M*A*S*H | Monster M*A*S*H | Fandom powered by Wikia Larry Gelbart with Gene Reynolds Inspired by the 1970 film of the same name and the novel "MASH: A Novel about Three Army Doctors" by Richard Hooker , M*A*S*H was an American television series about a team of medical personnel stationed at the 4077th MASH ( Mobile Army Surgical Hospital ) in Korea during the Korean War. The series originally aired on CBS from September 17, 1972 to February 28, 1983, but can still be seen in syndication. The series spanned 11 seasons and 256 episodes [1] and proved to be hugely successful. After its first season, and except for Season 4 when it rated 14th, it was always rated within the top 10. Along the way, it also garnered 14 Emmy Awards (out of 99 nominations) as well as many other accolades for its writers, producers and actors. Contents Edit Although M*A*S*H has been classified as a "situation comedy", it proved to be something quite different.

Some critics have referred to it as television's first "dramedy". From the beginning, its producers had intended that it was not to be "Abbott and Costello goes to war". [2] So, like the movie which spawned it, the television series recounted in 26 minute weekly segments the experiences of a group of US Army doctors, nurses and medics as they worked desperately to save the lives of wounded soldiers. It also depicted how they struggled to cope with the realities and horrors of war. It was these coping efforts--the jocularity in the operation room, the practical jokes they played on one another and their crazy, wholly unmilitary antics which provided the show's comedic elements. But it did not depict war as fun. As journalist Peggy Herz put it, "They did not laugh at war. They laughed to keep the shadows away. War was always with them." [3] The comedic elements of the show carried a darker antiwar message. Some viewers saw the series as a critique of the Vietnam War (still in progress when the series began), rather than the Korean War, given the attitudes of the characters. The show's producers have, however, said that it was really broader, it was about war in general.

The dramedy format also proved to be an effective vehicle to expose and satirize pressing social issues of the times. Hence, through its 11-season run, various episodes of M*A*S*H would deal with topics like military bureaucracy, racism, gender bias, homosexuality, alcoholism, drug abuse and so on. But MASH means "mobile" as the staff of the 4077th are constantly reminded. So just as the characters remained true to their medical mission in spite of the shifting fortunes of war, so the television series, while preserving its unique blend of drama and commentary with comedy, endured many changes through its 11-year run. Mobility: Change in tone Edit One significant shift observed by many viewers as the series progressed was a move from pure comedy to become far more dramatically focused. In the earlier seasons, the show placed most of its emphasis on the "zany" elements, but later focused on more serious topics and character development. However, both the serious and the comedic sides were present throughout.

In fact, by Season 3, Peggy Herz had observed that on M*A*S*H, "There is no moralizing or sermonizing--yet it is probably the most moral show on TV." [4] Where viewers have observed that later seasons became more political, often appearing to "preach" to its viewers, this shift has been generally connected with Alan Alda , the main star of the series, taking a more involved role in production, and many of the episodes in which this change is particularly notable were written and/or directed by Alda. Some fans prefer the more serious and dramatic tone of the later seasons over the more chaotic humor of the early years, but many other fans consider the tonal shift to be an instance of jumping the shark. Nonetheless, it is noted that some of the most highly rated or innovative episodes such as "The Interview" , "Life Time" and "Point of View" came in the later seasons. In "The Interview", a war correspondent interviews the various main characters about their thoughts and feelings. This unique episode, thought to be the best of the entire series, is almost entirely devoid of comedic elements and did not even contain a laugh track.

Mobility: Change in characters Edit The show survived many changes in its cast of characters. Of all the starring characters, only Hawkeye (the Chief Surgeon), Major Houlihan (the Head Nurse), Klinger (a cross-dressing corpsman), and Father Mulcahy (the Chaplain) were in the show for its entire run. (Klinger and Mulcahy, were, in fact guest stars for the first few seasons of the show and only elevated to the main cast later. Henry Blake, the commander of the 4077th, buffoonish as a military superior but a skilled surgeon nonetheless, left when the actor who play him, McLean Stevenson, decided to leave for career advancement reasons. In the final episode of Season 3, "Abyssinia, Henry" , Henry Blake had accumulated enough points to be granted a discharge and was given a fond farewell by the rest of the unit but in the dramatic last scene, it was reported that his plane had been shot down over the Sea of Japan and he was killed.

