"MASH" ep "Abyssinia, Henry" and the final scene: Two takes?

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

There are a number of references to this scene having been filmed twice, because the first take had some “technical glitch.” It was then refilmed, and someone accidentally dropped something, which was then left in the final cut.

I saw the “MAS*H” 30th Anniversary Reunion special over the weekend, which included the cast and producers, and they talked a lot about the final scene, and referred to the clanging surgical equipment that was left in. No mention one way or the other of two takes.

So. . . Are there any contemporary references from cast, crew, producers, or directors about the need for a second take, and what the technical glitch was? It’s not that I don’t find it plausible, just that so far I haven’t seen anything other than unsourced references to a “technical glitch.”

(If it’s quickly available, my Google-fu is failing me.)

[tdn]

I don’t know and I don’t know if there’s a reliableway to find out. Two explanations I’ve heard:

1. The crew didn’t know about the surprise ending and made an audible gasp during the first take.

2. Something to do with the lighting.

They both sound a little apocryphal to me.

[Laggard]

I recall reading that a crew member walked into frame.

[Mahaloth]

Snopes covers it a bit:

Unhappily, there was some sort of technical glitch. Either the boom mike or a light or whatever could go wrong did, and we had to shoot it again. I was heartsick. Gary would never be able to do a second take as beautiful as he did the first.

No specifics, though. That’s a quote from Larry Gelbart, by the way.

[gaffa]

I disagree with this bit from Snopes:

Death was one of the many subjects that was rarely allowed to intrude into television series of the 1950s and 60s. Although nowadays characters who are “written out” of TV shows often shuffle off this mortal coil from disease, accident, or homicide (fates which have claimed several regular characters on the hospital drama ER alone), that phenomenon was unheard of in television’s first few decades.

True for the most part, but the 1970 series Adam-12 had an episode in the can called Elegy for a Pig where one of the two leads was killed. The producer reportedly shot this one first as a hedge against contract renegotiation.

[tdn]

I just watched Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen last night. I was a little shocked about the huge volume of death there was. Nothing like 24, of course, but for a sitcom there was nothing else like it.

[Sampiro]

@tdn

I just watched Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen last night. I was a little shocked about the huge volume of death there was. Nothing like 24, of course, but for a sitcom there was nothing else like it.

Charles’s musicians in that was one of the saddest moments in the series.

[tdn]

@Sampiro

Charles’s musicians in that was one of the saddest moments in the series.

Oh, most definitely! And I must admit that I teared up at the chicken story. And I’ve seen that episode dozens of times.

[Saltire]

@gaffa

True for the most part, but the 1970 series Adam-12 had an episode in the can called Elegy for a Pig where one of the two leads was killed. The producer reportedly shot this one first as a hedge against contract renegotiation.

The character who dies in that episode is Pete Malloy’s partner before Jim Reed. It’s a flashback to explain why Malloy was planning to quit the force in the first episode, until deciding to stay and train Reed. The cop killed in Elegy for a Pig was never a lead character in the series.

[gaffa]

@Saltire

The character who dies in that episode is Pete Malloy’s partner before Jim Reed. It’s a flashback to explain why Malloy was planning to quit the force in the first episode, until deciding to stay and train Reed. The cop killed in Elegy for a Pig was never a lead character in the series.

It’s been decades.