I can’t remember now what got me started thinking about official websites but yesterday evening I spent a few minutes searching the Internet for official websites for members of the M*A*S*H cast. Alan Alda has a website that focuses on his two autobiographies, with excerpts, essays, reviews and a photo gallery. Jamie Farr also has a website, one that is apparently relatively new, where you can read stories, watch videos and look at pictures of his life and career in television, on stage and in film. Mike Farrell has an officially unofficial website, run by a fan with Farrell’s “approval and full cooperation,” according to its disclaimer. That’s really it. I found a site called Swit Hearts that appears to be authorized by Loretta Swit but there isn’t much content. And Kellye Wallett, better known to M*A*S*H fans as Kellye Nakahara, has a website dedicated to her art and the Kellye Wallett Studio.

As far as I can tell, Wayne Rogers, Gary Burghoff, Harry Morgan, William Christopher and David Ogden Stiers do not have official websites, although both Burghoff and Stiers have unofficial fan sites.

Paul e-mailed me a few days ago to let me know that Alan Alda was interviewed on an Australian television show called Elders with Andrew Denton (the program was broadcast on Monday, November 16th over ABC Television). According to Paul it was a “funny, heart-warming interview” that covered “Alan’s childhood, his mother’s schizophrenia, M*A*S*H (of course), his father, his books, the play he is writing and more.” The ABC Television website has a complete transcript of the interview available here. The two discussed the second episode of M*A*S*H in which Alda’s father, Robert Alda, had a guest role (“Lend a Hand“). They also talk about how M*A*S*H made Alda incredibly famous.

You can watch three lengthy “web extra” videos here. They appear to include parts of the broadcast interview as well as additional dialogue that wasn’t shown on television.

For the most part I stopped reporting news that wasn’t directly related to M*A*S*H some time ago. But I’m making an exception today for Alan Alda’s Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series category. He was nominated for his role in an episode of NBC’s 30 Rock (“Mamma Mia”). Alda was actually in two episodes of 30 Rock last season and it was during the second episode (“Kidney Now!”) that a hilarious M*A*S*H reference took place:

Unfortunately, you can probably only see the above video if you live in the United States. But everyone can find a complete list of this year’s Emmy Award nominations here.

Friday, July 19th, 2009 Edit:
The Hollywood Reporter has pages of reactions from nominees, including Alan Alda:

“Here I am associated again with one of the best best shows ever on television. I couldn’t be luckier — or happier,” said Alan Alda, nominated for guest actor in a comedy for “30 Rock.”

There was a hilarious reference to M*A*S*H on last night’s episode of 30 Rock. Alan Alda guest starred in the episode (and last week’s episode as well). I’ve already received one e-mail about it from jbright. I’m sure plenty of other people recognized the reference. I’ve added it to the M*A*S*H References on Television page.

During the last two episodes of the third season of NBC’s 30 Rock, Alan Alda guest starred as Milton Greene. In “Kidney Now!,” the season finale (first broadcast May 14th, 2009) there is a scene in which Tracy (played by Tracy Morgan) talks with Kenneth (played by Jack McBrayer) about a traumatic experience he had in high school. It involved dissecting a frog. He breaks down and starts crying just as Alda’s character walks by:

Tracy Jordan: “It’s true. There was no baby. I was chicken. I was chicken.”
Milton Greene: “A guy crying about a chicken and a baby? I thought this was a comedy show?”

This hilarious reference relates to the series finale of M*A*S*H in which Hawkeye has a mtental breakdown after watching a Korean mother suffocate her baby to keep it quiet. During his psychotherapy, Hawkeye remembered it as a chicken, but then realized it was a child. He starting crying about a chicken and a baby, then called the therapist a “son of a bitch for making me remember that.”

