The casting call for Bob Hope's NBC-TV special next week was for girls who considered themselves elevens--compared with Bo Derek's ten, of course. Three hundred stunners showed up for six wiggle-on parts in the show, a lighthearted Charlie's Angels take-off about undercover girls in the garment trade. Hope's daughter Linda, the special's producer, made the initial selections; her father, in sport togs and golf cap, did the final choosing. "I went through 150 girls and three pacemakers," chortled Bob, 76. Observed Linda: "For once in his life, he didn't mind being late for his golf game."

Trust Barbara Walters to ferret out a secret. Interviewing Fred Astaire, Walters bluntly asked Hollywood's soigne cine-dancer whether he planned to marry Woman Jockey Robyn Smith, 35. Said Fred, 80: "She is a great girl." Well, had he popped the question? "Yes, sure." Would they wed soon? "I think so." What about the age difference? "I don't even think about it." Smith, once a jock for and good friend to Maryland Horseman Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, 67, met Widower Astaire eight years ago while she was riding the California tracks; their feelings quickly became parimutual. Astaire wants her to keep on jockeying if they marry; railbirds may not be so keen. Smith's only other winner this season was a Santa Anita mount six weeks ago named Rock 'n Royalty.

George Sand never made it. Neither did Colette nor Madame de Stael. For ever since the elite 40-member Academie Franc,aise was established by Cardinal Richelieu in 1634 to uphold France's literary standards, it has barred its doors to women. But now the "Immortals" have voted to breach France's macho line by admitting Novelist Marguerite Yourcenar, 76, author of Hadrian's Memoirs and acclaimed translator of Henry James and Virginia Woolf. Though Yourcenar holds U.S. as well as French citizenships and has lived in Maine for 30 years, what bothered the twelve who opposed her was principally her gender. Philosopher Jean Guitton, 78, grumbled that bringing a woman into the academy "is like putting a dove in the rabbit hutch. One inhabitant like that makes the place overpopulated." After 45 years of work, the group's current project, a definitive French dictionary, has reached the fs, which means that Yourcenar has arrived just in time to explain feminisme.

There's a reason why Lynn Swann is so deft when he dodges downfield as a wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Swann's way was honed in dance studios, where he spent 14 years learning moves. He displays his skill on Omnibus, the 1950s magazine-format show that ABC is reviving this spring. In one segment, with Hoofer Gene Kelly beating time, Swann joins Choreographer Twyla Tharp and Ballet Star Peter Martins in a Tharp dance about a wide receiver. Said Swann after his off-the-field patterns: "My thighs hurt."

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