Season 6, Episode 15: The Smell of Music
Special Guest Star: Corey Moosa
Air Date: January 3, 1978
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This is just a fun episode in all respects, but for me, what’s best about it is that it’s such a great showcase for both Col. Potter and Fr. Mulcahy. The former gets to run the gamut from commander to fighter to father-figure to healer, while the latter gets some of his best one-liners ever.
This is why Charles works much better for me than Frank ever did. Frank I just straight up hated, with Charles I don’t even dislike, that’s how much charm David Ogden Stiers brings to the role.
How would Radar had dealt with Hawkeye and BJ’s plot and the B Plot felt like a good rehash of the one with the Football player back in Season 5. When he cries, it’s heartbreaking.
I support Winchester so much more than Hawkeye and B.J.
As a person who played french horn in band in School this episode was painful
Great discussion. I enjoyed this episode, but I have to say Hawkeye, BJ, and Charles all come off as pretty clueless about basic social norms. How could Charles not realize that it’s unacceptable to play a loud musical instrument in a small tent with two other people who need to sleep after a long shift. And don’t Hawkeye and BJ have any sense of embarrassment about not showering for days? Don’t they realize it’s offending everyone, not just Charles? I can’t imagine not showering when I’m around people. I agree that Hawkeye, BJ, and Charles are like the three stooges.
But having said that, I still found the A plot funny, especially at the end when Margaret takes things into her own hands. It was fun to see Hawkeye and BJ getting pummeled with water and soap. And the B plot was excellent. It seems like Potter is not often the lead doctor in a medical story and I think this was one of the better medical stories so far this season.
Fritzell and Greenbaum also wrote a bunch of episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. One episode they wrote was about the town band. They played a very poor rendition of The Stars and Stripes Forever. Once when watching it I commented to my wife (who was involved in band in high school and college) that whoever was actually playing had to have a good deal of talent to badly play a recognizable song. She agreed.
So it is with Stiers and his horn. He probably had fun playing it as bad as Charles did.
Charles was a jerk playing in the swamp but the other two were just as bad annoying the whole camp.
Favorite moment for me (going from memory) is when Mulcahy encounters the smelly duo and says eating outside reminds him of when he had an audience with the pope. Hawkeye asks him to sit down and tell the story but Mulcahy turned up his nose and declined. Hawkeye said Jesus ate with the lepers and Mulcahy said He was a very forgiving person.
In college I tried to see how long I could go without showering. Gave up after three days.
Not sure how you could kill yourself with a gas mask because even if you got it to work you’d drop the mask when you passed out.
Even if Linda dumped him, a scar you got in a war sounds like something that would attract women.
I started watching the show the season Radar left when I was 12. I then started watching afternoon reruns but was at the mercy of the syndication gods as to what episode I got to see. I envy those who can watch from beginning to end for the first time.
It amazing the range of Harry Morgan as around the same time as these were being filmed, he would soon star that Summer in The Cat from Outer Space.
Fun fact: When Charles starts playing the French horn, he is playing the MASH theme song.
An average episode. Not one on my favorites but it’s OK. I especially cringe at the ether scene (see below)
Could I add another idea as to why the Hawkeye shots during outdoor dining may have been shot later (and remember I’m not in the business and I haven’t seen this episode recently)? If I recall, BJ has his back to the mess tent while Hawkeye is facing it. It would seem that setting up the cameras and equipment would be very easy for BJ shots since there would be a lot of open space, However to get a direct shot at Hawkeye the camera crew would either have to shoot through the netting or through an open door of the tent. I don’t think they had that much flexibility at the ranch (e.g. exteriors of the swamp were at the ranch, interiors were on the sound stage) and they probably didn’t want to adjust the structure of the permanent set so they could have filmed Hawkeye’s parts where the crew would have the greatest flexibility.
There are very few blooper reels out there but the al fresco dining scene is one of them. Alan had to do numerous takes to crush the hard boiled egg.
I find the ether scene to be a major cop out. Saunders’ other attempts were not that he “screwed everything else up”. Each one would have worked except for the intervening of the nurse and doctor staff. His problem was attempting them in a highly patrolled area. So to have him all of a sudden act like he never meant his other attempts does not make much sense. Also I know the scene was written to make Potter the hero, but think about it. What would Potter have done if while he was holding the mask on Saunders’ face, Saunders would have pressed harder and breathed deeper because he really wanted to die? What would Potter have done then? Would he have continued with the plan and killed Saunders? Even in this cop out situation, Potter’s actions were very risky and highly unprofessional.
I like this episode a lot … but my family (who all watched MASH together as reruns) LOVED this episode.
“I’m thinking what you’re thinking if you’re thinking of stinking” is in my family’s lexicon. Whenever someone might smell a little ripe after some exercise, inevitably someone would say that.
And Charles ‘you ground it under your pagan wheels’ was also another line oft-quoted.
As you say, such an interesting mix with a silly romp of an A plot backed up by the dire B plot. I suppose it shows what life was probably like at a MASH – camaraderie, humor, and tragedy there all the time.
Great to hear Corey on the episode!