P:The sport of kings has been cruel to Jockey Mary Bacon, 25. In the five years that she has worn silks, Mary has broken her back twice, been kidnaped by a race-track "Johnny" and shot at. When Michigan's Hazel Park ruled in 1972 that Mary and her husband, Jockey Johnny, could not both compete, Mary left Johnny and went on riding. One of the few out-of-saddle distractions she has permitted herself was a nude pose for Playboy magazine. But it was all coming together. Two weeks into the spring meeting at New York's Aqueduct, Mary for the first time ranked among the track's top ten jockeys. Only slightly set back by a five-day suspension (for careless riding and interference) last week that interrupted her triumphant career, Mary had a simple explanation for her success: "Women have a better temperament for this work. Getting along with a horse is like winning over a child. You bullshit your way along."

P:For the third year in succession, King Hussein of Jordan, 38, elected last week to vacation in Palm Beach. Though unofficial, his visit did not go unnoticed. President Nixon provided him with two bulletproof limos, and Hussein was accompanied by his Prime Minister, Zaid al-Rifai, and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major Zaid bin Shakar. The diminutive monarch put up at the home of Jordan's honorary consul in Palm Beach, Kleenex Heir James Kimberly, and his wife Jacquie. Then he set about enjoying himself. A day's shooting on a nearby game preserve bagged 40 quail, and an ocean fishing trip in the Atlantic made His Majesty the possessor of a mighty fish: a 130-lb. grouper. A visit to Disney World followed, and finally the mandatory shopping spree, which last year required a special plane to take home the goodies. Asked why Palm Beach had become a popular Hussein holiday spot, Kimberly replied succinctly: "He feels safe here."

P:On their way to Egypt for a trip up the Nile to see the pyramids, Jackie Onassis along with Caroline and John Kennedy stopped off at Husband Ari's Paris apartment. One evening they sallied out to the Palais des Congres to see the visiting Russian folk ballet Berkiozka and during the intermission went backstage to meet the cast. Jackie was so taken by the great big bear who is a traditional member of the troupe that she asked him to dance. So, with a growl, the bear obliged, sweeping a beaming Mrs. Onassis into his furry arms for a suspiciously professional waltz.

P:Movie Director Sidney Lumet will need all his little gray cells, as Agatha Christie would put it. Next month he starts shooting outside London her 40-year-old thriller Murder on the Orient Express. Albert Finney will play Christie's eggheaded detective Hercule Poirot.

But it is the passenger list that may cause Lumet the most trouble. John Gielgud, Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave, Sean Connery, Wendy Hiller, Richard Widmark, Michael York, Jacqueline Bisset, Lauren Bacall and Anthony Perkins are among those embroiled in the huggermugger aboard a train snowbound in the Alps. Lumet has planned the whole operation with military precision and looks forward to eight weeks of planting clues and feeding egos. Says he: "It's going to be done with gaiety and humor --and the very best fakery."

P:"In case you forget, I'll be the rather tall girl in the red hair standing somewhere in the middle of things." Soprano Beverly Sills was only half teasing New York City Opera Conductor Julius Rudel. With only hours' notice, no rehearsal, and without ever having seen the production, Sills had gallantly agreed to sing La Traviata when the company's production of Medea was canceled because of Soprano Maralin Niska's illness. Sills had last sung Violetta in New York more than twelve years before, but she winged it superbly. Meanwhile, in the orchestra pit, another hero was being hailed. Lent to the Metropolitan Opera because he was not needed in Medea, Second Percussionist Paul Fein had to dash back and forth across Lincoln Center to pick up his cues in both Traviata and Les Troyens. Explained Rudel to Sills: "If you hear a cymbal crash, you'll know he made it."

P:Hollywood was determined that the Royal Navy lieutenant would appreciate its empire. Putting Prince Charles into a tramcar, Universal ran him through a routine parting of the Red Sea on the huge back lot, then gave a display of stunt men's skills and special effects that included falls from saloon windows, the burning of a bank and a flash flood. When Charles specifically asked to meet Barbra Streisand, he was whisked to Columbia, where she was recording songs for her new movie Funny Lady. Catching Streisand by surprise when she popped out of a recording booth, Charles was apologetic: "I hope I'm not interrupting your tea break." Whereupon he and Streisand enjoyed a cuppa, sort of. "I'm afraid it's not English tea," said Barbra. Opined Charles: "It tastes like cinnamon." Then they disappeared together into a sound mixer's booth and conferred privately for 15 minutes. Charles asked Barbra to come and sing for him, and Barbra was overheard to reply: "Oh, I've never played that Palace."

P:Psyching out a tableful of experienced stonewallers, Pierre Salinger, 48, came away from the poker table with the pot: $40. Former Presidential Press Secretary Salinger, who is now a "roving editor" for the French newsmagazine L 'Express, was making his movie debut as a cardsharp U.S. embassy official in The Marseilles Connection. At the Paris location, Salinger spent a happy day in his shirtsleeves, wreathed in cigar smoke, outsmarting fellow players for the three-minute scene. As for the professional actors, said Pierre, Anthony Quinn "was terribly kind and helpful to the neophyte." Then he added that he was not really a beginner. In 1967 he appeared as a shady lawyer, Lucky Pierre, in "The Funny Feline Felonies" segment of Batman, from which he still earns an annual $18.21 in residuals.

P:At least three movies have been based on Eddie ("Popeye") Egan's exploits: The French Connection, Badge 373 and The Seven-Ups. Now Eddie's turning the tables on Hollywood. After being bounced by the New York City police department in 1971, some say for his informal working habits, and a stint in Hollywood as an actor, Eddie is now playing Sam Spade in Florida. He has set up his own detective agency, Security Unlimited, and hired to run it Robert Banner, the New York policeman who caught Jewel Thief Murph the Surf in 1964. Local business, reports Eddie from his other new enterprise, a restaurant called "The Lauderdale Connection," has been so good that he plans to turn the agency national.

P:"I just want people to hear me sing," said Actress Diane Keaton, 28. So, with her acting chores in The Godfather, Part II behind her, and another movie with her friend Woody Allen scheduled for later this year, Diane has been preparing for another career. For the past few weeks she has appeared on talent night at a Greenwich Village cabaret as a blues singer. Opening with a Bessie Smith favorite, Oh Daddy, Diane sings for 15 minutes before yielding the stage to another aspirant. Diane honed her style by listening to Doris Day and Judy Garland records as a child. "I did not like male singers because I couldn't sing along," she says enigmatically.

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