While dancing in a revival of On Your Toes at Washington's Kennedy Center, Ballerina Natalia Makarova, 42, heard the crash too late. Two lengthy pipes used as scenery ballast fell to the stage, striking the dancer. Dr. Max Cohen, 42, a clinical assistant professor of surgery at George Washington University School of Medicine, who had been sitting front row center, treated her for a fractured shoulder blade and a 3 1/2-in. gash across the scalp. "She is in some ways fortunate to have survived," says Cohen. "It could easily have been more serious." Makarova will probably require two months or more of recuperation before she can dance again.

The victor is supposed to leap the net magnanimously, not be dragged over it ignominiously. But after an exhibition volley with Martina Navratilova, 26, Duncan, the New Jersey Nets' team mascot, gave her an oaf-handed shake that she would probably like to forget. Navratilova could afford a forgiving smile though: last week she erased any doubts (held by Chris Evert Lloyd) about who is the top-ranked player in women's tennis. Winning the Toyota championship in New Jersey, Navratilova defeated Lloyd 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, for the $75,000 purse, season earnings of $1,461,055 and a record for the year of 90 wins in 93 singles matches. "She's No. 1, I concede," said Lloyd. "But not next year."

Even the Korean War has to end some time. The special two-hour final episode of M*A*S*H marks not only the end of the series' wartime hostilities, played out on a sound stage on the Century City lot, but the end of the eleven-year-old, 250-episode CBS television show. Sometimes preachy and self-righteous, but always funny, the program was that rare TV treat, a situation comedy with situations and comedy. At a M*A*S*H bash to say goodbye, the show's creators and stars were feted with a black-tie dinner in West Hollywood by CBS and the series' producer, 20th Century-Fox. Among M*A*S*H alumni, only Wayne Rogers, 49 (a.k.a. Trapper John McIntyre), turned up to share a homecoming hug with Alan Alda, 46, characteristically unshaven, but sporting a tux. Demobbing Day on the air for the current M*A*S*H regulars is Feb. 28, when, with the war over, the members of the 4077th return home to families and civilian jobs.

Every parent quietly notes the occasion, but when William Arthur Philip Louis, the future King of England, turned six months old, Mom and Dad invited the press and TV cameras. Inundated during her travels around the country with requests for more baby photos, Diana, Princess of Wales, 21, convinced his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, 56, that in addition to her traditional Christmas TV broadcast, there should be one of Sweet William to satisfy the interest of his future subjects.

The young Prince seemingly ignored the waving of small toys, kitchy-cooing noises as well as the snapping of fingers and managed but one distinctly nonregal gurgle. "They never do what you want them to do," said Prince Charles, 34, after the proud but resigned papa bounced his son on his knee. "We will probably get all those child specialists saying we handled him wrong." --By E. Graydon Carter

On the Record

Vince Dooley, 50, University of Georgia football coach, on how Herschel Walker's winning of the Heisman Trophy might affect his concentration before this week's championship game against Penn State: "Herschel has been wined and dined. Well, I guess 'wined' isn't the right word, because he doesn't drink. He's been Coked and dined. Oops, that sounds even worse. How about if I say he's been Tabbed and dined?"

Lech Walesa, 39, on Solidarity's failure to confront the Polish government more directly: "You can't take on tanks with running shoes." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.