M*A*S*H Farewell

Entertainment, History 5 Minutes

Today is the 40th anniversary of the M*A*S*H series finale.  The Mental Floss website has a list of 17 interesting things we might not know or remember (from an article dated February 28, 2018.)

In 1968, surgeon H. Richard Hornberger—using the nom de plume of Richard Hooker—collaborated with writer W.C. Heinz to create the book MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, based on his experiences with the 8055th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. Two years later, Robert Altman used the book as the basis for a movie about the fictional 4077th unit (he cut the number 8055 in half). Two years after that, M*A*S*H came to life again in the form of an 11-season television series. And 35 years ago today, that show culminated in the most-watched series finale in television history. Here are some facts about the show that won’t get you a Section 8.

ALAN ALDA AND JAMIE FARR SERVED IN THE U.S. ARMY.

Alda (Hawkeye Pierce) was in the Army Reserve for six months in Korea. Farr enlisted, and was stationed in Japan when Red Skelton requested his services on his USO Tour through Korea. Wayne Rogers (Trapper John McIntyre) joined the U.S. Navy for a time as a ship navigator. Mike Farrell (B.J. Hunnicut) served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

MCLEAN STEVENSON AUDITIONED FOR HAWKEYE, AND COMEDIAN ROBERT KLEIN TURNED DOWN THE ROLE OF TRAPPER JOHN.

Stevenson was convinced to take the role of Lt. Colonel Henry Blake instead. As for Klein, he denied a claim that he lived to regret the decision.

LARRY GELBART WROTE THE PILOT IN TWO DAYS FOR $25,000.

The veteran screenwriter had been living in London after growing tired of Hollywood, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try to adapt Robert Altman’s movie for television audiences.

KLINGER WAS ONLY SUPPOSED TO BE IN ONE EPISODE.

He was also supposed to be gay. Jamie Farr’s character was changed to a heterosexual who cross-dressed to try to get himself kicked out of Korea. Allegedly, the Klinger character was influenced by comedian Lenny Bruce’s claim that he got discharged from the Navy for claiming to have “homosexual tendencies.”

ONLY THE NETWORK WANTED THE LAUGH TRACK.

Gelbart and executive producer Gene Reynolds were against the canned laughter; unfortunately, CBS knew of no other way to present a 30-minute “comedy.” Gelbart and Reynolds did manage to get the network to agree to take out the laughing during the scenes in the operating room, and as the seasons progressed, the track got quieter and quieter. In the U.K., the BBC omitted the laugh track entirely.

CBS DIDN’T WANT ONE “UNPATRIOTIC” EPISODE.

An episode where soldiers stand outside in the freezing cold so that they can make themselves sick enough to be sent home was rejected by CBS. That soldier tactic was apparently actually used during the Korean War.

THE WRITERS CAME UP WITH AN INGENIOUS WAY OF DEALING WITH SCRIPT COMPLAINTS.

After growing tired of having to listen to cast members’ notes about their scripts, M*A*S*H writer Ken Levine and his fellow scribes changed their script on two occasions so that the actors were forced to pretend it was parka weather on 90- to 100-degree days on their Malibu ranch set. They took the hint and the “ticky tack” notes stopped.

WAYNE ROGERS WAS ABLE TO LEAVE THE SHOW BECAUSE HE NEVER SIGNED A CONTRACT.

Rogers was threatened with a breach of contract lawsuit. The problem was that he had never signed a deal, objecting to the standard contract given to TV actors when he had started playing Trapper John, particularly the “morals clause,” which he considered antiquated. Rogers said that aside from missing the cast—and his friendship with Alda in particular—he had no regrets about leaving the show after season three.

ALDA WAS THE ONLY ACTOR WHO WAS AWARE OF HENRY BLAKE’S FATE UNTIL MOMENTS BEFORE SHOOTING THE FINAL SCENE IN “ABYSSINIA, HENRY.”

