M*A*S*H (1972–1983): Season 1, Episode 12 - Dear Dad - full transcript

Just like in the pilot, Hawkeye directs a few words to his father in Maine; this time, in keeping with Christmas spirit, Hawkeye writes them down. Hawkeye describes his first Christmas in Korea: the good Father is giving the camp a Yuletide look...and also helping Klinger make one of his first fashion statements. Trapper is delivering smiles, lollipops and a bouncing baby calf; Radar is delivering a jeep (and a gigantic hernia) to Ottumwa, Iowa. Henry is a much superior friend than superior officer; his lectures on sex are legend because, even with diagrams, no one can figure out how Part A inserts into Person B. The Captains inject Major romantic chaos into "date night" while Hawkeye gets Major bliss from free samples. Trapper has the heart of Santa Claus, but for once, Hawkeye has his red suit. A helicopter is like a noisy sleigh without reindeer... swinging from a rough, rope ladder, SantaHawk and his medical bag are a sight for sore GIs.

"Dear Dad."

"A lull... at last, after almost three
straight days of meatball surgery."

"70 hours of sewing kids together."

"If this keeps up, I'll ask
the army for a raise."

"Either that or put on some lipstick
and earrings and get a discharge."

"If war was hell in Sherman's day,
you can imagine what it is now."

Retract the bowel so I can see.

- Retractor.
- Retractor.

Go.

- Ease up, Frank!
- Hurry up, will ya?

- Clamp.
- Clamp.



"The tension in the OR
is always a foot thick."

"We do our best to cut through."

- How did the game turn out?
- The Bears beat the Packers 21 to 10.

- I'm trying to concentrate.
- Try the library.

- Longfingers?
- Longfingers.

- Can't we have some military discipline?
- Good idea.

- Lieutenant, throw out your chest.
- Why? It looks perfectly all right to me.

"If jokes seem sacrilegious
in an operating room,

I promise you they're a necessary defence
against what we get down here."

Colonel Blake needs your help.

Frank, pull that back for me.

- OK, got it.
- All right.

You ever thought of leaving
your behind to science?

"Henry Blake's a good doctor
and a good Joe."



"As a commanding officer,
it's like being on a sinking liner,

running to the bridge and finding out
the captain is Daffy Duck."

"But more about Henry later."

"Christmas here in Korea, as with
you in Vermont, is soon upon us."

The glee club meets
in the mess tent at 0800 hours.

The first number on tonight's
schedule is Father Mulcahy's solo,

"I'm Confessin' That I Love You".

"There is some effort to celebrate
the idea of peace on earth,

even though there's
shootin' in them thar hills."

"How far had Radar O'Reilly
gotten in my last letter to you?"

"I think, if I'm not mistaken,
he had mailed the back seats by then."

"This week he's smuggling out
the front seats."

"It took us a while to figure out
what he was up to,

until we did a fluoroscope
of one of his packages,

and found out he was mailing
a jeep home, piece by piece."

- What's in the box?
- Toys for the orphans.

- Let me give you a hand.
- Would you please, sir?

"Radar's not the first guy to do this.
It's an old army bit."

"I'd be surprised if
George Washington's soldiers

hadn't mailed home a horse
one piece at a time."

"Radar can't wait to tell
his mailman back in lowa

that he delivered a whole jeep for him."

"The guy'll probably have
a retroactive hernia."

"Come to the mess tent with me, Dad,
and I'll buy you a cup of coffee."

Due to the number of people
bored last Sunday,

next Sunday will be cancelled.

- Hiya, Radar.
- Hi.

- It's looking good, Red.
- Wait'll it's finished.

- Eight o'clock tonight, right?
- Make it nine.

No sweat.

I'll be ready.

That'll make two of us.

"There are rules in the army
that are carried over from the year one."

"Thanks to these regulations,
we know what to do

in case we're ever attacked by
the French or the Indians."

"One ridiculous custom
is the monthly lecture."

All right, people, let's settle down.

This month's topic is, uh,
"Marital sex and the family".

Louder, Henry.

"And the family."

The first part.

"Marital se... sex..."

Let's hear it for this month's topic!

Just hold it down, OK?

It's not actually necessary
that any of you officers be present.

Only enlisted personnel
are required to attend.

Why should they know more than we do?

I got a date tonight.
I wanna learn as much as I can.

Let's can the jokes.
I'd like to get right down to the sex.

