For dedicated fans, the MASH pilot is like an archeology dig, full of artifacts! The pilot featured several details that were never again used in the show. Some of these were creative decisions, and others created inconsistencies in the storyline. One of the major inconsistencies in the first season concerned Ho-John, the Korean “house-boy” for Hawkeye, Trapper, and Spearchucker. These details are sure to interest new and old fans alike. Let’s start with the most significant difference: the opening credits.
1. Opening Scene Before the MASH Credits
Normally, as MASH opens, the theme song starts immediately, and we see the opening shot of the back of Radar’s shoulder as he looks up at the incoming helicopters, framed against the rugged mountains. Later, after Gary Burghoff left, he was cropped out of the scene; however, the show started with the same shot.
The opening credit sequence was also extended in the pilot (see below) and would change slightly as characters left and new ones appeared, but not very much. The only major difference was when they would experiment with new arrangements for the theme song, often to terrible results. This was done out of necessity, most of the time, but often to try for a fresh, new feel.
In the pilot, though, there is an opening “pre-credit” scene before the opening credits start. This is never repeated. It is not clear to me whether the opening scene leading into the credits was meant to be a one-off or whether it was intended to be consistent but was dropped. I suppose it doesn’t matter much!
The opening scenes of the pilot are a montage of the different characters doing non-military things. The first shot is of Trapper placing a golf ball on a T and hitting it (into the minefield). Text appears on the screen reading “Korea, 1950,” and then “a hundred years ago” is added below this initial text. This addition by Larry Gelbart was meant to show the disconnect the audience might have with the setting, as the Korean War was so long ago that it would feel like it was a hundred years ago. And, the public at large wasn’t very familiar with the history of the war.
We then see Henry with a nurse. They are in surgical garb and seem to be doing something below the camera’s range that would appear to be an operation or something medical. The nurse is his ongoing girlfriend, Leslie Scorch.
We then see Father Mulcahy napping outside and making the sign of the cross after shooing away a bug. Then the scene cuts to Frank and Margaret sitting opposite each other at a table. Margaret appears to be reading a military manual, and Frank is reading the bible. Their lips are moving as they read, of course. The camera pans down, and we can see they are playing footsie underneath the table.
The next scene is Spearchucker throwing a football to Radar and another enlisted fellow. Radar catches the ball but falls into the other man behind him. We’re then back to Henry and Leslie, where it’s revealed that Henry was only opening a bottle of Champagne. We then see Trapper hitting another ball into the minefield. The ball hits a mine, which explodes. Trapper yells “Four..!”
It is then that Radar speaks the first full line of dialogue of the show. He catches the ball thrown by Spearchucker, turns around, and yells, “Here they come!” Spearchucker says, “I don’t hear nothin’..” Radar waves him off and says, “Wait for it.” The camera switches to show Radar from behind, looking up at the approaching helicopters. This becomes the opening scene of the credits from that moment on. The opening theme now plays, and the credits begin.
There is one other episode that I know of that has a scene before the opening credits, but this is not the same as a traditional pre-credit scene as employed in the pilot. In Season 7, Episode 11, titled Point of View, we see the scene through the eyes of Private Rich, riding as a patient in a helicopter, as the show opens. But this cuts straight into the opening credits, which are silent, with no theme music. So, the scene serves as the opening credits, instead of being a pre-credit scene.
2. The Pilot Has Extended Opening Credits
The opening credits of the pilot are much longer than the regular opening credits. They are shortened for the rest of the series. After the initial shot of Radar, and then the Helicopters with the title, the PA speaker is shown, and an announcement comes over it, saying, “Attention all personnel. Report immediately to the admitting ward and operating room.” This announcement repeats once, while we see several things that are not shown again in the opening credits.
Before I describe these elements, I’ll list the elements in the regular opening credits, which are much shorter.
Regular MASH Opening Credit Scenes
- The theme begins playing, and the camera pans over Radar’s right shoulder up to the helicopters coming in the distance.
- The two helicopters are shown flying closer up and filmed from another chopper. The MASH title appears in front of the helicopters as they fly close together, preparing for landing (one drops out of frame before the other).
- An aerial shot of the 4077 camp begins, centered on the hospital, panning left to right and then forward.
- An ambulance races down the road.
- Two flying helicopters appear for a second.
- The classic running nurses appear.
- Some men, seen behind camouflage netting, run by.
