PRODUCER'S NOTES
When Canwest commissioned us to produce The Real MASH, it seemed logical. Canadian-Korean director Min Sook Lee and I had just been nominated for a Gemini Award (which we ended up winning) for our documentary Tiger Spirit about the divide in Korea following the Korean War. We had plenty of interest left in Korea for another film.
I had seen the movie M*A*S*H by Robert Altman shortly after it premiered and had occasionally watched the TV show by the same name. To be honest, I never cared for it. Not only did I have a problem with a TV show that made a comedy out of war, I had a hard time watching the series' main character Captain Hawkeye, played by Alan Alda, whom I found smugness personified. But given the enduring popularity of the series, an unusual 11 year run and perennial reruns, mine was decidedly a minority opinion. As was further evidenced by the enthusiasm Min Sook exhibited after we got the commission and subsequently by just about every person I mentioned our new documentary to, including Dave Kazala who ended up editing the documentary.
Interestingly enough, both the fan (Dave) and the non-fan (me), were under the false impression that the series was set in Vietnam. I'm not sure what that says about our collective smarts, as there were certainly Korean references in the TV series, but we weren't alone as Loretta Swit, who played the popular Hot Lips Houlihan character states: "Every once in a while people would, even in an interview, let's say they'd talk about Vietnam being the backdrop for MASH and we would always have to correct them".
Credit for the series' covert anti-war message must be given to the series creators Larry Gelbart (who died the day we were commissioned), Gene Reynolds and many of the actors who strived to make and keep M*A*S*H a vehicle for social commentary. As Reynolds mused: "They (the studio) were always on us, keep it funny, we would get calls saying that last show was very sobering. You know there was a long time between jokes. And of course the networks feel that unless they're really laughing they're not watching". It would be hard to imagine a series like M*A*S*H being made in today's broadcast climate.
Our interview subjects were situated all over the US and due to various commitments we only had a tiny window for our documentary shoot. During the two week shoot, split in 2 segments, we traveled over 18000 kilometers interviewing former MASH surgeons, doctors, nurses, helicopter pilots, soldiers treated by MASH units and talent associated with the television series including Gary Burghoff (Radar), Loretta Swit (Hot Lips Houlihan), Jamie Farr (Corporal Klinger), MASH writer/director Charles Dubin (who unfortunately didn't make the cut), MASH co-creator/producer/director/writer Gene Reynolds and pop culture historian Jim Wittebols. The intense shooting schedule ran like a Swiss watch, despite delayed planes, snow storms, Christmas, New Year's Eve and time zones.
The MASH veterans, all septuagenarians or octogenarians in primo health and state of mind, were all pleased to tell their stories and we were humbled by many of their memories, painful in some cases, as demonstrated by Master Sergeant Bill Stedman's breakdown midway through his interview.
We were thrilled to discover that many of our vets possessed photographs of the time and were willing to lend them for archiving. A particular treasure trove came from Dr. Melvin Horwitz who had some one thousand beautiful Kodachrome slides and 90 minutes of Super 8 footage; quite a bit which ended up in the film. William Hornberger, son of Richard Hornberger, the man who started the MASH adventure when he penned the novel by the same name, gave us rare black and white footage of his father while serving in Korea. Cathy and Dale Drake, who met in Korea when they both served there, also provided great images and it was through their daughter in law, Nancy Tarsitano Drake, that we found other images, including the photograph that inspired Jamie Farr's Corporal Maxwell Klinger's character and a wonderful scene in the documentary.
An added bonus was that we got to meet and interview TV legends Charles Dubin (director), Gene Reynolds (co-creator/producer/director/writer), Loretta Swit (Hot Lips Houlihan), Gary Burghoff (Radar O'Reilly) and Jamie Farr (Maxwell Klinger). It was obvious that MASH had a special place in their hearts and it was fun to meet some of the folks we'd been watching for decades.
To round out our stories – we couldn't just rely on archival and TV series clips - we undertook a 3 day re-enactment shoot for which we hired director Gary Lang, as Min Sook was unavailable for this stage of production. Not surprisingly, what was supposed to be a simple recreation took on its own life. In Confederation Park in Hamilton, production designer Florian Schuck and his team created a mini MASH camp and for 3 days the park became Korea. Nurse Cathy Drake had told us how occasionally producer Gene Reynolds would call her during production of the MASH TV series to ask questions, and in a case where art imitates life, I found myself calling Nurse Janie Hall for advice on how to shoot one of the scenes!
If we learned one thing from our experience, it is that there are so many more stoies buried in the Korean War that it feels we barely scratched the surface. Now that the film is done we hope that Korean War veterans and fans of the film and TV series alike will find something of value in The Real MASH.
Ed Barreveld
Producer
August 2010
Go to Director's notes
