Even Hollywood would probably turn down so implausible a plot: a little Swedish girl emigrates to the U.S. with Mommy and Daddy and goes to Radio City Music Hall on her very first night in America. That evening convinces her that she wants to be an entertainer when she grows up. She succeeds and eventually plays the role of a Rockette in a big, splashy TV show about Radio City. Which just happens to be the real-life story of Ann-Margret, who appears with Beverly Sills and Diahann Carroll in NBC's Dec. 14 special, Rockette: A Holiday Tribute to the Radio City Music Hall. In preparation for the show, Ann-Margret practiced in front of mirrors, producing all by herself one of the most spectacular lineups of Rockettes ever.

Indian pudding, fish chowder and corned beef hash. Has Julia Child flipped her toque? No, America's most visible French chef has simply decided that it is time for a new cuisine art. On Julia Child & Company, a new television series that PBS will inaugurate in early October, she will whip up eclectic menus liberally seasoned with dishes from the U.S. Each show in the series is built around a distinctive gastronomic occasion, such as dinner for the boss or a pre-football-game lunch. "We hope to interest people in good cooking," says Child. "We want them to say, 'If she can do it, I can.' " The show should also help Child cook her way out of a Gallic rut. Says she: "I've been in the French straitjacket for a long time."

Every politician has a trick or two up his sleeve, but West Germany's Chancellor Helmut Schmidt has worked wonders. During the annual summer festival (this year's theme: Philosophers' Reverie) on the chancery grounds in Bonn, Schmidt got a little help from a professional conjurer and presto! levitated a woman. Then the Chancellor jubilantly passed a hoop over her body to show that it was not supported by wires. Why mix politics and magic? Like the levitated body, explained Schmidt, "problems are suspended and have to be solved."

America's No. 1 mouse and Japan's No. 1 man are old friends. Ever since his tour of Disneyland in 1975, Emperor Hirohito has treasured a memento of his trip: a Mickey Mouse wristwatch. Even on the most formal occasions, His Majesty has been observed wearing his Mickey Mouse. Thus there was dismay in the royal household when the trusty watch stopped ticking, and concerned palace chamberlains rushed it to Tokyo experts specializing in American timepieces. The diagnosis? A new battery was needed. Last week, his hands moving again, Mickey was reunited with Hirohito.

On the Record

Joseph Bolker, Christina Onassis's first husband: "What Christina always wanted was a home with a white picket fence, a garden, a baby . . . and a nursemaid, of course."

Aaron Copland, septuagenarian composer-conductor, on his craft: "Conducting is a real sport. You can never guarantee what the results are going to be, so there's always an element of chance. That keeps it exciting."

Jimmy Carter, in a note hand-delivered by Vice President Walter Mondale to Pope John Paul I: "As one who wasn't expected to be President, I feel we have much in common."

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