Corrected entry: When Col. Potter is talking to Father Mulcahy about his son-in-law's rendezvous, Father Mulcahy says he has seen the 6th commandment take a beating, but "Thou shalt not commit adultery" is actually the 7th commandment.
Corrected entry: While Klinger is collecting toilet paper from the latrines, he's singing/chanting the theme music from "Bridge on the River Kwai" (known as the Colonel Bogie March, BTW). That movie wasn't released until several years after the war.
Correction: The music itself was written during World War I and was associated with soldiers during both World Wars. Klinger would have been familiar with it before the release of the film that kept it famous.
Correction: The famous march whistled by the POW in the movie wasn't composed for it but is actually the "Colonel Bogey March" composed in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts. It became immensely popular with the troops in WW2, with the somewhat rude text "Hitler has only got one ball." This is also the reason why it was whistled in that movie, because those lyrics wouldn't have gotten past the censors. That it is often (wrongly) called the "River Kwai March" today is due to the fact that the actual movie theme called that was a march superimposed on the whistling POW in the movie. So when you're listening to the movie theme, you're actually listening to two marches: Col. Bogey March, and the River Kwai March at the same time.
Dear Sigmund - S5-E7
Corrected entry: In this episode, Sidney Freedman writes a letter to Sigmund Freud, detailing his experiences at the 4077. Freud died September 23, 1939. M*A*S*H is set during the Korean War, June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953.
Correction: Yes, Sidney's addressing Sigmund Freud in his "letter" but it's not an actual letter he's writing, it's Sidney's therapeutic way of expressing and venting his own private thoughts and feelings regarding coping mechanisms to the founder of psychoanalysis, whom he greatly respected. Sidney knows that Sigmund Freud has been dead for over a decade, and BJ even commented to Sidney that writing a letter to Sigmund Freud is a little crazy, but Sidney's reply says it all, "who better than he would understand."
Corrected entry: When she comes down the steps in BJ's dream, the backdrop behind where she's standing at the top of the stairs is white. When BJ goes back to work, the OR doors open, and the top of the stairs is now black.
Correction: What you're noting is BJ's dream (more a nightmare) with his wife Peg. She first appears at the top of a phantom stairway with a white backdrop, at the OR's outer doors - where stairs don't actually exist. When Peg leaves she walks up the phantom stairway with a black backdrop, which has moved and changed direction, and is now at the OR's inner doors - where stairs don't really exist either. During the dream BJ's dressed in a white tuxedo and they're dancing through the OR - where dancing never occurs. When Potter hands BJ the scalpel, BJ performs surgery in his tuxedo - which would never happen. This is a dream sequence involving a non-existent stairway with a non-existent backdrop, and formal attire and dancing in the OR. The significance of a stairway becomes clear in 9x14 "Oh, How We Danced" when BJ reveals to Hawkeye his dream of an evening with Peg. And even within this episode's dream we can infer that to BJ, seeing Peg with the white background at the top of the stairs of the outer room, is as if she's heaven-sent, and to him it represents life, joy, and being home with his wife, but later when they're in the OR Peg's forced to leave on the stairs which are now at the OR's doors, and within BJ's dream it's as if the OR is his personal hell and the black backdrop represents his reality of war, death, and BJ being away from his wife and family.
Good-Bye Radar: Part 1 - S8-E4
Corrected entry: Hawkeye gives the nurse an order of one quarter gram of morphine (250mg) for a soldier. That dose if given by IV, which is almost always how drugs were dispensed in MASH units and specifically on that show, would almost certainly kill him. There is no way Hawkeye with his talent and expertise wouldn't make absolutely certain that he would have made clear it was to be given orally, and more relevant is he simply would not order morphine, "by the gram."
Correction: Hawkeye does not order one quarter GRAM of morphine but one quarter GRAIN, being 19.2 milligrams, which is a perfectly logical dosage: "5-20 mg every four hours as needed" according to some medical almanac I had lying around. Also, wikipedia states 200 mg as "the minimum lethal dose" unless a person is oversensitive and goes on to explain that persons with a high tolerance (especially addicts and regular users) can take up to 3000mg per day, so this mistake is wrong in more than one way, as it wouldn't "almost certainly kill him" either.
Corrected entry: To avoid being the last victim of the jokes, Hawkeye sets his bed up in the compound, surrounding it with barbed wire. Trouble is, the wire is wrapped in such a way as it would be impossible to him get over or through without getting cut to shreds.
Correction: He probably stepped into the circle of his cot then pulled the wire around him.
Patent 4077 - S6-E16
Corrected entry: Hawkeye and B.J. buy Margaret a new ring in place of the one mistakenly thrown out by Klinger. The peddler says, "Cheap setting, miracle glue". Cyanoacrylate glues were first discovered during WWII but were not commercially developed, as it was thought their quality of sticking to everything was a nuisance. It was rediscovered during the 50s but was not sold until 1958, five years after the end of the war. The second mistake is on this site: the episode was not called "Patient 4077," but "Patent 4077."
Correction: This is not a mistake - he is using the word 'miracle' as a description, not a name. Americans call Miracle Glue 'Crazy Glue' (in the UK we call it Super Glue). It probably isn't cyanoacrylate he is talking about. The second 'error' isn't even a film/television error in the first place.
Corrected entry: In this episode Radar trades a pair of long johns for a whole leg of lamb that we assume he plans to eat. But in the episode "Private Charles Lamb" Radar is horrified when the Greeks give the camp a live lamb for them to eat.
