Sabrina in Books!

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Now sorted by date as of 2023-07-12

From Terry-Thomas' Autobiography – Filling The Gap (1959) - p. 96

Now that I come to think of it, I did once play a hero and a romantic one at that; it was for Picture Post. [29 October 955] . They were doing one of those three-dimensional picture features (you know, the things you look at through red and green glasses) and the subject was 'My Fondest Dream'.

I said I could imagine myself as a Cavalier rescuing a maiden from the Roundheads. They gave me Sabrina as my heroine - just for the day, of course.

After we had shot these pieces of Tom- or Terry-foolery, Freddie Mullally, the Editor, took us both to lunch at a very charming little Italian restaurant off the Gloucester Road. We were discussing cooking during the meal and Sabrina boasted that she didn't know anything about the subject at all. Freddie said, 'Do you want to marry a rich man?' Sabrina answered, 'Yes, I suppose I do.'

'Well, those marriages very rarely last,' said Freddie, 'and it's within the bounds of possibility that, by the time it's broken up, the charms for which you are famous will have lost some of their glamour and resilience. You'd be surprised what a help being able to cook can be.'
Was it George Meredith who said, 'Cooking lasts longer than kisses' ? I know it wasn't me - because I am a romantic and, much as I love food . . . well, you see what I mean.

Although I know Sabrina quite well, I wonder how she started. Probably in a beauty competition. She comes from Blackpool and, when I used to play there, I seemed to spend half my time in that district - Morecambe, Fleetwood, St Anne's - judging beauty competitions.
I always feel a bit of a Charlie at these affairs because I have never really been able to appreciate why, for reasons other than hunger, a girl can bring herself to enter one of these competitions.

I once judged a competition in Shepherd Market with Lady Lewisham, and I noticed she fell, hook, line and sinker, for one of the entrants. I didn't think much of her - the entrant, I mean - but Lady Lewisham has a way with her and she got it. Afterwards, I asked her why she was so keen on this particular girl. She replied, 'She's the only one who's clean.'
I usually chose the one without corns.

The New Look - A social history of the forties and fifties in Britain, Harry Hopkins, 1963

The mechanical sophistication of television brought a boom to the gimmick industry. A beard, and a striped butcher’s apron were enough to make Philip Harben, “the TV cook”, more famous than Escoffier or Brillat-Savarin can ever have been.

The ability of a young schoolmaster to answer recondite history questions, thus doubling his money in the “Double Your Money” quiz, kept the strange name of Plantagenet Fry in the headlines for weeks.

By assuming the name 'Sabrina' and merely remaining silent before the cameras, a Miss Norma Sykes, a Blackpool landlady’s daughter, became a sort of national monument.

The “radio personality” had sketched the preliminary pattern. Now TV, with its voracious appetite for new faces, new gimmicks, transcended it. Given luck, a good gimmick and a resourceful publicity man, a snack-bar girl or lorry-driver of small but particular talent could now attain, in weeks, a fame and an income far eclipsing that of a Cabinet Minister.

KNAVES OF CLUBS - by Al Burnett, 1963

Sabrina was a hostess at the Stork at one time. She arrived from Blackpool one day, and came in to see me. She had a very strong North-country accent, but a beautiful face and a striking and breath-taking figure. Her name then was Norma Sykes. She was a big success as a hostess with us for a while, but she left us to try her luck in television.

Norma managed o get a job on an Arthur Askey show, and became an overnight sensation, because of her remarkable figure. So she left the Stork as Norma, and became a television star as Sabrina...

Sabrina became famous when she left the Stork, but often came back when she was a star personality in West End shows and on television.

One night she came in with Hollywood star Steve Cochran. Suddenly he leaned over and slapped her! They had had a row while sitting at the bar. Apparently the argument was over some dog he had bought her. Anyway the next thing I knew was that Steve had given her a "right-hander"!

Poor Sabrina nearly went down for the count and flew out of the Stork Room in tears. However a few nights later they were back together again at the Stork, as happy as two love birds.

From Drags to Riches : my autobiography

by Danny La Rue, 987

Sabrina came in for the La Rue treatment, too. She had a broad Lancashire accent, which I captured perfectly.
Her real name was Norma Sykes and she had been discovered by Arthur Askey. When she came into Winston's to see the show, she was appearing at the Prince of Wales in revue with Arthur and Dickie Henderson.
She hated seeing herself parodied on stage. 'I don't talk like that,' she said in exactly the same accent I was using on stage, and walked out of the club very distressed.
She was one of the few ladies who ever objected. She didn't see it as flattery, she thought I was taking the mickey in a nasty way. She missed the whole point of the joke.

