A talk about Charles!

[Kay4077]

It's a pity really that Charles wasn't in post earlier, when the role of Chief Surgeon was being decided - 'cos Hawkeye sure wouldn't have been appointed if Charles had been there.

I know there's definitely a couple of instances where Hawkeye does say (to BJ, I think) "I'm the best surgeon you'll ever see", but I can't remember the episodes.
Ah well, will keep looking...

[Jenna]

I've found something for you Re: Hawkeye boasting that he's the best.

In 'Rumour at The Top' where they are supposedly setting up the new M*A*S*H unit, Pierce says that they'll take the best surgeon out of the 4077th to be chief surgeon of the new M*A*S*H.
In the same episode he also says "They put me here first because I'm the best"

[Kay4077]

Excellent, thanks CG, that's just the sort of thing I'm looking for to illustrate my point

[Jenna]

Glad to be of service

I'll keep looking.

(I can always use the references to quote at the Hawkeye fans when they say he doesn't boast )

[Kay4077]

Well, it's all ready (finally!), and I've got my script prepared for tomorrow (Friday).
Will let you know how it turned out, and whether it was well-received, when I get back home on Sunday.
Thanks to all for the suggestions on what should be included. Didn't have room for everything I wanted to put in (I only have 40 minutes!) but hope I've covered all the main points anyway.

[stanford9]

Do you folks need to take Speech class in school? I didn't have to until I moved up here to the Seattle area; it's a state requirement.

I'm glad I did, actually (never would've taken it voluntarily in Mississippi), I've had to use the techniques we learned over the years.

Our high school speech teacher (it was required in college too) wouldn't allow us to use a podium. He said it was a crutch. All we could do was stand in front of the class with NOTES (no written speeches to read from here!) and start talking.

Every day, as a warm-up, he'd give us something to say. We had to stand, state our name, and answer what he'd given us that day. He would do the same thing to start it out. One day, we had to state what we thought our best feature was. Fortunately, my hair was looking especially fabulous that day, so I said "My hair." (It was the longest it had ever been, to mid-back, and was blonde and naturally curly). For the rest of the day, everyone was calling me "The Girl with the hair." I don't know if you UK folks would know this, but that's from a shampoo advert/commercial.

Another time we had to say who we thought the sexiest person on Earth was, lol! I said "Christopher Reeve" ("Superman" had only recently come out... yeah, I'm old.)

I know, I'm going on, y'all know me

Any way, Kay, was wondering how you'll fare. Is someone going to tape it? If so, I think it should go down in the annals of MASH history. How many people have given talks on a major (heh) MASH character, after all?

Remember to speak clearly and succinctly (I love that word, since I learned it from Charles) and maintain eye contact. Don't fidget. LOL you know all this, I'm sure.

The job interview I went on this past Monday used a lot of my Speech experience, for which I was very grateful. Two young men interviewed me, and I was poised, articulate and succinct, and maintained great eye contact between the two. I rocked, I have to admit (even though I'd loaded up on WAY too much caffeine!) They prolly saw this old hag (me) and wondered, What's she doing applying for a tech support job? But I stressed my exemplary customer service skills and computer (hardware AND software) experience. I so rule.

Yes, too much caffeine this morning, it goes straight to my brain and opens up a direct circuit to my fingers.

Good luck, Kay, send us lots and lots of pictures and tell us how it went!!! Maybe you can post a copy of your speech and/or notes too somewhere? I'd love to read it!

[stanford9]

kay4077 said:

It's a pity really that Charles wasn't in post earlier, when the role of Chief Surgeon was being decided - 'cos Hawkeye sure wouldn't have been appointed if Charles had been there.

I know there's definitely a couple of instances where Hawkeye does say (to BJ, I think) "I'm the best surgeon you'll ever see", but I can't remember the episodes.
Ah well, will keep looking...

Yeah like I often go on about, he shouldn't have been any way, Trapper should have, since he was in the movie. I bet that was one of the main bones of contention for Wayne Rogers, like someone said, that he left 'cause he was sick of playing second fiddle to Alda. I can't say I blame him at all, seeing as the show came out soon after the movie did, and as anyone who's seen the movie knows, Trapper was actually the better surgeon and deserved being named Chief Surgeon.

