - is still in remarkable condition.

I will happily work with the transport company of your choice to arrange shipping anywhere in the world. I would prefer to see it stay in Australia, but will let it go to any Sabrina fans anywhere in the world.

In the end it sold for $7,900 after 38 bids.

12 March 2010

Thanks to Sir David Jackson, we have a cartoon from Span Extra - Winter 1958. Thanks again, David!

14 February 2010

Have you (admit it - I know you have) ever wondered how Sabrina is related to Kevin Bacon? Wonder no more. Thanks to the spooky oracleofbacon.org we now know the truth... Sabrina has a Bacon number of 3!

6 September 2009

The Guardian, Wednesday 29 July 2009

Why is Christopher Biggins changing his name?

The veteran panto star has followed in the footsteps of Prince and Sting, and says that, henceforth, he will be known simply as 'Biggins'

"Madonna, Prince, Sting, Bono, Seal, Dido, Cher, Eminem, Biggins, Pink, Beyoncé, Nelly, Morrissey. Hold on a second. Biggins? That's right, Biggins. Or rather the artist formerly known as Christopher Biggins. The 60-year-old actor is the highest-paid panto star in Britain and now, perhaps to prove he's a genuine A-lister, wants to be known only by his surname.

"I love being like Marilyn or Sabrina or Madonna," Biggins said earlier this week, "and my breasts are bigger." Nice.

4 July 2009

Hi, my name is Colin S from the newspaper, the Loughborough Echo, Leicestershire, UK. It's just a local paper. I'm looking for information on Sabrina, Norma Sykes. In Loughborough we have a flowerbed that is called Sabrina's Bust and I have found out it was named after Norma. What I need to find out is why? Did she visit Loughborough? What is the connection? If you can help I'd appreciate it.

Regards Colin

Maddeningly, on the back of this photo of Sabby visiting polio victims in hospital, was an article on Sabrina - these remnants were the only words left after the picture had been cut out... It must be Australian as Lillian Roxon was an Aussie journo, but where and when it was published remains unknown.

Continued from page 3

SABRINA beats JAYNE MANSFIELD to the punch in the opening round of The Battle of the Blondes - with LILLIAN ROXON the referee.

... read about the battles of the
(?) overseas. Now we are about to
(o)ne on our own doorstep.

... Aussies are going to have the
(?) for what promises to be - in a
(?) sort of way - the brawl of the
(?)

(The contes?)tants? On my right, SABRINA
On my left, JAYNE MANS(FIELD)

(Their weapo)ns? Sharp, well-manicured claws
(and even shar)per tongues.

(?) contest everyone is looking for-
(?) the contestants are so evenly
(h)as been going on for a long time,
(J)ayne first arrived in London a
(few?) years ago for a film
(?)t as Sabrina was at
(?) her career.

(?)ntinue right here in
(?)en Jayne arrives for
(?) premiere just as
(?) again, is at the height
(?) with Australian fans.
(Sabrina) well. And let me
(?) no one steals Sabrina's thunder
(?)y with it. I don't know Jayne
(?) I'll give her a little friendly
(DON')T make an enemy of Sabrina.

I adore Marilyn. I am one of her greatest
fans. And now you're trying to make me say
I'm jealous of Jayne. It's too much. Why, I've
never even met the girl.

That is true. Although Jayne and Sabrina
have been in the same place together several
times, they have never met. Some rumors said
Jayne refused to meet Sabby. Others said it
was Sabby who would have nothing to do
with Jayne.

What does Sabby say? "We were supposed
to meet in London. A journalist, Arthur Helliwell
arranged it. I turned up. Jayne didn't.
"But", Sabrina added graciously, "I think
it's unfair to say she was being catty. When
you're in show business your time is not your
own. Being a big star, I know that. If Jayne
didn't come, it must have been because she
was too busy with important business
commitments she couldn't have avoided.
Does Sabby think Jayne will be too "busy"
this time? . . . "Probably. But I would like
to meet her very much. I'd like to see what...

(?)ness but because of their spectacular me(asurements).

I'll repeat them - 41-18-35. "We have (completely)
different figures," said Sabrina. (?)
both girls fight it out for the title. Que(?)
the Sweater Girls and both girls have wai(sts so)
tiny that they almost disappear.

When they started off neither girl (could?)
really sing or dance. Now Sabrina sings (and?)
dances will enough to be paid 1000 pounds a (week?)
to appear in a variety show. And Jayne h(as an?)
equally comfortable living in movies (?)
much the same thing.

"The one thing Jayne and I do have in (common)
is a flair for comedy," said Sabrina. (?)
couldn't imagine Jayne playing a serious (role?)
in a movie and I'm the same. I (have?)
no ambition to play Lady Macb(eth) (?)

According to people who (know?)
them, both girls, in private life (are?)
quiet, friendly and natural. (There?)
is nothing of the "Sex Queen" a(bout)
either of them - away from (the)
bright lights.

"Ooh, you'd better not say (that?)
in the papers," said Sabrina. "I want p(eople?)
to think I'm the most glamorous creatur(e on)
earth, not just a homebody. You stop (?)
Your're trying to (?)

On the back - another frustrating article cut off ; an unusual article by Annie, Sabby's mother. These are the only extant phrases, and no indication of the name or date of the publication, but it would have been Australian, probably 1959]. Extrapolated text is in parentheses; good-guess text has a question mark after it.

If you see her, you will just see a girl with a very nice figure and a full bust. She is a very tall girl, and can carry these measurements gracefully.
The waist slopes in very gradually...

she is thrilled by admiration and flattered that people like her. People admire her blond hair which she always does herself and is...

