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THE P.R. WAR President Bush has called a meeting of Hollywood moguls this Sunday in Beverly Hills to discuss how the industry can aid the anti-terror propaganda effort. Top White House strategist Karl Rove will meet with 40 movie and TV executives, including Motion Picture Association of America chief Jack Valenti and several execs from Viacom, including chairman Sumner Redstone and Paramount boss Sherry Lansing. (Fox honcho Rupert Murdoch was invited but told Variety he will not attend.) Rove is not expected to ask for propagandistic feature films, but rather for the execs to think of ways Hollywood can ''communicate, educate and inspire,'' in the words of the White House's request. Valenti has suggested Hollywood could help by making documentaries, special trailers in multiplexes, and public service announcements that could be aired domestically as well as in Muslim countries.

In fact, yesterday, the House of Representatives voted to create Radio Free Afghanistan, which would broadcast anti-Taliban propaganda, in the form of news and entertainment programs translated into Afghan languages. And Bush plans to launch a public relations offensive at home with a prime-time address tonight.

One way Hollywood won't be sending a patriotic message is by painting the 50-foot letters of the famous ''HOLLYWOOD'' sign red, white, and blue. Los Angeles city councilors rejected a proposal to paint the sign with the colors of the flag in time for Veterans Day later this month, arguing that the alteration might cause traffic jams and would alter the sign's historical character. ''We don't paint the White House red, white and blue,'' said one councilman. Of course, we don't drape cartoon versions of Kim Basinger over the White House either, which is what Paramount did to the sign in 1992 to promote the now-forgotten animated flop ''Cool World.'' The city also allowed a giant yellow ribbon to be tied to the sign 10 years ago during the Gulf War.

BRIT SNIT It's not just Howard Stern criticizing celebrities for their travel timidity. British newspapers have been heaping scorn on U.S. stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis (''Cry Hard,'' said the Daily Mail) for their unwillingness to come to the U.K. to promote their movies and CDs. ''They want everyone to see their movies and think how big and brave they are. But at the first sign of trouble they cower under their beds like gutless cowards. It's pathetic,'' British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington told the Mirror. Instead of serving as role models, he said, they've ''retired to their mansions.'' Tom Cruise has indicated a willingness to travel to promote his upcoming ''Vanilla Sky,'' but veteran star Richard Harris isn't impressed. ''You have guys like Tom Cruise, who's a midget, and he has eight bodyguards, all 6-feet-10, which makes him even more diminutive,'' Harris told the Daily Telegraph. ''He disappears behind them. It's an absolute joke,'' said the Irish actor, who stars as Albus Dumbledore in ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.'' For their part, such British personalities as Sting and David Frost showed their mettle by flying on the first flight of the Concorde, which resumed service to New York yesterday. They were greeted at the arrival gate by Mayor Rudy Giuliani himself.


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