Police Videotapes Show Gabor at Worst : Her Second Day on Stand Marked by Contradictions, Reprimands

Zsa Zsa Gabor was seen on television as never before Wednesday, as the prosecution in her trial showed videotapes of the actress cursing her arrest and giving one account of the incident that appeared at odds with her own testimony.

The tapes, taken apparently without her knowledge at the Beverly Hills police station, were played during Gabor’s second day on the witness stand--a day marked by numerous apparent contradictions in testimony, flip remarks, evasive answers and repeated reprimands of the actress by Beverly Hills Municipal Judge Charles G. Rubin.

Angry Words on Phone

Gabor, who had portrayed herself in court as a nondrinking woman offended by vulgar language, was shown in one short videotape saying, angrily, into a jailhouse telephone: “The (expletive) policeman picked me up and pulled me out of the car!”

Gabor was asked by the prosecutor what she meant by the obscenity.

“Exactly what I said,” she answered, testily.

“(You meant) that a policeman was having sexual intercourse?” inquired Deputy Dist. Atty. Elden Fox.

Gabor then tried to argue that the tape was “fixed,” saying, “I’m sure. It’s easy. We do that in show business all the time.”

A second videotape dealt with crucial dialogue between Gabor and Police Officer Paul Kramer, who pulled over her Rolls-Royce on June 14 after allegedly seeing expired registration tags.

In her opening testimony on Tuesday, Gabor had testified that Kramer told her to “f--- off” when she asked if she could leave the scene of the traffic stop. Gabor, who ultimately did drive away before later being arrested, claimed that she interpreted the vulgarity as permission to go.

But in the videotape, she differed in her account of Kramer’s language, saying the officer told her: “Go, you (expletive) bitch.”

“Actually,” Gabor told jurors after the tape was shown, “he said, ‘Go, you (expletive) whore.’ ”

“Why did you say ‘bitch’?” Fox asked.

“I was upset,” Gabor said. “He said ‘whore.’ I just remembered it.”

Political Theory

Gabor theorized that she was pulled over by Kramer, in part, because her Rolls has a license plate--ZZG--given to her by former Republican President Richard Nixon--a personal friend--and Kramer “voted for (Democrat) Jesse Jackson.”

Asked where she got that information, Gabor said it was from a Bel-Air neighbor who had heard it from the wife of radio disc jockey Casey Kasem.

Later, using many of the profanities she had delicately avoided on Tuesday, Gabor lashed out again at Kramer, saying: “He called me a (expletive) whore before all my fans. He was Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin in one.”

The actress also accused Kramer of trying to win sympathy by staging a motorcycle accident on Tuesday in which he was hospitalized for treatment of severe bruises. She told jurors that Kramer must hate her, because he is gay.

“Three gentlemen came up to us, under oath, and said they slept with Mr. Kramer,” Gabor testified. “Don’t you know, a gay man would not like a woman like Zsa Zsa Gabor. Why would he? I marry all the men he would want to have.”

Gabor’s attorney, William Graysen, told reporters later that neither he nor Gabor had any knowledge of Kramer’s “personal life style.” Kramer could not be reached for comment.

Occasional Drinker

Under dogged cross-examination, Gabor conceded that she occasionally drinks--she called herself a nondrinker on Tuesday--and admitted she sometimes uses foul language when she is upset.

During verbal sparring with Fox, she was admonished repeatedly for interrupting questions.

“I really am sorry,” Gabor remarked at one point. “But I’m getting very upset.”

“You’re going to have to control yourself,” Judge Rubin told her.

Fox directed some of his questions at Gabor’s famous slap of Kramer just before she was arrested and handcuffed. Several earlier witnesses said they saw Gabor step out of the car by herself, contradicting Gabor’s testimony that she was pulled from the car by Kramer, who hurt her wrist.

Gabor strongly attacked the credibility of the prosecution witnesses, calling one a publicity seeker, saying another was not even at the scene and accusing a third of being on drugs.

“A person on drugs is not a human being to me,” she said. “I do not listen to people like that, usually.”

Graysen said Gabor’s testimony did not erode her case.

“It went well today, and it’s going to go better tomorrow,” the lawyer said. “The issue is, ‘Did Ms. Gabor hit the officer in self-defense?’ Nothing that was done today really went to that issue.”