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 2) The character was dropped because of the problematic nature of his decidedly racist nickname. Then, there is the official explanation, given by Larry Gelbart after years of fan speculation. Which one is the truth?
Contrary to popular belief, Gary Burghoff was not the only actor from the original MASH film to appear in the show. Instead, he was the only main actor to appear in the same role Several others actors appeared, whom I’ve named in this article. Timothy Brown, who played Spearchucker Jones in the first season of MASH, also appeared in the film version but as a different character, Corporal Hudson.
Dr. Oliver Harmon “Spearchucker” Jones was the only black doctor to work at the MASH during the shows entire run. His nickname came from the original novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker, the pen name of former MASH surgeon H. Richard Hornberger. It was explained in the book that Jones was given this nickname because of his skill at throwing the javelin, although he was principally a football star. Timothy Brown, in real life, was also professional football player.
During the first several episodes of MASH, Spearchucker Jones, a neurosurgeon, was one of the doctors who lived in the Swamp along with Hawkeye, Trapper, and Frank Burns. He was little more than a sidekick, having no significant presence in the episodes. His most prominent appearance was in the fifth episode, The Moose. The Swamp doctors, and particularly Hawkeye, are outraged when an outrageously racist visiting solider brings along his Korean servant, Young Hi, whom he had purchased. This type of Korean personal servant was called a Moose.
Spearchucker, Hawkeye, and Trapper take it upon themselves to teach Young Hi about self-esteem and freedom. Jones has his most significant interaction during these events, when he tells Young Hi that she should look people in the eye when she meets them and that all people are equal. After one more episode, the character of Spearchucker Jones is gone, and not mentioned. Let’s discuss the two main theories about why the character was written out.
Theory 1: Spearchucker Jones Was Dropped Because There Were Too Many Characters On MASH
The departure of the Spearchucker character happens during a time when other characters are also dropped, including Ugly John, and later other doctors. This leaves the MASH unit, historically speaking, with too few doctors 1At the very beginning of MASH unit deployments to Korea, 3 or 4 doctors was possible due to the shortage of doctors, but not for such a long stretch of time that took up the entire war, as the MASH show depicted., but makes it possible to develop the remaining characters more deeply and allows the audience to get to know these characters better. Here are some other characters, besides Jones, who were dropped during the first season of MASH:
- Captain John “Ugly John” Black (anesthesiologist and Swamp buddy)
- Lieutenant Maria “Dish” Schneider (nurse and Hawkeye’s girlfriend)
- Kaplan (the MASH dentist)
- Captain Calvin Spalding (annoying singing surgeon who sang the stupid Tokyo song)
- Pvt. Lorenzo Boone
- Nurse Ginger Bayliss (dropped after the fifth season, shown many times in the O.R.)
As Spearchucker Jones was not given very much screen time in comparison to the other Swamp Rats, and given the unexplained departure of other characters, it makes perfect sense that his character might have been dropped due to there being too many characters to develop and the need to focus stories on a handful of principal characters.
The writers may have felt, as many have speculated, that they simply could not write enough meaningful episodes for Spearchucker while concentrating on Hawkeye and Trapper. This general thinning of the cast fit the needs of a half-hour “sitcom” while making the MASH 4077th less historically accurate than ideal.
Most of the nurse characters throughout the series were played by a revolving cast of actors and given generic names like Baker and Abell. On the other hand, more of the nurses in the first season, such as Lt. Dish and Ginger, had “real” names, suggesting they were intended to be mainstay characters. The only nurse who ultimately remained and became a more important character in later seasons was Nurse Kellye.
As the series evolved, it became clear to the creators that they couldn’t adequately portray so many main characters. Regardless of other reasons, I would imagine that dropping Timothy Brown’s character of Spearchucker Jones was partly done to reduce the character load, just as with the other early characters who were dropped.
Theory 2: Spearchucker Jones Was Dropped Due to his Racist Nickname
The explanation given in the book for Dr. Jones’ nickname of Spearchucker was that he, while being a star football player, was also a fantastic javelin thrower. So, although “spearchucker” is a racist term for a black person, the nickname in this case was only a reference to his actual skill with the javelin. This explanation does not fly, however, since if the character had been white, we know very well that his nickname would not have been Spearchucker. Spearchucker was a racist nickname, regardless of the character’s skill with a javelin.
