June 25, 1981

THE set designers needed a mansion for shooting ''Annie,'' Columbia Pictures' film version of the long-running Broadway musical. But not just any mansion. The director, John Huston, wanted one that could easily house the film's eccentric billionaire, Daddy Warbucks, and copies of such colossal status symbols as Rembrandt's ''Night Watch,'' the ''Winged Victory'' and, of course, the Venus de Milo. For months nothing appropriate turned up. The best houses had long since become museums and, according to Dale Hennesy, the production designer, others, like the familiar palaces of Newport, R.I., had lost their ability to dazzle by appearing in too many films and television commercials.

IVY LEAGUE ARE INVESTIGATED By JAMES BARRON Athletes at several Ivy League universities received gifts or favors over a period of years, according to officials in the Ivy League, and the schools are investigating whether, as a result, there was a violation of rules governing athletes. The schools themselves are not accused of any wrongdoing. A. Bartlett Giamatti, the president of Yale, and officials at Princeton, Harvard and Dartmouth said the investigations into the source of the gifts and favors centered on a man who was not an Ivy League graduate. The universities are looking into, among other things, free meals and expense-paid trips that the man reportedly arranged for athletes and other students at the four schools. The man, whose name was not disclosed by Ivy League officials, also reportedly hired athletes for jobs that entailed nominal work.

''The position of the United States on the subject of Communist participation in the governments of our allies is well known.

Amid intensive behind-the-scenes maneuvering, the state's Financial Control Board threatened yesterday to withhold full approval of New York City's 1982 budget because of concerns about the Transit Authority's large operating deficit. After trying to work out a settlement with state and city officials, the board postponed its regular meeting today, rescheduling it for next Tuesday, the last day of the city's 1981 fiscal year. Without approval from the board, the 1982 budget supposed to take effect next Wednesday would lack the required certification from the city's principal fiscal monitor. Several officials involved in yesterday's city-state negotiations said that by postponing acceptance of the city's $14.7 billion budget, the Control Board sought to pressure the Legislature to come up with a long-term solution to recurring mass-transit deficits.

The United States, West Germany and Japan agreed yesterday to abandon a cooperative $1.55 billion coal liquefaction project that less than a year ago was hailed by Department of Energy officials as a centerpiece of the nation's drive to reduce dependence on imported oil. The synthetic fuel plant, which was to have been built in Morgantown, W.Va., was to have converted 6,000 tons of high-sulfur coal into 20,000 barrels of oil and gas daily using a process developed by the Gulf Oil Company. Gulf joined with a Japanese consortium led by Mitsui and Ruhrkohle A.G. of West Germany to form SRC International Inc., a venture that was to have provided $100 million for the project and served as prime contractor. The Governments of West Germany and Japan each agreed to cover 25 percent of the costs, and the United States was to pay the remaining 50 percent.