Plot A: When the "friend" Klinger asked to break up LaVerne's relationship becomes engaged to her in the process, Klinger is devasted. So much so, that when the Area Retention officer suggests that he re-enlist, he jumps at the idea. Col. Potter administers an oath. When Klinger comes back to his senses and realizes what he's done, he reacts in typical Klinger fashion.
Plot B: A non-com orderly responds with anger to the suggestion that he re-enlist. His anger is justified--he is a trained nurse, but was not commisioned an officer like every female nurse was.
What's the Army's problem? Do they think that a male nurse must be a sissy? Tell that to any female nurse and listen to the shrieks of outrage.
At one point during the episode, Nurse Barney Hutchinson excused himself, saying that he had to go sweep. Margaret said "It's not fair. He's as good a nurse as any of us." So what was the problem? Aside from the unfairness of being a non-com--they all knew he was a nurse, so why wasn't he assigned nursing duties instead of cleaning duties? Is there some irrevocable law that says that if you don't have bars on your collar, you can't practice nursing? It was very nice of them to give him an honorary promotion at the end, but they could have had him doing nursing duties all along. Perhaps he had not mentioned the fact that he was a registered nurse before, but once he had, they still had him working as an orderly until the end of the episode.
Klinger was given the Presidential Oath of Office. At the end, he commented, "Just think--I didn't know it, but for a few hours I was President of the entire free world!" Since when does the United States constitute the entire free world? I think that there are a great many countries who would have something to say about that!
That Retention Officer was a real worm, wasn't he? Imagine taking advantage of a man in such a distressed state of mind.
As lowest ranking nurse, he was probably given the worst jobs, due to military protocol. Nurse Barney was waaaaaaaaay down at the bottom of the pecking order. (He barely outranked Klinger.)
The whole point was that he was not regarded as a nurse, period. He was a non-commissioned orderly, and was given the duties of an orderly. You never saw a nurse doing ordinary maintenence work except in a dire emergency. It seemed like no one recognized him as a nurse until Margaret pinned her old lieutenant's bars on him.
Okay, you wanted shrieks of outrage from a female nurse, and now you've got 'em! That is SO unacceptable!! I have several friends who are men who happen to be nurses--in fact, my father is one of them! I hate the attitude that I am a better nurse than they are, just because I happen to be a woman. Nobody would consider acting like a female physician is less than a male one, because they would be promptly called sexist (which they would be), and told off in no uncertain terms. Why, then, is it different to treat a male nurse as though he's less than a female one? I have had patients who refuse to have a man work on them. That was in my OB rotation, and yes, I can understand that maybe a woman wouldn't want a man to be working on her in an obstetric setting, but her OB/GYN was a man, and she had to problem with that. Once again, I HATE the attitude that male nurses are somehow less than female ones! DK, you're totally right!
The president of my mom's nursing class (back in the mid-70's) was a man. He graduated top of the class.
Saw this one again recently, and something occurred to me. The retention officer said that he was going after men that were coming to the end of their tours. The only people we know for certain that he talked to were Barney, Rizzo, Igor, and Klinger. Barney's tour was up in a matter of two or three weeks. Rizzo signed up again, of course. However, neither Igor nor Klinger re-upped in the end, and yet they stayed on through two more seasons. How is it that their tours didn't come to an end like Barney's?
The points may have been upped by the time their tours ended. We do know from a slightly episode that they do get raised. Hawkeye threw a fit when he found out.
But the point system of discharge was not used after World War II. That was considered to be a M*A*S*H error (especially since doctors never used the point system, like it implied in Peace on Us).
They were used in the series nonetheless. Henry went home after he got his points. Hawkeye was imbittered when he found out they'd been upped, meaning he was stuck there longer. It may be an error, but it's one the show stuck with.
How wonder how true this episode was about the treatment of male nurses during the Korean war. Were they really discriminated against as this episode claimed or was this just made up for the sake of a story.
During the scene in which the officers were in Potter's office to hear Potter lecture on the virtues of an Army career, the shadow of the overhead microphone could be seen on the wall behind the shot of Margaret and Mulcahy.
For those who don't know, it wasn't Nero Wolf, as Klinger claims, who said, "You can't go home again." It was Thomas Wolfe.
Why would Potter, who is Regular Army, have such a dislike for Sgt. Vickers, the retention officer and the whole idea of re-enlisting? The Colonel's made a career of serving in the Army, so he must have some love for it. Why would he have such negative thoughts about re-enlistment?
