Season 7, Episode 18: The Young and the Restless
Special Guest Star: Mark Preader
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Great episode as always. I love the M*A*S*H community. We used to sing the Bobby Shafto song at primary school and guides and I am not sure of the reference either. The only thing I can think of is that the writers were actually thinking of William Pitt The Younger as the two men were near contemporaries.
Rob, great episode. Always glad when you introduce us to a new fan (I mean, new to us, anyway)!
By the way, the first three numbers of the social security number are known as the “area number.” They are determined by what state you’re in when you get your SSN. “556” is a California area number. I don’t *think* people were as concerned about throwing their SSNs around then as they are now. We used the number for far fewer things back then, and there were fewer identity thieves. That probably changed as syndication went on.
Also, the military in the 1950s used serial numbers for identification. We do so again as of approximately ten years ago, due to the threat of identity thieves using your SSN against you. Of course, “Mr. Klinger” wouldn’t have known his serial number, and it would have ruined the setup for the “Corporal” joke.
I came here to post something similar. This month I did a minor deep dive on SSNs based on recent announcements of how to “randomly” fire government employees by first firing everyone whose SSN ends with and odd number, and then doing the same with SSNs which start with an odd number. (Which could possibly be used to target individual states.)
Basically, as you said, the first three digits were based on area it was issued in. But in the 70s it as strict. And by 2010 the numbers are now completely random.
If they had wanted to, MASH might have used the number accidentally assigned by wallet manufacturer who designed an extra pocket and filled it with a fake SSN card, all with the same number. About 5700 people thought it was their official SSN and were using it in 1943.
It could have been similar to how phone numbers start with “555”.
https://www.credit.com/blog/the-most-misused-social-security-number-100564/
Thanks, Brian! I didn’t know they were random now, and I’d never heard that story. It’s a little creepy, really.
This episode was a lot of fun to listen to! Love that we can all come here and just geek-out together :I) And also – if that MASH-convention ever happens, I will suck it up, get on a plane and head over there, that’s for sure 🙂 I’ll be the tall brunett, sweating profusely in the black turtleneck I intend to wear, in honor of my favorite character. 🙂
The Young and the Restless is interesting to me, because where the last episode, The Price, did some things I don’t think worked, this episodes has a lot of similarities and here – I think it works much better.
Take Klinger for example, him trying to bribe Colonel Potter in The Price didn’t work for me, it felt unnecessary and just like lazy writing, but here, I think his story line works really well. To me, it feels like his whole scheme here is done more to amuse himself than anyone, it’s a whole, big performance. He sat down and thought the whole thing out, planned the outfits, and obviously spent some money on them and time for them to get there. And then he gets to put it on, and play this version of himself for a while. And it’s really fitting, because I think that inside each of these characters, there is this small part that is just them, the people they truly are. A part untouched by war and all the horrible things they have seen, and they all do what they can to protect that small part. Whether they do it by putting on a costume and do a little performance, or dream themselves away with music, or drink, date, ride a horse, or do their make up – it’s all to to keep this untouched little part pure. And as time goes by, I think they all find it more and more difficult. And when you see it like that, Klinger’s story line becomes much more understandable and endearing, even.
I also had a problem with the Korean boy not really having much of a personality in The Price, and the same thing can be said about Simmons here. We see that he is young, talented and adaptable, but nothing more, so most of all he becomes this blank canvas for Charles and Potter to sort of project their own insecurities on, Charles most of all. I like that Simmons doesn’t do anything spectacular in the OR, there is no dramatic act of heroism, but Charles still cant’t handle it.
Charles has of course had a lot of things gnawing at him for a long time, everything is slipping through his fingers – the life he wants to live, his talent, his career, all of the finer things in life he is used to but now denied. And now, it’s clear that someone younger is always gonna be at his heels, ready to take the place that should have been his. Just a little while ago he had to admit that a woman was right and he was wrong, and I can imagine that still gnaws at him too. Charles has a big ego (a major ego ;), but where there is a big ego, there can also be big insecurities. So in many ways, I think Simmons is just the last drop to him.
I think it’s interesting how Hawkeye handles this situation too. With Simmons – a younger man with a lot of knowledge teaching them all about new things – Hawkeye feels the need to read up on it, to better himself. But when Inga – a woman – did it not too long ago, he had a big problem with it.
Love the Margaret/Potter-scene, their little tug-of-war with his blanket is so darn cute. I love their relationship, how – like you talk about – she can be stern with Potter (stern with Sherm, ha ha!), and we have seen that she can get mad at him too. And he is so very understanding towards her on many occasions, but also knows when he needs to put his foot down. The balance between them, the professional respect and the warm friendship and love between them as human beings is just beautiful.