None of the cast (with the exception of Alda, who wrote the scene) knew about that development until a few minutes before Burghoff was told to go in and have Radar report that Blake had died. Up until then, as far as anyone knew, they were going to get a message that Blake had arrived safely home. This development garnered a barrage of angry mail from fans. As a result, the creative team behind "M*A*S*H" pledged that no other characters would leave the show in tragic fashion. Stevenson died in February of 1996 of cardiac arrest. Trapper John McIntyre, another surgeon, was also written out when actor Wayne Rogers decided to leave the series after the end of Season 3 due to disagreements about his character. He felt that his character was never given any real importance, that all the focus was on Alda's character. Rogers has also mentioned that he was told to sign a "morals clause" on his contract renewal, which he refused to do. Season 4 was thus in many ways a turning point for the entire series.

At the beginning of the fourth season, Hawkeye was informed by Radar that Trapper had been discharged while Hawkeye was on leave, and audiences did not see Trapper's departure. At the same time, Colonel Sherman T. Potter (played by Harry Morgan ) was assigned to the unit as commanding officer, replacing Blake, while B.J. Hunnicutt (played by Mike Farrell ) was drafted in as Trapper's replacement. The series, while still having an element of comedy, gradually became more emotionally rounded. Major Houlihan's role continued to evolve during this time; she became much more friendly towards Hawkeye and B.J., and had a falling out with Frank Burns. She later married an infantry officer based in Tokyo, Lieutenant Colonel Donald Penobscot ("I could never love anyone who didn't outrank me"), but the union did not last for long. The "Hot Lips" nickname was rarely used to describe her after about the mid-way point in the series. Loretta Swit wanted to leave the series in the 8th season to pursue other acting roles (most notably the part of Christine Cagney on Cagney & Lacey), but the producers refused to let her out of her contract.

However, Swit did originate the Cagney role in the made-for-TV movie which served as the pilot. Larry Linville who played the officious and bureaucratic surgeon Major Frank Burns was frustrated with the lack of development of his character, and decided to leave at the end of Season 5. During the first episode of Season 6, Frank Burns had suffered a breakdown after Margaret's marriage to Donald Penobscott and was transferred stateside with a promotion, all off-camera. Major Charles Emerson Winchester III ( David Ogden Stiers ) was brought in as an antagonist of sorts to the other surgeons, but his relationships with them was not as acrimonious, although he was a more able foil. Unlike Frank, Winchester did not really care for the Army and was a very highly skilled surgeon whom the others respected professionally. At the same time, as a Boston "blueblood", he was also snobbish, which drove much of his conflict with the other characters.

Still, the show's writers would allow Winchester's humanity to shine through such as in his dealings with a young piano player who had partially lost the use of his right hand, or his keeping a vigil with Hawkeye when Hawkeye's father went into surgery 8,000 miles away, or his continuing of a family tradition of anonymously giving Christmas treats to an orphanage. Gary Burghoff ( "Radar" O'Reilly ) was one of two M*A*S*H actors to reprise his role from the movie, and the only main character (the other was G. Wood as "General Hammond"). Like in the film, Radar had an extraordinary ability to detect the arrival of choppers transporting wounded long before anyone else and appeared to have a knack for premonitions. He could usually anticipate orders well enough to recite along as they were given, and kept the business end of the 4077th running extraordinarily smoothly. Burghoff left the series in 1979, and rather than adding a new character to replace him, the company clerk role was taken up by Jamie Farr as Corporal (later Sergeant) Klinger, whose antics never got him the discharge he wanted.

Radar's departure meant Klinger's (and Farr's) role was expanded, his attempts at being discharged were downplayed, and he almost never wore women's clothing anymore. (Klinger even shaped up well enough to get a promotion, and the camp counted on him as a "scrounger", who could obtain nearly anything.) End of the Series: "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen" Main article: Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen Title card for "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen," the series finale to M*A*S*H By Season 10, although still doing very well, the producers, writers and cast were feeling that they were running out of good stories to tell. Harry Morgan , who played Colonel Potter, admitted in an interview that he felt "the cracks were starting to show" by Season 9. The cast voted (by a majority) to end the series following the Season 10, but CBS and 20th Century Fox offered the actors a shortened eleventh season, permitting an opportunity for the show to have a grand finale. So towards the end of Season 10, the producers and writers began work on the finale, a production effort which just grew and grew.

The result was the 2½-hour Goodbye, Farewell and Amen television movie. The finale, which first aired on CBS on February 28, 1983, was written by a large number of collaborators, including series star Alan Alda, who also directed. "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" surpassed the single-episode ratings record that had been set by the Dallas episode that resolved the "Who Shot J.R.?" cliffhanger. The episode drew 121.6 million viewers, more than both that year's Super Bowl] and the famed Roots miniseries. From 1983 until 2010, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" remained the most watched television broadcast in American history, only surpassed in total viewership (but not in Ratings or Share) in February 2010 by the Super Bowl XLIV. [2 ]Even today, it still ranks as 7th (the first 6 are all Superbowls) and so it remains the most watched scripted, non-sports television program ever, a record which is likely to stay given the more fragmented nature of television programming with the advent of cable.

