"Who knows what possible frescoes are inside the skull?" Thus Octogenarian Martha Graham cryptically advertised her new work, Holy Jungle, based on William Goyen's novel, House of Breath. Next month she is presenting on Broadway what she describes as her most ambitious season ever, a three-week repertory that will include six major Graham revivals plus six performances of Clytemnestra and a reworking of last season's Mendicants of the Evening. Graham will star in the gala opening--as a commentator, not a dancer.

Looking back over nearly 60 years of combat in the dance world, Including her own company's civil war last year that caused the departure of Dancers Mary Hinkson and Bertram Ross, Martha paraphrased French Tragedienne Sarah Bernhardt: "I failed yesterday, even so I'll still go on today."

His craggy face and lumbering gait, combined with the endearing bluffness of a country parson, make him a cartoonist's dream. But when The Most Rev.

Arthur Michael Ramsey, 69, surges majestically up the aisle of his own Canterbury Cathedral, a member of the congregation says, "you feel all the power and authority of Christendom." Last week Ramsey announced that, come his 70th birthday in November, he will step down as 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. A determined ecumenist, Ramsey became in 1966 the first Cantuar to officially meet a Pope in 600 years. In avuncular fashion, he even made the swinging scene, telling his fellow clergy to stop being scandalized by topless fashions. He himself shocked his brethren in the middle of an argument about church vestments by disclosing, "In some churches I wear no more than a black scarf." When last year one of his plans, to merge the 46 million-member Anglican community with 20 million Methodists, was defeated again, Ramsey came near to tears, then raised his hands above his head and quoted Godspell: "Long live God."

John Lennon has separated from Wife Yoko Ono Lennon, and is living it up in Los Angeles. Early this year, cops were called to John's Hollywood apartment when a neighbor reported female screams coming from it. The fuzz departed, however, when told that Lennon and date were simply enjoying a Mr. and Mrs. Last week Lennon chalked up another demerit. He was bounced from Los Angeles' most fashionable nightclub, the Troubadour, for ribald heckling of the Smothers Brothers. On the way out with his secretary May Pang, Lennon threw a right at Freelance Photographer Brenda Mary Perkins, who filed a complaint with the police. Lennon is uncharacteristically mum on the subject. Taking his lawyer's advice, he said: "No comment."

Even retrospectively, implications can evoke a frisson. At least as Egyptian President Anwar Sadat told it, when Chase Manhattan Bank Board Chairman David Rockefeller stopped off briefly in Cairo last September, Sadat asked, "Why don't you open a branch here?" Rockefeller thought it would be hard to have an Egyptian branch without also opening one in Israel--a situation bound to anger the Arabs. Sadat, his mind on the plans to start war against Israel on Oct. 6, said, "I think we can manage this, Dave. It's only a matter of timing." "And what do you mean by that?" asked Rockefeller. But Sadat managed to hold his tongue, and recently he told Rockefeller what could have happened: "If I had slipped, Dave, there would have been no alternative except to detain you here until Oct. 6--under any pretext."

Claude Picasso, 26, is an aspiring photographer. Paloma Picasso, 24, is a designer and an incipient actress, whose first movie, Contes Immoraux, will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May. They must work for a living. But as the illegitimate children of Multimillionaire Pablo Picasso, they may eventually become rich. Although the painter officially recognized them as his children in 1961, Claude and Paloma fell into disfavor after their mother, Francoise Gilot, wrote a book in 1964 describing her eleven-year liaison with Picasso. When Claude filed suit in 1970 to be recognized as a legal heir, Picasso successfully fought the case. And when he died last year, he left no will, so his estate went to his widow and son Paulo by his first wife. Last week, however, a French court ruled that Claude and Paloma have inheritance rights--based on a 1972 precedent that established such rights for illegitimate children. And while an appeal is expected, ultimately Claude and Paloma should each get an eighth of what is estimated to be a $50 million to $100 million estate. Said Claude of the ruling: "The judgment was late enough in coming. I am delighted that we won."

Tales of gangland flickered onto the screen at Los Angeles' Century Plaza hotel. There was James Cagney pumping bullets into a victim even as he gnawed a drumstick, bawling out Bette Davis from his bed, sizing up Bogie for a suit of lead, and socking Joan Blondell right in the kisser. In the audience, Veteran Actress Mae Clarke, who took it in the face in Public Enemy, was heard to say: "I didn't want to sit too close to Jimmy in case grapefruit was served." As for the rest of the 1,500 friends and fans--including George C. Seott, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Rosalind Russell and Mick Jogger--attending the five-hour celebration staged by the American Film Institute to honor Cagney, 74, with its Life Achievement Award, they could not see enough of him. Finally, Cagney, who has been retired for 13 years, took the stage himself with a spry soft-shoe shuffle to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy. He said simply: "Acting was just a job that I did the best I could."

In emerald peau de soie and a rhinestone choker, Mrs. Norman Mailer No. 5 was singing the blues. In a Stockbridge, Mass., boite not far from the Mailer homestead, former Nightclub Singer Carol Stevens, 41, ran through a dozen old standards drawn mainly from Helen Morgan's repertory. Torch style, Carol aimed a few of the numbers directly at an impassive Norman in a stageside seat: The Man I Love and My Heart Belongs to Daddy. She also sang Gee Baby, Ain 't I Good to You after acknowledging to Male Chauvinist Mailer that it was really a man's song. "I made up a verse to sing specially for Norman," she added, "but I can't do it here." The movies are also beckoning Carol. Mailer is planning a film around her that will "treat music differently."

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