Gelbart and Reynolds used the opportunity for McLean Stevenson wanting to leave after the third season to “make a point” about the “wastefulness” of war, and decided to kill off Henry Blake. After distributing the script without the last page and shooting all of the scenes written therein, Gelbart asked the cast to wait a few minutes before the start of the end-of-season wrap party and gave them each one copy of the final page, where Radar enters the O.R. and announces that Henry didn’t make it.

Larry Linville (Frank Burns) immediately remarked that it was “f***ing brilliant.” Gary Burghoff (Radar) turned to Stevenson and called him a son of a bitch, because he was going to get an acting Emmy for the episode. (He didn’t.) They then shot the scene in two takes. Gelbart and Reynolds claimed they received over 1000 letters from people upset over the ending. Reynolds also claimed that CBS was so unhappy with the decision that in at least one repeat airing, they cut out the final scene.

THE WRITERS RAN OUT OF NAMES.

During season six, there’s an episode that features four Marine patients named after the 1977 California Angels infield. Throughout season seven, the patients were named after the 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers. Ken Levine didn’t just use baseball players’ names though; in “Goodbye Radar,” Radar’s new girlfriend was named after one of Levine’s former lady friends, Patty Haven.

THE SERIES LASTED MUCH LONGER THAN THE ACTUAL KOREAN WAR.

The series spent 11 years telling the story of Army doctors and nurses dealing with a three year, one month, and two day war.

ALDA CO-WROTE 13 AND DIRECTED 31 EPISODES OF THE SERIES.

That 31 count includes the series finale. Alda was the first person to ever win an Emmy for acting, directing, and writing on the same program.

A METRIC TON OF FUTURE STARS MADE GUEST APPEARANCES.

Ron Howard played an underage Marine. Leslie Nielsen played a Colonel. Patrick Swayze portrayed an injured soldier with leukemia. John Ritter, Laurence Fishburne, Pat Morita, Rita Wilson, George Wendt, Shelley Long, Ed Begley Jr., Blythe Danner, Teri Garr, and even Andrew Dice Clay also all visited the 4077th.

THE SERIES FINALE IS STILL THE MOST WATCHED EPISODE OF TELEVISION IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

Seventy-seven percent of the people watching television in the United States on the night of Monday, February 28, 1983 were watching the two-and-a-half-hour series finale, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen.” That was 121.6 million people. A company only had to pay $30,000 to run a 30-second commercial when M*A*S*H got started in 1972. For the series finale, a 30-second spot cost $450,000.

THERE WERE THREE SPINOFFS.

Trapper John, M.D., aired from 1979 to 1986 and was about Trapper John McIntyre’s present-day tenure as chief of surgery back in San Francisco (it didn’t star Wayne Rogers). AfterMASH featured Col. Potter (Harry Morgan), Father Mulcahy (William Christopher), and Klinger (Jamie Farr) working at a veterans’ hospital in Missouri right after the events of M*A*S*H; it was cancelled in its second season as it was unable to compete with The A-Team. W*A*L*T*E*R followed the new adventures of Walter “Radar” O’Reilly (Burghoff again), who became a St. Louis cop after losing the family farm and his wife (not Patty Haven) and attempting suicide. The pilot wasn’t picked up, and only aired once, and only in the eastern and central time zones, on CBS on July 17, 1984.

RADAR’S TEDDY BEAR WAS SOLD AND RETURNED TO BURGHOFF.

Burghoff said Radar’s teddy bear had been lost for 30 years until it suddenly turned up at an auction in 2005. A medical student bought it for $11,500, and promptly sold it back to Burghoff.

A CONSTRUCTION WORKER FOUND THE SHOW’S TIME CAPSULE ALMOST IMMEDIATELY.

In the series’ penultimate episode, “As Time Goes By,” the characters bury a time capsule under the Fox Ranch. Two months later, the land was sold. Soon after, a construction worker found the capsule and got in contact with Alan Alda to ask what he should do with it. After he was told to keep it, Alda claimed the construction worker “didn’t seem very impressed.”

