What was going on when I was born?

One day in May 1975, Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin - two movie producers best known for ''Cabaret'' - made an offer to Joseph Papp, the producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival. They would pay $150,000 for the film rights to his new musical. No matter that the musical had not opened. No matter that it was only in previews in a 299-seat theater downtown. Insiders had already heard that this show, something about dancers called ''A Chorus Line,'' was remarkable. When Mr. Feuer and Mr. Martin had seen the first preview performance, they cried. ''And all that notwithstanding,'' Mr. Martin recalls, ''we knew it was a good property.'' Mr. Feuer and Mr. Martin got their chance to turn ''A Chorus Line'' into a movie. But only now, nine years and millions of dollars later, is the film being shot, in the Mark Hellinger Theater under the direction of Richard Attenborough. Between 1975 and 1984, such writing, directing and marketing talents as Mike Nichols, Sidney Lumet, Allan Carr, Bo Goldman and Joel Schumacher - as well as Mr. Papp and Michael Bennett, the two chief creators of ''A Chorus Line'' - failed to bring the film to fruition.

As Ronald Reagan begins a second term with what appears to be a resounding endorsement of his economic policies, what dangers lie ahead? Four of the nation's prominent economists, each representing a different school of thought, were asked how they would counsel President Reagan as he prepares for the next four years. Martin S. Feldstein A mainstream conservative, professor of economics at Harvard, director of the National Bureau of Economic Research and chairman of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers from September 1982 to July 1984. ''What worries me is if we don't get action on the budget deficit we'll get a sharp, spontaneous fall of the dollar and a loss of confidence by the financial markets. Over time, this would mean we would see higher and higher real interest rates and a erosion of the process of growth. . . . The key to the deficit is getting legislation in place that provides for a steady, reliable reduction. . . . I believe it will be necessary to compromise and include additional revenues. . . . I favor the tax reform approach. . . . I also think the size of the vote means Congress will be more willing to give the President the kind of spending cuts he wants. . . . The President has made it clear he wuld use tax increases as a last resort, and I think he'll have to use that last resort.''

At first glance, the Government's consumer installment credit figures for September, due out this Thursday, will suggest that Americans are becoming increasingly hesitant about piling on debt. But that's not necessarily so, according to Joel Popkin, a Washington economic consultant. The September figure is expected to show a rise of only $2 billion or so, compared with $6 billion in August and $7.1 billion in July. ''But the decline occurred largely because of the sharp drop in auto sales that month,'' Mr. Popkin noted, ''and not because the consumer is overburdened with installment debt.'' Continuing labor problems again depressed domestic auto output in October, causing sales to fall to an annual rate of 6.9 million units, from 7.9 million in September. As a result, Mr. Popkin expects sluggish growth in installment debt to continue in October. But the trend should reverse in the final months of the year. ''The recent decline in interest rates should stimulate sales of autos and other durables normally bought on credit,'' he predicted.

O NE YEAR after the Federal Government began paying for hospice care for terminally ill Medicare beneficiaries - what one hospice director described as the most comprehenive medical benefit ever provided by the Government - only about 1 percent of those eligible for the program in New Jersey have elected it. Although this has created problems for a few hospices in the state that depend heavily on Medicare reimbursements, it has had little impact on others. However, some hospice officials believe that the biggest losers have been dying patients and their families, who either were unaware of or misunderstood the benefit. ''Those who benefit most from the new program,'' said Clark Dingman, director of the Hospice of Burlington County in Moorestown, ''are people who have spent their life's savings on aggressive treatment for their disease or those who have very limited resources and no insurance besides Medicare.'' Medicare patients who do not use their hospice benefit still can receive hospice care under Medicare's traditional plan, which, like most other medical insurance, covers some, but not all, hospice services. Patients or the hospice - most receive some philanthropic funds - then must pay for services and supplies that are not reimbursed.

An 82-year-old carousel that is a designated landmark on the National Register of Historic Places has been moved, in pieces, to a Brooklyn warehouse from its site in Youngstown, Ohio. Bought at auction for $385,000 by David Walentas and his wife, Jane, it will be reassembled on the Brooklyn waterfront only if Mr. Walentas can procede with his stalled proposal for a $159 million office, retail and entertainment project at Fulton Landing just north of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Boston College Eagles had just scored a touchdown to come within 6 points of Penn State, and on the visiting team's sideline at Beaver Stadium, Doug Flutie had another idea. ''He comes running up to me,'' said Jack Bicknell, the coach who has been smart enough to listen for the last four seasons. ''He says, 'We've got to go for 2.' '' The score was 29-23. Logic dictated an attempt for the more likely point-after kick and a reliance on the defense to get the ball back. ''Doug said, 'But what if they kick a field goal?' '' Bicknell remembered. ''Now I'm sitting on the sideline, and I'm thinking, 32? 25?'' Bicknell continued. ''Doug's thinking if we go for 2 and we get it, and they kick a field goal, now it's 32-25 and then we go for the win. He thinks about what's beyond, to the next plane. He's so into the game. He drives me crazy with his suggestions sometimes, but you think, 'He's got a point there.' ''

