By J.D. Reed

When he wore the green-and-white jersey of the New York Jets, Joe Namath, 40, was known as Broadway Joe for his love of swinging night life. Now he is back on the Great White Way in a different uniform, that of a U.S. Navy officer. Namath is making his Broadway debut in a revival of Herman Wouk's crackling 1954 drama, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. The boudoir eyes and patent leer that marred the actor's film (C.C. and Company) and TV performances were refreshingly absent last week as he took over the role of Lieut. Maryk, a well-intentioned innocent who assumes command of a wartime minesweeper from the unbalanced Lieut. Commander Queeg. Clearly awed to be in the company of such all-pro actors as Michael Moriarty, 42, who plays Defense Attorney Barney Greenwald, and Philip Bosco (Queeg), 53, Namath calls the role "my greatest thrill so far in show business." Broadway Joe has only one minor problem: the military haircut ordered by the director. Says Namath: "At least it doesn't take long to dry it."

Body Builder Lisa Lyon, 30, is too busy these days to pump much iron. The U.C.L.A. anthropology graduate, who can dead-lift 225 lbs., has written and appeared in two pictorial bestsellers (Lady; Lisa Lyon's Body Magic) that feature muscle-bulging poses she calls "body sculpture." Now she has left her duties as hostess of a Playboy Network talk show to develop a fashion-modeling career. The 5-ft. 3 1/2-in., 105-lb. unscrawny mannequin currently appears on six pages of the German edition of Vogue; her physique may soon grace rag-trade magazines in Italy and Japan. Lyon will appear before the fashion crowd in person next month, she says, when she models the Liza Bruce ready-to-wear collection in London. Adds she: "I see myself as a representative of a new life, a fusion of mind and body." Press on, Lisa.

"I've got my earplugs in my bag. Do you think I'm going to need them?" asked Diana, Princess of Wales, 22, as she and Prince Charles arrived at London's Royal Albert Hall for a gala charity rock concert featuring, among others, Drummer Charlie Watts of the ever scruffy Rolling Stones, along with Singer Steve Winwood and Guitarist Eric Clapton. Not to listen to Satisfaction, perhaps, but the svelte, silver-clad Di might have wanted to use the stoppers elsewhere. For weeks, curious Britons have been chattering about whether the Princess is pregnant again. London's tabloid Daily Mirror reported that the Princess had announced her happy condition at a family dinner in Balmoral Castle. But Buckingham Palace has maintained a proper silence about what the Princess quite reasonably says is "a private matter." When she visited a school for mentally handicapped children last week, Di was handed a bouquet by 13-year-old Student Fiona Pasmore, who shyly reached out, patted the royal tummy and reportedly asked, "How's your baby, then?" Said the surprised Princess: "Did I hear right?" She did, but once again avoided answering the question.

Ten years ago this month, as the gruff but masterly chairman of the Senate's special committee to investigate Watergate charges and Richard Nixon, Sam Ervin, 86, described himself as "just an ole country lawyer." Since he retired to part-time private practice in Morganton, N.C., in 1974, the bushy-browed raconteur has also been a busy author. Humor of a Country Lawyer, his just-published anecdotal collection, covers everything from Ervin's circuit-riding attorney days to Watergate to the Social Security computer that paid him a lump-sum death benefit by mistake. He is troubled by arthritis, hypertension and other ailments, but reports of ole Sam's death were exaggerated. Indeed, he says he "feels pretty good" on the eve of his 87th birthday this week. There is no party planned as far as he knows, but, he says, with a Yoda-like smile, "I wouldn't oppose one." He predicts that Ronald Reagan will run again and win. But Sam is loyal to his party. Says he: "I guess if the devil ran as a Democrat, I'd vote for him." The former Robert Zimmerman of Hibbing, Minn., first publicly showed an interest in his spiritual roots in 1970, when he attended Jewish Defense League meetings. Then his 1979 Slow Train Coming album suggested that he had become a born-afresh Christian. The latest reported twist in his spiritual quest was the news that Bob Dylan, 42, has decided to spend time studying with and cut an album of songs for a strictly orthodox Jewish sect, the Lubavitch Hasidim, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Last week Dylan was spotted at Jerusalem's Wailing Wall for his son's bar mitzvah, wearing a yarmulke and phylacteries (the two leather boxes containing scriptural passages worn by men on the left arm and forehead). Dylan from time to time has referred to his religious interests in language as elusive as the metaphors of his folk-rock anthems. Consider this recent observation: "Roots, man--check up on Elijah the prophet. He could make it rain. Isaiah the prophet, even Jeremiah, see if their brethren didn't want to bust their brains for telling it right like it is ... I ain't looking for roots in synagogues with six-pointed Egyptian stars, but, you know, it's sleepy time down south."

The power of celebrity in the modern age is sometimes astonishing to behold. But miraculous? In Europe rumors have circulated that a devout tourist had her prayers answered last spring and a doctor recorded the inexplicable recovery of a patient; both attributed the developments to the intervention of Princess Grace of Monaco. So now a handful of the Roman Catholic faithful are proposing Grace for beatification, a step along the road to sainthood. Committees to aid the cause are forming in Italy and reportedly in Philadelphia, her home town, and Hollywood as well. During a memorial service for the Princess in Rome, Msgr. Piero Pintus of the Church of San Lorenzo in Lucino surprised Monaco's Ambassador to Italy by announcing that he would gather signatures to begin the lengthy formal process. Said Pintus: "I am sure Princess Grace is in paradise. She may some day do a miracle." Neither the Kellys of Philadelphia nor the Grimaldis of Monaco have bothered to issue a statement on the prospect, and a Vatican source remarked, "A lot of caution must be used. Nowadays, we are victims of mass media and publicity."

This year's Miss America comes with such standard features as beauty, talent and ambition. But Vanessa Williams, 20, is unique in at least two ways. She is the first black titleholder in the 62-year history of the contest, and she is delightfully willing to speak her mind. She supports the Equal Rights Amendment and thinks abortion is "a right a woman should have." Asked endlessly about the significance of being the first black winner, she sighed, "It's hard to come up with fresh answers to a question that doesn't really mean anything." Furthermore, she said, "don't expect me to favor every black cause that comes along." Black leaders enthusiastically favored her victory. Said Civil Rights Activist Jesse Jackson: "Vanessa did for the Miss America Pageant what Jackie Robinson did for the Dodgers."

The beauty queen was not aiming at barriers or breakthroughs. She entered the Miss America Pageant because "I needed the money." The title means a $25,000 scholarship, and in addition she will earn more than $100,000 for appearances across the nation this year. Williams plays piano and French horn, won the talent competition with her singing, and wants to make it as a musical actress. The Syracuse University junior only competed in a local swimsuit contest last spring because a campus drama production folded. Since her crowning in Atlantic City, where she edged out the first runner-up, Miss New Jersey, Suzette Charles, 20, who also is black, Williams has been surrounded by chaperons and sponsors and hounded by paparazzi. But she has not been stampeded. "It's difficult to develop overnight opinions on things I haven't even researched," she says levelly. "People think I should have an answer for everything. Well, I'm just human." --By J.D. Reed This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.