M*A*S*H

Potter's Retirement - S6-E22

Factual error: When Radar, Hawkeye, and BJ find the letter from cpl. Benson to I Corps, Radar says that cpl. Benson's been here since June. Later in the episode when col. Potter, Radar, Hawkeye and BJ confront Benson, Benson says he is there on orders of a colonel who did not get treated quickly enough. Potter says he remembers this colonel was there a couple of months back. BUT, this episode of M*A*S*H takes place during Kentucky Derby Day. The Kentucky Derby has always been held the first Saturday in May. So, if Benson has only been at the 4077th for two months, and he arrived in June, then this episode should be taking place in August, not May.

White Gold - S3-E23

Continuity mistake: When Perkins is recaptured, Henry leaves his office with his cigar in his mouth. In the next shot, of him coming through the door again from the other side, his cigar is in his hand. (00:20:55)

jle

Temporary Duty - S6-E21

Continuity mistake: When they are talking about taking Sophie for a walk, Roy is sitting on the bunk. His captain's bars & medical insignia are on the wrong sides. After he stands up, they are on the correct side.

Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen - S11-E16

Factual error: In "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", the shot of the helicopter pilot's hands show him wearing Nomex flight gloves. These were not used until 1967 in Vietnam. Black leather flying gloves were used during the Korean war.

Show generally

Factual error: In one episode in the hospital tent, Hawkeye hands a Hershey Chocolate Bar to a wounded soldier lying in bed. The back of the candy bar had a Universal Product Code (UPC) on it. UPCs were not used until the 1970s.

Tom348

Baby, It's Cold Outside - S7-E9

Factual error: While watching the Sonja Henie movie "Sun Valley Serenade" Colonel Potter says at one point of the movie "This is supposed to be where she does a triple axel and ends up in a split." Then he has to leave and says "Now I'll never get to see it." He wouldn't be able to see it until 1989 when Midori Ito from Japan was the first woman to complete a triple axel in competition, Tonya Harding was the 2nd woman to complete one and the only American woman. And I doubt Sonja Henie ever did anything as complicated as a triple axel even with her 3 Olympic Gold Medals.

Sonja Marie

Show generally

Deliberate mistake: These errors I assume were caused by the show running 3 times longer than the real war. Col. Potter arrived at MASH in September 1952 a year before the war ended, then a few months passed by Margaret got engaged for 8 months, then Frank Burns left and Charles took his place. In this time the war would have ended. In the final episode Margaret mentions Charles has been there for 2 years. Which means he would have arrived in 1951 a year before Trapper and Henry left and Col. Potter arrived. It's a lot to take in.

M*A*S*H mistake picture

For Want of a Boot - S2-E17

Visible crew/equipment: When Frank and Hot Lips are walking into the mess tent for Frank's surpise party, if you look in the window to the right of the door, you can see a person silhouetted, throwing leaves into the wind.

M*A*S*H mistake picture

Iron Guts Kelly - S3-E4

Continuity mistake: After Iron Guts Kelly dies in Margaret's tent, Frank Burns visits Margaret, suspecting something. Frank asks why there is a general's star on her cot. In the ensuing 'back and forth' dialogue, Margaret's hair goes (in close ups) from nicely combed, to frazzled, back to nicely combed again (and in a different light).

A War for All Seasons - S9-E6

Deliberate mistake: Winchester is listening on the radio to the 1951 Giants win the pennant. In the MASH series, Potter was supposed to have arrived 19 Sept. 1952, and Charles Winchester after Potter did. The Giants won the pennant during the previous year, not when Winchester was there. Also Potter, BJ and Winchester are present for New Years parties for '50-'51 and '51- '52 even though none of them arrived until late 1952.

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

Ceasefire - S1-E23

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 United States Pacific Command (USPACOM).

EMTurbo

And the abbreviations were used mainly by the Navy. Especially CENCOMPAC.

Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Indo-Pacific_Command.

More questions & answers from M*A*S*H

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.