March 24, 1984

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.