From " Box of Delights: The Golden Age of Television " by Hilary Kingsley & Geoff Tibballs. Published by Macmillan, 989.

Sabrina drove men to distraction in the fifties with her version of the fuller figure. With vital statistics of 42-19-36, Sabrina (real name Norma Sykes) was an enormous hit on Arthur Askey's television series 'Before Your Very Eyes'. Aged just seventeen and the daughter of a Blackpool landlady, she was the original dumb blonde. Indeed, part of her gimmick was that she never said a word on screen.

In 965 she tired of her image and went to the States with the intention of becoming a serious actress. Instead she married a successful young Beverly Hills surgeon, Dr Harold Melsheimer, who had never heard of her. This, she said, was part of the attraction. However, they were subsequently divorced. Now fifty [in 989] , Sabrina still lives in California and only rarely visits England.

Thanks to Simon Vaughan of the APTS for finding this Sabrina Snippet.

The Oldie Annual - Still With Us: Sabrina (1993) - Cy Young recounts Sabrina's career.

From "Va va voom : bombshells, pin-ups, sexpots and glamour girls" by Steve Sullivan (1995), p.288 (thanks to archive.org)

Sabrina: One of those wonderfully absurd sex symbols who could only have emerged in the 950s, the woman born Norma Ann Sykes was a rising young beauty queen and pin-up model in London before exploding into overnight British TV stardom in 955 as the ultimate "dumb blonde" on the program "Before Your Very Eyes".

Her classic blonde beauty, stunning 41-19-36 curves, and knack for outrageous publicity enabled her to remain a popular glamour queen until her retirement in 969.

Decades of Fashion, by Harriet Worsley (2000)

British film star Sabrina, (formerly Norma Sykes) of Blackpool, shows what a push-up-and-point bra can do for the figure.

She uses a wide belt to emphasise her small waist.

Tight polo necks and round necks clung to the body and showed off the figure.

...and June Whitfield - The Autobiography (2000)

Anyone who saw those shows of Arthur's will remember Sabrina. Arthur's idea was to have a glamorous blonde in the show; her magnificent figure came as an unexpected bonus and it bolstered the ratings no end.

Her real name was Norma Sykes, but Arthur felt something more exotic was called for and rechristened her after the play 'Sabrina Fair', which was running at the time. To the crew, by the way, she was known as the Hunchfront of Lime Grove, and it was interesting how the fellas always found pressing reasons to go up into the lighting grid above the studio floor whenever she was on.

She later had acting and singing lessons and did quite a polished cabaret act, but to begin with she behaved like the original dumb blonde. Arthur took her to open a church fete once, and when she was presented with a bouquet by the vicar she said, 'No thanks, I've got plenty of flowers at home.'

Arthur felt she became slightly intoxicated by her success and I remember her breezing into rehearsals very late once. 'I'm so sorry,' she said. I had a late night and just couldn't wake up.'

'It's all right, dear,' said Arthur. 'On a wonderful day like this I wonder you bothered to turn up at all.'

The tail, as Arthur said, had begun to wag the dog, and eventually she had to go. The parting was quite amicable and she and Arthur remained on good terms.
When last heard of, she was married to a highly successful doctor and living in Beverly Hills.

by Betty Driver [1920-2011]) pub. 2000, page 60.

Sabrina was a sweet girl who didn't do much. At one time she worked with Arthur Askey, just walking on and off the stage, looking stunning.

She was a gimmick: tall with a huge bust. Her real name was Norma Sykes and we liked each other straight away, but nobody else would talk to her. Whilst we rehearsed the revue she sat in the corner and looked worried.

I asked her what the matter was and she told me she’d forgotten to bring her corset and couldn't go on without it. I sent a taxi to her house to collect it and I couldn’t believe my eyes when it arrived: it was a huge contraption with metal supports to push up her bosom. I helped her put it on.

Naked she looked terribly misshapen: tiny waist and gigantic chest. Renee Houston looked her up and down and said, ‘Well, it’s the first time I’ve seen tits top of the bill!’