I mean, uh, the talk about the, uh...
what I'm supposed to talk about.

Radar, uncover the charts.

- Your pointer, sir.
- Thank you.

Good luck, sir.

They, uh... You start here...

- We've got your, uh, man and your woman.
- Which is which?

- The one with the big hips is the man.
- Can we end these comments?

Some of us happen to be genuinely
interested in this subject.

I've devoted my life to this subject.
At least a good many of the nights.

Dirty mind.

You know what they say -
dirty mind, warm heart.

Uh, now...

Uh, we...

Excuse me.

The, uh, union of Figure A - man -

and, uh... Figure B...

uh... the, uh... woman...

is the most sublime expression of,
uh, romantic love.

However, only in the institution of marriage
should this expression take place.

Sir?

What happens in the event that
Figure A is attracted to Figure B

and wants to get married, but Figure A
is already married to, say, Figure C,

and Figure B is engaged to Figure D?

But Figure A can't keep his hands off
Figure B because she's got a great figure.

According to the army,
he's got to forget her.

That figures.

Moving along now, we come to the
matter of, uh, family reproduction.

How it really happens.

How it all really happens
is, uh... really, uh,

one of nature's really cute things.

Uh, now first of all,

it is necessary that these charts...
uh, that these two married charts...

It is necessary that they, uh...

uh... uh, that they, uh...

- They what, sir?
- That they, uh...

Dismissed.

Bravo! Bravo!

Encore! Yay! Lieutenant Colonel
Henry Blake, ladies and gentlemen!

- 10 o'clock tonight?
- Make it 11.

Yo! Hawk!

The following have volunteered
for today's 10-mile fitness hike...

"To bring you up to date on Trapper,

he's developed a thriving, very lucrative
private practice on the side over here."

"On a good day he collects
about 50 or 60 smiles."

"The kind you never forget."

They're gettin' too hip.

That didn't hurt, did it?

Hey.

Whenever the locals want help,
it's Trapper John McIntyre they turn to.

Whatever it is, it's urgent.

OK, OK.

Take care of the kids. I'll be back.

"Last week he performed a service
that really set him up with the townies."

"He helped with a delivery that added
one more precious life to the village

- a bouncing baby veal -

for which service the doctor
received one gallon of mother's milk."

"Father Mulcahy is stringing popcorn

to try to give this cesspool
a yuletide look."

"He's a terrific guy, our priest."

"I never tell him -
I don't want to foul up his humility."

"I can tell you this. I don't envy him this
parish. At least I didn't last Wednesday."

- Pierce?
- Yes, ma'am.

I'm here to relieve you.

- You do resemble an enema.
- You're beat, Captain.

I suggest you hit the sack,
instead of chasing nurses.

But some of those girls
have been waiting for months.

I want to see you shaved
the next time I see you.

- I shaved.
- Shave again.

- This time take one step closer to the razor.
- Oh, very good!

Frank, you are ten of the most
boring people I know.

- Klinger?
- Sir?

- Where did you get that?
- A nurse gave it to me.

- The bandanna.
- That's my good luck.

- My ma give me this when I left.
- Take it off.

- Sir, I...
- I want that bandanna!

- I'll have my ma send you one.
- Soldier!

- You're out of uniform.
- The nurse said to get these to the lab.

A nurse said?!
You're placing me under a nurse?

- You said it, I didn't.
- Stop!

See what you did?!

- Fellas...
- Are you crazy?!

No, wait!

Fellas, come on! Break this up!

Klinger! Klinger!

Just before prayer...

- Are you crazy?
- Go on, scram! Get out of here!

- What's going on, Father?
- Shh, shh, shh.

- He's exhausted.
- OK...

- Where's the guy that exhausted him?
- Let me take care of it. Please?

- I'm not even Catholic.
- Would you like to be?

- Can I see you, Corporal?
- Not now. I gotta see the major.

- Is that a grenade?
- That's what it is.

A live grenade?

I thought I'd stick it
in the major's ear and find out.

- Give it to me.
- Don't touch me,

or you're gonna be a lot of little priests.

- Klinger.
- He broke the bottles.

The nurse wanted 'em in the lab.

I can't take this off!
Something'll happen to me.

- Klinger?
- Stop...

Another step, and I'll take us both out.

He's tired. We're all tired.

You're tired, too?

I can't get to sleep...
unless I count sacrificial sheep.

Give me the grenade.

Please?

Can I keep my bandanna?

