M*A*S*H: The Comedy That Changed Television

- Hey, I think we're in the army.

- The thing that I loved about "MASH"

Is that it could be very funny

And very serious at the same time.

- Boy, you really are a sicko. Mental.

- Just 'cause I spend most of my waking hours fixing up

Small wounds so they can go back and get bigger and better

Wounds, you think I'm mental?

- Another thing I loved was we could work

In every conceivable style.

Ole!

- Burlesque, drama, melodrama, satire, and sometimes

All at once, sometimes all in the same episode.

- Henry, you're not gonna endorse this idiot's

Application, are you?

That's Major to you, Captain.

- Henry, you're not gonna endorse this Major idiot's

Application, are you?

- They said there weren't going to be any more casualties!

- Frank, if I were you, I'd sue North Korea

For every penny they've got.

- You were dealing with the insanity of war.

- This neighborhood is going to hell!

- And you had to have a bunch of doctors

Who created their own insanity,

So as not to go crazy themselves.

- Where did you get those costumes?

What costumes?

The costumes you're wearing!

These aren't costumes.

We stopped shaving last month.

Henry, get me a driver!

Certainly.

Count off!

- One! - Two!

That's about it.

Get me the hell out of here!

They cared about one thing.

They cared about saving lives.

- Pierce, you're doing good work.

- Oh, yeah, another three or four wars,

I'll be sensational.

- This'll be a real test of my leadership-manship.

So...

No booze.

- You always entertain first, and deliver

The message second, especially if you're

Doing a show about a real war.

- "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy.

War "and" peace?

- Yeah, well, Tolstoy was very flexible.

He went either way,

- I have to give credit to the writers.

I mean, we had great writers on "MASH."

I'm a communist.

An atheistic, Marxist, card-carrying, uh...

Bolshevik.

No, honest.

The writing was good.

The acting was good.

The producing was good.

The directing was good.

Where can you go wrong?

There's your Eisenhower, spending

A lot of time playing golf.

- More fun than playing president.

What's his handicap?

A lot of people say Nixon.

- We had become a social phenomenon.

I'm damn proud of these.

Nobody gave them to me.

I earned them.

And I'm just as much a Major as any other Major.

As it was happening, we knew.

We knew how lucky we were, how... how blessed.

- Fine, I make a motion that the war be ended.

I second the motion.

- You can't end the war just like that!

You've all heard the motion.

Those in favor, raise your right hand.

- Aye! - Those opposed?

Nay!

The ayes have it.

Uh, let it be recorded that the war was

Ended on this date at 9:32 pm.

Here they come!

I don't hear nothing.

Wait for it!

- This is the story of two indispensable

Military surgeons.

They had the army over a barrel.

But did they take advantage of it?

Yes.

"MASH," a motion picture

That raises some important moral questions,

And then it drops them.

I thought the movie was funny.

I thought it was terrific.

The outrageousness of it.

This isn't a hospital!

It's an insane asylum!

The film is its own thing.

We copied the visual style,

Using the same locations, the same sets,

But we developed our own personality.

Who are you?

- Uh, Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce.

Who are you, sarge?

- What do you think this star means?

You're tinker bell?

- The one man who was most responsible for the success

Of "MASH" is Gene Reynolds.

Gene Reynolds brought all of the creative people together.

I loved seeing gene at work.

First of all, he's a great director,

And he's a great producer.

- Fox asked me to shoot a pilot for "MASH,"

And that was a very exciting invitation.

A little hospital where the goal is to save lives,

In the middle of a war where the goal is to destroy life.

The format is just powerful, overwhelming, touching, funny.

Gave us a wonderful opportunity.

- At this particular mobile army hospital,

We're not concerned with the ultimate reconstruction

Of the patient.

We only care about getting the kid out of here

Alive enough for someone else to put on the fine touches.

We try to play par surgery on this course.

Par is a live patient.

- We had an extra ingredient that most shows don't have.

We were telling stories about people who really lived.

- This was Korea early in July 1950.

Among the first to arrive were the medics,

Field surgeons, aid men, litter bearers,

Ambulance drivers.

Nurses arrived in a mobile surgical hospital unit

On the way to the front.

- I think we really wanted to respect them

And be true to what they had lived through.

How long have we been at this?

I started surgery in 1932.

I mean this session.

So do I.

- "MASH" was based on a book by a doctor

Who had served in Korea.

I've seldom had characters handed to me

As unique and outstanding

As the running characters in "MASH."

And so my first challenge was,

Who's gonna write this pilot?

- You know, you can't miss if you've got good material.

- Larry Gelbart was an absolute genius,

His talent and the depths of it.

He could be wildly funny, but at the same time,

He had substance.

- I used to introduce him as my friend the genius,

And he said, oh, don't say that.

But he was just the most extraordinary

Creative force actors could hope to have around.

- Gene Reynolds asked me if I'd seen

A feature film called "MASH."

As it happened, I had just seen it the night before.

And he said, well, 20th century fox has talked with CBS,

And they'd be interested in financing

The writing of a pilot script.

Would I be interested?

And I said, if we could retain the spirit

Of the film itself, I'd be very interested.

- We came up with an original story.

We hammered that out in about a week.

And I came back to la to build the sets and to cast the show,

But I was not receiving the script.

Finally, I called him and I said, look,

We're building the sets.

We're ready.

We're getting warm here.

- And gene said, how's it coming?

And I said, I just mailed it, and hung up.

And then having said I mailed it,

I realized I had to write it.

We had talked so much about it,

And it had been marinating so long.

I know it sounds boastful to say I wrote it

In two days, but I did.

Radar!

Radar, don't do that.

Yes, sir.

You wanted to see me, sir? - Yes.

But let me say I want to see you before I see you.

Yes, sir.

Hamilton?

Hot lips.

Hot lips?

- Your conduct in there was not only unbecoming in an officer.

It was equally reprehensible as a medical man!

- Frank, I happen to be an officer only because I

Foolishly opened an invitation from President Truman

To come to this costume party.

And as for my ability as a doctor,

If you seriously question that, I'm afraid