Major Show Biz Powers Share Bill in a United State

What a moment, what a truce.

So there is hope for world peace. If the fractious television industry can come together without shedding blood, anyone can.

Did it ever unite Friday night on one channel after another, generously and for the best of reasons, defying its own 1st Commandment (Thou shalt be big, splashy, greedy, competitive and cost-effective) while bucking traditions going back half a century.

Glitz and glam? Forget it. Egos? On hold. Self-love? See ya later. Smarmy speeches? Outta here. Tears? Only sincere ones. No yada yadas or poseurs admitted.

Why was this night different from all other nights? The cause, of course, a behemoth fund-raiser titled “America: A Tribute to Heroes,” benefiting relief efforts growing from the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes that slammed into the Pentagon and New York’s World Trade Center like terrible thunderbolts.

The nation’s first counterattack? This bicoastal telethon originating from Los Angeles and New York, with everyone from stars and other industry big shots to smaller shots and technicians behind the scenes taking part pro bono in a landmark mingling of Rolexes and Timexes. Perhaps never had as many limos and Hondas been lined up in solidarity at TV studios.

Nor had as many top recording artists, far-flung across the musical landscape, given of themselves as selflessly for so worthy and emotional a cause. Although most everyone wore black, the evening’s symbolic fashion statement was red, white and blue--the two hours opening with Bruce Springsteen singing “My City of Ruins” and ending with stars galore joining Willie Nelson twanging out “America the Beautiful.”

The absence of a whoop-de-doo studio audience gave the evening a weight befitting the occasion.

When TV people talk about “the numbers,” they usually mean the ratings they live and die by. Not this time, though, when “the numbers” applied only to contributions being solicited throughout the show. So instead of song and album titles on the bottom of the screen as performer after performer came before the cameras backed by pyramids of glowing candles, there was only a phone number to call and addresses to contact for those wanting to give money.

That was this night’s commercial.

Produced by Joel Gallen, the show was amazingly polished given how hastily it was put together. The mood on the screen was largely somber but not funereal.

There were too many lumps in the throat to count, among them Paul Simon singing “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” Neil Young giving everything he had to “Imagine” and Will Smith appearing with that globally famous Muslim, Muhammad Ali. Ali remains a stunning presence, his eloquence testament to Islam transcending his atrophied physical presence.

“You know me,” he began. “I’m a boxer. . . .”

In addition, star after star, from Julia Roberts to Ray Romano, gave salutes to heroes who lived and heroes who died. Beaming in from London, Sting dedicated “Fragile” to a friend who died in the terrorist attacks. How you responded depended not on them but what was in your own heart.

Celebrities spend a lot of time celebrating themselves. Yet, historically, entertainment folks can always be counted on to rally round the flag when they believe the flag truly needs it.

So instead of anonymous volunteers manning the phones, there were Jack Nicholson, Goldie Hawn, Sylvester Stallone, Andy Garcia, Whoopi Goldberg and Al Pacino, among many, many others.

If you’re searching for metaphors, this was the show biz’s electronic version of U.S. troops famously hoisting the flag at Iwo Jima in World War II. It was powerful, it was moving, it was empowering, and when over, the only thing left to do was count the money.

From sea to shining sea.