- A brief shot of a helicopter approaching the landing pad, Hawkeye’s team standing by, occurs.
- A group of men runs up the hill toward the upper chopper pad.
- A helicopter lands, and Hawkeye’s team runs over, keeping low.
- Another helicopter lands on the other pad, and Trapper’s team runs over. Both Hawkeye and Trappe are wearing Hawaiian shirts.
- Cut back to Hawkeye’s face, close-up as he’s looking down at a patient.
- A brief shot of a patient being unloaded by Hawkeye’s team.
- Overhead shot of patients being taken in two jeeps to the hospital, Hawkeye’s patients in front and Trapper’s patient behind.
Below are the elements that appear in the extended opening credits of the pilot but never again in the regular opening credits. One of the main things, however, is something that was added to the opening credits. The aerial shot of the camp does not appear in the initial opening credit sequence of the pilot. An overhead shot does appear, however, after the opening credits wear I believe there was a commercial break. Then we see an overhead shot of the hospital and medical supplies being loaded or unloaded from an ambulance with the theme song playing (although a more subdued version), before the scene cuts to the operating room. The overhead shots were taken from the original 1970 movies and reused for the show. The configuration of the camp is slightly different, in fact. Here are the other differing elements.
Extended Opening Credits
- A group of nurses led by Lt. Dish runs out of a tent. This is a different group than the iconic running nurses shown in all the other opening credits.
- A man runs out of the shower, wearing only a towel and boots.
- The same group of nurses, or a similar group, runs up the hill toward the upper chopper pad, while later we only see a group of men run up the hill.
- A nurse comes out of a tent, adjusting her clothing. A sign outside the tent reads “Off limits to male personnel.” A man then comes out of the tent and looks around as if wondering if anyone saw them.
- There is an extended shot of a chopper landing, with Hawkeye’s team waiting to the side. Hawkeye stands out in his blue Hawaiian shirt.
- The shot of Hawkeye’s team running over to the helicopter is longer, shown from two different camera angles, one further away to show the helicopter in the shot with the team approaching it.
- There is an extended shot of patients being carried to jeeps, loading onto the jeeps, and beginning the trek to the camp.
- Trapper’s helicopter lands, and his team runs over. This shot is also longer. We see him checking the patient’s tag and looking the patient over.
- We cut back to the close-up of Hawkeye. Lt. Dish appears over his shoulder, but is not shown again in later opening credits. Instead, the scene cuts away before she appears.
- We see both teams beginning to unload the patients and get them to the jeeps, instead of just Hawkeye’s team.
- The entire loading sequence is extended, showing the patients being loaded onto the jeeps, which is not shown in the regular credits.
- It is then that we see the ambulance racing down the road, and this is also slightly extended, showing the ambulance arriving at the camp.
- The last overhead shot of the jeeps going down the road with the patients is the same.
3. We Hear Hawkeye Speaking During the Opening Credits
During the extended scene in the opening credits where the camera is looking up at Hawkeye’s face as he looks over a patient, we hear him doing triage and speaking. When we first see Hawkeye’s team run over to the chopper, we get a brief close-up of Hawkeye’s face, looking down and concerned, and then Lt. Dish appears briefly over his shoulder. After Trapper is shown checking his patient, the scene cuts back to Hawkeye, giving orders concerning the wounded soldier. He says, “This guy’s got a rapid pulse! He’s in shock! Get him down to O.R. and give him first aid. Let’s go!” While speaking, he hands Lt. Dish, still behind him, an IV bottle.
4. No Blood in the Operating Room
You may never have noticed this unless you are really an obsessed fan, but there is a distinct lack of blood in the OR scenes of the pilot. The surgical garb of the doctors and nurses stays completely white and clean, and there is no other depiction of blood from the operations. According to Larry Gelbart, they couldn’t show blood in the pilot. Gene Reynolds shot the operating scene with a red filter so that it was harder to tell what was blood and what wasn’t. I just watched the pilot in preparing this article, and I failed to see what effect this had, if any.
While blood was not always shown in MASH operating scenes, and they had to be careful with how much blood they showed, especially of the spurting kind (although this happened!), the pilot is the only episode where I am sure they were prohibited from showing blood. There were usually at least blood stains shown on the surgical uniforms. The fake blood used, apparently, was very sticky. It may have been corn syrup-based. And, if you are wondering, the actors were cutting into a foam rubber material.