Try here
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=64298.0These diffs patch the official Mame release to add hi-score support in again, as well as a couple of other little tweaks that can be turned on/off in mame.ini
Once you've patched the Mame source with the hiscore diff, you can use that patched source to add the vertical bezel fiddle you mentioned.
I highly recommend Mr. Do's compiling Mame tutorial, also mentioned in the above thread.
Good luck!