The episode's plot chronicles the final days of the Korean War at the 4077th MASH and features several storylines intended to show the war's effects on the individual personnel of the unit, and to bring closure to the series. After the cease-fire goes into effect, the members of the 4077th throw a closing party before taking down the camp for the last time. After tear-filled goodbyes, the main characters go their separate ways, leading up to the iconic final scene of the series. "Good Bye, Farewell and Amen" was added to the syndication package for the series in 1993 although its length means that it is screened more infrequently than the regular 30-minute episodes. The M*A*S*H series had three spin-offs, the short-lived "AfterMASH", where three of the series' main characters (Sherman Potter, Maxwell Klinger, and Father Mulcahy) are reunited in a midwestern hospital after the war, the more successful Trapper John, M.D.

(which a court later ruled was actually a spin-off of the original film ), and an unpurchased television pilot, W*A*L*T*E*R, in which Walter "Radar" O'Reilly (still played by Gary Burghoff) leaves his home town and moves to St Louis to join the police force. The Last Day of Filming Edit Although "Good Bye, Farewell and Amen" was the last M*A*S*H installment to be broadcast, it was filmed at the beginning of Season 11. The last episode to be produced was actually "As Time Goes By" . In this episode the 4077th M*A*S*H personnel bury a time capsule with items symbolizing their lives and experiences during the war. In the process, they also decide to bury any past enmities they may have had. The filming day of filming for that episode was a major event and extensively covered on media. Excerpts of this can be seen on the documentary Memories of M*A*S*H and also on the DVD set. Alan Alda, in his book Never Have Your Dog Stuffed recounts a bittersweet ending to the M*A*S*H story.

Just like in the episode "As Time Goes By", the cast actually buried a time capsule on the set filled with mementoes in the hopes that it would be found many years after the series ended. This plan was thwarted when 20th Century Fox sold the land shortly thereafter. A construction worker found the capsule soon after the sale and thought that the cast would want it back. When he tried to return it to them, Alan Alda told him to keep it. [5] [6] Critical Reception Edit At the end of its first season, the show was 46th of 86 in the ratings and was in danger of being cancelled. CBS responded by moving the show to Saturday night, between hits All in the Family and Mary Tyler Moore. As a result, M*A*S*H would end the next nine of ten seasons in the top ten. Richard Hooker , who wrote the novel that inspired both the film and television versions of MASH, did not like the TV series based on his book, and in particular, he did not like the way Alan Alda played Hawkeye.

Robert Altman , who directed the film, also greatly disliked the series, complaining that what his film accomplished through subtle humor the TV series assaulted with loud, obvious speeches, thus defeating the purpose of depicting people acting absurdly to stay sane against an insane setting. Narrative format Main article: M*A*S*H TV series narrative formats Unlike other sitcoms which were usually filmed live on a sound stage before a studio audience, M*A*S*H was filmed either at the Fox Ranch or on Stage 9 in the Fox Studios. This allowed the directors and screenwriters to experiment with various narrative formats which were quite rare and considered highly innovative in its time. Examples of these include Life Time which depicts the treatment of a critically wounded soldier in real time and Point of View where the camera takes the viewpoint of a wounded soldier all the way from being injured on the battlefield, his evacuation by helicopter to the MASH, his treatment and recovery. The Laugh track Edit The producers wanted the show broadcast without a laugh track, but were overruled by CBS; eventually, as a compromise, the operating room scenes were shown without a laugh track. However, the show as first seen in the United Kingdom was broadcast by the BBC without a laugh track.

Later, the Paramount Comedy satellite channel later rescreened the series there in the U.S. version with a laugh track. The DVD releases offer a choice of soundtracks with or without laughter. As the series progressed, Alan Alda and the producers were allowed to produce a number of episodes without laugh tracks. One of the more notable of these episodes is Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler , in which a crew member of a B-29 bomber crew member comes to believe that he is Jesus Christ. Realism Main article: M*A*S*H and verisimilitude One of the key success factors of M*A*S*H was arguably its realism. As Peggy Herz put it, while M*A*S*H dealt with the horrors of war, viewers found it funny because the people in it were believable. [7] . Many of the plotlines in the series were based on real-life tales and events told by hundreds of real life Korean War veterans, including doctors, nurses, soldiers and helicopter pilots interviewed by the production team.

