The war in the gulf was barely a week old when the staff of the local morning TV show AM Los Angeles came up with the idea of mounting a salute to the troops in Saudi Arabia. But when the program put out a call for celebrities to participate in the tribute, the TV staff feared that the tight schedule would discourage stars from taking part. The producers need not have worried. Tom Selleck, M.C. Hammer and the entire cast of Roseanne signed up. So did Ben Vereen, who sang a spirited version of Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now and later joined country singer Lee Greenwood and Susan Anton for a heartfelt rendition of America the Beautiful. Said Vereen: "I want us as a country to realize our responsibility to the troops. I don't want Saddam Hussein to see us as divided."
Entertaining the troops has been a tradition among show-business folks ever since the USO first took performers overseas to perform for G.I.s during World War II. But the eagerness to participate has rarely been greater or more broad-based than it has been since Operation Desert Storm began. Energized by lingering guilt about the way Vietnam soldiers were treated, celebrities of all political stripes have been rushing to show support for allied forces in the gulf. Nearly 100 actors, singers and athletes, ranging from Meryl Streep to Mike Tyson, got together to record Voices That Care, a pro-troop music video that made its debut last week on armed-forces television. "This isn't pro-war or antiwar," said songwriter Linda Thompson Jenner, who initiated the program and wrote the lyrics. "There are people involved in this project who stand firmly on both sides, but this is an apolitical message to tell the troops we're thinking of them." Profits from the sale of the video and audio track in the U.S. will be donated to the American Red Cross and the USO.
Satellite dishes, VCRs and other technology help make it possible for the men and women in the gulf to receive this outpouring of entertainment. More than 85% of U.S. soldiers stationed in the region have access to radios, compared with just 50% during the Vietnam War. Some 3,000 television sets are also available to the troops, and more are on the way. Five major companies, % including ARCO and AT&T, each donated $500,000 to a USO fund that will spend some of the money to build mobile entertainment centers for the troops. Dubbed the USOasis, these vehicles contain large-screen TVs, VCRs, stereo systems, and cellular phones, so that soldiers can call home. The final touch: popcorn machines.