Now this is an interesting bit of M*A*S*H history I came across on eBay the other day. Someone was selling a board game put together by Alan Alda and his wife, Arlene, in December of 1973 as a Christmas gift for Perry Lafferty. Lafferty, who died in August of 2005 at the age of 87, was a CBS executive during the 1970s and was heavily involved in building the network’s fall schedules. He helped get M*A*S*H, The Waltons and All in the Family on the air (among many other shows). Here‘s a obituary for Perry Lafferty from The Boston Globe.

The M*A*S*H G*A*M*E

The seller told me that the game was pulled out of the trash. It may be a one-of-a-kind item, although that didn’t help it find a buyer. Perhaps Alan and Arlene Alda put together several sets for CBS executives as a Thank You for supporting the series. Who knows.

The game itself is simply a piece of paper glued to a chess/checkers board with game pieces made out of wood with pictures of the cast glued on them. There are also two sets of cards, “Off Duty” and “Choppers,” that give instructions for players to follow, plus markers with the Red Cross emblem for keeping score, and a pair of dice.

The M*A*S*H G*A*M*E

Here are the rules, transcribed from a sheet that used to be attached to the box cover:

Object of Game

1) The object of The M*A*S*H G*A*M*E is to save as many lives as you can, especially your own.

2) The game is over when the first player get to Peace.

3) The winner is the player who has saved the most lives during the game. So, the more you operate the better.

How to Play

1) Choose a M*A*S*H character (“Hawkeye”, “Trapper”, etc.) and start at Peace.

2) Highest throw of dice goes first.

3) Move (in the direction of arrow) the number of spaces indicated by a throw of the dice. Follow the directions in each space you land on.

Spaces

1) “Choppers!” means that choppers have landed with wounded. Take a Choppers card.

2) “Off Duty”- take an Off-Duty card.

3) In all spaces and cards, the directions apply to the character whose name is underlined…and only when that character lands there. For instance, in “Hot Lips misses Frank”…Hot Lips goes back 2 spaces, not Frank, and only when Hot Lips lands in that space.

4) Replace cards at the bottom of their respective piles.

Keeping Score

1) Take a Red Cross marker for every life you save in the game.

2) The player landing in Peace and ending the game doubles his or her Red Cross markers as a bounus for ending the War. If you have 5 markers when you end the game, you get 5 more.

3) The winner is not necessarily the player who finishes first–it is the player with the most Red Cross Markers.

Acting Crazy and Maneuvering

1) At any time after you are drafted you can attempt to survive by acting crazy.

2) To signify you have decided to act crazy, stand your character on it’s head.

3) Acting crazy gives you the option of moving forward or backward. Players not acting crazy may only move forward.

4) When acting crazy, you may only roll one die. What you make up in mobility, you lose in speed.

Three Day Pass

At any time in the game a player can decide to take a 3 day pass, which he or she skips the next three turns at the dice.

When player gets back to camp on the fourth turn, player goes directly to surgery and saves two lives.

You can not be sent to the swamp or showers while on a pass.

Ending the Game

1) The game is ended when a player moves forward into Peace.

But:

a) The character must move into Peace right side up (not acting crazy) and,

b) The character must land on Peace by exact count.

2) If the count is not exact, player stands in place until next turn.

Here are some other pictures:

The M*A*S*H G*A*M*E

The M*A*S*H G*A*M*E

The M*A*S*H G*A*M*E

I wonder if Perry Lafferty ever played the M*A*S*H G*A*M*E and, if so, did he win?

In “Dear Dad, Again,” Hawkeye recounts to his father the $50 bet he made with Trapper that he could walk to the Mess Tent from the Swamp and order lunch stark naked and nobody would notice. Strategically placed objects are used to great comic effect to cover up Alda, including the Sign Post and a piece of wood being carried by two men.

Although the camera work does a good job of making it appear that Alan Alda is only wearing his army boots and hat, thanks to the magic of the freeze frame option on the DVDs, it is obvious that Alda is wearing a pair of shorts:

In fact, it appears that he has two different pairs of shorts on, the above olive drab ones and a white pair: