Sabrina:

She's still out in front

Sabrina blasts back at critics who say she is a falling star...

Australasian Post

10 March 1960

SABRINA flopped in Hollywood and was "on her uppers". That was the news circulating around the booking agents of Show Business a few weeks ago.

In England the backstage "knockers" were calling her a "has-been". They said that her mother had been forced to sell her house in Liverpool and look for a cheaper place because Sabbie wasn't in the chips any more.

Her long stay in Australia, they said, was fatal to her career. While she was out of the European spotlight, other glamor girls had emerged to take her place; her figure wasn't what it used to be...

When the black-creped gossip reached the wandering British beauty she exploded, and reached for the nearest telephone.

She was in Cuba at the time and her first call was to a big London newspaper:

I am earning thousands of dollars. I came here from Miami where I made a mint and I've got a golden future in front of me. Who says I'm a bust?" she challenged.

A check back supported Sabbie's claims. A Cuban tourist official said that Sabrina was the "toast of Cuba" and that Fidel Castro had called her "beautiful". "Cuba is very honored to have Sabrina here", he said. "She is more beautiful than American girls."

(Cuba is a bit unfriendly towards the USA these days - Ed.)

Pressed for further news about herself Sabrina revealed that after her show in Miami, the critics had written that she was very talented and that her singing was as good as any American pop singer.

New York is next

Her agent was at present in Miami arranging another cabaret date at four times what she ever got in Britain. After Miami she is booked for New York's Latin Quarter, she said.

Also she has accepted an important booking for a big television show in New York.

"How could I be a has-been when all this has happened," was her parting remark.

Her tour of Australia was a financial success. It is rumoured that she made a substantial five-figure sum during her long tour on the Tivoli circuit, although her appearance in New Zealand was only a very moderate success.

Sabrina during a press conference in Australia. The former Miss Sykes of Liverpool is not as dumb as she acts. She has a very shrewd sense of publicity and a talent for charming Pressmen.