France's 175-year-old Academic des Beaux-Arts has coldly considered recent proposals to recognize upstart arts like the cinema. Now, however, the forty-member academy's new president observes: "There were no moviemakers around at the time of Louis XIV, so I sincerely believe we would in no way offend the founders by recognizing this new art form." The president is Sculptor Paul Belmondo, 72, father of Actor Jean-Paul.

A contender in a future Kentucky Derby may be Je Namath. Not the New York Jets' gimpy quarterback, but a brown three-year-old colt owned by Mrs. Liz Tippett (the former Mrs. Jock Whitney). "He's big and beautiful just like his namesake," said Mrs. Tippett. "But he's a little sounder in wind and limb--and he has good knees."

"Ah, olive oil!" exclaimed Salvador Dali, surveying one of the dishes at a small luncheon in Nice with two new acquaintances. "It's thanks to olive oil that great painting came into existence, somewhere around the time of Velasquez, I think." After that lesson in the salad days of art, his amused friends, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace, dug into the lettuce.

Edward M. Kennedy traveled to Manhattan last week to take his wife to the hospital, but this time, at least, it was no great matter. Joan, 34, checked into Lenox Hill Hospital simply to have her tonsils removed. It had been done once before, when she was a little blonde girl named Virginia Joan Bennett, but somehow the tonsils reappeared. The operation was a success, and the Senator's attractive wife will soon be able to recite Peter and the Wolf again at symphony concerts, her favorite cultural diversion.

New York extended open palms to a long-haired oleomargarine heir who plans to give away his entire $25 million fortune. Michael J. Brody Jr., 21, a member of the Jelke clan, hopes quixotically to see "everybody as rich as I am." "Then," he adds, "I'll leave the world alone and go to a desert island." Mike, who wants to become a rock musician and his bride of two weeks, Renee, have asked for 20,000 volunteers to help them spread the wealth.

The Super Bowl and Kansas City's powerful defensive front four reminded National Press Club Speaker Robert Finch of what he termed his own "Frantic Four: pollution, the population explosion, the Pill and pesticides." The Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare continued: "The best thing we've found so far for the population explosion is a 24-hour schedule for athletic events on TV--all year round."

French Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann was reminiscing about a luncheon in 1963. The then Ambassador to the U.S., Herve Alphand, discussing the Paris visit of a twice-defeated American politician, advised Charles de Gaulle: "Don't waste your time on him. He has no political status at all." "No, Alphand," replied France's President. "You are wrong. Nixon is a man with a great future."

The BBC's television interview with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor ranged over many topics: youth (they were with it), smoking (his vice; she hates it), golf (he's a duffer), miniskirts (She: "You certainly know what you're getting"). The talk finally turned to the problems of age, and the duke, 75, recalled a story about his wife's aunt, Mrs. Buchanan Merriman, who lived to be more than 100. Asked why she never looked up certain old friends, Mrs. Merriman retorted: "Look them up? You mean dig them up!"

Liz Carpenter, who was Lady Bird Johnson's press secretary, has a recipe for what she calls Effete Snob Mushrooms: 1 Ib. fresh mushrooms, 1 tbs. chopped scallions, 1 tbs. butter, 1 pt. heavy cream, 1 tbs. sherry, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper. Liz originally got the cherished recipe from Mrs. Douglas MacArthur II. The title, presumably, is of more recent vintage.

Handing out the annual awards to France's top boxers, Maurice Chevalier, 81, recalled that he had once fought a friendly bout with the great Georges Carpentier, world light heavyweight champ from 1920 to 1922. A boxing manager who had seen the round offered Chevalier a pugilistic contract on the spot. Fortunately for show biz and girls of all ages, Chevalier had just been signed for the first time to appear in the Folies-Bergere.

To christen Pan American's first operational 747 jet, Pat Nixon pulled a lever and unleashed a patriotic spray of red, white and blue fluid. It splashed over the nose of the giant plane, and splashed and splashed. Pan Am President Najeeb Halaby tried to shut off the torrent. Then the First Lady gave it a try. A puddle on the concrete became an embarrassing mini-lake before the flow stopped. Back to champagne.

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