M*A*S*H (1972) - 15 questions

Question: Can anyone tell me the name of the episode in which Henry Blake is killed? Also, which series does this episode appear in?

Answer: He dies in the last episode of Season 3, entitled "Abyssinia, Henry".

Question: General Clayton says that he confirmed the news of a ceasefire with "CINCOMPAC" (according to the subtitles). What the heck is CINCOMPAC?

Answer: It is actually Cencompac for Central Command of the Pacific. It is like the headquarters for all military activity in the Pacific Region (Japan, Korea, Okinawa, etc. The newer version of that is PACAF - Pacific Armed Forces.

Question: Why was the song "My Blue Heaven" used so much in the first season?

Answer: My guess is because Fats Domino's version was #17 on Billboard's charts for 1957. It helps identify the time period. And, I think, at the time copyright laws only protected material for 25 years after release so the song was free to use. Now, material is protected for 75 years.

Question: While writing to his wife, Col. Potter refers to getting a cup of Joe meaning coffee, why does he call it a cup of Joe?

Answer: The term actually comes from the US Navy and made its way into modern civilian jargon today. Its origin comes from the following: Josephus Daniels (18 May 1862-15 January 1948) was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913. Among his reforms of the Navy were inaugurating the practice of making 100 Sailors from the Fleet eligible for entrance into the Naval Academy, the introduction of women into the service, and the abolishment of the officers' wine mess. From that time on, the strongest drink aboard Navy ships could only be coffee and over the years, a cup of coffee became known as "a cup of Joe".

Question: Was there any particular reason for Trapper's sudden departure at the start of series 4?

Answer: Wayne Rogers quit the show, feeling that Trapper had become more of a sidekick to Hawkeye, rather than them both being equals.

Question: There are several close-up shots of the wounded soldier throughout the episode and I've wondered for some time what the surgeons (i.e. Hawkeye, B.J., etc) are really working on during their parts in surgery.

Answer: Hawkeye is clamping off the soldier's torn aorta, first with his fingers, then with the clamps. BJ is harvesting a section of the aorta from the brain dead soldier. The harvested portion is then transplanted into the wounded soldier. They only have a limited amount of time they can keep the flow of blood clamped off to the spinal cord before he could become paralyzed.

Question: In the early part of this episode, what is the song playing on Pierce and Hunnicutt's radio, which Charles remarks that "They can neither sing nor spell!"?

Answer: The song is "Rag Mop" written in 1950 by Deacon Anderson and Johnnie Lee Will. The song is also later mentioned in the season 11 episode "Hey Look Me Over," when Nurse Kellye reads Hawkeye the riot act.

Question: Talking with stripper Candy Doyle, Potter remarks that he still remembers how she used to spin her tassels and that he is reminded of this every time he sees a C 42 revving up. On the net I do find references to a C40A, a C47 and others, but no reference to an aircraft of the time called a C 42. What would he have been referring to?

Answer: The C-42 was a military variant of the Douglas DC-2. Very few C-42's were built, so it's questionable that Potter would specifically have seen that particular model, but, given his military background, it's not entirely unreasonable that he might use the military designation even when the aircraft in question is actually a civilian DC-2.