Sabrina (1954)

[first lines]
Sabrina Fairchild: [voiceover] Once upon a time, on the north shore of Long Island, some thirty miles from New York, there lived a small girl on a large estate. The estate was very large indeed, and had many servants. There were gardeners to take care of the gardens, and a tree surgeon on a retainer. There was a boatman to take care of the boats: to put them in the water in the spring, and scrape their bottoms in the winter. There were specialists to take care of the grounds: the outdoor tennis court and the indoor tennis court, the outdoor swimming pool and the indoor swimming pool. And there was a man of no particular title who took care of the small pool in the garden for a goldfish named George. Also on the estate there was a chauffeur by the name of Fairchild who had been imported from England years ago together with a new Rolls-Royce. Fairchild was a fine chauffeur of considerable polish, like the eight cars in his care, and he had a daughter by the name of Sabrina. It was the eve of the annual six-meter yacht races, and as had been traditional on Long Island for the past thirty years, the Larrabees were giving a party. It never rained on the night of the Larrabee party. The Larrabees wouldn't have stood for it. There were four Larrabees in all - father, mother, and two sons. Maude and Oliver Larrabee were married in nineteen hundred and six, and among their many wedding presents was the town house in New York and this estate for weekends. The town house has since been converted into Saks Fifth Avenue. Linus Larrabee, the elder son, graduated from Yale, where his classmates voted him The Man Most Likely To Leave His Alma Mater Fifty Million Dollars. His brother, David, went through several of the best eastern colleges for short periods of time, and through several marriages for even shorter periods of time. He is now a successful six-goal polo player and is listed on Linus's tax return as a six hundred dollar deduction. Life was pleasant among the Larrabees, for this was as close to heaven as one could get on Long Island.

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[Sabrina puts a romantic record on the phonograph]
Linus Larrabee: Sabrina.
Sabrina Fairchild: Yes?
Linus Larrabee: Do you mind if we turn this off?
Sabrina Fairchild: Why?
Linus Larrabee: [pained] Because.
Sabrina Fairchild: Don't you like it?
Linus Larrabee: I used to like it.
[Sabrina takes the record off]
Sabrina Fairchild: Certain songs bring back certain memories to me too. Did you love her?
Linus Larrabee: I'd rather not talk about it.
Sabrina Fairchild: I'm sorry.
Linus Larrabee: That's all right.
Sabrina Fairchild: It's so strange to think of you being touched by a woman. I always thought you walked alone.
Linus Larrabee: No man walks alone from choice.
Sabrina Fairchild: As a child I used to watch you, from the window over the garage. Coming and going, always wearing your black homburg and carrying a briefcase and an umbrella. I thought you could never belong to anyone. Never care for anyone.
Linus Larrabee: Oh yes, the cold businessman behind his marble desk, way up in his executive suite. No emotions, just ice water in his veins and ticker tape coming from his heart. And yet... one day that same cold businessman, high up in a skyscraper, opens a window, steps out on a ledge... stands there for three hours wondering... if he should jump.
Sabrina Fairchild: Because of her?
Linus Larrabee: No. No, that was another woman. Sabrina, do you find it hard to believe that someone might want to blot out everything for sentimental reasons?
Sabrina Fairchild: Oh I believe it! Do you know what I almost did for sentimental reasons? I...
[stops herself]
Sabrina Fairchild: I went to Paris to blot it out.

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[Linus has decided to cancel the wedding and the merger]
Linus Larrabee: When's your mother's birthday?
Miss McCardle: Why?
Linus Larrabee: I'm sending her two thousand gardenias.

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The original Broadway production of "Sabrina Fair" by Samuel A. Taylor opened at the National Theater on Novemeber 11, 1953 and ran for 318 performances.
During production Billy Wilder was continuously working on the script. One day he asked Audrey Hepburn to feign illness so he would have enough time to finish the scene to be shot.
Although Edith Head won an Oscar for costume design, most of Audrey Hepburn's wardrobe was by Hubert de Givenchy. In fact, Hepburn chose her own clothes to wear from de Givenchy's collection. This was her first time working with the French designer, and he would become her costumer of choice for most of her career.
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