Hot Lips Is Back in Town - S7-E19
Corrected entry: The Nurses were hanging pantyhose to dry in their tent. One piece pantyhose were not available until 1959. This episode was supposedly 1952.
Correction: Please rewatch this scene, the hosiery we see is appropriate for the time. When Radar shows up at the tent, Nugent is hanging thigh-high stockings which are single leg type hosiery, not "pantyhose" which are the waist-high two legged type (00:18:55).
The General Flipped at Dawn - S3-E1
Corrected entry: Actor Lynnette Mettey was introduced in the episode "Carry On Hawkeye" (series 2) as Lt. Anderson - in the episode "The General Flipped at Dawn" her character's name changed to Nurse Baker.
Correction: Several actors throughout the series play different characters. Example: the actor who plays general Steele plays Colonel Potter in seasons 4-11.
Corrected entry: As Potter realizes who is in the jeep, he quickly salutes and drops his hand. After the angle changes, the General salutes. By regulations, Potter, as the lower rank, should have held his salute until Gen. Prescott returned the salute.
Correction: By regulation he should have done that. However, a MASH unit is hardly a parade ground and "hash marks" Potter isn't very gung ho on military protocol in the first place. Also what is true for a first lieutenant thirty years junior years younger isn't necessarily true for a full colonel the same age. Regulations aside, customs differ greatly in this area. In some units insisting on a parade ground salute from a near-equal rank would be considered an insult. Also, a convincing case could be made that potter's "abbreviated" salute was a breach of regulations in the other direction, because salutes usually aren't permitted in the field. Long story short, Potter's salute is perfectly in character with him, and makes perfect sense in the context.
Corrected entry: At the credits, the fictional character is mentioned: "Tuttle.........as himself" (00:25:05)
Corrected entry: When Frank learns he is to take command of the MASH, he says "I just wish I'd taken ROTC in school" However, in Season 2 Episode 2 "Five O-Clock Charlie" he says that he learned gunnery in the ROTC. (00:05:10)
Correction: As demonstrated throughout the series, Frank is the type of person who will exaggerate or outright lie about himself to impress others. When put in a situation where he must actually perform, he usually fails spectacularly. Pumping up his ROTC credentials is just one example.
Corrected entry: When Father Mulcahy is talking to the Champ on his deathbed, he is wearing Captain's bars on his shirt despite being a Lieutenant.
Correction: He was promoted to Captain in Season 8, Episode 13.
Corrected entry: Trapper John and Hawkeye have a gin still in the Swamp. Distilling gin requires a constant supply of freshwater, large amounts of juniper berries, coriander (and other flavourings), magnesium carbonate, and potassium carbonate. Burnt alum and pipe clay are needed for filtering. Where do they manage to find these things in war-torn Korea in the Fifties?
Correction: They are in a MASH unit. They could probably order most of the stuff as medical supplies. Some of the flavorings could be from the black market or sent from home. Also, they CALL it gin - but everyone pretty much agrees that it is mostly rotgut hootch - therefore, there are a lot of things that can be used for flavoring.
Corrected entry: Unless the regulations for the time period were different, the belt buckles seen with the regular fatigues is incorrect. They should be the same color as the belt and/or uniform. The brass buckles seen were used with the dress uniforms only. Also, any rank insignia worn by officers would have been dull in color so that they would be less of a target to snipers.
Correction: There were no dull insignias in the Korean war.
If so, then I stand corrected.
Corrected entry: Klinger has a rash from his uniform. However, in earlier and later episodes, he wears uniforms without a problem.
Correction: As mentioned, Klinger's rash is psychosomatic. It wasn't necessarily the uniform that caused it. It was being forced into it by Colonel Potter. Hawkeye says women's clothes are Klinger's personal defense against the Army and lack of that defense is causing him to break out.
I stand corrected, I had forgotten that angle.
Corrected entry: As Hawkeye calls the names over the P.A., the people were already on the way and entering the tent.
Correction: They were simply overlaying the PA announcement with the video of the people arriving to create dramatic effect and/or save time. It isn't a mistake.
The Most Unforgettable Characters - S5-E14
Corrected entry: In the scene where Hawkeye and BJ are actually fighting while pretending to fight; when they enter the tent, Frank is polishing his boots and whistling the theme music to The Muppet Show (1976). While The Muppet Show had already been screening for a year when this episode was first broadcast, the music was unknown in the 1950s as it was written specifically for the show by Muppets creator Jim Henson, and Sam Pottle.
Correction: The song that Frank is humming is "Happy Days are Here Again", which was copyrighted in 1929.
Corrected entry: Both Klinger and Radar are far too old for their rank.
Correction: Though the TV show M*A*S*H was on the air for 11 years, the real Korean War lasted 3 years. Radar is a corporal and states in season 2 "As You Were" that his age is 19. We don't know Corporal Klinger's age, but Max is promoted to sergeant in season 10, which in "real" time would be somewhere between the end of the second year and the third year of the real war.
Correction: Yes, according to Protestants (and others) it's the 7th commandment which states not to commit adultery, however, according to the Roman Catholic Church (and Lutheranism) it is indeed the 6th commandment just as Father Mulcahy asserts, and since Father Mulcahy is a devout Catholic military chaplain, his statement, "I've seen the 6th commandment take quite a beating," holds perfectly true for his character.
Super Grover ★