Photoplay

January 1956

SABRINA passes me by in London's Regent Street. Sabrina wearing a mink coat. Amazing, is it not, that this non-singing, non-talking, non-dancing dumb belle born Norma Sykes can, in less than 12 months, bust into fame and demand a 100-guinea fee whenever she cuts a tape or turns a key to open some store or other.

Consider what one undulating walk across the television screen has done for Miss Sykes. It has brought her:

• Nation-wide notoriety. (There are near-riots when she visits provincial towns and extra police are detailed for duty.)
• Fame in Variety. (She topped the bill for a 14-week run recently.)
• A Film-star rating. (She plays in the Arthur Askey film with the apt title: The Ramsbottoms Ride Again .)
• Celebrity status. (She is being painted for the Royal Academy by "Hut".)

And, of course, a mink coat.

What does 1956 hold for this phenomenon Sabrina? Will she, as many critics suggest she should, fade from our screens?

Not likely.

Miss Sykes has more TV appearances lined up She will also have her own "Sabrina Show" on tour. But I can reveal that she is not satisfied merely with fame and fortune based on her vital statistics.

Like so many of her contemporaries who have hit the headlines with a gimmick, Sabrina sends up that heart-felt cry: "I want to be an actress." She knows that personal appearances cannot go on forever. Bosoms, even Sabrina's, are expendable.

That is why the glamour girl who can earn 100 guineas* in 10 minutes has been pleading with film producer friends of mine for a break in their studios.
"I will work," she has said, "for as little as £10 a day for the opportunity."

Miss Norma Sykes is a very cute cookie.