M*A*S*HCast #75 – It Happened One Night

M*A*S*HCast -  Season 4, Episode 3: It Happened One Night

Special Guest Star: Ted Kilvington

Air Date: September 26, 1975

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Theme music by Johnny Mandel

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21 responses to “M*A*S*HCast #75 – It Happened One Night

  1. First episode I’ve been able to catch right away. Great episode and great insights from Ted and his experience.

    Couple things you might have missed. Potters calls go in sequence of ranks. First is a major, then a colonel and finally the general. Also Hawkeye brings the can of beans into Post-Op for a late night snack. I always took it as he put them there to warm but forgot about them in the craziness.

  2. There are only two episodes from season 4 that, if they are being played in syndication, I skip — this one and “The Bus”. As I mentioned previously, the first half of this season was shown in the new “family hour” and it really tied the hands of the writers. I find both of these episodes to be very dull and prodding.

  3. You should definitely check out some of The Carry On films, the early ones at least as they do get a bit too broad and silly later on, but Carry On Sergeant, the first one has quite a sweet storyline and Carry On Cleo and Carry Screaming are great send-ups of the films they are parodying.

  4. Thanks for great episode.

    As you say, this is a sort of ‘getting to know you’ about our new characters.

    It is interesting to see BJ sort of try and deny that he missed something. As was said, the blood loss had to be somewhere. But it reminded me of the earlier episode where Hawkeye also has a patient not doing well that troubles him and he has to go back in. (The famous ‘anyone could have missed that’ line from Frank episode.) So Hawkeye was speaking from a place of wisdom.

    I can only say that I have said many times ‘I once had a patient who ….’ and I have had it said to me as well. We learn from each other.

  5. Two veterans in a row! And a fellow Airman, to boot! Outstanding!

    Rob, I think you should go ahead and make this an all-veteran guests season. Who was that Marine you talked about Full Metal Jacket with? Does he like MASH? I know I’m going to have to sign Dan Greenfield up for the Reserves or the National Guard or something to make this complete, but we’ll just have to allow ex post facto enlistment. I’ll send some recruitment literature out to Shawn Myers and some of the other usual suspects, as well. If we could just raise a volunteer regiment of Fire & Water guests like they would have back in the old days, that unit would have more nerd cred than the entire Space Force!

    Seriously, I don’t have much to add here that you and Ted didn’t already cover, but thanks for another enjoyable episode about another enjoyable episode!

      1. Hmm. We’ll review it. Do you remember what rank you got to? I think we should make Bear Cub the minimum for benefits.

          1. We’ll allow it. Those Webelos kids were earnest little strivers, anyway (he said, while polishing his Arrow of Light).

          2. Hey, I just reread what I wrote. For anyone wondering, the Arrow of Light is an award Webelos Cubs get for learning the Boy Scout Oath, Boy Scout Law, etc. it can be a pin or a patch. This is meant as self-deprecating humor wherein I reveal what an earnest little striver I was. Don’t make it weird.

          3. You know, I haven’t been around fighter pilots in years, so I’m rusty at vetting my verbiage for anything that would make Beavis & Butthead chortle. I’ll have to brush up on what they would call “proper English.”

  6. My favorite part of this episode is Frank’s desperate search for the letters he wrote Margaret. I love the increasingly frantic nature of his search. You’re right. No reasonable person would conduct a search the way Frank does, but, then again, this is Frank we’re talking about. His pathetic excuse of looking for a pen makes me laugh every time I see it.

    Thanks for another excellent episode. Ted’s insights added a lot to my appreciation of this episode.

  7. Thank you for a great episode.

    I wanted to comment on what you said about wishing they mentioned the beans instead of just having them explode. They did mention them but they were “blink and you’ll miss it”.
    The scene in the mess tent when Hawkeye was talking to Klinger and Jenkins they mentioned that the beans were from 1943 WWII and were has beans. Then when Hawkeye showed up in Post-Op and Frank was upset that Hawkeye was 10 minutes late, you see Hawkeye put the can of beans down on the stove. Again, if one was looking at Hawkeye and Frank during that conversation, it could have been missed.

    Can’t wait until your next MASH episode “The Late Captain Pierce”. I am really interested in hearing your thoughts on that one.

  8. Great podcast about a great little episode. Salutes to Ted for his service and for bringing his unique point of view to the podcast.

    This episode boasts my least favorite Frank bit, when he is tearing up Margaret’s tent. Although it can be assumed that he was looking for his love notes she had admitting to keeping, the search and destroy nature of the activity just makes Frank look totally stupid. BTW, for years I believed him when he said he was just looking for a pencil to write her a response note back. I understand now that that was probably a lie. And one more thing: during the search, doesn’t he see and toss several dresses and blouses and other pieces of civilian clothes on the floor? I would have expected to see her dress uniform or things that, you know, we actually saw her wear on the show.

    The best part of this episode for me was Klinger trying desperately to get out…until he stepped up to help. I remember Jamie Farr saying in some interview that Klinger was many things, but he wasn’t a gold-bricker. So when BJ needed him, he was there.

    I remember one of my Air Force friends telling me that he could tell just by listening if airplanes were heading down towards landing or if they had just taken off. Similarly, I wonder if Col Potter could tell that the bombs were “coming” or “going,” therefore recognizing that “they were ours”?

    Finally, I point out that Seoul Korea famously is located at 38 degrees latitude. Chicago is at 42 and Washington DC is at 39. So Uijeongbu would have the heat and cold similar to those US cities. Not that that explains the weird way MASH weather jumped around, but still…

    1. CPL CPT Burbage, when my wife and I lived on a C-130 base, we had a cat who would show no acknowledgement whatsoever of C-130 takeoffs, touch and go’s, assault landings, or whatever. But if anything else landed or took off, like a fighter on a cross country trip to depot maintenance, he perked right up and listened closely to the anomaly.

  9. As the guys stated, this was very much a “settling in” episode after the series shaking events of the previous 3 episodes….this was MASH being MASH, albeit a different MASH, as now there were 2 new characters to bounce things off. One of the reasons I love this season so much, and it may just be my head canon, but you can almost sense the camp and characters getting used to BJ and Potter, while in turn, BJ and Potter are getting used to their own new situations. It feels like every episode there’s a little bit where a character realizes how another character handles a situation or a new character reacts to the craziness that veteran characters are used to. I like that MASH didn’t just carry on with business as usual, but took the time to explore how Blake and Trapper leaving, along with BJ and Potter arriving, affected the camp and the characters, even in the more “standard” episodes. Great episode as usual, looking forward to the rest of this OUTSTANDING season!

  10. I love seeing BJ start as a rookie straight out of school, and grow as time passes. I remember the cool-headed BJ of later seasons better, so it’s great to see the progression begin this season.

    Would Potter have slept thru the whole night if Radar hadn’t woken him that one time? He certainly didn’t wake on his own. A pretty subtle way to show his “regular army” background.

  11. General, I think your stars are slipping! In a blink and you’ll miss it moment, Hawkeye pockets the can of beans in the Swamp and brings them to Post Op. Love the podcast and if you need a guest on any Fr. Mulcahy episodes, I’m down! (He’s my favorite character.)

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