Posted on 01/31/2023 4:01:43 AM PST by COBOL2Java
I was chatting with a young friend of mine the other day (he in his 30s, me upper 60s). We were talking about the TV show M*A*S*H.
We started talking about the opening theme song, and he caught me off guard - he said "It's a nice tune, I wonder if they gave it a title."
I responded "Suicide is Painless". He thought that was a weird title. "Why on earth would they call it that?" I said it's from the movie.
"Movie?" he asked, "what Movie?" I said "The TV show came from a movie of the same name, and in the movie, that song actually has lyrics."
He had no idea!
Then I gave him the pièce de résistance when I said "the movie is based on a novel of the same name - although in the book it was just 'MASH', not 'M*A*S*H' with the stars between each letter. And Radar is the only character in both the movie and the TV show."
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He had no idea! I suggested he read the novel, and then watch the movie. Notwithstanding the political tone the TV show later took (thanks to Alan Alda), I generally enjoy M*A*S*H, especially in the episodes featuring MPs - my father-in-law was an MP in the Korean conflict.
In the 60's I grew up on SAC bases. Many of the aircrew members were former POWs in Germany.
They were not amused by Col Hogan and his comical captors.
Harry Morgan, played a crazy general in an earlier MASH episode before he became Colonel Potter.
I was there from 1989 to 1991. The older generation really appreciated why we were there. Many of the younger generation understood it, too. If you could speak even a small amount of Korean correctly, you would be almost family to many. I should have tried harder to speak it better while I was there.
Love Col. Flagg the best.
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Then tell him so.
From wiki (also cited on IMDB): The song was written for Ken Prymus, the actor playing Private Seidman, to sing during the faux-suicide of Walter "Painless Pole" Waldowski (John Schuck) in the film's "Last Supper" scene.[1] Director Robert Altman had two stipulations about the song for composer Johnny Mandel: it had to be called "Suicide Is Painless" and it had to be the "stupidest song ever written".[2] Altman attempted to write the lyric himself, but, upon finding it too difficult for his "45-year-old brain" to write something "stupid" enough,[3] he gave the task to his 15-year-old-son Michael, who reportedly wrote the lyrics in five minutes.
I'm trying to explain what I heard about *why* the cast did Hogan's Heroes.
I think Glen Campbell was part of The Weecking Crew.
The British were annoyed with the movie THE GREAT ESCAPE because, in the true story, it was all British and Commonwealth POWs.
I understand that and I don't want to leave the impression that I was bashing you. I saw an interview with Werner Klemperer discussing his experiences growing up. It was obvious he was mocking the nazis. (I think on that show he sang a duet, in German, with Jon Banner too)
The intent of my comment, about the former POWs, was that the scars ran too deep to find humor anywhere in that environment.
I haven’t seen her here in a while, but SuziQ’s dad was one of the army doctors that helped develop the MASH concept.
Yes, I remember that one. In fairness, he had been exposed to a horcrux. Wait....
I remember the theme, never knew it had words. I just listened to the link you shared, and after about a minute had to nope right out of there.
Seriously the hair on the back of my neck stood up... just creepy.
MASH came out while I was stationed in Thailand. Saw it at the base outdoor walk-in theater.
My daughter thought that Lion sleeps tonight song came from Lion King. She was amazed it had been around from decades before.
That was a hilarious episode. Morgan played insane Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele. The scene where he speaks to Radar while inspecting the troops took 17 takes because Gary Burghoff and McLean Stevenson had too much trouble keeping from laughing! Burghoff recounted that they had not expected Morgan to be so funny, as they were more used to watching him in dramatic roles. As Burghoff put it, "We had not, never, expected him to be that off the wall. And he just killed us."
I remember the pizza oven episode:
Hawkeye: [exasperated at Quartermaster Sloan’s denial of his request for a hospital incubator] We’re not asking for a jukebox or a pizza oven!
Captain Sloan: Oh, I can let you have one of those.
Henry Blake: No kidding! That would be great on movie nights! You got any of those pizza requisition forms?
Captain Sloan: [referring to a generic Army requisition form] Oh, just use one of those standard S-1798s and write in “pizza” where it says “machine gun.”
And a pretty good drummer too.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8MSHps46NJ8
Amazing!!! Didn’t know he could play even more amazing he can hold the sticks as one of his hands is pretty deformed. Maybe the underhanded traditional grip works for that hand if that’s the hand that’s disfigured.
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Then tell him so.
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