Zsa Zsa’s Darlings

We phoned Zsa Zsa Gabor after a classified ad in Sunday’s Times an nounced she was “selling her beautiful furs because of her compassion for animals.” Yes, it’s true. The glamorous Gabor has given up her entire fur collection because she “cannot bear to contribute in any way to the killing of beautiful creatures.” Gabor puts her money where her mouth is.

In her own Bel-Air home are three Shih Tzus, a Lhasa apso and three German shepherds, “and frankly, darling, I could have 10 more,” Gabor chirped on the phone. Of course she does have at least 10 more who don’t live at the manse, including “a brand-new baby pinto named the Red Baron,” her award-winning Tennessee Walker named Silver Fox and on and on.

Gabor says she’s up at 6 in the morning to “cook chicken and rice and carrots and to give each one a special diet and vitamins.” (The old shepherd gets goat’s milk.)

Beautiful Fabrics

She says she knows people have worn fur for thousands of years, “but they really had to wear it in those olden times. Nowadays you can find so many beautiful fabrics to keep you warm,” that she simply can’t justify wearing fur anymore.

What made her decide?

“I got a brand-new blue mink trench coat, and the designer included two extra skins for a hat. I looked at them and suddenly realized they were the skins of two precious little creatures. And I said to myself, ‘Zsa Zsa, you who love animals so very much, how can you wear this?’ The answer was, ‘I couldn’t.’ ”

Gabor’s new navy-blue mink, her white mink trimmed in Russian lynx, her Russian golden sable jacket, her sable-trimmed satin Galanos suit and other items are all available at the Address, a shop on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica.

Wine one for the Gipper

Interior designer Waldo Fernandez will climb out of his Calvin Klein jeans and into his Giorgio Armani tuxedo on Jan. 4, when he and a few dozen other locals attend Merv Griffin’s Welcome Home bash for Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Fernandez is decorating the Beverly Hilton International ballroom in a peach-and-white theme for the event, he tells Listen, adding that the decor will be “California casual with a natural ambiance.” We’re not sure what that means, but he’s designed homes for Elizabeth Taylor, Goldie Hawn and fashion designer Carole Little, among others, so it ought to look good.

Put on a Happy Face-Off

Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson found a new use for hats at the Cadillac bar in Manhattan last weekend. We saw the dynamic duo at the wrap party for “Saturday Night Live,” where she had been a hostess and he had visited. Every time they wanted a face-off (that’s slang for a kiss) but didn’t want the gang to watch, Johnson would remove his big-brim, Indiana Jones-style chapeau and hide the two of them behind it while they, uh, faced off. Don’t forget, you read it here first.

For Whom the Surf Tolls

Mariel Hemingway and her husband, Steve Crisman, who already own three restaurants called Sam’s (that’s his nickname for her), are opening a new chain of eateries called Zemos (that’s her nickname for him). Photographer Marc Karzen, who’ll help design the look of the restaurants and the fashion items to be sold within, tells us the decor will be “sort of like a museum of surfing.” The first restaurant, on the oceanfront in Miami, will be “on a huge scale,” Karzen says, with “vintage boards, radical new boards, Hawaiian shirts, movie posters and album covers” livening the interior. Among surf fashion items to be sold at the eatery, Karzen says, are neon T-shirts, neoprene watchbands, hats and some “top-secret fashion items,” which he won’t talk about yet. Who’ll design the waiters’ and waitress’ outfits? “Mariel will be the last word on everything, especially the fashion image,” Karzen says.

Elite Feet

The new, slim Oprah zipped into Fogal hosiery in Beverly Hills to do some Christmas shopping for herself, we hear from store owner Joan Wills. “She looked fabulously pretty and tiny,” Wills said, “in what I think was an Ungaro checkered pantsuit with a nipped-in waist.” And what did Oprah buy? Lots of leggy things in size medium, including black stockings with seams up the back and striped Lycra styles that make the legs look very slim. James Coburn was in this week too, Wills says, for the store’s special hand-knit slipper socks with leather soles ($95 per pair). Coburn bought his in black, but last-minute shoppers will also find them in bright and pale shades. The successful hosiery retailer says she and her husband, Shelly, will open another shop called Merletto, in the Rodeo Collection. The new shop will feature La Perla lingerie, the exquisite lace-trimmed stuff made in Bologna, Italy.

King of Gowns

Fashion designer Nolan Miller of “Dynasty” fame has a lot more going for him than his screen credits. At the Valentino party a few weeks back, it seemed more guests wore gowns by Miller than by other designers. And for the 600-guest, sit-down dinner at Marvin Davis’ house last week, Miller designed 22 of the gowns, including those worn by Davis’ two daughters (one wore ruby velvet, the other black satin) and those worn by Linda Evans, Yvette Mimieux, Candy Spelling and Miller’s wife Sandra (who wore black velvet). Miller, who opened a custom-clothing salon on Robertson Boulevard two years ago, tells Listen he can’t keep up with Christmas orders. Luckily, he needn’t finish the clothes some women will find in gift boxes Sunday morning. That’s because he “doesn’t like to design for a person without her participation.” So when a gift fur is ordered by a husband, for example, Miller simply packs a few exquisite sable or mink skins along with some sketches of his ideas. He wraps them in a festive box, and that’s enough to give her a general idea.