HOLLYWOOD GOES GAGA

By Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles

Celebrities who publicly embrace worthy causes sometimes seem to be auditioning less for Sense and Sensibility than for Clueless. Stars have dangled from bridges to protest logging practices, hawked clothes made in sweatshops while promoting moral values and slugged pesky photographers even as they were begging for kindness to animals. A recent surge of show-biz interest in children, however, seems to be as well aimed as it is high profile. More than half a dozen organizations founded or funded by Hollywood celebrities are zeroing in on kids' issues. And early childhood development is one of their top concerns.

In April, ABC-TV will air a prime-time special on brain development, directed by Rob Reiner and featuring such A-list stars as Tom Hanks and Robin Williams. It's the opening shot of an elaborate multimedia blitz that is coordinated by Families and Work Institute, based in New York City, and includes public-service announcements, magazine specials, home videos, online sites and CD-ROMS. "I couldn't create a big, federally funded program," says Reiner. "But I certainly can put on a show to raise awareness about how the first three years critically impact the way a child later deals with society."

Reiner says he became interested in baby brain activity three years ago during his own analysis. Now he is taking his case directly to the top. He has been urging President Clinton to host a Washington summit on the subject, and last month sat beside Hillary Clinton at a White House arts-award dinner. The next day she gave a speech that included a long section on early-childhood learning. "It's an important issue for the President to get on," says Reiner. "You talk about trying to fix the welfare situation. This is a way to do it."

Reiner is one of dozens of celebrities who have joined Hollywood's latest children's crusade. Whoopi Goldberg, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston and Henry Winkler have all donated their names, their time and even their money to various kids' causes. Not only did Steven Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw co-found the Children's Action Network, which makes educational films and sponsors immunization campaigns, but Spielberg also chairs the Starbright Foundation, an innovative charity group that deploys entertainment technologies to help ease the suffering of sick children.

Hollywood's interest in a cause often means Big Money. A benefit movie premiere can raise up to $350,000 in a single night. Still, as Starbright managing director Chris Garvey notes, "Our board members give more than their money and Rolodexes. They relish the hands-on experience of dealing with children in hospitals."

But not too hands on. Celebrity sightings at clinics and youth shelters are, for the most part, rare. "We try to provide children with a calm, soothing place, not chaotic, star-studded events," says Leslie Johnson of the Westside Children's Center in Culver City, California. "Besides, children under three have different ideas about celebrity. When Barney came to our Christmas party, Jim Carrey could have been standing there and no one would have noticed him."

--By Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles