Plot: Hawkeye's third letter home includes painting up a bigoted soldier who fears that he was given "darky" blood.
Nurse Kellye can be seen in the background at the beginning of this ep. She’s one of the nurses playing volleyball. The role is still a non-speaking part.
According to this ep, Hawkeye earns $413.50 a month. If so, he’s earning more than Charles did. (See “That Darn Kid”. By my calculations, Charles only earned $250 a month as of that ep.))
In this episode we see the first of four home movies shown in the series. Later we would see home movies from Radar, Frank and B.J.
Also in this ep we learn Ginger Bayliss’ rank. She’s a lieutenant.
According to this episode, Major Burns’ middle name is “Marion”. Father Mulcahy’s is “Patrick”. In “The Pilot” it was “Francis”. The Padre’s rank is first lieutenant.
Much of the staff meeting is cut in syndication. In syndication, the meeting ends with Hawkeye explaining why roll call should be taken.
Please note that for a gavel, a soup ladle is used at the meeting.
Father Mulcahy was a first lieutenant in this ep, huh? I got to thinking about that. Later in the series, the Padre would be promoted from a second lieutenant to captain. Somewhere along the line the Father was given a promotion to second looey behind our backs. Mulcahy certainly does seem to be quite ambitious, doesn't he?
If I'm not mistaken, this is Ginger Bayliss' last appearance in the series. For the rest of M*A*S*H's run, the darkest skin on any continuing character would be Klinger's.
Actually it goes 2nd LT 1LT and then Capt
Ah. Thanks for the correction Lolar.
No Problem. I come from a long line of Army folk so I got the chain of command rather drilled into me growing up. the lieutenant thing is one a lot of people confuse. Just remember that butter is beaten by silver. (a 2nd lt is called a butter bar since they only have one brass bar on their collar.) railroad tracks beats a bar, oak leaves beats the train and a bird beats them all but the stars. For a general (not rank) idea of how the chain goes.
Hmmm...then I wonder what Mulcahy got busted for? If he was a 1st Lt in this ep, then got promoted from a 2nd Lt later...
At the end of the episode, when Bayliss salutes Condon, she salutes with her open palm facing Condon. If I'm not mistaken, thats how soldiers in the British army salute!
and Canadian army
Another anachronism - Hawkeye writes his Dad acknowleding news that Eisenhower had been elected president. Thus, the date of Hawkeye's letter must have occurred after November 4, 1952. However, in a later episode, "Welcome to Korea," the date is September, 1952. I guess the root of the problem is that the writers could not foresee the longevity of the series.
What's weird to me, is that when I was rewatching these eps on DVD, I noticed that for the most part each of the first three seasons almost represent the first three years of the Korean War.* As a matter of fact, the fourth season could almost have been meant to be the last year of the Korean War. Which would explain why the beginning of Potter's command at the 4077th was not only given a specific date (September 11, 1952, I believe it was), but a date that was so close to the end of the Police Action in Korea. I suspect TPTB expected to be cancelled that season (the 4th) and were planning a final ep that year. Fortunately, the changes from Henry and Trapper to Potter and B.J. were not the disaster for the show it could have been.
* As Greg points out, this ep is out of sync with that idea.
"Abyssinia!"