Season 6, Episode 8: Change Day
Special Guest Stars: Chuck Coletta and Kevin Lauderdale
Air Date: November 8, 1977
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I agree, it’s pretty obvious that this was a left-over Frank episode rewritten for Charles. I don’t think it quite works for his character outside of a few moments, but if I ignore that part of it, it is a funny enough story. And of course David Ogden Stiers is great here, as usual.
Klinger’s story kind of slips my mind whenever thinking of this episode, but now that I’m thinking of it, I agree it works well overall. Especially with the actual test scenes.
I met joe Roggin once He seemed like a bad dude
In a similar occurrence to the final scene. While I was counselling at a summer camp, the one of the girl counsellors came up to us and said one of our boys had gone into the girls cabin. We called a cabin meeting that consisted of 3 rooms of 8 boys each. These kids were 7-9 year olds. We lied a little saying we knew it was and if they came to the counsellors room and let us know in the next 5 minutes, there would be less consequences. The counsellors went back to our room and sure enough we got a knock at the door and a little guy said he got confused which was ours as they were fairly close. We said all was good and just try to not do it again. Happy we were able to find out who it was, case was closed….. until we heard a knock on the door. Another young guy came in and proclaimed that he had been the one to go into the cabin. Behind stunned faces and grins we said the same thing to this young man and sent him on his way. When the door closed we burst out laughing, catching two with one speech.
This definitely sounds like a Frank Burns script but no reason to shelve it I suppose. It’s like an inventory story in comics, always feeling perhaps a bit muddled in continuity.
I did have to laugh at the discussion about tests. I tested pretty well in schools both on standardized tests and regular. But I can tell you that my first two years of pre-med in college were designed to weed people out of the major. Those first two years are brutal – calculus, chemistry, biology, organic chemistry, physics, genetics, physiology. If you survived those two years, you felt you might get into med school. My buddy was an art major. As I was drowning in complicated formulas he was taking a course called ‘Physics for Poets’ … that was actually the name of the course! They discussed how physics can be ‘seen’ in real life. Insanity!
In med school, you had to pass your Part 1 Board exam to be able to move on to residency and I can tell you everyone in THAT room looked like Klinger. By the end, I was probably a zombie.
And I had to laugh at Chuck’s story. I graduate med school on Monday, got married on Saturday (you know how that ended), and started my residency 3 weeks later. How the hell did I make it!
Anyways, thanks again for a great show with great guests!
Great discussion, gentlemen. I enjoyed all of the personal stories being shared.
Charles was always snooty and stingy, but never again this low-down. I always appreciated that he was not another Frank Burns type.
As a fellow Jack Benny fan, I’m glad Kevin pointed out the reference.
You know that old saying of certain comedians being so funny that they could make the phone book funny, that’s how I feel about David Ogden Stiers in a way. He can make anything he say sound so robust and snobbish but in a good way.
I wouldn’t agree with that this made Charles villainous, but I would say this is his most wacky. He’s like Wiley Coyote, just unable to capture his Road Runner, which was money.
I work in finance and all kinds of otherwise very intelligent people fall for scams so don’t feel bad for nearly being tannin my one.
Regarding exams, I had fairly good general knowledge but terrible handwriting and I remember on one occasion a teacher trying to embarrass me because they misread my perfectly correct answer of Soviet Union as Soviet Onion!
I have been known to spell my surname incorrectly though and it’s only 4 letters.
I so very much enjoy this episode, because it never fails to make me laugh. And that’s almost entirely the doing of Sherman T. Potter, whose pure glee at witnessing the unfolding of Klinger’s latest dodge is so joyously infectious. While Klinger and Charles have some terrific interactions together over the years, for me, Max and the Colonel are a comedy team that just can’t be beat.
All right, Iron Guts, terrific podcast episode, terrific guests — you know all this. It’s a good MASH episode, you know your job, and you brought in ringers. There are no surprises here. That said, I greatly appreciate your work as always. Now, to answer some of your questions.
Regarding America’s service academies, of which the United States Military Academy at West Point was the first: Kevin’s info is all correct, of course, but there’s more to the story. Members of Congress do nominate (Thank you, Congressman Bevill!), but that’s only the first hurdle. The academies appoint prospective cadets and midshipmen from that pool of nominees. That’s how I entered the U.S. Air Force Academy way back in the jet age when Travis Morgan and Hal Jordan still had flight suits in the wash. If you’ve already enlisted, though, the process is slightly different. I called my friend and classmate Dave, who came in as a prior enlisted cadet, for more information.
Dave said there’s a form you fill out and recommendations you have to get, and what you’re actually competing for is a Presidential nomination, if you’re already active duty. Nowadays (since sometime after the fifties), the academies each have a prep school that prospective cadets can go to for one year. The prep schools are for candidates who have all the leadership and fitness quals but need some catch-up help on the academics. The prep school is how Dave came in. He was good at math, but words were hard. The letters looked a lot like numbers, but when he tried to add them, it impressed only the algebra teacher. He is now much more gooder at words, and after a successful Air Force career, he flies for an airline.
Dave said if Klinger had failed as a cadet or been kicked out on an honor violation, they would’ve made him complete his commitment as an enlisted man (at least if they had the same rules back then that they did in the nineties). If you’re coming in straight from high school like I did, you don’t have a contract and a commitment until you start your junior year.
