Names make news. Last week these names made this news:

Britain's Lady of Letters Dr. Edith Sitwell, 65, returned to London from a three-month stint of scriptwriting in Hollywood. Her reaction: "Hollywood is quite delightful. So quaint. So quiet and unspoiled. The people are so modest and friendly. The people I had to deal with were so very cultured."

After a year of waiting for temperamental Cinemactor Mario (The Great Caruso) Lanza to get in the mood to start work on The Student Prince, M-G-M lost its corporate patience, told lawyers to go ahead with its suit against the chubby Mario for $700,000 in production costs to date plus $4,500,000. the loss in anticipated profits. His probable replacement in the star role: Crooner Vic Damone, who will soon be released from the Army.

A Harlem theater enjoyed a sellout business with a new attraction: old Heavyweight Champ Joe Louis, featured (at $7,500 per week) as a member of a dance revue.

At a naturalization ceremony in Los Angeles, Vienna-born Cinemactress Hedy Lamarr, 38, took her oath of allegiance, said she was "pleased and delighted" to become a U.S. citizen.

Golfers in Beaumont, Texas were not surprised last week when home-town girl Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 39, won the Babe Zaharias Open, the local tournament named in her honor. The greatest woman athlete of the half century, Babe was an all-America basketball player, star of the 1932 Olympics (javelin, 80-meter hurdles, high jump), winner of all amateur golf titles and queen of the lady professionals. After the Beaumont tournament, Babe entered a hospital for a checkup, and doctors ordered her prepared for surgery. Medical diagnosis: a rectal malignancy. Athletic prognosis: the end of a fabulous career in big-time sports.

Maude Adams, 80, Broadway's original and most famous Peter Pan, was reported recovering in a hospital at Catskill, N.Y. from an attack of bronchitis complicated by pleurisy.

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From his villa in Nice, France, where he has been writing his memoirs, the aging Ago Khan regretfully announced that he would be unable to attend the coronation in London. Said he: "My doctor forbade me to participate in the ceremony because it would be too tiring for my poor old heart to stand up so long."

The Navy Department announced a new director of the women's branch, to succeed retiring Captain Joy Bright Hancock: Commander Louise Kathleen Wilde, 42, who was assistant to the president of Rockford College, Ill. when she joined the WAVES as a lieutenant (j.g.) in 1942.

On his five-day tour of North African air bases, NATO Commander General Matthew B. Ridgway took time out to join a hunting party in the Atlas mountains organized by the Pasha of Marrakech. The trip's bag: 17 mountain goats.

Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, who wanted to see "a baseball match" during his current U.S. visit, watched a workout game between West Point's first-and second-string teams. Coach Paul Amen gave the old cricketer a few baseball pointers and a souvenir ball and bat.

When Silent Screen Star Mary Pickford, on a cross-country defense bond drive, arrived in Atlanta on her 60th birthday, the city turned on some Southern civic charm for its visitor and gave her a birthday party, with a towering pink cake. At candle-blowing time, a photographer was happy to record how successfully "America's Sweetheart" has beguiled her years.

Detroit's Harper Hospital revealed a gift from Defense Secretary Charles E. Wilson: $100,000 worth of his General Motors stock, to be used for heart-disease research.

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In Luxembourg, Grand Duchess Charlotte presented departing U.S. Minister Perle Mesta with the Duchy's highest decoration: the Oaken Crown with Grand Cross and Scarf. At week's end, on her way to Paris, ex-Minister Mesta revealed that she might visit the U.S.S.R. The Russian Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg recently asked if she would like to visit Moscow. Did she accept? "I said, 'Sure, I'd love to go.'" She is now awaiting word on the visa.

In Cleveland, French Mountaineer Maurice Herzog, writer of the runaway bestseller, Annapurna, announced that next year he will lead a French expedition to scale Mt. Everest.

Actress Katharine Cornell, busy narrating a film biography of Helen Keller, said there was one movie role she would like to play. However, she added, there was a drawback: "You talk to someone like Dore Schary, and they say, 'Miss Cornell, wouldn't you be interested in making a picture?' And I say. 'Yes, I'd like to do the life of Anne Sullivan Macy, Helen Keller's teacher.' And then they slump back and say, 'Oh.'

In Washington, the State Department announced the retirement of George F. Kennan, former Ambassador to Moscow, veteran of 26 years in the Foreign Service and author of the "policy of containment." Kennan's plans: to do some writing, make some speeches, and continue his study of foreign policy at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J.

Jordan's young King Hussein, 18, who will be crowned May 2, arrived in the capital city of Amman to confer with his government officials and start active reign over his country. Meanwhile, the Jordan legation in Cairo announced that, shortly after the coronation. Hussein will marry Princess Dina Abdul Hamid, a graduate of Cambridge and daughter of El Sherif Abdul Hamid of Cairo.

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