# The Gabor Sisters: Did They Fight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747 "2016-11-22T16:18:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/21 "2016-11-24T05:14:54Z")
> [@minionkat](#): > > She’s had one foot in the grave for quite some time now. 😉 You bitch. 😉 Eva was prettier and funnier. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/22 "2016-11-25T16:41:10Z")
In the New York Times obituary for Eva, she is quoted as saying it is boring to be known as the “Good Gabor” and she was annoyed as hell to be linked with her sister. They saw things differently , what was white for Zsa Zsa was black for Eva. But Eva said she loved her sister. Zsa Zsa had very public run in with a Beverly Hills police officer in 1989 (several years after “MASH” ended) and served three days in jail (Rich Hungarian Lives Matter). She also had a feud with the German born actress Elle Sommer in 1984 that eventually escalated into a libel suit. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/23 "2016-11-25T17:27:14Z")
Eva wanted to be taken seriously as an actress, Zsa Zsa cared more about keeping her name in the news and being a trophy wife. They looked very much alike, dressed alike, sounded alike, not surprising that there would be a little friction between them. Zsa Zsa was the middle child though, I guess fulfilling the stereotype with little Eva being the good one. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/24 "2016-11-26T04:42:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It’s more of a nickname, diminutive form of Zsuzsanna. Wikipedia lists her given name as Sari. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/25 "2016-11-26T05:22:33Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Wikipedia lists her given name as Sari. Yeah, that would be the Hungarian form of Sarah or Charlotte. The German Wikipedia page [lists her also as Zsuzsanna](https://lb.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zsa_Zsa_Gabor), which would be what “Zsazsa” usually is short for ([You can see a Hungarian page here](http://www.nevenapja.hu/nevnapok/zsuzsanna_nevnap.html) with all the variants under “becenevek”). I can’t really find any good sources for that, though. It seems like Zsazsa just picked out the nickname herself, I assume just playing on the first syllable of her name (“sha” in English), as Zsazsa is not a usual pet form of Sári, so far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/26 "2016-12-10T21:04:58Z")
As a kid, I somehow always confused Zha-zha for Charro, the hoochey-coochey girl! ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/27 "2016-12-10T23:33:36Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > They had twenty marriages between them. One dude married and divorced two out of the three. Twenty marriages, one child. Zsa Zsa’s daughter Francesca Hilton died last year, childless. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2016, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/28 "2016-12-11T02:25:03Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > As a kid, I somehow always confused Zha-zha for Charro, the hoochey-coochey girl! Charo is the [kick-ass guitar player.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmNPXqG6ovg) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/29 "2016-12-11T02:39:35Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Charo is the [kick-ass guitar player.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmNPXqG6ovg) She is definitely good. She made money from her comical accent and very full figure but she was an outstanding student at school founded by Segovia in Spain and performed in her husband Xavier Cugat’s orchestra. Quite a bit more talent than any of the Gabor sisters displayed. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/30 "2016-12-12T19:45:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, and Zsazsa/Zsuzsa/Zsuzsi might be something like Susie in English. But how are her petals? > [@Mangosteen](#): > > What did she mean "no famous people named “Zelda”? > > Didn’t Zsa Zsa watch the _Dobie Gillis_ show? Or know F. Scott’s wife? ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/31 "2016-12-13T03:14:24Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > … > Zsa Zsa had very public run in with a Beverly Hills police officer in 1989 (several years after “MASH” ended) and served three days in jail (Rich Hungarian Lives Matter)… Around that time, Nick at Nite was running Green Acres. For a while, their ad for that show mentioned “Green Acres stars Eva, not Zsa-zsa. Eva will not harm you”. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/32 "2016-12-13T03:46:53Z")
To get back to the original question for a moment > [@Jinx](#): > > I caught a line on a recent airing of a MASH episode where two minor characters were all-out, roll on the ground, fighting. Hawkeye says something like “Look, the Gabor sisters! Ok, Eva…” What is Hawkeye’s line eluding to? Were the Gabor sisters known for squabbling, in general? Or, is it a reference to a specific movie scene, perhaps? Is it possible that Hawkeye was being sarcastic and the sight of two people (I’m guessing they were women?) rolling around on the ground fighting was the exact antithesis of the glamorous socialite Gabors? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747/33 "2016-12-13T14:02:17Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Is it possible that Hawkeye was being sarcastic and the sight of two people (I’m guessing they were women?) rolling around on the ground fighting was the exact antithesis of the glamorous socialite Gabors? The Korean war was before my time, but if his remark made any sense in that era it could be sarcasm of that sort. There were gossip columns in print at that time that might have mentioned some tension between them, possibly some coverage in the very earliest days of television (which Hawkeye may never have seen), and also newsreels that may have covered them and could have been seen by soldiers overseas. I saw later newsreel type coverage of Zsa Zsa on TV in some kind of ‘Hollywood on Parade’ sort of format in the very early 60s. I don’t recall them referred to comically until the mid-60s in talk shows but I was rather young at the time and wouldn’t have picked up much of anything before then. However, it was probably an anachronism as many of the jokes and other references on MASH were. ETA: ‘Probably an anachronism’ based on the frequency of those in the show, not because I know what the Gabor’s image was at the time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gabor-sisters-did-they-fight/772747.md?page=1)