ALAN ALDA AND JAMIE FARR SERVED IN THE U.S. ARMY.
Alda (Hawkeye Pierce) was in the Army Reserve for six months in Korea. Farr enlisted, and was stationed in Japan when Red Skelton requested his serives r on his USO Tour through Korea. Wayne Rogers (Trapper John McIntyre) joined the U.S. Navy for a time as a ship navigator . Mike Farrell (B.J. Hunnicut) served in the US Marine Corp.
MCLEAN STEVENSON AUDITIONED FOR HAWKEYE, AND COMEDIAN ROBERT KLEIN TURNED DOWN THE ROLE OF TRAPPER JOHN.
Stevenson wasconvinced to take the role of Lt. Colonel Henry Blake instead. As for Klein, he denied a claim that helived to regret the decision.
KLINGER WAS ONLY SUPPOSED TO BE IN ONE EPISODE. He was also supposed to be gay. Jamie Farr’s character was changed to a heterosexual who cross-dressed to try to get himself kicked out of Korea. Allegedly, the Klinger character was influenced by comedian Lenny Bruce’s claim that he got discharged from the Navy for claiming to have Homosexual tendencies.
CBS DIDN’T WANT ONE "UNPATRIOTIC" EPISODE.
An episode where soldiers stand outside in the freezing cold so that they can make themselves sick enough to be sent home was rejected by CBS. That soldier tactic was apparently actually used during the Korean War.
WAYNE ROGERS WAS ABLE TO LEAVE THE SHOW BECAUSE HE NEVER SIGNED A CONTRACT.
Rogers was threatened with a breach of contract lawsuit. The problem was that he had never signed a deal objecting to the standard contract, given to TV actors when he had started playing Trapper John, particularly the “morals clause,” which he considered antiquated. Rogers said that aside from missing the cast—and his friendship with Alda in particular—he had no regrets about leaving the show after season three.
ALDA WAS THE ONLY ACTOR WHO WAS AWARE OF HENRY BLAKE’S FATE UNTIL MOMENTS BEFORE SHOOTING THE FINAL SCENE IN “ABYSSINIA, HENRY.” Gelbart and Reynolds used the opportunity for McLean Stevenson wanting to leave after the third season to make a point about the wastefulness of war, and decided to kill off Henry Blake. After distributing the script without the last page and shooting all of the scenes written therein, Gelbart asked the cast to wait a few minutes before the start of the end-of-season wrap party and gave them each one copy of the final page, where Radar enters the O.R. and announces that Henry didn’t make it.
During season six, there's an episode that features four Marine patients named after the 1977 California Angels infield. Throughout season seven, the patients were named after the 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers.
THE SERIES FINALE IS STILL THE MOST WATCHED EPISODE OF TELEVISION IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Seventy-seven percent of the people watching television in the United States on the night of Monday, February 28, 1983 were watching the two-and-a-half-hour series finale, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen.” That was 121.6 million people. A company only had to pay $30,000 to run a 30-second commercial when M*A*S*H got started in 1972. For the series finale, a 30-second spot cost $450,000
RADAR’S TEDDY BEAR WAS SOLD AND RETURNED TO BURGHOFF. Burghoff said Radar’s teddy bear had been lost for 30 years until it suddenly turned up at an auction in 2005. A medical student bought it for $11,500 , and promptly sold it back to Burghoff.
FIND THE COORDINATES FOR I WANT MY MTV AUGUST 1, 1981 MULTI CACHE GCAF92P. THE 2ND HALD OF THE COORDINAYES ARE IN WHAT HAPPENED TO SPEARCHUCKER TRADITIONAL GEOCACHE GC97A0F. THESE COORDINATES ARE FOR THE FIRST OF 2 STAGES.
The cache is a small Ammo can located at Southern New Hampshires Aroretum.
CCongradulations to jrjones33 on the First to find. And to Randy 58 for the second to find.