Saluting M*A*S*H

 

M*A*S*H premiered on Sept. 17, 1972. I can remember many boring Sundays when I couldn’t wait to watch the show because it made me laugh. I still sometimes say, “I need a good M*A*S*H episode. What is your favorite episode? Who is your favorite character? (I didn’t like B.J. after Trapper, Winchester or Potter). My favorite that I will NEVER forget is when a patient dies on Christmas Day and Hawkeye turns the clock ahead so his family doesn’t have to remember that. Lt. Col. Blake’s final scene was only known by Alan Alda. The episode was described as like marching in a parade and then getting hit by a brick. I was so mad I didn’t get to watch the last episode in 1983 because I was covering M*A*S*H parties all over town for The Times. It was much later that I watched it. Well, Corp. Klinger was ahead of his time, wasn’t he? Wearing the female clothes. He actually served in the Korean War. The show had 109 Emmy nominations and 14 wins. Hawkeye wrapped up 25 nominations. He has been married since 1957. The actual war lasted three years, one month and two days, but the show aired 11 seasons. The finale remains the most-watched TV series episode in history. Parade magazine did a story and said Army boots messed with the audio. The cast donned sneakers and were shot from the waist up. Radar’s lost teddy bear showed up at an auction where a medical student paid $11,800 for it. He sold it back to Radar, now 79, who sold it at an auction for $14,307.50 in 2014. Radar is an inventor and owns patents for a special fishing pole and a toilet seat lifting handle. Loretta Swit has written books on needlepoint and watercolor painting  and is a longtime animal activist. The guest list on M*A*S*H included Patrick Swayze, Leslie Nielsen, Shelley Long, Laurence Fishburne, Blythe Danner, Teri Garr and Ron Howard. The cast ate pizza and had beer every Friday night. They would tell stories, play games and rib each other.  When they were called to the set, the connection was there. They stay in touch and try to get together for dinner once a year. For a show that ranked at the bottom, Hawkeye would joke that they were in the top 72. On the way to a restaurant to celebrate the end, much of the cast realized the streets were empty. It hit them that people were at home watching the finale. Also, they  never tried to forget that real people suffered in Korea. M*A*S*H, I salute you. “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.”