Courtroom Drama : Justice Is Upstaged as ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ Steals Scene

In Department A of Van Nuys Superior Court, a palace of paperwork where civil cases are assigned to judges, there usually is little action.

But on Friday morning--cloaked in intense secrecy--a great drama was played out in the court chambers. Was it the verdict in the Menendez brothers’ murder trial? The sentencing of “Super Freak” singer Rick James on drug and sexual-assault charges?

Hardly. The television show “Beverly Hills, 90210” was shooting a marriage scene, and Dylan, Brenda and company were present as a member of their clique tied the knot for an upcoming episode. The show will be the final chapter in the season’s big mystery: Who got pregnant?

Extreme attempts to keep that plot twist under wraps abounded. In the hallway leading to the courtroom stood a seemingly endless line of security guards. Three long, black tarps hung from frames to block the stars from public view. And in this, the most public of places, passersby were told they could not speak in the hallway during live shots.

As crew members unloaded equipment outside the courthouse at 7:30 a.m., one security guard even followed a Times photographer wherever he went, opening an umbrella in front of his camera each time he tried to take a picture.

Nevertheless, curious attorneys and courtroom clerks gossiped and snooped on the proceedings, acting remarkably like the show’s (mostly) teen-age fans.

“Jason Priestley (who plays Brandon Walsh on the show) looks real good,” said court clerk Ann Papa, wandering around the set with fellow clerk Lisa Chaney hoping for an autograph. “He’s short though.”

Some attorneys, however, seemed less than impressed with the cast of the popular teen-age soap opera. Several, seeing all the movie trailers outside the courthouse, assumed that the Menendez jury had reached a verdict. Others knew what was up, but still got it only part right.

“They’re shooting ‘Beverly Hills 90275,’ ” said one man when asked what the fuss was all about.

“Anything that helps support the tax base is all right with me,” said another.

Before filming inside presiding Judge Robert M. Letteau’s courtroom, crew members had made cosmetic changes to make it look more like a real courtroom. They placed fake wood paneling athroughout and covered up the clocks with state of California seals.

“They said that the pea-green paint reflected badly on the female characters,” Letteau said.

The show’s producers said they would be willing to leave the paneling after the shoot, although Letteau figured that might be a fleeting improvement.

“It looks great,” he opined, “but I’m afraid it’s all going to peel away in about a month.”

Letteau arranged for his two daughters, Lara, 23, and Loren, 14, to sit in on the shoot along with friend Amy Park, 23. The girls were the only non-crew members allowed into the ‘90210’ inner sanctum.

Afterward, Loren Letteau described the actors as “really friendly,” but she acknowledged they had not fulfilled their promises--even to the judge’s daughter.

“They promised us photographs and then they left,” she said.

Attorney Erving Hudes was scheduled to settle a case in Letteau’s courtroom Friday, but he was not annoyed by the change in plans. Letteau, and the case, had moved down the hall, and Hudes had a story to tell his 12-year-old daughter, Kristine.

“She just dies for this show,” he said. “When she hears that I was on the set of ‘90210,’ she’ll go gaga.”

Despite all the security measures, as word of the shoot spread around the courthouse, most people agreed that any discriminating ‘90210’ fan will easily guess who is getting married.

“I knew right away,” said clerk Kim Ellis.

And just who is pregnant? According to court clerks, it’s Andrea Zuckerman, played by Gabrielle Carteris, who--big surprise--is pregnant in real life. She’s marrying a character called Jesse, whom she met while he was tending bar at a birthday party.

The episode is scheduled to run Feb. 9.