Plot: Korean children and American soldiers are being injured and killed in their search for war souvenirs. Col. Potter tries to crack down on the practice, but Hawkeye and B.J. must "persuade" the local dealer to give it up.

Plot: Margaret wants back the ruby ring she had given to Frank, so that she can give it to Donald. Frank denies that she ever gave him a ring.

Plot C: Frank has acquired a priceless Korean vase, and plans to ship it home.

Plot D: Klinger takes up flagpole sitting for his latest scheme--then Potter makes him stay up there in order to break the record.

(This is what happens when I listen to M*A*S*H while I'm working on the computer)

Wonder if Donald ever gave back the ruby ring?

Seriously doubtful. But, did we ever see Margaret give it to him? Maybe she learned her lesson from Frank.

The souvenirs Stratton sell sure are tacky aren't they? Aside from the ashtrays, there's nothing I'd want. Well, maybe the sunglasses.

After Stratton visits one of his procurers, B.J. and Hawkeye intially tell Stratton to live camp. Isn't the chopper pilot assigned to the 4077th? If so, I don't think he can just up and go wherever he wants just because Pierce and Hunnicutt tell him to go.

Good thing the 4077th wasn't suddenly inundated with casualties. Klinger would've had to give up breaking the record, or try again later.

I don't wanna think about how Klinger went to the latrine while flag pole sitting. It must've been very uncomfortable knowing he was in plain view of everyone in camp.

Michael Bell certainly has a distinctive voice. guess that's why he does a good job with cartoon voices.

Benn's right. The souvenirs are very tacky. That necklace made of 100 hand granade pins (BTW... did that actually look like 100 pins, cause it didn't to me) was terrible.

Where does Hawkeye get an egg, and why isn't anyone excited about it?

In "A Holy Mess" everyone is so excited about having fresh eggs, and basically making it well know that real eggs are almost impossible to find in that area. And yet, hawkeye is cracking one (having dialogue about the shell) as if it is a regular occurance.

The episode starts in OR. Hawkeye is working on the young Korean boy who was injured looking for brass. There is a general discussion about souvenirs. Frank, rather oddly, sees nothing wrong in it, and complains that the boy Hawkeye is working on is probably making more money than Frank is.

Stratton acts as though giving up his souvenir business will leave him to starve. He seems to have forgotten that he's there on the American Plan. Hawkeye or B.J. should have pointed that out to him.

They cut the scene immediately following Potter's lecture, where Potter points out that in a situation like that, your friends agree with what you're saying, and your enemies are bored. This is just as they are coming out of the Mess tent, and they promptly discover Klinger up the pole. (In the syndicated version, we often do not find out about Klinger until Father Mulcahy hears his "voice from above". Hawkeye and B.J. tease Klinger by saying that wanting to go to Toledo, indicates his craziness.

Frank apparently stopped at some point between his tent and Radar's office to properly tie up his package and label it. However, where did he get the postage for it? Or did military personnel in wartime not have to worry about postage?

The concern seemed to be with people getting injured picking up used war materiel. Sunglasses and gun-shaped cigarette lighters do not fall into that category.

When Col. Potter was talking to Margaret about getting bombed and punching out an officer, Margaret comments that in both cases she was unjustifiably provoked. Potter presumably only knew about her punching the pilot (I hardly think that Frank would have complained about the incident). I'm surprised that Potter didn't say something like, "Both cases? You mean you did this again?"

The final scene has always been cut, and I didn't remember it at all. Margaret stalks into Frank's tent, absolutely furious, and demands $15. for her ring. I thought that it was going to turn out that Frank had taken out the ruby and put in a fake, but it turned out that he had put an inscription on the ring band...for his wife. Obviously, he hadn't wanted the ring as a memento for himself. Margaret wants the inscription removed. Frank can give her 15 dollars...or 15 teeth. Frank lamely asks if she will take a check.

>> Michael Bell certainly has a distinctive voice. guess that's why he does a good job with cartoon voices. <<

Actually, that sentence is self-contradicting. Cartoon voice acting is all about doing different voices. (Sorry, I know I'm off-topic here).

Sorry, meant to say 'statement', not 'sentence'.

When Stratton pays Chang in the Mess Tent, you can see a couple of extras walking behind them. However, in the next shot those extras aren’t there anymore.

This ep takes place after “Hawkeye Get Your Gun”. The painting Colonel Potter did of Hawkeye in that ep can be seen on the wall of his office.

Klinger is sitting on top of the basketball hoop? If he didn’t reinforce it, that’d be a fairly flimsy place to sit. I wouldn’t think it’d hold his weight.

How is it that Corporal Thomas Hinton, the man who sold Frank the 800 year old vase, knows the Major’s name? Unless Frank wrote a check for the vase, there shouldn’t be a need for names to be exchanged, should there? (Unless Hinton was assigned to the 4077^th. But there is no indication that this is so. And if Frank did write a check for it, it could be used as evidence against him.

According to Frank’s footlocker, his serial number is 5683698.

Just out of curiosity, but why was Margaret disguised when she was in the Swamp looking for her ruby ring?

As much as the 4077^th has dealt with the 8063^th, it’s surprising that Hawkeye doesn’t know that Drake is the C.O. of the 8063^rd.

What was the point of Stratton speaking directly to Chin, the little Korean boy in Post-Op? He clearly does not speak English very well, if at all. Earlier in the ep, his mother had to translate what Hawkeye said to him. When Stratton tells Chin he’ll take him up in his “whirlybird”, the mother does not translate the pilot’s words. Chin could understand that?

When he thinks Pierce and Hunnicutt are going to beat him up, Stratton informs the Captains that he can get them in a lot of trouble. The same kind of trouble Margaret got into for hitting him?

"Mule fritters!"