In my humble opinion MAS*H was actually two shows one good, one bad. The first 5 years (all of Trapper and the first mustache-less year of BJ) were the good show. Clever, witty, occasionaly touching. The second five years (BJ with a mustache) sucked. Santimonious, preachy, and redundant. Maybe it was cause Frank was gone, but they sure lost something.
From everything I’ve read, in real life, Alda was a really good guy. He lobbied for the ERA, and was a big supporter of equal rights for everybody. Plus, he had a really good relationship with his wife. No huge scandals of him cheating or actuing like a jerk in Hollywood. The only thing I’ve ever read dennouncing him was an isolated webpage of some guy who claimed to have met Alda once, and gotten snubbed.
Cessandra
My Homepage Updated 9/27/99!
The RHPS: Website For Virgins Updated 9/27/99!
Re the original post. The episode in question was entitled “Fallen Idol”.
Interestingly, the BOOK on which the movie and series “MASH” were based was one that would horrify Alan Alda and his bleeding-heart fans. The author was extremely conservative, and went out of his way to be politically incorrect.
I was not a fan of the film, but I give the film credit for keeping with the spirit of the book. Pauline Kael correctly called Robert Altman’s “MASH” the great anti-everything movie. No matter WHO you are, and no matter WHAT you hold sacred, you’ll be offended by something in the book and the film.
The TV series, on the other hand, was tepid, wimpy, standard preachy liberalism. And if you disagree, ask yourself, What happened to Spearchucker? The book and film were unafraid to offend minorites- the TV series copped out quickly, for fear of offending favored minorities.
TV shows that pride themselves on being cutting edge, but which show not guts, are a waste of time.
In the book Hawkeye was from Crabapple Cove, Maine. He was the alter ego of the author, Richard Hooker (pseudonym of Richard Hochberger), who really had been a doctor in a MASH unit in Korea, and was from somewhere in Maine. Hochberger didn’t like the TV show at all, since he was a conservative, but I suppose he didn’t have any problem with all the money he must have received.
On the TV show, Hawkeye hated guns and wouldn’t touch one. He had to be coerced to fire one into the air.
In the book, Hawkeye and Trapper took ‘Shaking Sammy’ (the priest before Father Mulcahy) out away from the camp, put him in a jeep and then shot his tires out with their .45’s. Of course, later they crucified him.
The early MAS*H shows actually were fairly faithful to the book (like, the first season or half-season). Spearchucker was there, and some of the early shows actually re-created episodes from the book. As I understand it, the show began to change as Alan Alda’s power on the show grew and he started getting involved in the writing and directing.
Something that I’ve always wondered about MAS*H (the TV series): In the book (definitely) and the movie (IIRC) it was Hawkeye who was married and Trapper who was single. Why the switch for TV? As has been mentioned, the early TV episodes were similar in tone to the book and movie – aggressively non-PC with something to offend everyone. The show eventually became Alan Alda-fied into a didactic mess (IMHO). So. My working theory is that Alda refused to play a cheating husband, and handed the “likable married horn-dog” roles over to Trapper and Henry. And, once McLean Stevenson and Wayne Rogers left the show, the way was paved for Harry Morgan and What-his-name and the downward spiral into schmaltz. But, at the beginning of the show’s run, Alda surely didn’t have the power to make such a demand. Has anybody heard an explanation for this baffling switch?
Jess
Full of 'satiable curtiosity
Boris, I’ll try to clear up the Maine accent thing, even though I’m only a Summer Person up there. I did spend four years getting a degree in Connecticut, but THAT place has about as much New England Flavor these days as Minneapolis.
“Dooryard” is Maine for “yard.” Back or front, I’m not sure. I DO know that Mainers don’t ever USE their front doors…sometimes they even push furniture up against them (from the inside) and remove steps (from the outside). You’re supposed to go 'round back and knock. (Got this information from John Thorne’s marvelous books on Maine life and foodways.)
“Ayuh” is Maine for “yes.”
Rent the video of PET SEMETERY (1989). Pretty vile flick, but Fred Gwynne does a GREAT Maine dialect.
Uke
Since the original question has all but disintegrated, I’ll add one more related query?
If MAS*H is an acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, why is there no * after the H?
Inland urban Maine doesn’t particularly go with the “Maine” accent, which is mostly found on the coast. I grew up in Waterville, and the only real peculiarity of my speech then compared to, say, northern New Jersey was that I regularly used the “Canadian” “Eh?” Even at the time, I was quite aware of the traditional “Maine accent”, but not one child or adult that I knew had it; it was strictly something we heard in movies and on TV.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
“Inland urban Maine doesn’t particularly go with the ‘Maine’ accent, which is mostly found on the coast.”
Yes, but one would presume that “Crabapple COVE” (emphasis added) would be a coastal community.
I’m assuming it’s because the film was based on the book, but does anyone besides me find it odd that the film ends up as a sports movie? Gotta win the big game and all that?
Kat:
Yes, thankyou!
You guys actually read the book? I never even thought to look it up.
Favorite Major Houlahan(sp) show: She’s complaining, probably to hawkeye, about the bad deal she got from her men. Hawkeye starts to defend guys.She says that he does not understand. And this part I remember clearly.She says: “That’s just it, all you different men are all the same.”
It was pretty well done, even if it was in the Alda controlled period.
corrections?
Dooryard: basically, the yard closest to the door.
As my Mainer wife told me, if Mom told you to stay in the dooryard to play and you left it, you’d soon find out what was and wasn’t the dooryard.
My wife doesn’t have a noticable accent, but her mom does. (The both grew up in the same area, though.) Mom-in-law lives in Brewer (Brewa), across the river from Bangor (Banga). And her daughter-in-law is Tina (Teener).
Pronounciations and such that are arguably part of the Mainer accent[ul][li]The name Campbell. I (and most people I know) pronounce it “cam bell” (silent “p”). But my in-laws pronounce it “camp bell”.[/li]Ground beef: we often called it “hamburger meat”, especially if we were going to make hamburgers with it. In Maine, it’s called “hamburg”.[/ul]
More fun Maine facts:
If you take that hamburg (ground meat) and brown in a spider (skillet) with onions and tomatoes and then stir in cooked macaroni, you’ll have American Chop Suey (Beefaroni, or Johnny Marzetti).
Uke
To answer a couple old questions –
The computer manufacturer who got Alda, Swift, Morgan and various other cast members to appear in commercials was IBM/OS2. Don’t recall the disembodied spirits thing, though.
There is an Adam’s Ribs in Chicago, but it is not near Dearborn Station (which is no longer an active rail terminal). Of course, the show was set in the early '50s, so the possibility remains that such a place did exist half a century ago.
Growing up, that was my sister’s and my definition of spaghetti. If we asked for spaghetti, that’s what we meant. When we were finally introduced to “real” spaghetti, we differentiated between the two by calling one “homemade spaghetti,” and the other “long spaghetti.” And, philistines that we are, we prefer “homemade spaghetti.”
The only difference between mom’s recipe and yours, Ike, is that my mom included cheddar cheese, too. Mmm… I think I know what we’re having for dinner tonight 
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
Oh, btw, the reason I latched on to the hamburger and macaroni post and ran with it is that Ike seems to be insinuating that this is a Maine dish. However, I ate it growing up in Oregon, prepared by my mother from California, who found it on the back of a bag of macaroni from who know where.
Is it the name “American Chop Suey” the part that’s Maine’s contribution to the dish? I admit, that’s a new one on me
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy