From the S&S archives: Smiling or serious, Zsa Zsa always manages to look glamorous

SLEEPING DOGS never lie around Zsa Zsa Gabor — she won't let them.

Asked about a few choice items from her controversial past, she gleefully protested, "Oh, don't bring up those old scandals again — I've been a good girl lately."

Zsa Zsa then proceeded to dwell at length on some of the topics she had said she didn't care to discuss.

But it was always thus with the ebullient blonde who took out an hour to regale the press with enough quips and quotes for a volume. She was en route to a show in Baden-Baden but that could wait.

To an announcer who asked for five minutes for an AFN interview: "Silly boy, this isn't America — of course I can give you five minutes or even 10 — we're not so rushed over here."

"I'm the only woman in the world who dares speak her mind to the press or on TV," Zsa Zsa said proudly. "They can only shoot me once for it and somebody has to say these things."

Pushing a new sable coat back off her shoulders as she got off a jetliner from London, Miss Gabor was the picture of vitality. She was dressed all in white and her bright toothpaste smile sparkled in the afternoon sunshine.

Zsa Zsa was traveling with her secretary. And where was her husband (industrialist Herbert Hutner)?

"I'm too much married lately — he stayed home," the actress laughed. "I think a woman needs a little freedom."

The female reporters on hand murmured their agreement and scribbled on. The men just looked at each other.

Hutner is Zsa Zsa's fourth husband. Perhaps indiscreetly, one reporter asked Zsa Zsa which of her husbands was her favorite.

Unfazed, she replied, "Why, George Sanders. He was so sophisticated. I was young and foolish and didn't appreciate him ... now he's married to one of my best friends and I have to grin and bear it."

It was Sanders who once compared life with Zsa Zsa to living on the slopes of a volcano — "very pleasant between eruptions."

Flashing on Zsa Zsa's left ring finger was a huge diamond ring. She said it was 35 carats. To give you an idea of its worth, her sister Eva has a 15-carat ring and it's valued at $25,000.

Her earrings were pearl pendants hung from diamonds. And there was a string of exquisite, perfectly matched pearls around her neck. An incredulous reporter asked if the pearls were real.

"Dolling, everything is real about me, don't you know that?" Zsa Zsa purred and gently placed her hand on the reporter's arm.

On the serious side, Zsa Zsa said she had canceled a trip to Budapest where she had intended to do a benefit show for orphans.

"The newspapers over there had a story about me criticizing some political remarks I made and saying that I am backing Barry Goldwater for President.

"It's all not true but I'm afraid to say anything more about politics. I've still got relatives over there — my father's no longer living — I have to be careful what I say from now on."

Nothing else much frightens Zsa Zsa though and she's never been one to run from a fight. Most recently she was involved in a scrap with the daughter of a wealthy Briton on a flight to Monaco. She's still fuming over that one.

"Princess Grace (the former Grace Kelly) wouldn't let me go on with my act after that — she's afraid of losing business in the casino — I must say she certainly has changed since I knew her in Hollywood."

"Women like to pick on me but I'm a Hungarian girl and I fight back. They don't like that. But that woman on the plane, she was twice as big as me."

It is said that Hungarian women have "paprika in their blood" and, judging from Zsa Zsa, it must be true. She was late for her last wedding but don't try being late with her.

Frank Sinatra did during a film and found she had walked out on him. "I don't wait a half-hour for any man," Zsa Zsa said flatly. "Or any woman either for that matter. I walked out on Tallulah Bankhead for the same reason."

HER pride and joy is daughter Francesca, 17, now a student at Mary Mount, a Catholic school in Beverly Hills, Calif. Zsa Zsa, who went to school in Switzerland and speaks five languages, is concerned about Francesca's education and upbringing.

"I'm bringing her up very strict — it's not so with most American kids, they need more discipline."

At the same time, however, Zsa Zsa revealed she was not above spoiling Francesca, who was born of her marriage to Conrad Hilton.

"I've been teaching her to play polo and just bought her two ponies in England," said the proud mother. "I was taught by (Porfirio) Rubirosa — at least I learned that from him."

Zsa Zsa brought 20 evening dresses with her to Europe ("I can never decide what to wear") and was bubbling over with plans for her stay. She loves fast cars and an auto show was right down her alley.

"I've got a Mercedes sports car of my own, you know," she said.

And is this the same one that Rafael Trujillo Jr., gave her some years ago?

"Yes, and it's a very nice car. I love it." There was a trace of defiance in Zsa Zsa's voice.

"What I really would like to have is a Volkswagen bus — you know the kind with all the windows." And for what purpose?

"Why, dolling, to carry around all my luggage, of course!"