This American war dramedy ran for 11 seasons and brought the realities of the Korean War to living rooms all around the nation.
It aired during The Vietnam War, a time when patriotism was blinding people to the horrors of war.
Its legacy has lasted almost half a century now and is still beloved today. But there’s still tons we didn’t know!
Captain Tuttle.
In season 1 there is a character listed as ‘Captain Tuttle’ as himself but no such character appears on screen .
The plots had to be toned down.
M A S H is based on real-life stories from the Korean War but scripts were deemed too ‘heavy’ and graphic by CBS .
The last episode wasn’t really the last episode.
The official last episode of M A S*H was ‘Goodbye, Farewell, Amen’.
But for the cast and crew, the second last episode ‘As Time Goes By’, was the real last episode .
The time capsule.
Inspired by ‘As Time Goes By’, the cast buried a time capsule on the set.
Unfortunately, it was dug up two months later by construction crews.
The wedding dress.
This wedding dress is used three times during the show.
Klinger, Soon Lee, and Margaret Houlihan at wore it at their respective weddings.
Maybe the 4077th only had the one to go round?
Nurse Baker.
There were in fact several ‘Nurse Bakers’. The nurses in the background were often called ‘Nurse Baker’ for simplicity.
Several actresses portrayed ‘Nurse Baker’ over 11 seasons, and were both credited and uncredited .
Every character is named after a real person!
Patients too!
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Writer Ken Levine decided that every name used should be rooted in a real person’s name to bring the show closer to reality.
The series was based on a book!
‘MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors’ was written by Hiester Richard Hornberger Jr., a former army surgeon.
Under the pseudonym of Richard Hooker, he wrote about his personal experiences in the Korean war.
Richard Hooker hated the show.
Hooker was not a fan of the TV adaptation because it was toned down and comedic.
He especially hates Hawkeye, the character based on him.
The writers and actors didn’t always get along.
If the actors whined or improvised too much, the writers would write winter scenes during summer so the actors would pay for their complaining in sweat.
There was only ever one Korean actress.
Despite being set in South Korea, Soon Tek Oh was the only Korean cast member over 11 seasons.
Any other Korean characters were played by actors of different East Asian origin.
Klinger was only supposed to be in one episode.
He was upgraded to a series regular due to the fans love for him and went on to be in all 11 seasons .
Mildred Potter.
Colonel Potter keeps a photo of his wife on his desk and salutes it every morning.
That photo is actually actor Harry Morgan’s real wife Mildred.
Radar’s teddy bear.
Radar’s iconic teddy bear was sadly lost after the show ended.
But 30 years later it was found and auctioned by Gary Burghoff, Radar himself.
Henry Blake’s surprise death.
McLean Stevenson was the only cast member to know the character would die .
The rest of the cast only found out right before filming the scene.