---

British film star Sabrina, [formerly Norma Sykes of Blackpool], shows what a push-up- and-point bra can do for the figure. She uses a wide belt to emphasise her small waist. Tight polo necks and round necks clung to the body and showed off the figure.

2005 - A delightful biography from "The Encyclopedia of British Film"

Sabrina (b Cheshire, 935). Actress. RN: Norma Sykes. Blondely bulbous non-actress, first on TV as a dumb blonde in Arthur Askey's Before Your Very Eyes (1954), made a few film 'appearances' in the 50s, mainly in sex-symbol cameo roles, like that in Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957). then turned up in US films such as The House of the Black Death (1965). other British films: Stock Car (1955), Ramsbottom Rides Again (1956), Just My Luck (1957), Make Mine a Million (1959).

From Entertaining Television by Su Holmes 2008

"Exbitionism and enormous self-confidence that TV demands".

... Television could be seen as emblematic of a cultural decline where fame was concerned.
The visible focus for such debates was undoubtedly the phenomenon of Sabrina. A teenager from Blackpool, 'Sabrina' (real name Norma Sykes) achieved fame by appearing in the Arthur Askey vehicle Before Your Very Eyes (BBC, 1953-58) as the "bosomy blonde" who didn't talk.

The press marvelled at how she had achieved fame "without professional experience or training", and they wondered if she was a "bosomy Frankenstein-style construction produced in the BBC workshops and stuffed with old scripts".

Even the Corporation were apparently concerned that her success was "out of control", and as "one BBC official put it: 'She's a wonder of our time which makes us absolutely terrified of the power of television. Whoever heard of anything being a screaming success for doing nothing?'
The nature of Sabrina's celebrity is clearly shaped by discourses of gender and class, and it is certainly invoked to express the idea (or fear) that television will "create familiarity with images without regard to content" (Gamson, 2001).

In other words, television is positioned as the harbinger of a culture in which people will simply be known simply for their "well-knowness" (Boorstin, 1971).

From "Family Britain 1951-1957"

by David Kynaston (2009) (page 608)

A working-class girl made good by this time was Blackpool's 9-year-old Norma Sykes, better known as Sabrina. 'What Sabrina has "got" is no mystery,' declared Picture Post's Robert Muller. 'With her forty-inch bust and very blonde hair, she has become the Teddy Boy's symbol for opulent sex. Incessant Sabrina propaganda had turned Norma Sykes into a national tonic, a seaside postcard brought to life, sex for the unimaginative, inflated into absurdity.'

From "Starstruck: Starstruck: Fame, Failure, My Family And Me", by Cosmo Landesman (2009)

Any thinking person over the age of forty is bound to look at contemporary Britain, with its expanding collection of celebrities, famous nobodies, exhibitionists, attention-seekers and celebrity- drenched media magazines, and wonder: when did this whole crazy thing begin?

If you want to see the first face of modern British celebrity culture you have to go back to the evening of 5 February 955 and comedian Arthur Askey's BBC television series Before Your Very Eyes .

Read more

Fit to Bust - A comic treasure chest

Alison Blenkinsop

in support of Baby Milk Action
Second Edition, 2011

Selling points

In the second half of the twentieth century, advertisers began to use to sell all sorts of merchandise.

The British starlet and pin-up who had a 7-inch waist and 42½-inch bust, was refreshingly upfront about her lack of talent; her entire career was built on her bosom.

She used her assets to great effect in the 950s and '60s in promotions for such diverse goods as Caltex motor grease, caravans and nylon stockings. In one ad, she's pointing out that a certain brand of photographic gear provides 'The World's Finest Projection Equipment'.

Today's commercials are much more subtle, but many still make use of the Sabrina effect.

From: Rose Heilbron: Legal Pioneer of the 20th Century , by Hilary Heilbron (2012)

Rose was invited to the very first Women of the Year Luncheon held on 29 September 955, along with other famous women of the time. It was the brainchild of the Marchioness of Lothian in aid of the Greater London Fund for the Blind. But the novelty of the first year's invitation was eclipsed the second year, 956, by the 'Sabrina' factor.

Sabrina, born Norma Sykes, was an internationally famous star of the time with a voluptuous hourglass figure who moved from being a 'dumb blonde', whose ample bosom became the butt of many jokes, to acting and appearing in shows. Rose was originally billed to speak alongside Sabrina and Rose's friend, Dame Edith Evans. In the end neither Rose nor Sabrina spoke, the former, according to the Evening Express, because professional etiquette debarred a member of the legal profession from figuring in a programme which included a 'spotlight personality like Sabrina'.

