The heart of M*A*S*H was its unforgettable ensemble cast. In this section, we analyze the complex personalities that called the 4077th home—from the weary surgeons and dedicated nurses to the local Korean people who were often caught in the crossfire of the conflict. We explore character arcs, recurring motifs, and how these figures evolved from their original literary and film origins into the television icons we know today.
You’d be forgiven for never noticing this change in the opening credits of MASH. For the first 8 seasons of the show, the first shot in the opening credits is the back of Radar’s head as he looks up at the arriving helicopters. But after Gary Burghoff left the show for personal reasons, this opening … Read more
This is the second time I’ve found myself reacting to a Screen Rant article. What can I say, there is fact and there is just “let’s make some stuff up.” It’s not that any of the facts in this article are wrong; it’s that the heady consequences described never occurred. In the piece titled MASH’s … Read more
In the third season of MASH, there was a singing, guitar-playing doctor who sang his own original folksy songs like “North Korean Blues” and “Unrequited to the Nth Degree.” His name was Captain Calvin Spaulding. He appeared in three episodes from Season 3 and then was gone. What happened to the singing surgeon? Why was … Read more
Just about every time Radar got on the phone, the first person he spoke to was Sparky. Sparky then connected him to wherever or whomever he wanted to be connected to. Radar and Sparky were pals and often did some horse trading for different luxuries or supplies. Did they ever meet on the show? Do … Read more
Chances are, the only Nurse you remember well from MASH, besides Major Margaret Houlihan, the head nurse, is Nurse Kellye. You may remember some names, like Lt. Dish (aka Lt. Maria “Dish” Schneider), Hawkeye’s love interest in the first episode who only appeared once more before being cut. And, you may remember some names, like … Read more
Online theories abound about the true fate of the character Spearchucker Jones on MASH. There are two main theories as to why his character was dropped from the show after only six episodes. 1) The producers dropped the character to make room in an already crowded cast for the portrayal of Hawkeye and Trapper, and … Read more
If you’re a true MASH fan, then you know that Hawkeye quickly became the main character and chief focus of the show. This only intensified as the seasons went on through the eleventh and final one. You may also know that there is a contingent of Hawkeye haters, or rather Alan Alda haters, on the … Read more
There is a long history of men dressing up as women to avoid military service. For example, Bonnie Prince Charlie disquised himself as a maidservant to avoid the Battle of Culloden. However, there is no other cross-dressing solider more famous than Corporal Maxwell Klinger of MASH, fictional though he may be. Throughout much of the … Read more
Gary Burghoff, the actor who played Radar O’Reilly on MASH, always hid his left hand because of a congenital condition called Poland Syndrome. This hand deformity caused the fingers on his left hand to be significantly shorter than his right. This hand deformity caused Gary Burghoff to cleverly hide his left hand, but not for … Read more
Sometimes, people get confused about the difference between a legal distinction and an actual distinction. This is what has caused many web sources to proclaim that the MASH spinoff, Trapper John, M.D. was actually a spinoff of the original movie, not of the TV series. Wrong! It was definitely meant to be a spinoff of … Read more