So, the second theory suggests that the character had to go because of this racist name. After all, MASH, even in the early episodes, was already calling out racism. The fifth episode, described above, in which Jones himself was involved, dealt with the harsh realities of racism against Koreans and the fact that Korean women were sometimes sold into slavery.
However, I doubt very much that the decision to drop the character had to do with the racist nickname. It’s easy to forget how long and slow the development of a TV series was during those early days of weekly episodes, with long breaks in between seasons. It would have been quite simple for the other characters on MASH to stop using the nickname Spearchucker either during or after the first season.
In fact, the show could have dealt with the very problem of the racist nickname. This would have been a groundbreaking episode in its own right. Let’s say Hawkeye decides that he doesn’t want to call Jones by this nickname anymore, realizing it’s racist. How would Jones, who accepted his nickname, react? A complex and compelling scenario could have been written. While the showrunners may not have been ready for such a headlong charge into this problem, it was certainly an option.
Still, as I pointed out, if the nickname had been dropped during the first season, the audience would scarcely have noticed after a while. The others could have simply started calling him Jones, or Oliver, or Ollie, or what have you. There was just no need to drop the character only based on his nickname, unless perhaps the network itself insisted on this. It is said that the nickname of “Dago Red” (used in the book and movie) for Father Mulcahy was rejected by the network. On the other hand, Margaret Houlihan’s nickname Hot Lips was eventually done away with as well.
The Official Explanation of Spearchucker’s Departure
Rumors and speculation continue, but in October 1996, Larry Gelbart offered the only official explanation we have for Spearchucker’s departure. Writing in a MASH newsgroup (alt.tv.mash), Gelbart, using the screen-name Elsig, wrote that “There were no black surgeons attached to MASH units in Korea.”
Later, in August 1998, writing in the same newsgroup (an early type of online forum), he added some context to this explanation:
Extensive research indicated there were no black surgeons in MASH units in Korea. We were not interested in empty tokenism. We also had to cut down on the number of characters in the series for budgetary reasons.
Black Doctor In the Korean War
It may well be true that the MASH creators, after having researched the matter, found no evidence of black surgeons having served in MASH units. This assertion was later disproved by researchers who wrote a 2012 article published in the Journal of the National Medical Association. The doctors described in the paper how Alvin Vincent Blount, Jr. became the first African American to serve in an integrated MASH unit. It is possible that other black doctors served in MASH units as well, but we have no available evidence. 2Wilson KL, DeBeatham WL, Danner OK, Matthew LR, Bacon LN, Weaver WL. The forgotten MASH surgeon: the story of Alvin Vincent Blount Jr, MD. J Natl Med Assoc. 2012 Mar-Apr;104(3-4):221-3. doi: 10.1016/s0027-9684(15)30152-8. PMID: 22774393; PMCID: PMC3994465.
But remember, while today you could perform a Google search and easily find information about Dr. Alvin Blount and his experience at a MASH unit in Korea, such easy access to information did not exist in the early 1970s, when Spearchucker was dropped from the MASH 4077 roster. It seems quite credible that the showrunners’ research would have failed to turn up this information, leading them to falsely believe that having a black surgeon serving at the MASH 4077th was historically inaccurate.
You may wonder why this should matter so much to the show’s creators. It is not that they were felt the need to portray such things perfectly. Instead, Gelbart indicated they were “not interested in empty tokenism.” In other words, by having a black surgeon in the cast of characters, when none would have existed during the Korean War (so they believed), they could have been accused of having a “token black character” instead of accurately dealing with the realities of racism as it existed in Korea among Americans and other Westerners serving in the war.
We can choose to believe or disbelieve Gelbart’s explanation as we see fit. But, in my opinion, it is just as credible and probable as any of the other rumors or theories that are still floating around the web. I suspect that the character of Spearchucker was dropped mostly to thin out the cast, and that the historical accuracy of having a black surgeon in a MASH unit was a “tacked-on” reason to help make the decision to drop that particular character. I do not believe that the racist nickname was the reason the character was dropped, as it would have been dead simple to simply do away with the nickname.
