Plot: Payday brings a large windfall to Hawkeye, which he is expected to give back, pearls to Hot Lips, and a heavy poker game for Trapper.
I've mentioned elsewhere that this is the highest-stake poker game I think I ever saw played in this series. Among the players is Igor, who much later tells B.J. that he never gambles. Perhaps this game was the reason why.
The actor who played the treasury officer (and the supply officer in "The Incubator" was absolutely perfect in both roles.
Did anyone ever see Margaret wearing her pearls after this episode?
That peddler seems to have come down in the world. He used to be the head of one of the biggest black marketering syndicates.
One thing I noticed about Eldin Quick, who played the treasury officer (and the supply officer in "The Incubator") is that he had a superficial resemblance to William Christopher. Might've been interesting if they could've done an episode that played off the similarities of the two actors.
Boy, Captain Sloan from Ac/Fin arrived at the 4077th awfully quick. As far as I can tell, this ep takes place well within a 24 hour period. Hawkeye pays the enlisted men. Then accidentally dictates a refund request to Radar. That evening Radar is giving Hawkeye the $3,010. Later that night Captain Sloan shows up at the 4077th to arrest Hawkeye "for absconding with government funds". Considering how often characters complained about how slow the Army did things, that was astonishingly fast. Even the IRS doesn't operate that quickly.
Not to mention how quickly the orphanage was able to buy up milk and blankets.
Why is it that the enlisted men had to sign for their pay, but the officers just had it handed to them? (BTW, I saw women standing in the pay line. All of the nurses are officers (Lieutenant or higher) so why did they have to stand in line?)
A cut scene has Burns telling a dressed-up Klinger (wearing diamond earrings with a tweed suit, oh, the horror!) that he will not receive his pay unless he is in uniform. Klinger promptly shows up wearing a woman's Salvation Army uniform. Hawkeye gives him his money, despite Burns' protest. (Hawkeye commented that if he could learn to yawn without opening his mouth, Burns would never know just how boring he was.)
Hawkeye makes a comment to his nurse of the moment that I distinctly remember hearing in another episode: "You make a great lower-lip sandwich." (In fact, he may have said it to the same nurse.)
I wonder if Louise ever had HER pearls tested after Frank sent them to her.
This episode marks, I believe, the first time Hawkeye acts as the pay officer for the 4077th. The next time will be in "That Darn Kid", IIRC.
I hope Father Mulcahy doesn't expect to raise too much money with his rummage sale. He doesn't have too many items on his table for sale.
I guess the Army doesn't have any coins. When Hawkeye gives Private Frank Daly his money, Pierce counts it as "75 dollars and thirty-one, two, three cents." With each count of a cent, he lays down a bill.
Interesting bit of dialogue in the deleted O.R. scene. Radar tells Henry that the Colonel's money has arrived. After being ordered to take the money to Blake's office, Radar leaves. Henry asks his nurse if he looks old enough to be Radar's father. Henry says he wonders sometimes because he's spent a week in Radar's hometown.
In this ep, we learn that Henry earns $831.75. Frank buys the two pearl sets for $550. We can safely assume that Frank does not earn as much as Henry. Further, it's a safe bet that Frank spent most of his pay on the pearls. Gotta wonder what Frank was going to do for money the rest of the month.
In this episode the movie for the night was to be shown at 2100 hours. That's kinda late. I mean, it's 9:00 non-military time. In the ep, "Bulletin Board", the movie was shown at 7:00; 1900 hours.
The Mr. Kwang behind the bar in this ep is a lot different from the two previous Mr. Kwangs seen in the series. He's older than the other two.
Where are the other patrons of the Officers Club, btw? It looks like Hawkeye and Nurse Baker are the only two in there. Incidentally, this nurse was last seen in "House Arrest". Nice bit of continuity.
I see Henry has to take taxes out of his money. Doesn't the Army do that automatically?
Given that Klinger offers Henry a bribe of $477, which he says is three month's pay, I think it's safe to say that the Corporal earns $159 a month.
The song Father Mulcahy is playing sounds like Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag", but I'm not sure.
If you look carefully, the sign on the showers has time schedules on it. The time for "Males" is 1600-1630 (4:00-4:30) and for "Nurses" it's 1630-1700 (4:30-5:00). Not that it matters. It seem like every at the 4077th shower whenever they feel like it.
Hawkeye quotes Groucho Marx twice in this episode. The first time is when he's kissing Nurse Baker. He tells her that if he was any closer to her, he'd be in back of her. To Captain Sloan, he says, "I'd like to stay, but that would keep me from going."
Why does Radar want to play "Hearts", "Go Fish" or "Old Maid"? He knows how to play poker. He's done it many times in the past. Notably in the episode, "The Moose".
Hawkeye couldn't have won the game of gin he and Trapper play in the tag. The object of the game is to be the first person to go out. Trapper was the first person to go out.
Abyssinia!
>I guess the Army doesn't have any coins. When Hawkeye gives Private Frank Daly his money, Pierce counts it as "75 dollars and thirty-one, two, three cents." With each count of a cent, he lays down a bill. >
It turns out that is true. I once bought a MPC (milliatary payment certificate) that has a face value of 5 cents. It's about 1/2 the size of a US dollar bill and comes from about 1970.
I'm guessing the lack of coins is because the coins would make noise in a person's pocket or wallet. If a squad is trying to sneak up on the enemy, they wouldn't want everyone's change jingling!
At the poker game, Hawkeye gives Sloan a jumbled pile of money to refund the sum he owes. Sloan has it all sorted and counted in under 20 seconds (I timed it). The man may have the personality of a plank of wood, but he IS efficient.