Sabrina's Advertisements

One must admit Sabrina was a surpassingly physical drawcard. Even blind men could see when Sabrina pointed to merchandise... even when she didn't use her fingers.

Eyes would be guaranteed to be fixated on whatever was in front of Sabrina, and that made admen salivate.

Hereunder, please find some delicious examples of the Power of Sabrina's Pointing at Products ...

Need to flog a hibiscus? Who better than our Sabrina?

For charm and beauty it's hard to beat SABRINA... the New Double Red HIBISCUS

Our photograph of world famed TV star, Sabrina, christening the sensational, new Hibiscus named after her.

Developed by and exclusive to Lasscocks "Sabrina" is a double rose-red; it is a very strong grower and is really outstanding.

"Sabrina" is in limited supply — orders aft now being taken for November delivery.

Price 12/6.

Sabby doing some quiet promotion.

Many a girl has been heard to ask " What has Sabrina got that I haven't?" In this instance it could be a "Cona" coffee maker, for our picture shows that young lady being presented with such a coffee maker by Mr. Arthur C. Gray, managing director of "Cona" Limited

1956 - our Sabrina is not specified, but surely this ad is capitalising on her name?

And here too

10 December 1955 - Daily Mirror

It's the latest Sabrina fashion idea!

Pop a snippet of the dress of the moment into each transparent Sabrina ear-ring and presto! ONE pair of ear-rings matches your clothes always! Also match your nail-varnish, lipstick or boy friend's tie!

Send P.O. now to Dept. A6, Sabrina Jewellery Ltd, Guildhall Building, Stephenson Street, Birmingham 2. 4 shillings per pair. Post Free.

19 February 1959 - The Age

So Long Melbourne. Thank you, Kay's

Lovely Sabrina in her Kay's Rental Car

Like so many visiting personalities, lovely Sabrina used a car from Kay's Drive Yourself Cars when she had shipped her
own Vauxhall to Sydney. Before she went she complimented Mr. Kay on his extensive range of first-class motor cars.
You don't have to be an International figure to use a Kay's car. Their prices are within everybody's reach, and their tradition of service has made them Australia's and New Zealand's leading rental car organisation. So, for long term or short term rental, get the best car at the best price from Kay's, Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.

Phone MU7777.

21 April 1959 - "Figures don't Lie," says Sabrina. You'll get more out of a Morris from Peter Lloyd's."

6 June 1959

There's still time to see the Caltex Stan Freberg Show on Astor. Australia's First TV Choice!
See this 1.75 hour long, side-splitting show that you'll remember for ages... brought to you by CALTEX. The show was recorded on miracle Video Tape at ATN before Stan Freberg returned to the United States... you'll see Sabrina too, in startling dimension and crystal clarity on your new Astor TV... the set more people buy!
21" Taper-Line Lowboy, model D8K - 189 guineas.

I love this one. Meet the 1957 Sabrina caravan ! As the ad says, it's "the van for the family man with three children." More like - it's the van for the man when the wife and three children are out of town!

Another ad, which confirms that the typedface used in the Sabrina name was not a coincidence.

What does SABRINA do when the cameras aren't looking?

Alas, this pic from eBay was as close as I could get to this charming ad. I lost the auction.
Even Photoshop and various fractal enlarging plugins couldn't tweak the text enough to make it readable.
But with the sheer power of Brainwork and Beer ™, staring at the normal-sized image yielded this...

"Yes, this lively TV-film star loves to decorate her own flat, heads for apron and paintbrushes as soon as the day's work is over.

For goodness sake don't ever go and wear nylons when you're painting," laughs Sabrina.
"If you do though, be sure you make them Morley nylons - they take rough treatment better than any others."
Eighteen-year old Sabrina's a busy girl. With one film 'Stock Car' already behind her she's now topping variety bills all over Britain.
For everyday glamour Sabrina chooses "Favourite" (51 gauge, 15 dernier) from the wide range of Morley fully-fashioned nylons.

"I love their peach blossom sheerseam ," she says.

Morley nylons stand the strain beautifully.

"Take it from a girlon the go", says Sabrina.
"Morley make the best natured nylons of all!"

I'd appreciate help with the missing bits if your eyes or beer supply are better than mine.

15 Feb 2009 - Peter D and his eagle-eyed wife (who knows a thing or two about nylons too) helped clarify the bolded mysteries above. It's good to see Sabrinastudies can still bring families together in wholesome academic research.