SPOKE THE DREADED WO(RD) POLIO
Other little girls have th
years of their lives when they
teenagers. My daughter, at the
11, was a cripple.
They took her away in an amb(ulance)
and wouldn't let me come with h(er)
thought of her as a keen swim(mer)
beautiful, healthy child - and I

She was in a plaster cast fo(r)
months. The plaster went all th(e)
to the hip and she could hardly m(ove?)

When the plaster finally cam(e off?)
her leg was quite black. She l(ooked?)
at it and cried and cried. Fo(r)
months she refused to get out of (?)
For the next three years I tri(ed to?)
keep her spirits up, but it was a (?)
time, seeing doctors, having opera(tions)
moving in and out of hospitals.

When she was 16 she decided (to go?)
to London - not to seek a fortune b(ut to)
get more help for her leg.

Even today she is far from c(?)
We have been to three Australian (hos)
pitals, and each time Sabby start(ed to)
cry.

"Let's get away from this gl(oomy?)
place," she'd say.

Recently she did a show for
crippled children at a hospital. (?)
way though she broke down. "M(um?)
she said, "I just can't look at (all these?)
poor children."

It would take months of plastic (surgery)
to fix up Sabrina's scarred ankle.

That's why she'd rather wear (long?)
skirts and try to forget it.

Because she didn't have no(rmal?)
boy-girl friendships in those impor(tant)
teenage years, Sabrina is still very (much?)
of a baby about love and men. (The?)
publicity builds her up as a glamo(rous)
sex queen, but actually she is not

26 April 2009 - A new odd thing about Sabrina : Sabrina in Mandarin calligraphy! Or so they say! I'd welcome any Mandarin Speaker to confirm the translation. I'd hate it to actually say "Sablina" or "Toilet Unavailable" or similar :-(

28 Jan 2008 - Keith from Classic Car Mart (classic-car-mart.co.uk) wrote to ask...

This month, we've got a feature on a 1974 US-spec MG BGT. Nothing unusual about that for a classic car mag - until I tell you that this one is called the 'Sabrina' model thanks to its rubber bumpers that stick out. Now, to illustrate this, I could do with getting hold of a couple of hi-res images of Sabrina Duncan that show off her, er, sticky outy bits! Actually, a couple of those, and a couple of her looking like the glam Fifties screen starlet that she was. So, do you think you can help?

Of course I could help.

4 Mar 04 - A 1960's lorry made by ERF Limited of Sandbach Cheshire was nicknamed 'Sabrina', reports Carl Johnson. It had quite a curvy bonnet.

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 Trophy

Cleveland Park Middlesbrough in 1964 - riders competed for The SABRINA Trophy. The photo shows winner Ivan Mauger, Middlesbrough Promoter at the time and Sabrina (fashion model)

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.

10 May 2010 - The comic book story continues! Paul wrote to say:

Hi Mark,

My name is Paul O'Connell. I'm a British comic strip artist.

You might remember some time ago you posted something on the Sabrina site about artist Nelson Evergreen starting work on a Sabrina comic strip?

Well, that was because years ago I had come across your site and had thought the whole Sabrina 'phenomena' might make for an interesting, off-beat comic strip. So I had written a script and asked my friend Nelson if he would like to illustrate it, which he agreed to do. But then not very far into the drawing he decided he didn't fancy it anymore and the idea was shelved (he much prefers drawing monsters and kids stuff!)

Recently, however, I was invited to produce a single page comic strip for a comic newspaper due to be published in July that would feature twenty or so artists all with a page each. In thinking what I could do for this project, the idea of a Sabrina strip returned to me. And I decided that I would have a go at re-writing the script for the strip and produce it in my own style, which initially I just didn't envision for the story.

But it's an approach I've used previously with biographical comic strips such as this one about John Coltrane: http://www.soundofdrowning.com/coltrane.html. The comic newspaper that it is intended for is not a profit making endeavour. Believe me, there is no money to be made from the kind of comics that I make! I do what I do for the fun and the love of it only. The way the newspaper project will work is that all the artists involved would pay for the printing of the newspaper themselves, each of us chipping in a share, and then we would each receive a proportional number of copies in return which we can distribute however we like. There will be 7000 copies in total. Probably the majority will be given away free and as is the nature of newspapers, read by more than one person.

I guess my question to you is, if the sabrina site is credited on the strip, are you ok with all this? Knowing that you'll at least get your website promoted alongside the strip to several thousand people in the UK?  I really really hope so! I tried to keep as close to the facts and timeline of the 'Sabrina story' as you have so meticulously researched but there are a few liberties taken which I hope are forgivable.

But I'm definitely coming from a 'fan' perspective and the whole thing wouldn't exist without your work so I am obviously very grateful to you and want to give you credit. I would be happy to credit you personally as a co-author if you'd like that too. So, here I am most humbly seeking your thumbs up. I look forward to your response with fingers crossed that it is a positive one.

Best wishes, Paul --  
Paul O'Connell  
oconnellp AT fastmail DOT fm

Well, here at the Sabrina HQ, we were all abuzz with excitement. We had often wondered what became of that fascinating Evergreen comic idea. Today - 10 May 2010, we received copies of Paul's great tribute to Sabrina - in colour (size: 3.5M) and greyscale, which Paul said he actually preferred (size: 2.0M).

Thanks, Paul! They're great.

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 - Looking for the 1957 Sabrina caravan ad?

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)

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 137,460, 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 137,460. 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.)

In July 2008, Martin of the Netherlands wrote to add...

More car-related Sabrina-stuff! As I am presently translating an English book on classic cars (into Dutch), I had to look up something in an MG book called "MG by McComb". There I read that the 1973 MGB got big rubber bumper overriders nicknamed, you guessed it, "Sabrinas". This is clearly the English equivalent of the Dagmars on American cars of the '50's, which were also nicknamed after a well-built tv-star. Kindest regards, Martin, The Netherlands.

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.