From Davenport-Hines, Richard (2012), An English Affair: Sex, Class and Power in the Age of Profumo - Sabrina , Keller and all sorts of moist British pleasures. (Added 2022-04-03)

From Blue Bostock: Australia's First Bullfighter and Rodeo Clown (2013) ,

by Geoff Allen (pp 217-8)

Coral was a fine dressmaker. She used to make Chinese dresses, Chong Sans, and girls would come to the house and Coral would fit them. She learnt at Paula Stafford's, a beachwear place in Surfers Paradise and that's where she was working when I met her. Later she worked exclusively for Sabrina. Sabrina was one of the first "oomph" women to appear on the stage after the war. She was blonde and her large, shapely breasts were the feature of her act. She was brought out to Australia from England, where she was a star, to do what was called the "Tivoli" circuit, theatres that held variety acts. She was recommended to visit Paula Stafford's shop and Coral measured her up and made her a bikini. After that she wouldn't go to anyone else for those types of clothes, only to Coral, who got to know Sabrina pretty well.

( Found Found Jan 2015 )

From: It Came From Outer Space Wearing an RAF Blazer!: A Fan's Biography of Sir Patrick Moore,

by Martin Mobberley (2013).

A junior BBC producer named Percy Lamb had worked with Frankie Howerd in films and suggested a new educational, but entertaining, series for the comedian where he explored space. The series would be entitled Frankie Looks Up. Each program would start with Howerd winking at the camera and quoting from Oscar Wilde: "We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars!" Presumably interspersed with Howerd's trade mark "Oooh no missus, Titter ye not!" But just to make doubly sure of the ratings figures there would be a co-presenter, namely the 'blonde bombshell sex kitten' Sabrina (born May 9th 936) who was, in every way, Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield combined, and more!

Sabrina, born Norma Sykes, had the face of an angel combined with a jaw-dropping 42-17-36 figure. She frequently exploited her hourglass proportions with a plunging neckline. First introduced to TV by Arthur Askey when she was 8 she rarely said a word, she just posed, while the adult male viewers dribbled. When she was on TV, all 950s men tuned to that channel! In Frankie Howerd's proposed Frankie Looks Up show she would be called 'Cuzit from Cassiopeia' and wear a slinky silver space suit, no doubt with the front unzipped as far as 950s TV would allow. Surely, the unknown Patrick could stand no chance whatsoever against that sort of competition?!

This was not all though. The singer Alma Cogan was also booked to appear in the show. Dressed in an alien costume with waggling antennae she was due to sing "I'm going steady with Eddy from Earth!" and "I'm M,M,M.M.MAD about Martian men!". Surely it was time for Patrick to exit stage left. His career finished before it started? However, Paul Johnstone was a more senior producer to Percy Lamb and Paul's background was in archaeology and science, not comedy; and, ultimately it was a science program that the BBC wanted. There were plenty of other outlets for Howerd and Sabrina, more suited to their talents. Lamb was not about to give up though and even after he learned of the Paul Johnstone/Patrick Moore venture he arranged a rehearsal in front of the acting BBC Director-General Sir Henry Rawlinson.

However Sabrina's charms failed to convince Sir Henry and even though he shared a meal with Alma Cogan and her lesser cleavage, after the show, it just had not worked. Frankie Howerd's double entendre gags, including the old favourite "let's have a good look at Uranus" just didn't work in a program that was supposed to be educational. With the strict BBC standards of the day the Howerd/Sabrina double act looked more pornographic than scientific.

As 957 started Sabrina starred as Virginia in Blue Murder at St Trinian's , a non-speaking role in which she was only required to sit up in bed wearing a nightdress while reading a book, despite sharing equal billing with the main star Alastair Sim and appearing on posters up and down the land dressed in a skimpy schoolgirl uniform! Meanwhile, Patrick was poised to become a star of a different sort, wearing a blazer, not a skimpy schoolboy uniform!

From: Riding this Road: My Life - Making Music and Travelling This Wide Land with Slim Dusty by Slim's wife, Joy McKean (2014).

In Sydney, during the first Royal Show we worked at in 958, an English girl called Sabrina was the rage of the gossip columns and newspapers. Her claim to fame seemed to rest upon her ample bust, which she used to feature well up front whenever a photographer hove into view.