I'm sure if it'd been Charles and Hawkeye, Alda notwithstanding, Charles should've gotten the position too. Oh well, he WAS second-in-command, at least. Trapper didn't even have that.

Kinda off-topic, but I love when Charles goes all military on someone, esp that one when he dresses down that lesser officer for teasing the kid that stutters. I was cheering him on when I first saw that, lol, he can be so commanding when he wants to be. And those battle fatigues, whew... but I digress (as always).

[Jenna]

Good luck Kay.

[Kay4077]

Thanks for the good wishes, folks. Nope, no 'speaking classes' as standard here, though I did have private 'elocution lessons' as a kid, and I sing so I know about breath control and stuff.

Anyway, all went well, I'm happy to report. Got laughs in the right places anyway, and a lively discussion generated at the end. It was all quite informal, so there are no pics or filming of the event (thank goodness!), but I guess I could post my notes if you'd like? They have all the references to the relevant MASH clips I used, so you could see how everything slotted together.

Next on the agenda: a Film Quiz for the Social Club at Scotland Yard (where I used to work). Hmm, wonder what the 'default' answer to the questions will be?

[Jenna]

I'm glad it went well and everyone enjoyed it.

[ogiegirl]

Yes, please post the notes

[Louise]

I'd love to see the notes if you don't mind Kay.

[Kirsten]

I would love to see the Charles notes too Kay!

[Kay4077]

i suspect the system won't let me post all the notes in one go, so here's 'part 1':

Heroes and Villains’ – MASH/Charles Emerson Winchester

Background
Begin with background to series and the characters in early seasons, before introducing Charles…

book by Richard Hooker > film starring Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould> TV series.

• Not easy subject to joke about. MASH stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and tho’ set in Korea, the Vietnam war still going on at the time, and writers very conscious that they didn’t want to be poking fun at sort of situation people had been seeing on the news a half-hour before.
  
  
• Not even v popular at first. But gradually, the heroes and even the villains grew on people > when series ended (251 episodes later) 105 million people tuned in to watch (and that was just in the USA).
  

So what was so special about this show and its characters that so many people tuned into watch?

[Intro characters]
In the early episodes the heroes were these two

Hawkeye/Trapper - The incubator, 21.59 to 22.10

Their commanding officer was Lt Col Henry Blake
Iron Guts Kelly, 2.40 to 2.49

And the company clerk was…
Radar Divided we stand, 2.13 to 2.54

There was also two great supporting characters:
Father Mulcahy Dear Dad again 4.36 to 5.14
Klinger Chief Surgeon Who, 19.20 to 20.00

+ regular adversaries:
Frank/Margaret Trial of Henry Blake, 21.38 to 22.08
(give brief intro to Frank & Margaret)

But beauty of MASH - you could never be absolutely sure how anyone would react to the difficult situations they found themselves in:
Hawkeye could be bad - Fallen Idol 14.24 – 14.58
And there was never any question that Margaret cared for her patients, and respected Hawkeye’s skills as a surgeon, even if he did get on her nerves sometimes - Aid Station 14.00 – 14.09

Series had wonderful clever lines + ability to make light of almost any situation – (explain upcoming clip…) [5 o’clock Charlie 4.38 to 6.28]

But never shied away from showing as much of the harsh reality of war as 1970s TV censors permitted [OR, 9.51 to 11.45 then 20.38 to 21.30 ].

After 3 years, both Trapper and Henry left for home, and the Writers took the opportunity to drive home the message that war is hell -
[Abyssinia Henry, 22.40 to 22.53]

> writers the villain of the piece for a while!

[Kay4077]

They redeemed themselves by bringing in two great new characters:
Captain BJ Hunnicutt - Welcome to Korea, 47.20 to 47.45
Colonel Sherman T Potter - Welcome to Korea 49.15 to 49.51

V different to their predecessors – where Trapper had cheated on his wife quite happily, BJ was the faithful kind; and where it was a mystery how Henry had ever become a Colonel, it was immediately established that Potter was regular army first, and a doctor second. But it didn’t take them long to fit in to the camp routine. [Change of Command, 22.04 to 22.36]

One of the reasons MASH lasted for eleven seasons was its ability to evolve – not just to introduce new characters, but to move other characters on in an entirely human and believeable way. Major Houlihan grew tired of Frank – (who wouldn’t?) – and began to change from Hotlips – enemy of Hawkeye and his mates – to Margaret, who would become their friend. A pivotal episode in her character’s journey was an ep called ‘The nurses [20.18 to 21.38].

