M*A*S*H Notes

For whatever reason, M*A*S*H has long been one of my “comfort” TV programs. May seen kind of weird, latching on to an incongruous comedy about war. Oh, well.

One of last night’s episodes on ME-TV — the cable station for aging baby boomers with shows like Perry Mason, Adam-12, The Flintstones, etc. — was “War Co-Respondent,” about a exciting woman reporter/artist traveling with a U.S. unit that had been attacked. The reporter, Aggie O’Shea (played by Susan St. James of McMillan and Wife fame), falls for B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell, who directed and co-wrote), one of the surgeons for the 4077. It’s a story of temptation and devotion and includes this scene when the two are sitting around the offices club getting acquainted. I added a few links for educational purposes; you’re welcome.

O’Shea: Actually, I started with Silly Putty.

Hunnicutt: How’s that?

O’Shea: Did an article about it when it first came out in ’49, somebody liked it, so I’m a specialty writer. Florence Chadwick‘s channel swim in ’50, and I’m a woman’s writer who also does sketches. Sugar Ray beats Jake LaMotta and I’m a sports writer.

Hunnicutt: Who knows nothing about sports, right?

O’Shea: Oh, yeah? Ask me any question. Come on, come on.

Hunnicutt: Uh… who’s Bobby Thomson?

O’Shea: I mean something tough. Bobby Thomson is the Dick Sisler of ’51.

Hunnicutt: He is?

O’Shea: Yes. The year before Thomson’s home run, Dick Sisler hit one out of the park on the last day of the season to put the Phillies ahead of the Dodgers and into the World Series.

Hunnicutt: You’re a regular Red Barber.

O’Shea: Yeah. And I’m sitting in the catbird seat.

The tête-a-tête reminded me that there was a fair deal of baseball references in M*A*S*H, including “A War for All Seasons” in which one of the storylines dealt with the aforementioned Thomson’s pennant-clinching homer for the Giants in 1951, and “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,” where Maj. Frank Burns came up with a plot to win bets on ballgames by listening to them before they were replayed by Armed Forces Radio.

Bruce Markusen wrote this wonderful piece for The Hardball Times which includes many references to the use of ballplayers names for minor characters as well as other Easter eggs for the baseball fan. One of the things I always thought a bit out of place was the Toledo Mud Hens attire worn by Cpl. Klinger Jamie Farr, below, with Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce). The hat and jersey seemed a bit too colorful, too modern for the early 1950s (is there such as thing as a reverse anachronism?). But according to Markusen, nope, that was indeed accurate.

Ken Levine, who published It’s Gone!… No, Wait a Minute ..: Talking My Way into the Big Leagues at 40 in 1993, wrote 17 episodes of M*A*S*H, including Seasons and Out of Sight but was not connected with Co-Respondent (which I think is an excellent title, by the way).