[Sca-cooks] OT: Veracity of Entertainment Sources (WAS RE: Fig Newtons from God?)

Mike C. Baker kihebard at hotmail.com
Sun Mar 30 21:36:28 PDT 2008


> He did like M*A*S*H though- he'd been a medic in WWII and 
> said that it was actually pretty realistic, at least for the 
> actual war stuff. HE never had a still in his tent though. :-)
> 
> 'Lainie

I am told by a usually reliable source (my father) that particularly for
the first two seasons, M*A*S*H as a television show was exactingly
correct on a lot of things.  No, they did not have a recognizable Max
Klinger, but there were a number of Section Eight seekers...  Yep, the
barter system got pretty wild & wooly, and they dealt with the black
market for things they could not get through regular supply chain.
There were certain episodes from later seasons that also could have been
drawn directly from his memory, and situations that it would be
impossible to turn into family-hour television.

Modified circumstances, but Daddy sez there were indeed several
instances that could have been the real-life inspiration of the "Korean
Clamp" episode.  At least one episode involving specimen / culture
incubators and alternate methods of keeping them going was also during
his tenure there.

One notable anomaly:  on the show, you heard reference to the 4077 MASH
and the 121 Evac as separate entities.  The historical 4077 actually
formed the nucleus of the 121st as the front settled into stability and
the mobile aspect was no longer so critical, AND as more helicopters
arrived in-theater that could be dedicated for medevac roles.

(Unit records should show one enlisted man as G.S. Baker, part of the
motor pool -- and fire department -- attached to 121 Evac; nope, he
wasn't the original model for Sgt. Zale, but he has sometime wondered
about CPL O'Reilly, since more than a few of the trades that Radar
arranged on the show historically were handled by certain motor pool
personnel... No, no stuffed animals involved, at least in the stories I
heard as a child before M*A*S*H was in production, or since.)  

Obligatory Food Content:  most of the truly intriguing barter and
skullduggery in getting the supplies actually due to the unit ended up
involving food, beverage, or both.  Shredded summer-weight underwear or
other delivered-but-unusable-due-to-conditions cloth items did become
the material for filtering a number of liquids, not just the output of
the illicit stills, and NOTHING was wasted that could be put to some
good use.  Elastic from waistbands or wherever was a prime trade item,
beyond finding more immediate sartorial and medical use...  And yes,
medical equipment in excess of the current needs occasionally was
"temporarily redistributed" to other purposes -- and vice versa (see
above).  The dickering and trading required to obtain "real" hen eggs
and fresh beef could be some of the most convoluted and dangerous to
one's career.

Adieu, Amra / ttfn - Mike / Pax ... Kihe

Mike C. Baker
SCA: al-Sayyid Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra, F.O.B, OSCA
"Other": Reverend Kihe Blackeagle PULC (the DreamSinger Bard)
Opinions? I'm FULL of 'em
alt. e-mail: KiheBard at hotmail.com  OR MikeCBaker at verizon.net
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