At this time Frank suggested to EMI that with the runaway success and high sales of the 'Pub' [With No Beer] they should acknowledge Slim's success with, say, a Gold Record and the record company had indeed acted on the suggestion with enthusiasm. They manufactured and presented to Slim the first Gold Record ever made in Australia and still the only gold 78 rpm in existence in this country.

The ensuing publicity was a big challenge to Sabrina's campaign, so it is was inevitable, I suppose, that Frank and her publicity people would put their heads together. The PR ground into action and next thing Frank had teed up a photo session featuring Slim and Sabrina.

Well, Slim and Sabrina posed with the Gold Record, with Sabrina's famous attributes blocking most of the view of the award; Slim was beaming but wondering what she was going to do next.

He reckoned he'd never seen anyone so smart with photos as that girl - she'd catch sight of a camera and it was in with the tummy and out with top. Slim found it a bit nervewracking, apparently, to put his arms around Sabrina to hold a beer glass prop, trying to dodge the famous bust that seemed to be everywhere. He was perspiring, but manfully stuck with it and got the photo session done.

(Found accidentally on 2 Jan 2015 in an actual real bookshop. Luckily, I thought of checking the index for references to Sabrina, and double-lucky I thought of taking a photo of the 2 relevant pages with my phone. )

And from The Age , 7 September 959...

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From: Live at the London Palladium: The World's Most Famous Theatre in the Words of Stars Who Have Played There by By Neil Sean (2014)

TONY BENNETT RECALLS MEETING SABRINA

London Palladium. Tony told me that his one strong memory of the Palladium was the invitation to appear on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in 958 for Val Parnell.

This was a great show, you know,' he said, 'I mean, the biggest event on TV in the week, so for sure I am going to say yes. But truthfully I was nervous, too, it was all totally live and even though it was a tough gig in that respect, I loved it.'

Tony also recalled that he appeared with another blonde bombshell that night by the name of Sabrina , who was of course Norma Sykes in real life. At the height of her fame, Norma was described as Marilyn Monroe, Diana Dors and Jayne Mansfield all rolled into one and she played this tag to the hilt. She was the main star guest on Arthur Askey's show but was never given much to say as Askey felt that her accent, which was pure Lancashire, would not be understood by the great British viewing public.

Tony had other memories of meeting Norma. 'She was very sweet and, yes, she had an amazing figure, but she wasn't as dumb as they say. She knew what she was selling. She told me that she loved being a sex symbol and asked me what contacts I had in Hollywood, as she was keen to progress her acting career beyond just standing and looking great. That was another abiding memory from doing that show.'

From: Riding this Road: My Life - Making Music and Travelling This Wide Land with Slim Dusty by Slim's wife, Joy McKean (2014).

In Sydney, during the first Royal Show we worked at in 958, an English girl called Sabrina was the rage of the gossip columns and newspapers. Her claim to fame seemed to rest upon her ample bust, which she used to feature well up front whenever a photographer hove into view.

At this time Frank suggested to EMI that with the runaway success and high sales of the 'Pub' [With No Beer] they should acknowledge Slim's success with, say, a Gold Record and the record company had indeed acted on the suggestion with enthusiasm. They manufactured and presented to Slim the first Gold Record ever made in Australia and still the only gold 78 rpm in existence in this country.

The ensuing publicity was a big challenge to Sabrina's campaign, so it is was inevitable, I suppose, that Frank and her publicity people would put their heads together. The PR ground into action and next thing Frank had teed up a photo session featuring Slim and Sabrina.

Well, Slim and Sabrina posed with the Gold Record, with Sabrina's famous attributes blocking most of the view of the award; Slim was beaming but wondering what she was going to do next.

He reckoned he'd never seen anyone so smart with photos as that girl - she'd catch sight of a camera and it was in with the tummy and out with top. Slim found it a bit nervewracking, apparently, to put his arms around Sabrina to hold a beer glass prop, trying to dodge the famous bust that seemed to be everywhere. He was perspiring, but manfully stuck with it and got the photo session done.

(Found accidentally on 2 Jan 2015 in an actual real bookshop. Luckily, I thought of checking the index for references to Sabrina, and double-lucky I thought of taking a photo of the 2 relevant pages with my phone. )

And from The Age , 7 September 959...

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