When B.J. jokes that Charles should thank Hutchinson for the lesson in OR, Winchester's left hand is on his belly. In the next shot, when Charles says, "Bandy your japes, apes", the hand is no longer there.
If Klinger had been passed out for lord knows how long, how is it that "Harbor Lights" was still playing on the jukebox when Hawkeye woke him up in the "O" club the next morning? Jukeboxes did not have a repeat function to them and will only play only so long based as money has been put into them. If Klinger had passed out even two hours before Pierce found him, "Harbor Lights" should not be playing anymore.
Sgt. Hutchinson hasn't been at the 4077th very long. (At the start of the ep, Klinger mentions that the sargeant's mail has finally caught up with him.) So what is Margaret's statement that Hutchinson's as good a nurse as any at the unit based on? How much nursing could Private Hutchinson have done that would cause Major Houlihan to rate him so highly?
If Laverne's letter was written on October 16, then this episode takes place in 1952 and probably within two months of Colonel Potter taking command of the unit. My, how much has happened in those two months.
Not many people showed up for the ceremony of making Sgt. Hutchinson an honorary lieutenant, did they? Considering there's supposed to be, what, 200 people assigned to the 4077th, you never see quite that many people in formation, do you?
In the wideshot, as Klinger rides in on Sophie, you can see Father Mulcahy looking at Winchester. In the next shot, he's looking at Klinger.
"Beaver biscuits!"
It may have been the way Vickers was recruiting for reenlistment. Sort of a honor thing with Potter. A person should reup because they want to not because they are depressed, drunk, or not quite in their right mind.
As for the jukebox maybe it was paid up with that song for the next few hours. I've been in a bar where a guy got so broken down drunk that he put five bucks or so worth of his and his former girlfriend's song on the jukebox and proceeded to do the whole tear in his beer thing. Maybe Klinger or someone did somethign similar.
It may have been the way Vickers was recruiting for reenlistment. Sort of a honor thing with Potter. A person should reup because they want to not because they are depressed, drunk, or not quite in their right mind. - R
Potter, however, was somewhat hostile to Vickers the minute the Sgt. showed up. Until Vickers introduced himself, the Colonel had no idea who he was much less what his methods were. Colonel Potter seemed to dislike Retention Officer in general.
As for the jukebox maybe it was paid up with that song for the next few hours. I've been in a bar where a guy got so broken down drunk that he put five bucks or so worth of his and his former girlfriend's song on the jukebox and proceeded to do the whole tear in his beer thing. Maybe Klinger or someone did somethign similar. - R again
Yeah, but even if Klinger had paid for the next several hours worth of jukebox play, you'd think that the minute Klinger passed out someone would stop the machine from playing "Harbor Lights" anymore. Surely, by the time Max fell asleep on the bar, they'd all have been tired of hearing that song. Moreover, why didn't Igor turn the jukebox off after closing down the bar?
And how is it that Klinger was able to so easily take the 45 out of the machine at the end of the ep? Surely Igor (or whoever was in charge of running the bar) would be the only one who had access to the records in the jukebox. Most jukeboxes are made where you cannot just lift the glass and take a record out. Otherwise, some of those 45s would end up "missing".
"Beaver biscuits!"
Well Its been abit since I've last seen this so I was working off fuzzy recollections. (Not as good as silky recollections but still better than raspy recollections.)
Maybe Potter and Vickers ahve a bit of a history. Either that or Potter is upset at the thought that the Army needs/uses people like Vickers to cajole/trick or otherwise "encourage" people to reup instead of people wanting to reup on their own.
As for the jukebox it was an idea. Besides jukeboxes dont have stop buttons either. So the only way to stop it would be to fonzie it or unplug it/turn it off. Maybe its an honor/trust system with the records in the jukebox. I dunno on this one. I gave my shot and drew up short.
When Vickers entered the company clerk's office, Potter was filling in for Klinger. Vickers thought the Colonel was the company's clerk. So, clearly Vickers and Colonel Potter have never met before this.
Most jukeboxes I know of stop playing when the money one puts into it has been used up. That is you put in a dollar, after you get your dollar's worth of songs, the jukebox is silent.
And it probably is an honor system involved with the jukebox. But the thing is, with all the traffic the O Club has - not just those assigned to the 4077th, but wounded and other soldiers, officers passing through - it's hard to believe there hasn't been a few kleptos in the bunch.
"Beaver biscuits!"