£2,500 an inch - the worth of one woman's bust

Sunday Gleaner, 23 November 1958

Sabrina is the proud possessor of a 41-inch bust which, she claims is her fortune. "If anything happened to it," she says. "I would be out of business."
When she first appeared on British television screens, Sabrina was a dumb stooge to a comic. Later, as her famous outline became well-known, her public was stunned into silence when it learned that she could also speak and sing. But after having had to accept refusals from several insurance companies, Sabrina appears to have covered herself against all possible risks, at the cost of a £10-a-week premium.

If, for instance her bust goes to a meagre 38 inches and stays that way for two months or more, her insurers will pay out £5,000. For every inch lost after that, she will get the somewhat staggering amount of £2,500! However, her under-writers are not prepared to pay for any loss of inches caused by "war, invasion, 'acts of foreign enemies', rebellion or revolution", and, furthermore, they have stipulated, several clauses in the policy about the care of the property!

She cannot take any undue risks like ski-ing, riding the Wall of Death or going into a lion's den, and she must organize her life and meals to see that she eats well regularly. If her salaries drop to such an extent that she can no longer afford to eat properly and her bosom dwindles as a result, then, her insurer will not hold themselves responsible for any claims.

This biggest-ever bosom policy only operates for one year at a time, and if the curvaceous blonde star falls ill during this period and has to take drugs which cause her to become thinner, then she cannot claim a single penny. And it she marries and has a baby she will also not be able to claim from her insurers if her figure changes as a result. Altogether, it seems that life is far from easy if you are the possessor of a bust worth £100,000!

Biggest ever

SABRINA'S policy is the biggest-ever to be taken out far that portion of the human anatomy, but many other people in show business have insured various parts of themselves for vast sums of money.

For instance, Pearl White, the famous heroine of silent films, had her dimples insured for £13,000, and Jimmy "Schnozzle" Durante, the American comedian with an outsize nose, insured that same nose for £50,000!

The phrase "million dollar legs" first came into being when actress Frankie Bailey insured her shapely limbs for this, amount over 70 years ago. Since then, of course, there have been many more million dollar policies taken out to cover well-known legs, among them those belonging to Mariene Dietrich, the famous French dancer Mistinguett, and Dame Margot Fonteyn, Britain's prima ballerina.