A letter to TV Guide written by a former MASH doctor in about 1973 stated that the most insane jokes and idiotic pranks on the show were the most true to life, including Klinger's cross-dressing. The hellish reality of the MASH units encouraged this behavior out of a desperate need for something to laugh at. (Another former MASHer, though, pointed out later that a habitual cross-dresser wouldn't last long in such a place; real women were too scarce.) Characters like Margaret Houlihan had a real-life counterpart while many MASH veterans could think of different candidates for the real Hawkeye. Even the caricature-like Frank Burns was thought by war veterans to be the most realistic character because they too had experienced just such "an SOB" in their units. The producers also took great pains to ensure realism in props, using outdoor locations, real military equipment and authentic military and medical terminology. A notable exception, however, is the depiction of Korean guest stars and extras, as they were frequently played by non-Korean Asian actors and frequently spoke Asian languages other than Korean. However realism was also limiting--the Korean War was a short war of only about three and a half years.

There was a limit to the number of true accounts available. Burt Metcalfe later admitted that towards the end of the show much of their source material had dried up, with many new interviews only yielding past information, which hurt the show since it was locked in a specific time period. Continuity errors and anachronisms Main articles: Anachronisms in M*A*S*H , Continuity errors in M*A*S*H and The M*A*S*H timeline Despite the emphasis on realism, M*A*S*H did have the occasional anachronism. And just as there are M*A*S*H fans who delight in compiling the types of bathrobes used, the dresses in the Klinger collection or the view outside Potter's office, there are other fans who delight in tabulating the anachronisms and continuity errors in the series. These efforts are not a criticism of the show but rather demonstrate the devotion and loyalty of the fans who watch and rewatch the episodes countless times to extract every nuance and detail. The existence of anachronisms is not surprising, as the producers never anticipated a run of 11 seasons and no effort was made in the early years to maintain an internal continuity.

Writers changed as the series progressed and as Ken Levine pointed out, there was no series bible. Characters Main article: M*A*S*H TV series characters M*A*SH was an ensemble show built around its main cast of up to 8 actors playing the roles of the key staff of the 4077th MASH. Over the years, the series endured many changes in its main cast as some members left. The series producers often experimented by introducing wholly contrasting replacements. For example, McLean Stevenson's Lt. Colonel Blake , a buffoonish but likable and friendly draftee placed in charge of the M*A*S*H despite a thorough lack of command skill, was replaced by Colonel Potter , a career soldier who nonetheless earned the respect of the draftee doctors in the 4077th. Supporting the main cast was also a large recurring cast who played various doctors, nurses, supporting staff, patients and civilians. Many of these recurring characters became highly recognizable and an important ingredient in the atmosphere of the MASH as a close knit military community. Actresses such as Gwen Farrell and Kellye Nakahara compete with the main cast and probably outnumber some of them in terms of the number of episodes they appeared in.

Another important feature of the series was the varied use of guest stars for occasional characters, many of whom were young actors and the beginnings of their careers. A good number of them, like Shelley Long , Ron Howard and Patrick Swayze would go on to carve significant careers on film and television. References The Real-Life MASH Unit Celebrates Its Final Episode - latimes YOU ARE HERE: LAT Home → Collections The Real-Life MASH Unit Celebrates Its Final Episode Military: Actors from the long-running television show join in tearful farewell to mobile Army hospital in South Korea. June 15, 1997 |PAULINE JELINEK | ASSOCIATED PRESS CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — Maj. Charles Winchester III wielded a cake knife last week instead of a scalpel. And Maj. Frank Burns celebrated with his wife, not "Hotlips" Hoolihan. But just as on TV, it was a little zany and a little sad when the U.S. military closed the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital that inspired the movie "MASH" and the long-running television series of the same name. "Today you are joining us in making history . . .

saying farewell to America's MASH," unit commander Col. Ronald A. Maul said in deactivation ceremonies at this camp 35 miles south of Seoul. Members of the audience--which included actors from the hit TV series--wiped tears from their eyes as a color guard retired the unit's flag. An Army band played the theme song from the TV show that immortalized the wisecracking but dedicated doctors and nurses who served at the front lines in the 1950-53 Korean War. The show, filmed in Southern California, touched a chord with civilians and soldiers alike with its portrayal of wacky humanity in the midst of mayhem. Some of the themes it addressed are still considered taboo in the military. "We were like a Boy Scout training film in terms of what's going on today," the show's writer-producer, Larry Gelbart, said of the fictional adulterous affair between the character of Maj. Burns and Maj. Hoolihan. "But we were pretty risque in our time." The MASH was among only four left in the world. The units are being phased out to make way for what the military says is a smaller, faster, more efficient medical group called the Forward Surgical Team.

