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 series, Klinger dressed in flamboyant dresses and outfits that he himself made in a bid to be discharged from the army through a Section 8. Klinger is said to be based on another comedy legend, though, who, unlike Klinger, was successful in his bid to be discharged. Was Klinger from MASH based on comedian Lenny Bruce?
Quick Answer: Was Klinger based on Lenny Bruce?
Yes, but the connection is specifically about the inspiration for the “Section 8” gag, not the character’s personality. Here’s the breakdown:
- The Inspiration: M*A*S*H writer Larry Gelbart confirmed that the idea for Klinger’s cross-dressing was inspired by a real-life story about comedian Lenny Bruce.
- The Incident: During WWII, Bruce reportedly tried to get discharged from the Navy by dressing in a WAVES (Women’s Reserve) uniform and claiming he was experiencing “homosexual urges.”
- The Difference: While the tactic was the same, Klinger and Lenny Bruce are very different. Klinger played the gimmick “straight”—he was a tough guy from Toledo who simply used fashion as a weapon to get home.
- MashFaq Verdict: Klinger wasn’t a “parody” of Lenny Bruce. Instead, Lenny Bruce’s real-life military subversion provided the blueprint for Klinger’s iconic quest for a Section 8 discharge.
According Klinger actor Jamie Farr, MASH creator Larry Gelbart did indeed base the character on comedian Lenny Bruce, who was discharged from the navy at the end of World War II for, among other things, wearing women’s clothing. Larry Gelbart says that the particular clothing that Lenny Bruce wore was a woman’s WAVE uniform. If so, this is not exactly the same as Klinger’s dresses, although those uniforms did include a skirt. It’s fair to say that the character of Klinger was inspired by this story about Lenny Bruce, but not exactly based on him. After all, Klinger was never discharged.
Klinger’s ‘Section 8’ schemes weren’t just for laughs—they were a satirical take on the real-world military bureaucracy of the 1950s. For more deep dives into how the show handled the realities of the era, check out our Historical Analysis series.
How Lenny Bruce Got Discharged From the Navy
Lenny Bruce, unlike Klinger, was not drafted into the military. Bruce, whose real name was Leonard Alfred Schneider, joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 16 in 1942 and served actively during World War II aboard the USS Brooklyn in such places as Northern Africa, Palermo, and Anzio, Italy. As the story goes, in 1945, he was performing for his fellow sailors dressed in drag. This upset his commanders a bit. Bruce then convinced the ship’s medical officer that he was “experiencing homosexual urges.”
Another version of the story was told by Jamie Farr, which he probably got from Larry Gelbart. In this version, the sailors are told to show up in the “dress of the day,” which would be either a regular duty uniform or a dress uniform. As a joke, Lenny Bruce, since the instructions said dress of the day, showed up in a dress. Both these stories may be correct as he may have played this joke to entertain his buddies.
Regardless of how it actually happened, he was subsequently found to be unfit for military service. He received an “undesirable” discharge in July 1945. According to actual unearthed Naval documents, he successfully applied to get his undesirable discharge changed to “Under Honorable Conditions…by reason of unsuitability for naval service.” How undesirable and unsuitable for service should be any different, I didn’t care to pursue for the purposes of this article, but an honorable discharge is always better than a dishonorable one!
How Jamie Farr Got the Role of Klinger
The role of Klinger was originally meant to be a bit part on MASH. Klinger was to appear once as a goofy and quite hairy man wearing a dress on guard duty to shock a Colonel. Jamie Farr didn’t even have to audition for the role.
Producer and director Gene Reynolds had seen Jamie Farr on the television show F Troop, a sitcom about U.S. soldiers and American Indians in the Wild West during during the Civil War era. Farr played a Indian named Standup Bull, a “standup comic Indian” and friend to Geronimo, whose lines consisted of Henny Youngman style one-liners turned into Native American jokes. Instead of “take my wife, please” Standup Bull would say “take my squaw, please,” for example.
