What was going on when I was born?

Amid the Helen Hayes Theater and the Eugene O'Neill, the Gershwin and the Belasco, there now stands the Jack Lawrence. The namesake said he never planned it that way. Until a current flurry of legal activity, Mr. Lawrence had named the former Playhouse Theater on West 48th Street for Tennessee Williams. But this week the administrator of the playwright's estate won a temporary restraining order in State Supreme Court against naming what he considers a ''second-rate theater'' for a ''first-class talent.''

Under pressure from the courts, state governments and Congress, the Reagan Administration has tentatively decided to stop reviewing and cutting off Social Security disability benefits for 18 months, Administration officials said today. Federal officials said that more than 470,000 people have been removed from the disability rolls nationwide since March 1981, when the Administration started to review recipients' eligibility. The reviews were designed to verify eligibility under terms of a 1980 law and to save money by halting payments to ineligible people. Of those removed from the rolls, 160,000 have been reinstated after appeals and 120,000 still have appeals pending. The program provides monthly cash benefits to 3.9 million people.

A private American envoy carrying a personal message from President Reagan to Konstantin U. Chernenko in Moscow was not given the opportunity to meet with the Soviet leader or any other top Soviet official, according to Administration officials. The officials said the envoy, Lieut. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, retired, the chairman of the President's Commission on Strategic Forces, made known to Soviet officials when he was in Moscow two weeks ago that he had a personal Presidential letter and some additional authorized comments, but never heard anything back and was never given an explanation. U.S. Elections Seen as Factor In Moscow, Western diplomats who have talked with Soviet officials say they believe the Soviet Union is likely to remain cool for some time to American overtures because of uncertainty over the American elections and other factors. But President Francois Mitterrand, ending two days of talks in Washington, said he believed Moscow may be reassessing its position on arms control talks, and he warned against ''creating new causes of dissension'' in East-West relations. (Page 3.)

The Defense Department announced today that it would begin large-scale maneuvers in Honduras on April 1, earlier than originally planned. The exercise, which had been planned to begin in June, will now come one week after the first round of the presidential election in neighboring El Salvador. American officials in San Salvador have said that they do not expect Sunday's election to result in a clear winner and that they believe a runoff election is likely in late April or early May. They have expressed concern that there will be an increase in violence during the runoff campaign.

Five angry black rhinoceroses arrived in blustery cold weather at Kennedy International Airport yesterday after an 18-hour flight from Johannesburg. They demonstrated why humans and other animals usually give them a wide berth. Enclosed in specially made steel- and-wood crates, the huge animals, weighing a ton or more each, rammed the sides of their enclosures as they tried to escape, shaking the trailers on which they were being transported. The rhinos were on their way from a South African Airways 747 to the large animal holding area of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at the airport.

After two and a half years of deliberations, the State Board of Regents yesterday adopted new high school graduation requirements that are among the most rigorous in the country. ''In this, our bicentennial year, we are taking a giant step on the road to excellence in our state's school system,'' Willard A. Genrich of Buffalo, Chancellor of the Regents, said at the meeting at the board's New York City office, 622 Third Avenue. The 16-member board voted unanimously to begin phasing in its Action Plan this fall, making the high school graduating class of 1988 the first that must conform to the higher standards.

The increase in consumer prices slowed to four-tenths of 1 percent in February as rises in food prices abated and gasoline and clothing prices declined, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. In January consumer prices had risen six-tenths of 1 percent. Most of the increase in the Consumer Price Index was caused by a sharp rise in prices of home heating oil and smaller increases for beef, eggs, fresh fruit and vegetables, poultry and local telephone rates. Causes of Food Price Rises Much of the food price increases, which economists expect to slow further, are still a result of last summer's drought, harsh winter weather and widespread poultry disease.

Women who want to firm their figures and shed a few pounds have hied themselves to Qi Yufang's exercise class in the Caltdi Gritchongwen workers' district in central Peking. The class promotes ''jianmei,'' which means health and beauty in Chinese, and hundreds of women ranging in age from 16 to 54 have sought it by attending the short courses run by the 44-year-old former gymnast. The many applications prompted Miss Qi to tell Peking Evening News recently that all women hope to have a healthy and beautiful body and vigorous energy so as to do better in their work and study. Word of her salubrious dancing calisthenics has brought Miss Qi invitations to carry her program as far as Yunnan Province in southwestern China. But she assured a reporter for the newspaper: ''I am not planning to go at the moment. I want to contribute my efforts first to the sisters in the capital.''

After deferring the question several times, the Dutch Government faces an imminent decision on whether to accept the 48 American cruise missiles assigned to it by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. All available evidence suggests that it will not be able to carry out a full deployment on schedule. Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers has promised an answer by the end of June and is searching for a politically feasible compromise. According to Western diplomats, Foreign Minister Hans van den Broek sounded out American officials this month about the possibility of a cut in the number of missiles to be installed. Mr. van den Broek, a supporter of the cruise program, reportedly said that could be one way out of the quandary in which his Government finds itself.

President Francois Mitterrand, at the end of two days of talks with Administration officials, warned today against ''creating new causes of dissension'' in East- West relations at a time when the Soviet Union may be reassessing its position on arms control talks. Mr. Mitterrand met with President Reagan over breakfast this morning after a state banquet and hourlong talks on Thursday. A senior Administration official told reporters the two had agreed that the Soviet Union would be welcomed back to renewed arms reduction talks but that the West should not offer special inducements to get the talks started again.

Despite gestures by the Reagan Administration toward breaking the impasse in Soviet- American relations, Western diplomats and visitors who have talked with senior Soviet officials believe that a number of factors, including uncertainty over the Presidential election, are likely to persuade the Kremlin to remain cool toward Washington's overtures for some time to come. In particular, the diplomats say, the United States is likely to find the Soviet leadership reluctant to resume the negotiations on nuclear weapons that have been in abeyance since late last year unless Washington offers a prior concession. Six weeks ago, after Konstantin U. Chernenko became the Soviet leader upon the death of Yuri V. Andropov, there were hopes that Mr. Chernenko would break the impasse. President Reagan's speech on Jan. 16 in which he proposed renewed dialogue between the two countries marked at least a modest shift in American policy. Mr. Chernenko greeted Vice President Bush and other Western dignitaries after the funeral of Mr. Andropov in a positive manner that was taken by some Western envoys as a harbinger of new diplomatic moves.

Guests at the White House dinner Thursday for President Francois Mitterrand were served smoked Columbia River salmon with cucumber sauce, tenderloin of veal with truffle sauce and a selection of California wines. President and Mrs. Reagan were hosts at the dinner, in the State Dining Room, joined by Mr. Mitterrand and his wife, Danielle, and several dozen figures from the arts, news outlets and the Administration.