Attending the ceremony, and later signing autographs and cutting the farewell cake, were three actors from the TV series that ran from 1972 to 1983 and is still being shown in reruns around the world. "You've been stupid in 100 languages," Gelbart told actor Larry Linville, who played the whining Burns, at a reception after the ceremony. "I think it was popular because it placed people visibly in positions we are in every day--being asked to do something without the resources, being asked to do a task that seems hopeless," said David Ogden Stiers, who played the wealthy and often snotty Maj. Winchester. The soldiers agreed. "I'm a physician and I like the fact that it showed the human side of doctors--that we get tired, that we have compassion for our patients," said Maul, of Canby, Ore. "I'm a fan," said Col. Steve Wilson of Colesburg, Iowa, who can quote lines from the show. "Hair, uniform, discipline, fraternization--it poked fun at all the things that get people fired today.

It gave me a chance to laugh." Though Hollywood named its medical team the 4077th MASH, the real unit was the 43rd. It consisted of 100 soldiers who staffed two operating rooms and a 36-bed hospital--often packing up in 39 vehicles and moving closer to the battlefields to provide lifesaving medical help. Of the three MASH units remaining, the two in the United States will be deactivated this year and one in Bosnia will probably continue only as long as the U.S. mission stays there. The unit deactivated last week had served in India, Burma, Algeria and China during World War II, and on the Korean Peninsula continuously since the Korean War. During that war, the hospital and living quarters were tents that provided little protection from sweltering or freezing weather. Some of the bloodiest times saw doctors operating on more than 150 patients a day--once more than 300 in one day, officers said. "It's humbling to be here," said Linville, the actor.

"We were like a plastic representation of the real people--and these are the real people." MORE: Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce | Monster M*A*S*H | Fandom powered by Wikia Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce Alan Alda as "Hawkeye" on the M*A*S*H TV series. M*A*S*H character Vital information Captain (O-3), U.S. Army Reserve Job/Role in unit: Chief Surgeon at the 4077th M*A*S*H Home Black, greying (in TV series), Blond, in 1970 MASH film Eye Color: Blue in TV series, Green in MASH film Height: Unnamed wife in MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors Relatives/Children: Dr. Benjamin Franklin Pierce, Sr. (father) Unnamed mother, died when he was 10-years-old Two unnamed sons in MASH: A Novel Appearances Alan Alda (television series) Captain Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce is the lead fictional character in the M*A*S*H novels, film, and television series.

The character was played by Donald Sutherland in the film and Alan Alda on television. Contents Edit Born and raised in Crabapple Cove, Maine , Hawkeye is (according to the TV series) the son of Dr. Daniel Pierce. According to the novels, his father is “Big Benjy” Pierce, a lobster fisherman. He attended Androscoggin College, where he played football and intercepted a Hail Mary pass thrown by Dartmouth quarterback John McIntyre . After his medical residency in Boston, Hawkeye is drafted into the U. S. Army and called to serve at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War. Between long, intense sessions of treating critically wounded patients, he makes the best of his life in an isolated Army camp with heavy drinking, carousing, and pulling pranks on the people around him, especially the unpleasantly stiff and callous Major Frank Burns and Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan. Origin of the nickname “Hawkeye” Edit The novel established that Pierce's nickname of "Hawkeye" was given to him by his father.

It comes from the novel The Last of the Mohicans, which Pierce, in Hooker's book, claimed was "The only book my old man ever read."[1] In an episode of the TV series in which Hawkeye believed himself to be in mortal danger due to heavy enemy shelling, he made out a will and left Colonel Sherman T. Potter (who Hawkeye stated was like a father) the edition of The Last of the Mohicans that his father had given him. "It was his favorite book," Hawkeye wrote in the will, implying that he had read more books. Changes in the character Edit Although the Robert Altman film followed Hooker's book somewhat in structure, much of the dialogue was improvised and thus departed even from Ring Lardner, Jr.'s screenplay. The screenplay itself departed from the book in a number of details (e.g. Frank Burns became a major instead of a captain, and was identified with Major Hobson, the zealously religious officer that Pierce and bunk mate Trapper John McIntyre got removed from their tent and, subsequently, the camp), but on the whole, the main characters and mood were left intact.

