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The Ironies Of MASH
By Stephen Schochet
The TV show MASH ran for 11 years taking nearly every opportunity to
bash the US involvement with the Korean War, which was actually an
allegory for Vietnam. Many episodes showed a moral relativism
between the US side and the communists, the doctors(with the
exception of Frank Burns) made no distinction between the wounded
and often talked about declaring the war a tie so they could go
home.
The MASH set sometimes was a tense
place to work, especially in the early years. One episode featured a
sniper who was eventually shot by an army helicopter. Alan Alda
objected to the use of gunfire to settle the issue, some on the
writing staff pointed out that he had recently played an armed
sheriff who had drawn his gun in a TV movie which angered the star
who retreated to his dressing room.
Some who worked on the show speculated that
the pro-feminist Alda had problems reconciling playing the skirt
chasing Hawkeye. Although, he was always professional he stayed
aloof in the early years of the show, going to his dressing room
whenever there was tension on the set. Part of the job of being the
star is setting standards of behavior for the cast, but Alda just
wanted to deliver his lines, contribute his creative ideas, and fly
home to New Jersey on Friday. One time he was asked to record a
video greeting to Navy stations, he refused claiming it would
encourage the troops to prolong the Vietnam war. Even at Christmas
he remained withdrawn refusing to buy any presents for the cast and
crew, going against traditional television star rituals.
With Alda being aloof, some of the rest of the
cast became difficult. McLean Stevenson began to demand he only do
one take. Why? Because Sinatra only did one take. He wanted to sit
down in his scenes? Because Sinatra always sat down. Gary Burghoff,
who future co-star Mike Farrell would later call the greatest actor
on the show, drove directors crazy by causing delays, asking what
Radar's motivation was for every scene. Loretta Swit became
argumentative and difficult. Only Wayne Rogers and Larry Linville
caused no problems. Yet the ratings continued to rise.
The ultimate irony came from the source
material. MASH continued to blast the army, often making Generals
look like buffoons, and making several communist characters noble.
Alda seemed to lighten up as the show got new cast members and
became even more successful. But one person who found it difficult
to watch was the man who wrote the book from which both the movie
and television show were inspired by, Dr. Richard Hornberger. He was
especially bothered by Alda's portrayal of Hawkeye, the character he
patterned after himself, because Hornberger was a Conservative, flag
waving, pro-military hawk.