Happy Farewell Anniversary M*A*S*H!

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Published by pat frederick

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164 thoughts on “M*A*S*H Farewell”

  1. Liked by 1 person

  2. Well, I didn’t get the medicine from the VA so I went and picked some up at the pharmacy, as well as more bacon at the grocery store. The stuff I got there yesterday was too thick and almost all fat! Total waste. The timing was right today, tho, since they had some Hormel Black Label Maple cured bacon that was much better and it was on sale for $3.99/lb. I grabbed 3 of them!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. that’s a bargain!
      glad you got your medicine!
      I was out shoveling off the deck. it was super dang heavy!!! very moisture laden.
      I will probably nap after dinner in front of the fire!
      LOL

      Liked by 1 person

  3. “Color revolution? US funneling millions into Hungary’s left-wing opposition media”

    February 28, 2023
    editor: REMIX NEWS author: JOHN CODY

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “There is a proliferation of U.S.-funded, supposedly free journalism organizations and training courses linked to various left-wing opposition newspapers in Hungary, according to the Hungarian civil rights group, Tűzfalcsoprt (Firewall Group). One of the largest foreign-funded press outlets — news portal Telex — has recently announced that it is launching a training program funded by the U.S. government called Telex Academy, to supposedly train young people and teachers in independent, objective journalism. The Telex Academy project is led by three Hungarian journalists who all work for opposition media.

    The Hungarian public has been shocked by the level of U.S. support, which shows signs of “open interference.” As arguably the world’s leading power, the U.S. has ample resources and is currently engaged in a massive cultural, economic and political influence operation in Hungary. This operation involves donating millions to various opposition efforts, which now includes hundreds of thousands of dollars to a left-liberal newspaper, Telex, that is completely at odds with Hungarian national values and interests.

    However, given the hostility of the Biden administration towards Hungary, it is perhaps unsurprising these left-wing campaigns and media outlets are financed by the U.S. As Remix News previously reported, millions of dollars were funneled into Hungary to influence the April election last year, which Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party won by a landslide.

    While the web of supporting organizations has not yet been fully untangled, Hungarian domestic intelligence agencies have already determined that NGOs funded by billionaire oligarch George Soros along with U.S. state and state-linked organizations were involved in funding the opposition’s election campaign. This information was included in the report of the Hungarian domestic intelligence agency, the National Information Center, which was submitted to Hungary’s parliament on Jan. 20, 2023.

    The report concluded that during the 2022 election campaign, the U.S.-based group Action for Democracy sponsored the Hungarian political movement “Mindenki Magyarországa.” The organization was acting as a front for Hungarian opposition parties and an NGO, which received a total of over 3 billion forints (€8.4 million) from Western sources.

    (US founding for Hungarian opposition during the 2022 election campaign (National Information Center)

    The U.S. may have failed to stop Orbán from returning to power, but it has now ramped up its media operation in Hungary to counter the country’s conservative government. The Firewall Group’s blog writes that the Telex Academy grew out of an initiative of the New York-based Independent Journalism Foundation (IJF), established by James L. Greenfield. According to the Firewall Group, IJF has 10 main international sponsors, including the Coca-Cola company and the European Union.

    The other donor to the Telex Academy is the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is a U.S. government agency whose head, Samantha Power, visited Budapest this February. At her press conference, she said that the U.S. government was devoting the equivalent of 7 billion forints (€18.5 million) to “maintaining democracy” in Central Europe. It is also worth noting that USAID announced last year that it would support the left-wing press with ample funding.

    When Power visited Hungary, a meeting was arranged for a small group of Hungarian left-wing media journalists, signaling that the U.S. was fully invested in interfering in Hungary’s domestic media market.

    A new color revolution? Critics of the various U.S. influence operations point out that Democratic Party officials and liberal media outlets made claims that Russia influenced the 2016 U.S. election results, but these claims later turned out to be often unsubstantiated and wildly inaccurate. In contrast, U.S. influence operations are conducted openly and announced on the official U.S. government websites and officials.

