The Amazing Sabrina Survival

Picturegoer , 28 December 1957

by Tom Hutchinson

IT's the most staggering story of 1957 show business. It could be called: The Sabrina Survival. For I record with amazement after twelve months of covering the merry-go- round world of The Show Business Runaround for you, that Sabrina is still going strong.

Amazing? Because at this time last year the talk was like this: “She’ll never last. She's not a real star. She's a freak who'll fade overnight."

Bosomy Sabrina. who seemingly had nothing to commend her but a talented physique. was bitingly listed as The Girl Most Likely Not To Succeed in 1957.
But has she faded? She has not. Talent she may not have - her embarrassingly amateurish theatrical appearances prove that--but the Treasure Chest revealed another attribute in 1957: PERSISTENCE.

Somehow or other she managed to dodge the sneers and jibes of the critics and columnists. And publicity flowed to her like iron filings to a magnet: her romance with Steve Cochran; her attendance at Ascot ... all hit the headlines.

Now the news is that a film producer is writing The Sabrina Story . To be made next year and based on her career so far. No certificate has yet been decided upon!

At the start of the year forecasts were made that other people were failures-to-be. Tommy Steele was one. His guitar-strumming was accounted as a pallid imitation of the Americans. His future? NIL. Steele's success .speak. for itself. The Cafe de Paris. … the Royal Variety Show. ... "The Tommy Steele Story" and now" "The Duke Wore Jeans," which film makes him one of our highest paid artists.

Elvis Presley, too, has made a mountainous success out of a molehill of talent during 1957. His knee-knocking gyrations have spun him to the top of the personality poll.

I hear that he's likely to come over here later in 1958-which should make some people very happy and some people very unhappy. The unhappy ones? Those who have been sneering at his talents ever since the old year started.

So my New Year message to all those with show business ambitions is: TAKE HEART.

Experience doesn't seem to matter these days. An unusual body ... an ability to play a guitar ... a talent for twisting your body ... these are what count in certain branches of show business.

MEDIOCRITY IS STILL ON THE MARCH.