I wish they could have incorporated Father Mulcahy into the story more. It’s a bit ironic how they did the Dear Sis-episode, where he worries about not making a real difference in camp, and now they had made several episodes in a row where he is just in the outskirts of the episode and only has a few lines, not really making a difference.
I really liked listening to this, always nice to “meet” a new MASH-fan and get to hear their origin story.
Hi Rob & Welcome Mark – a great conversation between the two of you!
As your Phlebitis correspondent, it was fascinating to hear your discussion about the condition. Phlebitis is inflammation of a vein near the surface of the skin, which can feel hot, red, swollen and tender. Whilst it’s uncomfortable, it’s usually pretty easy to get it settled down, so my main thought when diagnosing it is “Phew, at least it’s not a Deep Vein Thrombosis!” A DVT is a much more serious problem as bits of the blood clot can break off and lodge in the lungs or brain with life-threatening consequences.
I didn’t know about Nixon’s medical history… but – hey! – what else is Google for, eh? Sounds like Nixon had a Deep Vein Thrombosis in 1964, which then embolised to his lung. The condition of coughing up blood is called haemoptysis and it’s a known symptom of having a Pulmonary Embolus, and not just Oliver Stone reaching for some directorial drama for the movie. It’s NOT, however, associated with inflammation of a surface vein, so I think Col. Potter is going to be just fine!
Medical Publications: This is more important for some doctors than others. I think it’s more of a deal if you’re in hospital, especially a large hospital with a more academic reputation. Being published is unlikely to harm your career prospects as you progress through the system, though. Working in the community it’s not so much of a “Thing”; I’ve been working 27 years and had my name on my first publication this year (2024) so it’s not been especially important to me personally. For BJ & Hawkeye, however, there’s the prestige (to say nothing of the ego-buffing and bragging rights) of publication that could be beneficial to their post-Army career. And Charles has almost certainly got a few papers to his name, and I imagine he’d drop that into conversation at the drop of a surgical cap!
As one of your British / Bobby Shaftoe correspondents, I can tell you that this was a common children’s song when I was a little ‘un! I was going to say it was a Nursery Rhyme, but Folk Song isn’t far away either… let’s say it’s in the middle of the Venn diagram between the two.
It’s quite a simple, pretty little tune, so it’s perfect for kids to sing at kindergarten: “Bobby Shaftoe’s Gone to Sea / Silver Buckles on his Knee / He’ll Come Home and Marry Me / Bonny Bobby Shaftoe”. (Interested readers can hear the tune thanks to the Almighty YouTube Algorithm: https://youtu.be/JBN2xe2aYUY?feature=shared ).
I can’t say I’d given Bobby Shaftoe a moments thought for … oh, 45 years, probably! I’d always assumed he was a fictional character, but Wikipedia reports that he was a 17th Century aristocrat who became a Tory politician. Apparently the song was appropriated by his supporters as the theme song for his re-election campaign… so you can think of it as the 17th Century British version of Bill Clinton’s “Don’t Stop”. (But with more Silver Buckles!)
Another great show so thanks for the commentary.
I’ll echo some of Dr. Lewis’ thoughts.
Phlebitis is inflammation of the vein although I have seen it sometimes become infected which would need to be treated with antibiotics. My guess is if you are Potter’s age, standing on an inflamed leg for 12 hour grueling OR sessions would be problematic. As for Nixon, my guess is (as Chris says) is that he had a PE which led to the hemoptysis.
As for the feelings of being left behind, medicine is constantly advancing. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of monthly medical journals all filled with research hoping to push medicine forward. If you are in an academic center, you are expected to write something now and then. But I identify more with the idea of new ideas and techniques sneaking up on the MASH staff. I have been in the ED for almost 25 years and things have changed dramatically over that time with new meds, new guidelines, and new technology constantly being brought in. You need to adapt and learn to stay on top of things and that isn’t always easy.
To put it this way, one of the pioneers of the field I am in said he knew he was nearing retirement when he heard a case of a critically ill patient discussed in a conference. Everything that happened to the patient had not been around when he started practicing medicine.
Oh, one more thing. That end joke where Klinger says ‘Corporal’ is one of my all-time fave MASH jokes, especially when Potter goes A HA!
I think this is my favorite of Klinger’s plans and the one closest to being “Section 8” material, acting as if the situation was completely different. With all the times that Klinger wore dresses, he was still a top-notch corpsman. I remember the episode where he, Hawkeye and Margaret went to the aid station, and he went above and beyond a lot of other enlisted at M*A*S*H. Even when acting as Mr. Klinger, he did his job well.
I’d love a bowling t-shirt like the one he wore. And a Toledo Mud Hens jersey (as a big baseball fan.