In MASH’s 5th season she met and became engaged to a Lt Col – and it was seeing her marry him that sent Frank so far over the edge that he was sent back to the States.

Which left the 4077th a surgeon – and an adversary - short. Enter my hero: [Fade out, Fade in, 18.20 to 18.53]

Much more formidable opponent for Hawkeye and BJ than Frank had been [The Smell of Music, 4.01 to 4.39 then 10.59 to 11.53]

Also a brilliant surgeon, and made sure everyone knew it [Major Topper, 1.19 to 2.11]

He could be selfish [Communication Breakdown scene ] + even though he was already rich, he could be avaricious [Change Day, 4.24 to 5.28]

So far, so bad.

BUT… unlike Frank, Charles had hidden depths - capable of doing the right thing, just when you least expected him to [The Price, 9.00 to 9.22, 13.12 to 13.49, then 14.09 to 15.59]

Yes, he was arrogant, but then so was a certain other surgeon at the 4077th [Chief Surgeon Who – 11.20]

Hawkeye also fancied himself as God’s gift to women [Inga, 1.10 to 1.55]
Charles on the other hand was far more modest that he was usually given credit for, outside of the Operating Room [Ain’t Love Grand, 9.13 to 9.27]

Frank had never had any real friends at the 4077th – not even, in the end, Margaret – but Charles gradually did develop friendships. The most unlikely one was with Klinger. This started when the 2 of them were stranded in a storm [scene with the shirts]
Scene showed 2 things – 1) that Charles wouldn’t hesitate to make sacrifices when necessary to help people; and 2) that Klinger not only understands that tearing the shirts upsets Charles, but that the Corporal is almost as upset as he is.
Their unspoken friendship grows because of this sort of shared understanding – as well as a sort of mutual respect for the fact that, although everyone else moans about being in Korea, only Charles and Klinger actually try to do anything about it.
Klinger has his dodges to try to prove he’s crazy [footage of different frocks] –- and Charles tries to win friends in higher places [BJ Papa San, 12.36 to 13.12]

None of which ever gets them home, because they won’t betray their principles [Rally round the Flagg boys, 14.15 to 14.35]

For a while, it looked as though Charles would be more than just good friends with Margaret [The Grim Reaper, 6.24 to 6.56].
Tho’ their flirtation never led to anything more – so far as we know – but Charles proved how much her friendship meant to him when he turned down a chance to return to Tokyo in order to protect her reputation [No Laughing Matter - last scene with Baldwin]

Charles also often accused of not caring about his patients. Eg usually given is [light that failed, 12.05 to 13.00]. But… let’s go back a few minutes to see why Charles administered the drug [– 11.36 to 11.43]. He made a mistake, but the care that led to it was obvious enough.

In Morale Victory he congratulates himself on a job well done when he saves a young soldier’s leg. But then the man comes round… [footage].
There’s no arrogance or lack of concern in his words to Father Mulcahy in the next sequence [scene in Mulcahy’s tent], and eventually, because of his own knowledge and love of music, he finds the words to help his patient [scene in OC].

What he doesn’t do is tell anyone what he has done. In fact, whenever Charles does a good turn, he keeps quiet about it – for example, in Death Takes a Holiday he silently endures insults and disgust from the entire camp, rather than tell anyone he is giving the candy he’s been sent to the orphans for Christmas [scene at orphanage]. It is only because Klinger overhears his conversation with the man who looks after the children that anyone finds out. And Klinger too is a man of honour [scene where Klinger brings Charles’ food]

Eventually, even Hawkeye discovered that Charles could be there for him when it mattered [scene from sons and bowlers]

And in ‘Bombshells’ the two of them joined forces – without any discussion or preplanning - to prove the point that people will believe anything [scene in mess tent].

By end of series, Charles definitely one of the good guys and it’s a credit to the writers, and to DOS, who did such a terrific job of playing Charles, that his character was allowed to grow and develop over the course of the last six seasons of MASH.

And perhaps it’s fitting that in the end there were no real ‘villains’ – because, after all, the whole series was based on a real MASH unit, on doctors and nurses who had truly operated under fire to save lives.
In the end, they’re all heroes.