‘Hello, Dahlinks,’ Zsa Zsa in Court : Her Hairdresser in Tow, She Greets Army From Media

Zsa Zsa Gabor, her hairdresser in tow, breezed past reporters with a trademark “Hello, dahlinks” today and declared she was ready to fight for the battered women of America as she arrived for a jury trial on charges she slapped a Beverly Hills motorcycle officer.

Gabor’s entourage was besieged by more than 100 reporters and camera and sound crews as she stepped from a chauffeured car at Beverly Hills Municipal Court.

“I had a nightmare last night,” Gabor said as aides helped her push her way through the dense crowd seeking a glimpse of her. “I dreamed I was being beaten by an eight-foot cop.

“I am standing up for the battered women of America,” she declared. “I want to show the police cannot mishandle a woman.”

She declined to answer questions on her way to the courtroom of Judge Charles G. Rubin. Six county marshals kept reporters at bay.

Hungry for quotes, the international news mob swarmed around hairdresser Michael Disney.

It was “just the usual” hair style for Gabor, he said. “It’s very conservative.”

Did she look innocent? “Yes.”

He said that Zsa Zsa was calm when he gave her a blow dry this morning and that he would stand by in case Gabor needs makeshift repairs.

Gabor was wearing a black Donna Karan dress and was accompanied by her eighth husband and her daughter, Francesca Hilton.

Rubin’s first task will be to oversee somehow the selection of a jury of Gabor’s peers.

“This is the case of the people vs. Zsa Zsa Gabor,” Rubin told the first 18 prospective panelists. Among the group was an accountant, a lawyer, a computer programmer and a housekeeper-cook.

The 72 seats in the court were full and included Gabor’s husband, with whom she exchanged glances and a thumbs-up signal during the proceedings.

Defense attorney William Graysen estimated a five- to seven-day trial, with jury selection to conclude Tuesday.

His first question to the prospective panelists was if they had ever heard an obscene directive which Gabor claims the officer told her and she took as an order to leave.

Gabor on July 12 pleaded innocent to charges of misdemeanor battery on a police officer, disobeying a police officer’s orders, driving with an expired license, having an open container of alcohol in her car and having an expired car registration.

If convicted, she faces a maximum jail term of two years and a $4,000 fine.

She was arrested on June 14 after her $215,000 white Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible was pulled over for the registration violation, but drove off as the officer was checking for other infractions and then allegedly slapped him when he got her to stop two blocks later.

Gabor has maintained she was verbally and physically abused by an officer who has a history of harassing celebrities.

The Hungarian-born actress, who is secretive about her age, is reported to be between 62 and 70, although she has said she is 58.

The former Miss Hungary was a teen-ager when she married Burhan Belge, the Turkish ambassador to Hungary. It was the first of eight marriages.