The background colors are red, white and blue; the face is pensive and deeply etched. It is the official face of Lyndon Baines Johnson, painted by New Mexico Artist Peter Hurd, 62, for the White House Historical Association and destined to hang in the East Wing. Hurd sketched L.B.J. on the wing, whenever he could, but mainly had to work from photographs. "He's a chair-fighter. You can't get him to sit still," the artist complained. Despite the difficulties, it was a rewarding job. "President Johnson has a very paintable face," said Hurd. "What I would call Texas Roman."

After a TV appearance, Nevada's Democratic Governor Grant Sawyer, 47, got a letter from a nine-year-old constituent: "I saw you on TV last night for the first time. My Dad says not to worry. You are a lot smarter than you look." Last week a ten-year-old critic penned the following: "I'm writing to tell you that I'm going to be Governor some day. My father says I should finish grade school first, because I need an eighth-grade education to be as smart as you." Shrugged Sawyer: "A left-handed compliment is better than no compliment at all."

"Here we are, back to the War of the Roses," muttered an angry Gian Carlo Menotti, 55. His ninth annual Festival of Two Worlds had just opened in Spoleto, and police were threatening to ban performances of the bare-breasted Sierra Leone dance troupe unless they covered "the rose of the nipple." "I don't know how to cover only the nipple," sighed Dance Director John J. Akar. He did his best with scarves and plastic roses, but the scarves fell and the petals peeled. At week's end, Akar was ready to try adhesive disks, but Menotti made his stand: "The Vatican may have fig-leafed Michelangelo, but I refuse to brassiere Africa."

With a top of the morning to you, Mrs. Guv'nor, Chief Justice Earl Warren, 75, greeted Mrs. Nelson Rockefeller, 40, and Nelson Jr., 2, as they crossed paths in London's Grosvenor Square. Warren was on the first leg of a trip to Israel to attend the dedication of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Forest near Jerusalem. Happy was keeping busy sightseeing with Nelson Jr. and her brood of four by her first marriage, while she waited for the New York legislature to adjourn so Daddy could join them all on a month-long European vacation.

As she quietly marked her 86th birthday at her home in Easton, Conn., 27 states joined in celebrating Helen Keller Day. Among the many good wishes was one from Lady Bird Johnson: "It must give you enormous satisfaction to look back on what you have achieved, which is nothing less than a Magna Carta of opportunity for the handicapped. We are all very much your debtor in a way that cannot be repaid."

Back for a visit to his old high school in Maywood, ILL., Astronaut Eugene Cernan, 32, joined Gemini 9 Teammate Thomas Stafford in narrating a color film of their flight and answering students' questions. No, said Cernan, he was afraid there was no room for ladies in the space program at the moment. "The spacecraft is so small and there are so many things to be done, the closeness of working together prohibits women astronauts."

They were married in the music room of the bride's home, the bridegroom in a crisp white lieutenant's uniform, which he refused to sit down in for fear of ruining the trousers' perfect crease. Last week, as New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller toasted "the most famous American couple of their time" and proclaimed Eisenhower Golden Wedding Day, Ike and Mamie celebrated their 50th anniversary--the first such occasion for a current or former U.S. President since John and Abigail Adams in 1814 and John Quincy and Louisa Adams in 1847. "The older you grow, the less important arguments get," Ike reflected, and then grinned, "but I was the better cook."

It seemed like a terrific idea at the time--Hank's 30th anniversary in show business and all that, and how cute it would be to reunite him with all his leading ladies. Then Joanne Woodward had to stay with the kids because the nurse was sick; Joan Crawford was caring for Daughter Cindy in the hospital; Dolores del Rio was in Mexico City doing a play; Sylvia Sidney had an infected jaw; Ginger Rogers had to meet her husband at the airport; and Joan Bennett needed her beauty sleep because of an early-morning TV call. Still, Lauren Bacall, Anita Louise, Rita Gam and Susan Kohner loyally turned out to wish Henry Fonda, 61, another 30 and to celebrate the opening in Manhattan of a Bogart-style revival festival. Not that Henry himself was particularly fonda the old flicks. "My wife watches me on the late shows," he said, "but I don't. I'm not a fan of mine."

He still has to maneuver around the Senate floor on crutches and ride its corridors in a wheelchair. Nonetheless, that eight-week-old thighbone fracture may well have been the luckiest break Everett Dirksen, 70, ever had, forcing him to cut back on his exhausting schedule and cancel the out-of-town speaking engagements he cannot resist accepting. His worried colleagues are pleased, and even Ev had to give himself a pat on the head. It was well deserved. His bronze likeness sculpted by Monticello College Graduate Madeline Dinges, 19, had just copped first prize at the Garden of Patriots 1966 National Collegiate Sculpture Award Program. "Superb," declared Ev, noting slyly that it depicted him with open mouth: "I wouldn't look natural without it."

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