PARIS It is hard to call Yuri Lyubimov sad: He is admired, he has plenty of work, and he travels for the first time, as he says, without receiving instructions, without having to check on who he's authorized to see. It is hard to call Yuri Lyubimov happy: He is a 67-year-old man with a 5-year-old son, a boy who asks his parents where they really live, and what language he will have to speak when they get off the plane. In an hour's conversation, the director's mood loops and swerves - big, theatrical smiles and jokes that give way to grins, and then to quiet. He does an imitation of Leonid Brezhnev, creasing his voice into the textures of dark tobacco and rough brandy, and he looks greatly amused, buoyed with a visitor's laughter. In minutes, the talk changes. Piotr Lyubimov, his son, now goes to school at the Lycee Francais in London. He speaks French in school, English in the street, Hungarian to his mother, and Russian when his father is home. His father is often in Paris or Milan or Bologna. Life is not perfect, and Mr. Lyubimov, who was probably the Soviet Union's best known theatrical director, makes the point that it is not quite the life he chose.

The Federal Aviation Administration yesterday ordered the emergency grounding of Provincetown-Boston Airline, which carries more passengers than any other commuter airline in the nation. The agency said P.B.A. had committed ''fraudulent'' actions in qualifying pilots to fly its planes and had violated numerous other safety rules. The airline's 105 planes were carrying about 4,000 passengers a day on more than 500 flights, largely in the resort areas of New England and South Florida. The agency said P.B.A. was evidently the largest carrier ever to have its flights halted by Government order. The shutdown order leaves a number of the communities served by the line without scheduled air service.

AT first glance Chris King is the model American teen-ager. The 18-year old student is president of the senior class at Staples High School in Westport, Conn., and this weekend he is playing the lead role in the drama club's production of ''Mr. Roberts.'' Next fall he hopes to move on to Boston University and, eventually, to graduate school. The youth, though, is the first to concede that he is by no means an ideal model. ''I reverse letters when I read and have trouble taking my thoughts and organizing them down on paper,'' he explained one day recently. ''If I'm rushed, I'll mix words up and come out with something like 'attack-a-heart.' I've learned that I can do just about anything I set out to do, but I have to work a lot harder than other people to do it.'' Chris King is one of an estimated 1.75 million students in the nation who have been diagnosed as having a ''learning disability'' - one of a dozens of known disorders, apparently neurologically based, that can prevent even the brightest student from performing some of the simplest acts of reading, writing and calculating. His success in compensating for his problems is also evidence of major progress that is now being made in addressing a problem that has led to confusion, frustration and grief for millions of American families.

Since Atlantic City's resort appeal was bolstered by the legalization of gambling in 1976, large-scale hotel and condominium projects have been developed there, many of them with casinos. But four miles from the heart of the city, in Brigantine, a small 53-year-old beachfront hotel is undergoing a renovation and will reopen early next year as a timeshare condominium - without a casino on the premises.

Shortly before the election, one of President Reagan's closest advisers grew nervous about California. The adviser pressed top campaign operatives for the latest polling results and repeatedly asked if everything was being done in Mr. Reagan's home state. In the end, it was decided that more money would be spent in California and Mr. Reagan would campaign there on the day before the election. Aides said the decision was taken at least partly because of the lobbying of the anxious adviser: Nancy Reagan.

The Reagan Administration, concerned about what it says is an increased flow of Soviet bloc weapons to Nicaragua, is considering placing greater diplomatic and military pressure on the Nicaraguan Government, senior Administration officials said today. They said the moves being discussed at high levels of the Government included the recall of the United States Ambassador to Nicaragua, the Navy's interdiction at sea of arms shipments to Nicaragua, an increase in the frequency and size of United States military maneuvers in Central America and, Congress willing, a resumption of aid to Nicaraguan rebels. The intention, they said, is to intimidate the Nicaraguan Government without the direct use of United States military force inside Nicaragua. The proposals, they said, could range from shadowing ships and harassing them to a full naval quarantine of Nicaragua. Although the Administration has not recently made public aerial reconnaissance photographs or other raw intelligence information about the military buildup in Nicaragua, Pentagon and State Department officials said recent shipments from the Soviet bloc included surface-to-air missiles, attack helicopters, sophisticated antiaircraft guns and radar equipment and high- speed patrol boats. Some United States military officers have described the arms as primarily defensive.