M*A*S*H

Life Time - S8-E11

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: Throughout the show, you never actually see a wound, but some things about how they did it can be deduced from the shots: Hawkeye first simply sticks his hand under the rather thick, blood soaked pressure bandage. In the OR, they put the wounded soldier into a canvas bathtub, which of course is very handy for hiding prop tricks as well. We can see Hawkeye juggling bandages and fiddling with sutures, but we can't really see where he puts them. Most probably, he put them into the bandages that he threw in, which probably the wounded soldier actor held in place for him. That guy probably also operated the squirting blood effect. Another possibility we know was used (because it's visible in one episode of Season 11) is prop-blood soaked polyurethane foam, which they either mounted onto the operating table or strapped onto an actor's body and could cut, sew and clamp it for real.

Doc

I Hate a Mystery - S1-E10

Character mistake: When Henry is describing the fishing reel he bought for his girlfriend, he said, "with jeweled escarpment" actually it is a 'jeweled esCAPEment" not esCARPment. An escarpment is a long slope off a plateau. An escapement is a latch/release mechanism that you would find on a device like a fishing reel.

More mistakes in M*A*S*H

Sometimes You Hear the Bullet - S1-E17

Henry Blake: All I know is what they taught me at command school. There are certain rules about a war, and rule number one is that young men die. And rule number two is that doctors can't change rule number one.

More quotes from M*A*S*H

Trivia: Gary Burghoff's left hand was slightly deformed, and he often hid it behind his clipboard during filming.

More trivia for M*A*S*H

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