To mark the 50th anniversary of the series, we dove deep into the past, digging up memories, anecdotes, and related facts about the show.
On Sept. 17, 1972, the TV series “M*A*S*H” premiered, and it’s not much of a stretch to assert that it changed the course of television.
Cast members of the television series “M*A*S*H” take a break on the set during taping in Los Angeles, Ca., Wednesday, Sept. 15, 1982. The actors, from left, are, William Christopher, Harry Morgan, Mike Farrell, Alan Alda, and Jamie Farr. The show, about combat surgeons assigned to the M.A.S.H., Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, unit during the Korean War, was in its last season at the time. Actor Alan Alda, in character as Capt.
Members of the “M*A*S*H” crew celebrate their fifth-straight People’s Choice Award after the show was honored during the eighth annual ceremonies in Santa Monica, California, Thursday, March 19, 1982. The show received the honor as favorite comedy television program. From left are: William Christopher, Jamie Farr, Loretta Swit and Henry Morgan. Back row from left: Mike Farrell, Alan Alda and William Ogden Stiers.
2. The 1970 Robert Altman-directed film starred Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye Pierce and Elliott Gould as Trapper John, both of whom were captains in rank. Sally Kellerman played Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan. Robert Duvall was the ever-annoying Major Frank Burns. 6. That Saturday night lineup is considered one of the best in TV history: “All In The Family” and “M*A*S*H,” then “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” and “The Carole Burnett Show.”
10. Hornburger was a fan of the movie – but not the TV series. “He liked the movie because he thought it followed his original intent very closely,” his son told the New York Times for its obituary on Hornberger. ”But my father was a political conservative, and he did not like the liberal tendencies that Alan Alda portrayed Hawkeye Pierce as having.”
14. The theme song, “Suicide Is Painless,” was written for the 1970 movie by Johnny Mandel and Michael Altman, the director’s 15-year-old son. 20. Hawkeye came from the fictional town of Crabapple Cove, Maine, which suggests that had a murder occurred there he might have been able to enlist the help of “Murder, She Wrote” snoop Jessica Fletcher from Cabot Cove, Maine to crack the case.
24. McLean Stevenson, who played commanding officer Lt. Col. Henry Blake, also left after the third season, and did so in unprecedented fashion. Instead of just being shipped back home, the character died in a plane crash, apparently the first time a character ever had been killed off on a half-hour TV comedy.
28. Actor Harry Morgan as Col. Sherman T. Potter replaced Blake as commanding officer. Played by Harry Morgan – who had appeared as a difference character, a racist officer, in an earlier episode – he was a straight shooter like his earlier role as Officer Bill Gannon on “Dragnet.” 34. Series co-creator Larry Gelbart said during a “M*A*S*H” reunion special that Klinger’s antics were inspired by the comedian Lenny Bruce, who reportedly tried to dodge his military service by dressing as a WAVE, a female member of the U.S. Navy.
38. Actor Jeff Maxwell, who played Igor the Chef and co-hosts the podcast MASH Matters, was scheduled to be part of a 50th-anniversary celebration at the site on Saturday, Sept. 17.
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