Regarding the authority of the military police NCO (Sergeant Weaver) over Charles, following orders is only mandatory if an order is lawful. That means it can’t be against laws or regulations, it has to have a military purpose, and it can only be in area where that officer actually has authority. A pilot can’t order a maintenance sergeant to clear a plane to fly if the plane is broken and the sergeant works for the maintenance chief. Colonel Potter can’t order Father Mulcahy not to preach on a particular sin. Instructors always have authority in their classrooms, the range chief always has authority at the firing range, and an aircraft commander always has authority in the air. If you outrank her, she just has to call you “sir” when she tells you to sit down and shut up. I hope that helps!
Can’t wait for the next MASHcast!
Almost forgot: Dave pointed out that the prep school is also very handy for the service academies’ athletic programs. The prep schools get a lot of high school stars who want to be military officers. They could’ve made it through Middle Yazoo State with some tutoring, but it’s helpful to have some military training and a lot of academic help before they become cadets or midshipmen. At Air Force, they’d have to deal with military duties, baseball practice, and mandatory core class in thermodynamics and astronautics all at the same time. (I got a D, and I was only an intramural athlete.)
Do I get bonus points for recognizing the Congressman who appointed you?
My mother actually went to high school with someone who was in the first class at the USAFA when it opened in the 1950s.
1) You absolutely do, George! I didn’t know him, but he had a reputation at home as a genuine public servant. Obviously, I’m biased, but I think we could use more like that in DC now.
2)Class of ’59 OFFs (Original Fighting Falcons)? Woo-hop! That’s awesome! And here I thought the Air Force made those guys in a lab!
Thanks for the encouraging reply, George!
Woo-hoo*
Hart Schaffner and Marx is still in business and sells their clothing through major retailers (Bloomingdales, Dillards, etc)
I’ve always wondered about the portrayal of military scrip on MASH. During the Pay Day episode it was shown that if someone was issued amount that wasn’t an even dollar amount they received scrip that represented the cents. However the O-Club has a jukebox, pinball machine and a slot machine. Plus in one episode, Igor has a tip jar that makes a rattling sound when shaken.
As you mentioned, a dollar in 1951 is worth about $10 today. Isn’t it amazing that the “poor” villagers had so much military scrip? The bag that Winchester tries to take into the camp is large and he states that the money is in hundred dollar bundles so in today’s money the villagers probably had tens of thousands of dollars.
My major gripe about this episode is a point you brought up. After finding out about Winchester’s plot and promising Mr Kim he would take care of it, Hawkeye indirectly screws the villagers. He is the only one to benefit from the shake down scheme. The villagers get nearly nothing, Winchester gets nothing, and Hawkeye comes away scott free. Also why does Winchester throw away his cash box? The worthless scrip I understand but he slams the cash box which apparently contains greenbacks to the ground also.
This episode certainly gives DOS a chance to flex his acting chops, so that’s a delight to see. But I gotta say, whoever came up with “Klinger tries to get out of the army by enlisting” should have gotten a paid week off because that pitch is gold! Excellent discussion, everyone!
I have not posted images on comment threads before, but I’m going to try to show you the closest thing we have to military scrip today:
img src=”“
That didn’t work. I’ll try again later!
I give up…for now. But only because I don’t want to subject y’all to my html practice. Anyway, coins are too heavy to move overseas, so we use cardboard pogs in the desert. Here are pictures of some of them from both sides:
https://ibb.co/qgJRZnF
https://ibb.co/VC3yQnb
The images are of weapons systems, or service members in combat, or elite athlete service members, or moments in history. We also had a debit card you could load up called an Eagle cash card. But the on-base shops always took dollars or euros, depending.
A couple thoughts on this episode:
1) While Charles is clearly screwing over the villagers with his 10-cents-per-dollar exchange rate, he also correctly points out that the scrip will be worthless otherwise. So at what point does it do from being a scam to a benevolent gesture? Would, say, 70-cents-on-the-dollar be a fair exchange? The humanitarian thing would be dollar-for-dollar, but even the nicest person would probably want a little something for their trouble.
2) Since $400 was obviously a great deal of money in the early 50’s, and whoever returned the money first exchanged it for new scrip, couldn’t they have figured out who stole it during the exchange? Seems like the number of candidates would be fairly low..
Thanks for inviting me back to Korea, Rob! I really enjoyed the conversation with you & Kevin. It’s a pleasure talking TV with such knowledgeable & enthusiastic guys!
As far as testing, I’ve always done pretty well. When I was interviewing for the graphic design job I held for 21 years, I had to take a test. I was given a folder full of elements, and was told to design an ad in a half an hour or something like that. I passed, although I don’t think anyone, incuding me, would ever want to see that ad run! I learned I got the job over another candidate because I passed the test, and she had a panic attack when she learned the Photoshop installed on the computer didn’t have the plug-ins and filters she was used to. She froze up, and I didn’t, so I got the job. It seems almost cruel that one bad day can cost you something like that, but it happens.
“Change Day” is the most Un-Charles Charles episode ever. The writers definitely got it right when they veered off of this path with the character. It is completely understandable that the character of Charles needed to be fleshed out and even more so when you consider the possibility of this being a leftover Frank script. Not knowing what or who Charles would turn out to be, it makes sense to try on every type of person. Including a schmuck. LOL.
As usual, Rob and his guests get to the heart of the episode and lead me to reconsider notions about it that I never had before. Thank you as always for giving me insight into this classic.