Sabrina Fair

Sabrina Fair (subtitled "A Woman of the World") is a romantic comedy written by Samuel A. Taylor. It ran on Broadway for a total of 318 performances, opening at the National Theatre on November 11, 1953. Directed by H. C. Potter, with sets and lights designed by Donald Oenslager, it starred Margaret Sullavan and Joseph Cotten, with Cathleen Nesbitt, John Cromwell, and Russell Collins in major supporting roles. The critic for The New York Times, Brooks Atkinson, praised both the script and the production for its droll wit, writing that "One of the most attractive qualities of Sabrina Fair is the opportunity it provides for enjoying the foibles and crises of some fairly scrupulous human beings." For Atkinson, the play's clever dialogue placed it beyond a Cinderella romance and into the more exalted realm of high comedy, in the tradition of S. N. Behrman, Philip Barry, and W. Somerset Maugham.

This play is the basis for both the films Sabrina, directed by Billy Wilder, and its 1995 remake. Wilder's extensive revision of the plot led to Taylor's quitting the project and his replacement by Ernest Lehman.