Perhaps the biggest change in Hawkeye's characterization from the book, to the big screen and finally to the small screen comes in his marital status. The Hawkeye of the book is married to Evelyn Pierce with children (according to the sequels) and faithful while in Korea (as far as the reader is concerned). He offers several doctors love advice, "Jeeter" Carroll for example, extolling the virtues of extramarital sex but never partaking himself. The film version of Hawkeye is still married, but gives himself more moral leeway, arguing that he is far from home, no one is ever going to know, and it will reduce stress for both involved. Finally, the film's Hawkeye was transformed into the womanizing and single Hawkeye of the TV series. In the pilot, however, Hawkeye told Lieutenant Dish that he was engaged and in a later first-season episode he broke up with several women, when he believed the war had ended, by telling him that he was married, although it was revealed at the end of the episode that he was lying.

A later episode shows in fact Hawkeye had a one year common law relationship with a nurse after graduating from medical college which he revealed to BJ after the woman in question is assigned to MASH 4077 as a replacement nurse. Richard Hooker, who wrote the book on which the show (and the film version) was based, noted that Hawkeye was far more liberal in the TV show (in one of the sequel books, Hawkeye facetiously makes reference to "kicking the bejesus out of lefties just to stay in shape"). Hawkeye in the television series Edit The television version of Hawkeye proved to be a somewhat different character: While his professional and social life was much the same, he also gradually evolved into a man of conscience trying to maintain some humanity and decency in the insane world into which he has been thrust. This was to a large extent due to actor Alan Alda's influence, as he infused the character with some of his political ideals and morals.

Some fans regretted the change in Hawkeye, feeling that he eventually became too self-righteous and sanctimonious for his own good and the good of the show, and profess that Hawkeye worked better as a sardonic goofball. Developed for television by Larry Gelbart, the series departed in some respects radically from the film and book. The character of Duke Forrest was dropped altogether (primarily because the actor Tom Skerritt turned down the role), and Hawkeye became the center of the MASH unit's medical activity as well as the dramatic center of the series itself. In the book and the film, the Chief Surgeon had been "Trapper" John McIntyre; in the series, Pierce had that honor. In the book and the film, Hawkeye had played football in college (Androscoggin College, based on Hornberger's alma mater Bowdoin College); in the series, Alda's Hawkeye was hardly the football-champ type and even seemed proud of it and reveled in it, while his cohort Wayne Rogers' Trapper looked sturdy enough to have played football.

He seemed to resemble Groucho Marx, with his quick wit and "madcap" antics, sometimes even affecting a Groucho-like schtick. As noted above, Hawkeye had been married in the book and the film. Near the beginning of the series, he claimed to be married, though this was a ploy on his part to get out of marrying a nurse he had been involved with. Presumably this alteration rendered his romantic dalliances (chiefly with nurses) more morally acceptable in the eyes of Gelbart and the other series officials. (In general, Gelbart tried to make the series less deliberately offensive and more "politically correct" than the film while nevertheless retaining some of its anarchic spirit.) Also, in early episodes, Hawkeye tells his father (Daniel) in a letter to say hello to his mother and sister, but in later episodes, he is an only child and his mother died when he was young. There is also a reference in the episode "Dear Dad", where he wrote a letter to his father, that their home is in Vermont and also in the Season 1 episode "Ceasefire", but all other references, including in the book and film, are to Hawkeye being from Maine.

Most episodes refer to the senior Pierce as a physician, but in at least one episode, BJ addresses him over the telephone as "Mr. Pierce". {Pierce Service number was 19905607} In one episode Hawkeye nearly drowned when he was very young; he also suffers from claustrophobia both of which were childhood traumatic experiences for him. He also has fears of snakes. A running gag in the series is that Hawkeye is very disrespectful of the US military and everything it stands for-the only time Hawkeye follows US Army regulations is 1/17 when after a close friend of his dies on the operating table, Hawkeye reports an underage soldier to Major Houlihan and the MPs so the boy can be sent back to the United States. {Ironically the part was played by Ron Howard who was actually 18 years old!} ( Sometimes You Hear the Bullet ) another time Hawkeye refuses to fudge Colonel Potter's high blood pressure readings -stating that for once he agrees with army regulations.

