March 5, 1995

TO grasp what might be called the Mankoff Theory of Humor, try to conjure up the following three images, each in the form of a precisely illustrated single panel cartoon: An executive sits at his desk, cradling a telephone and thumbing through his appointment book. "No, Thursday's out," he says. "How about never? Is never good for you?"

AFTER THE SUCCESS OF Peter Brook's nine-hour version of "The Mahabharata," the most massive project that has yet emerged from his International Center for Theater Research in Paris, everyone he met seemed to assume he would tackle another mythological epic. "Give us your 'Beowulf,' " he remembers people saying, "Give us 'Mahabharata 2.' " But Peter Brook wouldn't be Peter Brook if he repeated himself. To keep moving, seeking, changing and growing remains a basic article of his faith as he approaches what will likely be a characteristically unfussy 70th birthday on March 21. Mr. Brook is probably the English-speaking world's most eminent director, with productions as pivotal as the Paul Scofield "King Lear" and books as influential as "The Empty Space" among his legacies. But he is most apt to be found quietly chatting in a Left Bank bistro in Paris, where he lives, than going by limo to a champagne reception at the George V.

MAKING IT WORK 3 A ladder man on 14th Street keeps a wary eye on thieves. NEW YORKERS & CO. 4 Beyond the pec machine: The high-end gym wars are taking some curious twists and turns. LETTERS 5 MOVIE CLOCK 11 What's showing at the local movie houses, today through Thursday. PLAYING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD 12 Women's history month: Art shows in downtown Brooklyn, Red Hook and Flushing. GOOD EATING 12 A tour of the Midtown East. The enticing Chin Chin; the serene Ambassador Grill. SOAPBOX 13 An encounter with a photographer on the subway.

TORMENTED by their white classmates, Hispanic students at a leading law school needed reassurance. They were being told that they didn't deserve to be there because they had scored lower than whites on the Law School Admission Test. And they wanted this smear refuted. "I tried to be very candid with them," the law school's dean later recalled. It was true, he told them: their scores on the L.S.A.T., the standard benchmark for admission, were somewhat lower. But if they worked extremely hard, he said, they could make up for "differences in past credentials."

THERE have been long lines at Manhattan bookstores waiting for a chance to meet the author, an Olympic hero acknowledged as the greatest diver of all time. There have been words of encouragement from strangers in airport terminals and a warm reception at a book signing at the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale this week. In the aftermath of his interview with Barbara Walters on ABC's "20-20" and the release of his book of revelations, "Breaking the Surface," Greg Louganis, by all appearances, has thrown off the shackles of self-imposed exile and been accepted as a former world-class athlete who has AIDS. But appearances, as we know, can be deceiving, and there has also been an undercurrent of cynicism surrounding the Louganis revelation, suggesting he has not received the volume of support and sympathy from the public that the tennis great Arthur Ashe and the basketball superstar Magic Johnson got when they stared into the harsh glare of the television lights and revealed they were H.I.V.-positive. Ashe was a victim of a tainted blood transfusion, while Johnson said he contracted the disease through sex with women. Mainstream America could say: It can happen to us.