M*A*S*H

Bug Out - S5-E1

Trivia: Early on in this episode a scene takes place in the shower between Harry Morgan and William Christopher. Right before the scene ends William pulls the chain on the lever for the shower to turn on, but the water doesn't come on; in fact when he notices the water doesn't come on, he holds onto the chain and the lever actually comes off. You can tell by his facial expressions this was totally unexpected, but since this was the end of the scene and no further dialog was needed, it was left in.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind - S5-E3

Trivia: When Hawkeye is temporarily blinded, he meets a soldier, Tom Straw, whose face is covered in bandages having just been blinded in battle. He is played by Tom Sullivan, who is actually blind in real life. This is the first episode that Judy Farrell, ex-wife of Mike Farrell (B.J.), appears as Nurse Abel.

Super Grover

Hawkeye Get Your Gun - S5-E10

Trivia: When Potter orders Hawkeye to fire his gun, Hawkeye fires only five shots, not seven like he rightfully should firing a Colt M1911 service pistol. It looks like after the fifth shot his gun malfunctioned and wouldn't fire, he even pulls the trigger two more times. Being a good actor, Alda doesn't ruin the take but keeps on acting. Later they forgot to change the dialogue though: Hawkeye says to Potter "You fired as many shots as I did" when in fact Potter fired seven and Hawkeye only five. (00:22:00)

M*A*S*H mistake picture

Death Takes a Holiday - S9-E5

Visible crew/equipment: After Charles confronts Choi Sung Ho about the candy, Ho explains that he sold it on the black market to buy real food, and when Ho reenters the mess tent through the side door, we can see that outside there's a director's chair, which actors also use, with something printed on its back.

Super Grover

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

Dear Dad - S1-E12

Question: A number of times it is mentioned that the outfit is unarmed, yet several times, Frank has a rifle, or a pistol, and once Klinger had a grenade, and the guards and Klinger, while on sentry duty, has a rifle. Was this standard, or is this a mistake?

Answer: Even an Army field hospital would have SOME weapons for self-defense if the enemy attacked. What's meant is that it's not a combat outfit, and therefore wouldn't have enough weapons to actually attack anyone. (It's also mentioned a few times that the Officer of the Watch is supposed to carry a pistol at all times, but Hawkeye refuses to do it when he's in charge and Colonels Blake and Potter don't enforce the rule).

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: The Geneva Convention allows even doctors to carry a sidearm to be used in their self defense or the defense of their patients, however it is rare to do so.

stiiggy

Answer: As an old medical unit staffer, my experience is that med units have combat units assigned to defend them. Usually it was marines.

Answer: My old doctor (now deceased) served in Korea during the War. He was required to carry a sidearm anytime he was not in the hospital.

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.