M*A*S*H Facts Information And More
M*A*S*H
M*A*S*H Hawkeye Tribute
M*A*SH Tribute - through the years
MASH Moments to remember
M*A*S*H Was The First Comedy On TV To Deal With The Ugly Face Of War
The American public responded by making it the most popular tv show ever on TV.
How It Started
When Richard Hornberger ( Pen Name Richard Hooker ) completed his memoirs of his days with the 8055th MASH unit in Korea, he hardly expected he'd have a best seller on his hands. And over the next eight years, his expectations were borne out by rejection slips. He couldn't even get it published.
Finally in 1968 after getting a friend to polish up the manuscript M*A*S*H was finally published by William Morrow and Company. The book was a flop. But it caught the eye of Ingo Preminger ( Otto's Brother ) who bought the movie rights and commisioned a screenplay ( adapted by Ring Lardner Jr. ) Directed by Robert Altman and starring Elliot Gould and Donna Sutherland was a huge success which caused M*A*S*H the book to become a surprise bestseller. 20th Century Fox elected to further capitalize on the movie by creating a low budget pilot using sets and props from the movie.
When CBS decided to give the series a shot ( or at least finance a pilot ) nothing had been written yet. So producer Gene Reynolds called his friend Larry Gelbart for a script and Gelbart whipped one out in two days.
M*A*S*H the TV show premiered in September 1972 to low ratings and poor reviews. But CBS didn't loose faith. It allowed the show to struggle through its first season and, in an unusual act of foresight kept it going into the next season when it became a hit.
And like most of the great moments in American history we all remember where we were when that last episode of M*A*S*H came on TV that night. And many of us still watch every M*A*S*H rerun that comes on TV
Inside Facts
Just The Facts. More than half of the M*A*S*H storylines were the product of painstaking research. Larry Gelbert worked with photocopies of 1950s Times magazines and kept a list of Korean names , a Korean Map and a US Army 1950s handbook on his desk.
Ladie's Man
Alan Alda's support of the feminist movement is a tribute to Sister Elizabeth Kenny, whose cure for infantile paralysis ( discovered during World War I ) wasn't recognized by the male dominated medical profession for 20 years. The application of her theories cured Alda's childhood case of Polio.
The Real Thing
The model for the M*A*S*H 4077th was the 8055th. In real life the 8055th had a staff of 10 doctors , 12 Nurses , and treated about 200 men at a time.
Star Trouble
Wayne Rogers signed on as Trapper John McIntyre after he was promised he would costar equally with Alan Alda. But when his role was downplayed in favor of Alda's Hawkeye he quit.<Clean Stevenson who played Lt. Colonel Henry Blake left after 3 years because he was annoyed by the primitive facilities at the shows set. The producers got their revenge making sure Blake could never return by having his plane crash on the way home so Blake could never return.
Funnier Than Fiction
Many of the shows episodes were based on stories bought from Korean War Veterans.
Korea or Vietnam
Make no mistake the apparent anti Vietnam of the early M*A*S*H wasn't conincidental. It was specifically written that way.
The Set
M*A*S*H outdoor scenes were shot at the 20th Century Fox Ranch ( now Malibou Canyon State Park ) But most of the footage was shot at Fox Studios.
According to rankings of current TV shows and TV shows now in syndication M*A*S*H is still the number 1 TV Show of all time.
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