Plot: The 4077th anticipates a visit from General MacArthur himself.
Hands down, my favorite episode. That final shot of Klinger as the statue of liberty still brings a belly laugh every time I see it. Hawkeye and Trapper are both particularly funny during the briefing with MacArthur's aide.
Frank described himself to the aide as "second in command, and assistant chief surgeon." Just when, pray tell, was he nominated for assistant chief surgeon? If Henry had given the post to anyone, I think it would have been Trapper, unless it was just a sop to Frank's pride.
(By the way, I'd forgotten that in the movie, it was Trapper who was made chief surgeon, not Hawkeye.)
Great bit of dialogue:
"Oh, Margaret!"
"Oh, Doug!"
Klinger sure put together that Statue outfit quickly. And how did he get out there, anyway? I had the impression that he was to be locked up until MacArthur was gone.
Was part of the ending cut due to syndication? Did they explain why Macarthur just drove on through the camp without stopping?
No. That was never explained. I haven't seen this ep in a long time, but odds are the original tag to it is cut.
Did MacArthur arrive real early ahead of the time plan? I wondered when pierce and trapp turn up in their bathrobes for the rehearsal, but if MacArthur hadn't driven through, they would have had some trouble for not being in dress uniform.
My impression is that Big Mac did arrive early. However, I doubt Pierce and McIntyre would care if they got in trouble for being out of uniform. I kinda suspect that was their plan.
This ep probably takes place earlier in the season. It should, at least, predate "O.R." In that ep, the P.A. announcer identifies a General who has taken over the War operations. This new General is replacing the one who replaced MacArthur.
Radar goes to get Henry, who's in O.R. Radar runs out the front door. Why? The O.R. is in the very same building Radar's office is in. All he needs to do to get into O.R. is go through the doors behind him, not the ones to his left. What's strange is that when Radar does enter O.R., he does so through the doors that connect to the scrub room, which connects to his office.
Klinger's post, Sentry Post One, appears to be on the main road leading to the 4077th as seen in "Love and Marriage" and "Aid Station". Why haven't we seen a Sentry Post there before?
There's a scene, I believe, where Henry asks Captain Spalding to write a song for Big Mac's visit.
Then there's the O.R. scene where Hawkeye and Trapper discuss what jobs they've been assigned in preparation for MacArthur's arrival. They also discuss how they have no orderlies, since Frank's got them all cleaning the compound. In the scene, Hawkeye says, "I still think we should perform an operation for MacArthur." I thought that they had already decided that doing an operation was a good idea and were going ahead with the plan. Did Henry decide against it since the Mess Tent scene? Also, Pierce reveals that he's been assigned to handle entertainment and that he had something special planned. Dammit. We never did get to learn what Hawkeye had in mind.
Wonder how much of a fight Pierce and McIntyre put up over the red, white and blue bunting that's hanging over the door to the Swamp?
The tag for this ep is one of the few I think deserves to be cut. All it is, is Spalding singing another one of his songs. BTW, I think this is Spalding last appearance in the series.
Abyssinia!
I don't know for sure, because I haven't read it, but I think the Norman Mailer book Frank was about to burn was The Naked and the Dead, published in 1948. It was Mailer's first novel.
Abyssinia!