    Some have taken to labeling U.S. efforts in Hungary as a new attempt at a “color revolution,” which is how Gavin Max, the president of the New York Young Republicans Club, described the situation while speaking with Hungarian media outlet Magyar Nemzet this week. He said that color revolutions involving the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) regarding “non-allies” has already taken place many times in history, but the influence operations in Hungary in an attempt to remove the government is a new breed of tactic.

    “But now (the United States) is meddling in the internal affairs of a country that is a NATO ally of the United States. This is completely wrong. They do not act as diplomats, but ideologically, as activists, because Hungary is not considered an ally in an ideological sense,” Wax said.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. i agree. the benefactors of the loans are sitting on lucrative endowments–they should repay the loans, IF ANYONE.

    gnome1949
    gnome1949
    February 28, 2023 2:49 pm

    Bernie Sanders is hysterically shouting about student loan forgiveness being necessary to avoid the financial ruin of the former college students being crushed with student loan debt.

    The solution seems pretty simple. Make the colleges and universities pay off the loans. They were the recipients of the proceeds borrowed by the students now saddled with debt.

    The colleges hold billions of dollars in endowments.

    When people are defrauded of money, as in the case of worthless college degrees, you make the fraudsters pay back the stolen money. The colleges royally screwed the students through these loans and gave them back nothing of monetary value.

    This seems to be an excellent example of fraud demanding a class action lawsuit against the colleges demanding they repay the student loans.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Problem is, I believe the Federal government guaranteed that debit via FannyMae and FreddyMac… if my memory isn’t failing me which is also entirely possible. But, yeah, they’ve got the money! And eliminate tenure completely!!!

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Issue: February 28, 2023
    “Republicans plan to expand the Hatch Act to stop Biden administration’s censorship collusion–Two new proposals.”

    By Dan Frieth
    Posted 10:07 am

    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ ReclaimTheNet: “As if the First Amendment isn’t enough, Republicans in the House Oversight Committee plan to introduce two bills aimed at making sure the federal government does not collude with social media platforms to limit free speech under the guise of fighting “misinformation.”

    Committee chair James Comer (R-KY) will introduce a bill that would expand the Hatch Act, a law that prevents federal employees from taking part in political activities in their official roles. “The Biden administration has eroded Americans’ First Amendment rights by bullying social media companies to censor certain views and news on their platforms,” Comer told Fox News. “Biden administration officials are quick to label inconvenient facts as disinformation and then pressure social media companies to suppress content on their platforms.”

    The bill would also make censorship by a federal government employee “an illegal federal personnel activity subject to disciplinary action” and prevent “senior federal officials,” including political appointees, from participating in censorship whether or not it is in their official positions.

    The second bill, to be introduced by Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) would require the government to report to Congress every incident where the government agency has engaged in censorship of legal speech in the past five years.”

    Liked by 1 person

      1. the stupidity of the forms is overwhelming.
        there is no information flow…you get to line 7 (making up numbers) and you are required to know how schedule 1 came out. but the line that you NEED schedule 1 for is line 18…there’s no flow…or reason to their shit.
        and NY? their forms are a nightmare–you add certain income in only to subtract it out later in the form.
        man i wish I drank…

        Liked by 1 person



  9. ROFLMAO – bookmark this one, Pat!!!

    “OK, Is This My Kin, Your Kin Or Our Kin? Because it’s for damn sure SOMEBODY’S KIN!”

    [video src="https://bustednuckles.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Ladies-Night.mp4" /]

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. Ya’ know, it’s great that McSmarmy is giving access to the J6 video footage to the attorneys of those charged/imprisoned. Having said that, let’s bear in mind…this shouldn’t be an unusual step at all – it is the LAW that the prosecution MUST turn over any and all exculpatory evidence! Yeah, yeah, it’s good to see he hasn’t gone back on the obvious, visible promises but I’m still calling him what he is – McSmarmy and not to be trusted!

    Liked by 1 person

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