Hawkeye has a habit of smelling his food - First episode he's seen doing this is "Payday" 3.22 when he is serving as pay officer. Radar is trying to talk to him about neccessary paperwork and Hawkeye is paying more attention to the hotdog he's preparing - he smells the saurkraut before putting it on the hotdog. Five times in the series his character is nearly killed off-once when he had to operate on a wounded soldier who had a unexploded grenade in his body; once when a wounded POW has a live hand grenade in the operating room; once when he is in a jeep accident and suffers a serious head injury and once when he takes a cat from a shell shocked solider the patient nearly breaks Hawkeye's neck; another time a hysterical anti communist patient nearly stabs Hawkeye with a cane. He was also temporarily blinded trying to fix the nurses' stove and it exploded in his face. In one very early episode Hawkeye claims this is his second war-implying that he had been in World War II as well-although it is never shown if he was stateside or sent oversees.

Although a running gag is that Hawkeye has a fellow prankster in either Trapper John or BJ this does not always turn out-once the emotional pressure of being separated from their loved ones got to be too much and both Trapper John and BJ tried to desert back to the USA-after hitting Hawkeye in the face! In fact after Hawkeye was once misreported as dead he tries to desert but only changes his mind at the last second because wounded are coming in. ( The Late Captain Pierce ) Also in a bit of turn about is fair play, Hawkeye was twice placed in command of the 4077th, the first of which he learned how truly difficult the burden of command was for Lt. Col. Blake , Col. Potter and even Maj. Burns to which Maj. Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan replied "if only Frank Burns could see you now." The third time Col. Potter left however command was given to Maj. Winchester . The series is correct in having him be a Captain. Once the degree of MD or DO is conferred on a member of the military they are given the rank of Captain in both the US Air Force and US Army.

The rank of Captain is achieved after 7 years of active duty service or a field promotion for officers on the line side (fighting). The rank of Major is attained for members of the AMEDD after serving as a Captain for 6 years. After the war Edit At the end of the television series, Hawkeye was the second-to-last to leave the dismantled camp with the announced goal of returning to his hometown of Crabapple Cove, Maine, to be a local doctor who has the time to get to know his patients instead of the endless flow of casualties he faced in his term of service. In Hooker's two sequels to M*A*S*H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine and M*A*S*H Mania, Hawkeye returns to live in Crabapple Cove, near to the town of Spruce Harbor, Maine. Having left the Army, Hawkeye is established to be working for the Veterans Administration. In May 1954 he is laid off. At this point, Hawkeye doesn't have much money in the bank, is 31 years old, and has three children: Billy, Stephen and Karen.

The day he's released, Trapper John comes to visit and sets Hawkeye's future in motion. Trapper John, a Lieutenant in the medical organization of Maxie Neville in New York City arranges for further thoracic training for Hawkeye, first in the East Orange VA Hospital in New Jersey, then at St Lombard's in Manhattan from July 1954. After two years Hawkeye breezes through the Thoracic Boards. At the end of his training in June 1956, two Spruce Harbor locals, Jocko Allcock (the man who was responsible for Hawkeye being fired by the VA) and "Wooden Leg" Willcox (the local fish magnate) come to visit Hawkeye to set him up in practice—by betting favorably on the outcome of his operations. The first operation with Trapper John's assistance (upon Pasquale Merlino) is a success, and thanks to his superior training Hawkeye becomes the local surgeon.

As time goes by, Hawkeye is given more patients by the local general practitioner of note, "Doggy" Moore; goes into private practice with ex-Spitfire pilot Tony Holcombe and plots the eventual reuniting of the Swamp Gang. By 1959 Hawkeye has lured Duke Forrest, Trapper John and Spearchucker Jones into his net, and thanks to the proceeds of the "Allcock-Willcox" syndicate, a new "Finestkind Fishmarket and Clinic" is set up along with the new Spruce Harbor General Hospital. In the twenty-year period described in Hooker's two sequel novels, Hawkeye becomes notably more conservative politically (he supported Republican "Crazy Horse" Weinstein for governor of Maine and railed against people with "Recall Ford" bumper stickers), but remains as playful and humorous as ever. His golf game improves to an eight handicap depending on the time of year. He donates heavily to various causes, such as to needy children, to the re-education of a local clamdigger, and spends an inordinate amount of time caring for his patients.

Army's last MASH unit stretched to its limits in Iraq - News - Stripes Army's last MASH unit stretched to its limits in Iraq More By STEVE LIEWER | STARS AND STRIPES Published: April 10, 2003 WITH THE 212TH MOBILE ARMY SURGICAL HOSPITAL, Central Iraq — Black Hawk helicopters settle in the ankle-deep dust, unloading injured soldiers and Iraqi citizens around the clock so medics can roll them into the canvas emergency room. Barely a week ago, only a few soldiers with ankle sprains or strained backs lay in the 36 beds of V Corps’ 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital — the Army’s last MASH unit, based in Miesau, Germany. But the battle for Baghdad has stretched the MASH to its limits. Since setting up two weeks ago at a camp not far from the Iraqi city of An Najaf, the hospital’s staff of nine doctors and 29 nurses has seen about 300 patients, given 371 X-rays and performed 49 surgeries. Most of those have been done since the middle of last week.

