Zsa Zsa’s Day in Court Proves Boffo Box Office : Actress’s Trial Draws Big Media Turnout

Zsa Zsa Gabor took no chances Monday, showing up for trial in Beverly Hills without the $215,000 Rolls-Royce convertible that got her into trouble with police three months ago.

Instead, for her first day as a criminal defendant, she cruised into town virtually incognito--just another passenger in just another white Chevrolet station wagon. That distinguished-looking driver? That was just her husband, Prince Frederick von Anhalt of West Germany.

“I don’t want the Rolls after what happened,” Gabor said during a sometimes-wild, sometimes-tedious full day of jury selection in Beverly Hills Municipal Court.

Her attire was deliberately sedate: a black Donna Karan dress with a pearl necklace, pearl earrings and a red silk-flower corsage. Nowhere was the black hat that she had talked of wearing.

“I thought the (prospective) jury was very charming, every one of them,” Gabor said, smiling for a horde of reporters and downplaying the difficulty of the ordeal with the quip, “I’m still alive.”

The Hungarian-born actress, renowned for her volatile temper, faces misdemeanor charges of driving with an expired license, disobeying a police officer and slapping an officer, stemming from a June 14 altercation with Beverly Hills Motorcycle Officer Paul Kramer, who had pulled over her custom-built Rolls for expired registration tags.

In addition, Gabor is charged with possessing an open container of alcohol--a legal infraction--for a flask of Jack Daniels that police allegedly found in her glove compartment. Altogether, the charges carry a maximum penalty of 18 months in jail and $3,400 in fines upon conviction.

A gag order on the proceedings was imposed Monday by Judge Charles G. Rubin, who dismissed one charge of driving with expired tags after the actress produced proof of registration.

Attorney William Graysen, who is defending Gabor in a trial that could last up to two weeks, is expected to argue that Kramer has shown a pattern of verbally and physically abusing the public.

The attorney claimed that he has found at least eight witnesses who say they were abused by Kramer, a 13-year veteran officer, including one land developer who was allegedly manhandled outside a department store in 1982.

“Kramer . . . seriously beat him up, put him down on the ground and was pummeling him,” Graysen said in an interview before the trial began. “I am definitely attacking Officer Kramer’s character and conduct.”

Beverly Hills Police Lt. Robert Curtis, when asked about the allegations about Kramer, said, “We would hope that this particular case would be judged on its own merit.”

Curtis described Kramer as “a good officer, very hard working.’ The lieutenant also said of Kramer:

“He can be a tough guy, but he certainly doesn’t have a reputation for going out of his way to be physically tough on people. I’d say incidents like this would be very rare.”

The burden of proof will come later, however. Monday was a day devoted almost entirely to pulling up the curtain on the much-ballyhooed drama, an event that may have attracted more news media coverage than the trial of Night Stalker suspect Richard Ramirez.

No fewer than a dozen TV news cameras and perhaps 50 working journalists descended upon Gabor as she took the elevator to Rubin’s third-floor courtroom. So pronounced was the jostling that Gabor even found comfort in seeing a uniformed officer.

“Oh, thank God, a Beverly Hills cop,” she said.

“No, I’m a sheriff’s deputy,” he corrected.

“Oh, well, he’s gorgeous,” Gabor shrugged. “They’re all gorgeous.”

The jam-packed elevator ride included a brusque word or two from Gabor aimed at Joelle Nelson, 31, of Houston, who had won a contest to fly to Los Angeles for the trial.

Sporting a “Free Zsa Zsa” button, Nelson arrived as the guest of a Houston radio station, whose weeklong contest called for listeners to phone in every time they heard a short tape of Gabor in an interview saying, “She’s a bitch.”

After the elevator ride, however--a trip in which Nelson couldn’t get her purse out of Gabor’s way--the lucky tourist was ready to take off the supportive Gabor button.

“She was very rude,” Nelson said later. “We came in (to town) on Saturday . . . saw Venice, Bel- Air--saw Zsa Zsa’s house. Now I wish I had a big rock.”

With the courtroom packed, crowds of reporters spilled into the hall, and every living creature became a potential interview. At one point, two of Gabor’s hairdressers--Sidney Guilaroff and Michael Disney--left the courtroom for the elevator, drawing a crush of cameras and bodies that resembled that of a Watergate hearing.

“Michael, are you planning anything special if she’s convicted?” someone hollered at Disney.

His answer was inaudible--but his hair was perfect.

Inside, meanwhile, Graysen was asking would-be jurors--18 of them--questions exploring the gamut of human attitudes: Do you think a policeman should be able to cover up his misconduct by arresting a person? Should a smaller, weaker person have the same rights of self-defense as a larger, stronger person? Does anybody here have any bumper stickers?

(“No,” one prospective juror answered, “just Triple-A.”)

At one point, as Graysen quizzed an engineer on the accuracy tolerances of designing spacecraft, Gabor’s husband appeared about to doze off. But he roused himself, grinning, and exchanged nods with Gabor as she fanned herself with the back of a legal pad.

Jury selection will continue today.