17 Sept 2012 - I found a legible (slightly different) version in the Daily Mirror , 11 October 1955 which helped sort the "natured" text near the end, and the microscopic text between the brush and the bucket.

27 June 2023 - Found another copy in Google Books that clarified some text. The "peach blossom" line was missing, though.

---

On 1 June 2009, Derek of Denmark wrote:

In the search for some advertising materials I came across your excellent site - fascinating! I wonder if you can help me to help a friend, here's the background.... I'm an honorary member of a motorcycle club in Denmark. The club has its own clubhouse and they have recently refurbished the bar. You can probably imagine that Carlsberg and Tuborg beers feature heavily. They collect old advertising materials for these beers and display them in the bar.

My best friend, and chairman of the club, Jan J, recently told me about a newspaper clipping he has found (see image above). It features Norma Sykes/Sabrina. Because of our firm Danish/English links he is very interested to discover whether Sabrina was involved in any advertising for Tuborg (or Carlsberg), the clipping suggests she was/may have been. If she was, he would dearly love to be able to obtain copies of those advertisements to display in the bar. He asked me if I could do some research for him and of course, I found your site.

I imagine that if Sabrina had made adverts for Tuborg or Carlsberg you would probably know about it. I wonder, would you be able to tell me whether Sabrina appeared in any advertising for either of these beer brands? If she did, if you were able to tell me roughly when that would have been - and if you have any other details - that would help me trace copies of the adverts. If you happened to have copies of any Tuborg/Carlsberg advertisements featuring Sabrina I would welcome the opportunity of discussing how we might obtain copies for the club - they would be delighted and proud to display them. I hope that you may be able to help me and I thank you for your time and assistance. Best regards. Derek

And a few days later he added...

A couple of weeks later, good news arrived...

We have a development! Jan has been in contact with the Carlsberg brewery (now owners of Tuborg) and his contact unearthed a copy of the advertisement where Sabrina is promoting Tuborg. Apparently, she only made the one advertisement for them. Unfortunately we don't have a note of the year, but we do have an image of the ad...... Best regards Derek

And here it is! Thanks to Jan and Derek...

30 September 2017 - Countess Anastasia of Siberia discovered this familiar image being used to sell stickers in Russia in 2017.
Thanks, An!

Special Offer!

200 Large Glossy Sabrina Photos!
8x10", 5x7" and 4x5"
Only $1*

*Offer closes December 1958. From 'Picture Scope' September 1958.
Curses! Only missed it by 44 years...

On 6 Feb 1957, Sabrina appeared at Peter Robinson's women's fashion store to promote a non-staining cotton fabric.

Sabrina demonstrates

6th Feb 1957 - Some publicity (for once not focused on herself) that challenges Sabrina with coffee, ink and tomato sauce on her dress. Soon the highly paid London model will no longer have any need of that! No, Sabrina is demonstrating here dresses made from a novel cotton product manufactured in Lancashire that is water and stain resistant.

Picture shows: Sabrina demonstrates dresses made of a water-resistant cotton material. Mary Dunkin (left) and Marigold Russell put the new material through a test with tomato sauce, ink and coffee.

Thanks to Herr David for the translation of the caption. The meaning of the second sentence is rather cryptic!

Related pictures

In September 2014 some new juicy picturage
(I like the word, I made it up. It's mine, and I can use it if I want)
arrived.

Thanks to Philip for the following hi-res scan. This pix's caption tells us:

There was Sabrina looking as fascinating as ever in a cotton dress, and there, crowding around her, was the inevitable host of admirers. Then, as though she hadn't enough personal attributes to hold attention, Sabrina poured a bottle of ink over her spotlessly clean dress! Not to worry though, for 41-19-36 Sabrina was demonstrating a protective fabric finish called "Howcol Spin'n Spandy' which makes fabrics stain and water repellent.

Caption: There was Sabrina looking as fascinating as ever in a cotton dress, and there, crowding around her, was the inevitable host of admirers. Then, as though she hadn't enough personal attributes to hold attention, Sabrina poured a bottle of ink over her spotlessly clean dress! Not to worry though, for 41-19-36 Sabrina was demonstrating a protective fabric finish called "Howcol Spin'n Spandy' which makes fabrics stain and water repellent.

And if that was not enough evidence for you...

(Upgraded 10 Jan 2019)

And, of course, with a figure like Sabrina's, it was guaranteed that companies would take advantage of her name.

Bulletin and Scots Pictorial, 10 April 1956, p 17

(As always, click to enlarge)