Jamie Farr appeared in two episodes of F Troop, one uncredited and one as Standup Bull. The director of the Standup Bull episode was MASH producer and director Gene Reynolds. When Larry Gelbart came up wit the idea for a cross-dressing soldier bucking for a Section 8 similar the story of Lenny Bruce, Gene Reynolds knew that the only person who could play him was Jamie Farr, and played him brilliantly he did.
👗 The End of an Era
Lenny Bruce may have inspired the dress-wearing gimmick, but it couldn’t last forever. Do you remember the exact moment Klinger finally traded his flamboyant wardrobe for a standard issue uniform?
First MASH Episode With Klinger
Ironically, if Klinger had been portrayed as anything like homosexual, it is quite clear that he would have been discharged. Yet, Jamie Farr has told the story of his first appearance as Klinger being quite different than the performance we see on the show. Klinger first appeared in Season One, Episode 4 entitled Chief Surgeon Who?
In his first scene, Klinger wore an Army Women’s Corp (WAC) Uniform on guard duty with huge high heels. He stops and confronts a visiting general, General Barker, played by Sorrel Booke (Boss Hogg, Dukes of Hazard). Later, he shows up again, but this time completely naked except for his cap from the WAC uniform, but still carrying his rifle (Klinger never shirked his duty). The General is shocked but Hawkeye and Trapper, who are also there, take it in stride.
In a 2011 interview, Jamie Farr revealed that Klinger almost didn’t make it past his first episode. The original director, E.W. Swackhamer, had a very different vision for the character:
- The Wrong Direction: The director initially told Farr to play Klinger with a “homosexual lisp.” Farr followed orders, but the result felt like a one-dimensional caricature.
- The Producers Intervene: After seeing the dailies, Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart called a “panic” meeting. They realized the character, as played, couldn’t exist in the 1950s Army.
- Farr’s “Straight” Solution: Jamie Farr suggested a brilliant pivot: “Why don’t you play the guy straight?” He argued Klinger should talk and act like a normal soldier, using the dresses purely as a logical (to him) tool for a Section 8.
- The Result: They reshot the scenes, and Farr’s “straight-man in a dress” approach was so successful that a one-day bit part turned into an 11-year career.
🎸 The Surgeon Who Disappeared
Corporal Klinger started as a bit part and became a star, but not every Season 1 character was so lucky. Do you remember the guitar-playing “Singing Surgeon” who vanished without a trace?
Was Klinger Originally Meant to Be Gay?
In case it’s not already clear, no, Klinger was never meant to be gay. This was a mistake in interpretation by one director. By the way, E.W. Swackhammer never directed another MASH episode, although he was a very successful director of many famous and classic television shows. Many have misunderstood this story, and it has spawned a widespread myth that Klinger was supposed to be gay.
If that first take had survived and Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart hadn’t realized that the character of Klinger could not exist in the army as a “homosexual,” then the character never would have been able to come back again and again.
It is hard to fathom that someone could have dressed and acted like Klinger, with his endless schemes to get out of the army, and not have been, at least, severely disciplined (for instance, a reduction in rank) if not actually discharged. But we are at least able to dispend our disbelieve for the sake of the fictional world of MASH, given the characters of commanding officer Henry Blake and later, Col. Potter. And, we are able to do so because Klinger is too great a character and too fun to watch for us question reality too much. But had Jamie Farr played him, as he said as a homosexual or with an effeminate lisp, this would have been impossible, just as it was impossible for Lenny Bruce to pretend to be homosexual and remain in the navy in 1945. Even if a 1970s audience had accepted the character, they would have had a hard time believing in his existence.
Hey, I also make videos! You can watch the video version of “Was Klinger From MASH Based on Lenny Bruce?” below:
Further Reading: More M*A*S*H Mysteries
- Klinger’s Boutique: How did a lowly Corporal manage to secure his own private tent for his massive wardrobe?
- The Timeline: Trace the exact moment the dresses disappeared and Klinger’s role in the 4077th changed forever.
- Radar’s Secret: The clever production tricks and “prop-hiding” used to mask Gary Burghoff’s left hand.
- The Acting Record: Meet the versatile guest star who appeared as more different characters than anyone else.