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 Nurse Baker and Nurse Able. These nurses were played by a revolving cast of actors and the names were as generic as they seem. In fact, in some of her early appearances, Kellye Nakahara, who played Nurse Kelly, was credited as Nurse Charlie and Nurse Able. Kellye is different than the other names in one distinct way.
Kellye Nakahara played a character on MASH who shared her name, with the same spelling. This wasn’t unusual on MASH and it’s not what truly distinguished her character. She was distinguished, along with Nurse Ginger, Lt. Maria “Dish: Schneider, and Captain Knocko McCarthy, for having a real name instead of a generic one.
The Origin of Nurse Able and Nurse Baker on MASH
The name Charlie was referenced once, in in the Season 3 Episode, Bulletin Board, while the names Baker and Able are used throughout much of the series. All these names came from the NATO phonetic alphabet (International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet). Prior to 1956, in the time-period MASH was set, Able stood for the letter A, Baker for the letter B, and Charlie for the letter C.
The phonetic alphabet no longer uses these words, except for Charlie. Today, A, B, and C are represented by Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. The reason these words are used to represent letters is for clear radio communications. When having to spell words to make communication clearer, for instance, the letter C could be misinterpreted as “see” on a noisy or weak connection. The letter D can easily come through as T. Any member of the military knows that the word Charlie designates C and Delta designates D. I used this alphabet frequently during my tour of duty in the United States Air Force, speaking often to other radar units belonging to different branches of the military.
Nurse Names – A MASH Easter Egg
The reason that these nurse’s names were generic is that they were never meant to be developed. The fact that Kellye Nakahara finally settled into the character Kellye Yamato, having nothing to do with the phonetic alphabet, was what the young folks would call an easter egg. It was a clue that this character would undergo some development and the actor would remain.
There were a few other nurses who appeared now and again with more specific names. However, these were one-off characters who existed just as a plot device for a particular episode or two. Other than Lt. Dish, the first season also had Nurse Ginger. In the pilot, as well, was Captain Knocko McCarthy, who was credited but had no lines. These characters suffered the same fate as other early characters like Spearchucker Jones and Ugly John: There were too many characters to develop.
Why the Nurses Bunked Together in Large Groups But Other Characters Didn’t
The other distinguishing characteristic of the nurses is that they were always shown bunked together in one tent. Even Klinger, a lowly corporal, had his own tent. And head nurse Margaret Houlihan had her own tent even though she would have bunked with her nurses in a real-life MASH.
While there were brief scenes featuring the nurses in their tents, these scenes usually had something to do with another character, chiefly Margaret, their boss or with Hawkeye hitting on them, etc. In other words, the nurses were grouped together almost as if they were a single character and served only as a plot device for a storyline centered on one of the main characters or for those characters to interact with.
While the doctors bunked together in the Swamp, even this was unrealistic as there were so few of them. Their bunking together served as a comedic device but having more than two or three doctors living in the swamp would have been too many characters to wrangle for effective comedic scenes. In the early episodes, four docs lived in the Swamp, including Spearchucker Jones, and it’s easy to see that Jones was given little to do and spent much of his time in the swamp sleeping or lying around while the other characters played the scene.
Pivotal MASH Nurse Episode – The Nurses
One of the most prominent episode featuring the nurses, was titled, aptly, The Nurses, Season 5, Episode 6. This episode revolves around a conflict between Major Houlihan and Lt. Mickey Baker, played by Linda Kelsey. Notice “Nurse Baker” has a first name! Margaret has been forced to sleep in the nurse’s tent with the other nurses, since the doctors are pretending that Baker’s husband, Lt. Tony Baker is sick with the plague and needs to be quarantined. They choose Margaret’s tent to do the quarantining!
Margaret is one the war path, especially with Nurse Baker, whom she had confined to quarters. Baker, meanwhile, was never able to have a honeymoon with her husband and is heartsick and angry, knowing she can’t see him. With the help of Hawkeye, BJ and others, she sneaks out of the nurse’s tent to see her husband in the VIP tent, played by Gregory Harrison. Harrison would go on to appear in the MASH “spinoff” Trapper John, M.D. as Dr. George Alonzo ‘Gonzo’ Gates.
Houlihan catches Baker coming back and decides to “throw the book at her.” She later reconciles with the nurses who discover that she is secretly hurt by the way they have treated her. Not only does Margaret not press charges against Baker but she hides the truth of what had occurred from Col. Potter, telling him it was a personal matter between she and her nurses.
Not About the Nurses!
While this entire episode seems to be about the nurses, it is an important point in the development of Major Margaret Houlihan’s character. The Nurses are simply there to illustrate Margaret’s evolution. Nurse Baker would subsequently be played by other actors, with no first name being referenced. In fact, none of the actors who appeared in this episode as nurses would ever appear again. Yet, we see nurses with regular names like Mary Jo Walsh, played by played by Mary Jo Catlett, who had appeared before playing nurse Becky Anderson, a visiting nurse. Most of the nurses in the episode are not even identified and it seems that Mary Jo, named conveniently after the actor, is only given an identity because she has a lot of dialogue.
This episode may be the most criticized episode on MASH, and for good reason. It’s full of plot holes, like why don’t the doctors use the VIP tent like they always have in the past for quarantines. And, why Margaret behaves basically like a child, accusing the nurses of treating her like the enemy when she has been consistently cruel to them. I think that the purpose was to show that Margaret was a flawed leader but that it “goes both ways.” From a military perspective, and even a human one, this falls flat. There are many problems with this episode, but the biggest one, for me is not only a problem for this particular episode.
Shame On You, MASH!
I love MASH but the decision to not feature at least one or two of the nurses as principal characters has long baffled me. Nurses were integral to the success of the MASH units in Korea. They carried a load that was just as heavy, if not more-so, than the doctors. For a show that strived for historical accuracy, at least in terms of how the MASH units operated, this a departure. Nurses were never “supporting characters” in Korea. They were life-savers who put their own lives on the line, just like the surgeons and supporting personnel.
I’m not surprised about how the original novel treated the nurses. It’s writer was a bit of a jerk. Heck, even on the show, Hawkeye, who was the writer’s character in the book, is often a jerk although Richard Hornberger (pen name) sounds like he had more in common with Frank Burns, in terms of being gung-ho and wrapping himself in the flag. But, the nurses deserved a better representation on the MASH show that illustrated their centrality to the medical success of the units.
