Senator George McGovern's surprising primary triumphs have left the Democratic Party somewhat divided, so McGovern Enthusiast Warren Beatty staged "Together with McGovern," his fifth fund-raising extravaganza. At prices of $5 to $100, some 20,000 people flocked to New York's Madison Square Garden, to be ushered to their seats by such notables as Paul Newman, Shirley MacLaine and Julie Christie. But Beatty's piece de resistance was the reunion of three split-up groups of stars: Peter, Paul and Mary, sounding as unified as ever; Mike Nichols and Elaine May, delivering their own deadpan political satire; and Simon and Garfunkel, re-creating Bridge over Troubled Water, which may be destined to become Senator McGovern's campaign song. "We feel we are laboring at a disadvantage in comparison with other groups on this program," Nichols remarked. "They quarreled viciously and broke up only a few months ago, but we have not spoken for twelve years."

Roaring down a race track in Atlanta, Motorcycle Daredevil Robert "Evel" Knievel took a practice jump over four panel trucks, overshot the landing ramp, and broke his back--for the third time in his career. Determined to ride the next day, broken back and all, Knievel asked the doctor, "If I were to jump so I'd land on the balls of my feet, not on my behind, so I wouldn't jar anything --what do you think?" The doctor didn't think much of it, so Knievel set off for the track in an ambulance, just to make an appearance. Heckled into performing, he did a pair of "wheelies" --riding along for a hundred feet with the front wheel in the air. Said he: "I have to satisfy only one person and that's the man I see in the mirror each morning."

Washington reporters, grumbling about the rarity of President Nixon's press conferences, sometimes suggest that he is being secretive. Not at all, contends White House Adviser John D. Ehrlichman: the President doesn't like press conferences because he finds the questions "flabby and fairly dumb." On a Los Angeles TV show, Ehrlichman reported: "I've seen him many times come off one of those things and say 'Isn't it extraordinary how poor the quality of the questions is?' " As for the correspondents themselves, Ehrlichman compared them to "insecure young ladies --they keep asking us if we love them. If you don't want to know, don't ask."

When they got married in 1964, they seemed the epitome of the Beautiful People: very young, very rich, and very--well--beautiful. Amanda Burden, daughter of Stanley Mortimer and Mrs. William Paley, was born into the world of social celebrity. Carter Burden, son of a wealthy California investment banker, was a law student who planned a career in politics. For nearly eight years, they were New York's bright young couple--Carter became a city councilman, and Amanda did charity work. Then they moved into separate apartments. "Amanda has been linked with everybody but President Nixon," remarked Society Columnist Suzy, "and Carter has been linked with everybody but Golda Meir." Last week Amanda, 28, filed for divorce for "cruel and inhuman treatment." Carter, 30, replied: "I'm very surprised and disappointed." -

Queen Elizabeth has always dressed on the dowdy side, but there was a time when Princess Margaret was considered relatively chic. So eyebrows rose last week when she arrived at a reception for the Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg in a costume that looked to a Daily Mail commentator like something "kept in mothballs from her family's visit to South Africa in 1947." The Princess's "mothball" ensemble: white Wedgies with ankle laces, a brightly flowered dress with a hem line midway between knee and ankle, and a floppy hat ringed with flowers and trailing ribbons. London's Daily Mirror suggested one explanation: "She stands a good chance of emerging as just what the royal family needs--a really splendid stylish eccentric."

Bulova Watch Co. Board Chairman Omar N. Bradley, now 79, is America's only living five-star general. On Flag Day the Defense Department decided to honor the "G.I.'s General" by filling a Pentagon corridor with plaques, photographs, medals and insignia memorializing his distinguished career. Army troops staged precision drills in L'En-f ant Plaza, and Bob Hope provided jokes at a ceremonial dinner ("I read today that Kissinger is in Japan, trying to trade two pandas for a couple of transistorized geisha girls"). Bradley himself was, as always, brief and plainspoken: "I am a soldier, serving my country in peace and in war. Thank God for the privilege, both then and now." At that, fireworks erupted, in the pattern of an American flag.

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