“The Interview” Cultural References
Tags: Mash Tv, TV, History, Cultural References, Mash

MASH Season 4, Episode 25, 27 cultural references

Radar being interviewed by the reporter

The final episode of the fourth season, the entire episode is done in an interview format, with the male leads (Loretta Swit was in a Broadway play) being interviewed by a television news man, Clete Roberts. A narrator says “The following is in black and white,” perhaps to alert modern viewers there is nothing wrong with their televisions. This 25:43 second episode has .94 cultural references per minute.

Black and white television in the United States, almost all broadcasts were in monochromatic colors, also called “black and white.” Color television began to appear in the late 1960s and eventually all programming was in color.

“Little woman” an antiquated phrase, meaning a man’s wife.

El verso cigars an inexpensive cigar first made in Detroit in 1929

“The big one” informal for World War One an international conflict that in 1914–18 embroiled most of the nations of Europe along with Russia, the United States, the Middle East, and other regions. The war pitted the Central Powers — mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey — against the Allies — mainly France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and, from 1917, the United States.

Second World War conflict that involved virtually every part of the world during the years 1939–45. The principal belligerents were the Axis powers — Germany, Italy, and Japan — and the Allies — France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China.

Police Action a localized military action undertaken without formal declaration of war by regular armed forces against persons held to be violators of international peace and order. In an attempt to avoid another World War, war in Korea was called a “police action” by the US and their allies.

Milton Berle frequently performed in drag, here as Cleopatra

Milton Berle (1908–2002) Host of the Texaco Star Theatre (1948–55), he was the first major American television star and was known to millions of viewers as “Uncle Miltie” and “Mr. Television” during the first Golden Age of Television. He was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in both radio and TV.

Cavalry soldiers who fought on horseback. Colonel Potter served in the US Cavalry during World War One.

Douglas Fairbanks (1883–1939) was one of the most popular actors of the silent film era. He became famous in films directed by D.W. Griffith beginning in 1915. A few years later he married Mary Pickford, and they, along with Charles Chaplin and director Griffith founded United Artists film studio in 1919.

Francis X. Bushman (1883–1961) was an American actor and one of the leading male leads in the silent film era. Ten years after this episode aired, Harry Morgan (the actor who played Colonel Potter), married the granddaughter of Bushman, Barbara.

Francis X. Bushman as Ben Hur (1925)

Hemingway [Ernest] (born July 21, 1899, Cicero, Illinois, U.S. — died July 2, 1961, Ketchum, Idaho), American novelist and short-story writer, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He was noted both for the intense masculinity of his writing and for his adventurous and widely publicized life. His succinct and lucid prose style exerted a powerful influence on American and British fiction in the 20th century.

Madrid The capital of, and most-populous city in, Spain.

Spanish War (more commonly called The Spanish-American War), was an 1898 conflict between the United States and Spain that ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas. It resulted in the U.S. acquisition of territories in the western Pacific and Latin America.

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) was the 16th president of the United States. His Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for slavery’s abolition, while his Gettysburg Address stands as one of the most famous pieces of oratory in American history. He was assassinated in April 1965 by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C.

Truman [Harry S.] (1884-1972), the 33rd U.S. president, assumed office following the death of President Franklin Roosevelt in 1945. In the White House from 1945 to 1953, Truman made the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan, helped rebuild postwar Europe, worked to contain communism and led the United States into the Korean War (1950–1953).

Eisenhower [Dwight D.] As supreme commander of Allied forces in Western Europe during World War II, Eisenhower led the massive invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. In 1952, leading Republicans convinced Eisenhower (then in command of NATO forces in Europe) to run for president; he won a convincing victory over Democrat Adlai Stevenson and would serve two terms in the White House (1953–1961).

South Koreans the U.S. allied part of the Koreans during the Korean Conflict

Penicillin was the first effective antibiotic that could be used to kill bacteria. This meant that cures for serious illnesses were possible even if the patient had the disease. Penicillin had been discovered during the 19th century, but it was Alexander Fleming who first realized its great importance in 1928.

Bay Area (San Francisco Bay Area), rings the San Francisco Bay in northern California. It is a geographically diverse and extensive metropolitan region. It includes portions of nine counties: Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano, San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Alameda, and Santa Clara.

San Francisco is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California.

Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, 14 miles north of San Francisco.

Iowa is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States.

Ottumwa is a town in southeastern Iowa.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), American first lady (1933–45), the wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States, and a United Nations diplomat and humanitarian. She was, in her time, one of the world’s most widely admired and powerful women.

CYO Catholic Youth Organization, an international youth program for children ages 6 and older. It was founded in Chicago in 1930 and chapters spread across the United States and beyond.

Bess [Truman] (1885–1982) the wife of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States.

New York, a city in the state of New York, is the most ethnically diverse, religiously varied, commercially driven, famously congested, and, in the eyes of many, the most attractive urban centre in the United States.

Works Cited:

Bay Area https://wikitravel.org/en/Bay_Area_(California)#By_car_2

Milton Berle https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000926/bio

Francis X. Bushman https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0124279/

Eisenhower https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/dwight-d-eisenhower

El Verso cigars http://cigarhistory.info/Cigar_History/History_1916-1962.html

Abraham Lincoln https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/abraham-lincoln

New York https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-City

Penicillin https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwkm97h/revision/7

Police Action https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/police%20action#:~:text=%3A%20a%20localized%20military%20action%20undertaken,of%20international%20peace%20and%20order

Eleanor Roosevelt https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eleanor-Roosevelt

The Spanish-American War https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/spanish-american-war

Truman https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/harry-truman