The BBC Goes Berserk

Picturegoer, 15 March 1955

Thanks to Kevin Hobbs for the scan!

I would never have believed it of Lime Grove. Those normally dignified B.B.C. people became as publicity-crazy and gimmick-berserk over the new Arthur Askey showgirl Sabrina, as any Hollywood studio.

In seven days, they made Sabrina a legend ... and they were the seven days before she'd even appeared on the screen.

Bill Ward, Askey's TV producer, picked Sabrina after auditioning a dozen girls. He then had seven days in which to "sell" her, so he called in the publicity boys, saying: "Britain must know this girl before she even appears. Now get cracking."

The story of Sabrina's coming was announced trumpet-wise by Lime Grove as an exclusive for the Sunday newspapers. Clever - those papers always go for a glamour-girl picture.

By the fourth day, Sabrina had clocked up considerable space in nine of the national newspapers and uncounted spaces in provincial ones.

The only snag thus far was that Fleet Street had ignored Bill Ward's appeal that nobody should reveal Sabrina's real name. The newsmen had told the world that this gal was Miss Norma Ann Sykes.

Sabrina, meanwhile, instead of being bewildered and shy, began putting both feet well forward to make the best of the remaining days in Build Up Week.

The Statistics

At a Lime Grove press reception for her, a tactful publicity officer whispered: "It might be a good thing to tell the newsboys your vital statistics."

For the first time, Sabrina looked puzzled. The publicity officer explained more frankly what vital statistics are. "Oh," said Sabrina, and rattled them off, one by one, delightedly.

Sabrina then went on a round of Fleet Street offices. She had a long, cosy chat in the padded interviewing room of one national paper.

And she sent to the editor of a London evening paper a note that asked: "Why all the fuss over Marilyn Monroe? I'm here now. Want to see me?"

The editor received her, passed her quickly to his gossip department to get a quick note in the next edition. "I can't act, I can't sing. I can't dance ..." began Sabrina.

Gossip-writer pressed hard to find some less negative angle. "I broke my leg. They set it wrong, and I had to have it re-broken to put right," confided Sabrina.

Gossip-writer scribbled furiously, until she said: "But I've promised that bit of my story to a morning paper." Still, both papers did her proud.

On the fifth day of Build Up Week, Sabrina was operating around Lime Grove. Armed with a thick camera script containing more pages than any Askey show would ever need, she told onlookers:

"I'm only just beginning to go to drama classes. Heaven knows how I'll remember my lines. But never mind" - patting the volume of script - "they're all here."

In the TV canteen, Lime Grove secretaries were transfixed, knives and forks poised between plates and pretty mouths, as Sabrina tucked into five courses of starch-supplying lunch.

The night before her TV debut, Sabrina turned up at the premiere of A Prize Of Gold . A hardened film publicity man reported: "I've never seen anyone so able to walk into the centre of every cameraman's picture."

But Sabrina has only just started drama lessons ... A quick learner? Maybe. Certainly the quickest build-up British TV has produced - with the aid of Norma Ann Sykes.

Or has Norma taken Sabrina for a ride?