“This is really busy, and it’s tiring,” said Capt. Dale Vegter, 40, of Delavan, Wis., a surgical nurse in the operating room. “But this is what we do.” The 212th MASH was called for service in the Middle East in late January and wound up at Camp Udairi, Kuwait, alongside the 86th Combat Support Hospital. It left Kuwait in a convoy March 21 for the 300-mile journey to central Iraq. The unit’s 160 soldiers loaded their entire hospital — including an emergency room, operating rooms, decontamination section, intensive care unit, laboratory, radiology section and pharmacy — into 37 5-ton trucks and five Humvees. The trip turned into a test of endurance, which was sometimes dangerous. The medical convoy at times passed the infantry division that was supposed to clear the way for it. After a nearly sleepless 78-hour journey, the MASH team arrived at the central Iraq site in the midst of a horrific sandstorm that continued nearly continuously for three days. “During that storm from hell, we put the hospital up,” said Lt. Col. Ken Canestrini, the unit’s commander.

The 212th MASH differs from the Army’s combat surgical hospital in its size and mobility. It has only about one-eighth as many beds and one-fourth as many people as the CSH. Every single item is designed to be packed up and moved to the field on short notice. “We’re smaller in personnel, and we’re more robust in movement,” Canestrini said. But the Army has been eliminating its MASH units and consolidating them into larger combat support hospitals, figuring smaller mobile hospitals can be sliced off from the unit and sent where they’re needed. The 86th CSH already has spun off a 44-bed hospital at Talil air base near An Nasiriyah, and two smaller field hospitals are being set up in the V Corps area. As it is set up in central Iraq, the core of the 212th MASH is a series of canvas tents that creates something similar to hallways. Slightly larger rooms, such as the intensive care units, branch off from the halls. The operating room and lab come in containerlike modules that can be isolated and sterilized — the only dust-free areas for miles around.

Medics deliver the patients to a long, narrow room wide enough for a stretcher. There, injuries are assessed and the patients are then wheeled to X-ray, to intensive care or to surgery. At the peak late last week, Canestrini said, the hospital had 51 patients. Some doctors gave up their sleeping cots to make way for injured soldiers. Typically, the hospital tries to move patients along to the hospitals at Talil or Udairi within 24 hours, to make room for more. Seriously wounded soldiers eventually are taken to the Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. Ten soldiers have died at the MASH. On Sunday, two Army captains died en route after fighting in Karbala. Iraqi patients — including many civilians with gunshot wounds — are not allowed to leave the country. Canestrini said they are working to find Iraqi hospitals to which they can transfer them. He said Iraqis are treated the same as other patients. One ward is reserved for enemy soldiers, another for civilians.

For most people, of course, there is only one MASH unit: the 4077th, from the popular 1970s and ’80s TV series “M*A*S*H.” All of Canestrini’s personnel have the acronym written in black marker on their brown Army-issue T-shirts, and he hands out coffee cups bearing the unit’s logo. He does enforce military standards in his unit a bit more strictly than did his television counterparts. “Everybody in this unit is a soldier first,” Canestrini said. “Obviously, that makes us a lot different from ‘Hot Lips,’” referring to the nickname of the head nurse on the TV series that featured wacky, not-so-military characters. What isn’t different is the long hours of work under great pressure. “We keep pretty busy, unfortunately,” said Capt. Greg Hubbs, 31, of Overton, Neb., the head nurse. “It’s not the same kind of injuries you see in the States.” “Compared to Landstuhl or a civilian hospital, it’s a world of difference,” said Capt. Terrence Mark, 34, of LaGrange, Ohio, an intensive care nurse.

Canestrini is a big booster of the MASH concept, which was created at the beginning of the Korean War. He likes his small, tight-knit staff, ready to move on short notice. But it is a losing battle. Within two years, he said, his unit will be beefed up with hundreds of transfers from the 67th CSH in Würzburg, Germany. The 212th will be given a new name. It is descended from a hospital unit created in World War I, and it has 20 battle streamers. Before Canestrini goes home, it will earn its 21st. Then the Army’s last MASH will fade away. “This,” Canestrini said, “is history in the making.” Signs along the road to An-Najef, Iraq, point towards the 212th MASH. RON KROGH / U.S. ARMY

Question: What is the number of the MASH unit in the TV series?
Answer: 4077