I guarantee it.

It's from my ma, you know.
She said never take it off.

No reason why you should. None at all.

- Something like this, I just...
- Corporal Klinger, I understand.

Attention, all personnel.
When filling out GI insurance forms,

be sure to state your age and sex
at the time of your last birthday.

"Our nurses are a great bunch of girls."

"Never a complaint,
and they work their lovely bottoms off."

"Being so far from home
at Christmas is rough on them."

"I've done my share
to keep up their morale."

"But I've only got two hands."

"One lady who has no problem
with her spare time is our chief nurse:

Hot Lips Houlihan."

"The major is a paradox."

"A woman of considerable passion, she
is also a stickler for military correctness."

"I'd make a grab for her, but I don't
know how to do that and salute her too."

"Frank Burns and Hot Lips
have been an item over here

ever since they laid their
beady little eyes on each other."

"They think no one's wise,
but the only one who doesn't know

is General MacArthur's pipe-stuffer."

"Frank plays it very cool at all times."

"He and Hot Lips had a date the other night."

"But it was the last thing Frank would admit."

Going out tonight, Frank?

Just to stretch my legs.

Ugh! What's that?

It's French.

No wonder you smell like a snail.

Ha-ha.

"Neither Frank nor Hot Lips
knows that earlier,

while they were picking berries
or whatever,

Trapper and I stopped by her tent."

"We spent a few minutes
getting it ready for their date."

"It turned into some enchanted evening."

Three guesses.

General MacArthur?

Clark Gable?

- Dr Schweitzer?
- Right! All three times.

- Frank!
- Margaret!

Frank, don't make any marks.

- Frank, we've got hours.
- That's right. Let the others get theirs.

To go, Frank. Hours to go.

Oh! Of course.

Gee, it all looks so nice.

You've got golden hands, Margaret.

Did you, uh... hear the rumour that
peace talks might be starting?

Don't even think it.

Frank, the candle!
We may be throwing shadows!

Frank?

Somebody's been fooling with this.
It's a gag candle!

- Oh, why can't people leave us alone?
- You'd think they were all my wife!

Oh, Frank!

Oh, I'm sorry, Margaret. I...

- Forget that I said that. I did not say that.
- I didn't hear you say it.

Someone sawed through these legs!

There's pudding in the pillow.

Oh, I'm gonna get them... for this!

I'll get 'em all! Each and every dirty...

Oh, Frank!

I'll get them! I'll get them!

I'll get them for this...

Goodnight, Trapper.

Goodnight, Hawkeye.

A reminder that the Christmas party

for the Korean children in the area
will be held today at 1400 hours.

So everyone turn out to meet the kids.
Santa will be there, too.

We can only hope he's sober.

Excuse me, sirs.

Would you hold this, please?

Pierce?

Pierce? Captain Pierce!

Pierce, are you crazy?!

It was a Christmas present.
I could do it into a stocking.

Why, you... you are a moral degenerate!

Me? A moral degenerate?

Santa Claus?

Margaret, are you all right?

- I'm fine, Frank. Fine.
- Oh, the man's a beast! An animal.

Yeah. Every bit of him.

Why did you give Hot Lips mouth-to-mouth?

- I was getting a culture for the lab.
- Any good?

If we could get her away from Frank,
she could be a major kisser.

- That's what she's doing now.
- Oh, yeah.

How am I gonna get this thing off?

- If my father sees this, you have to marry me.
- I wouldn't marry you for five dollars.

How's our house?

- Standing room only.
- Great!

OK. Help me with my bag, OK?

- I gotta see you.
- Get in line.

- Santa can't play favourites.
- Hold it!

There's an infantry squad on Hill 28.
They're caught in heavy crossfire.

Their corporal's been hit and needs cutting.

- How do I get there?
- Chopper.

- Here, Santa.
- I'll go.

It's a chest wound. It better be Pierce.

- If there's an extra nurse, save her for me.
- You betcha.

Hey! If I don't see you...

- Merry Christmas.
- Tell me when you see me.

"'Tis the day before Christmas
and I'd rather be in the house."

"Just too many creatures stirring
around here for my comfort."

"The last thing I figured at med school

was flying into battle
dressed as Kriss Kringle."

"But then all those kids down there
are in the last place they ever figured."

Holy cow!

And you said there was no Santa Claus, huh?

"PS, Dad, I almost forgot to say
merry Christmas from everyone."

"Trapper McIntyre."

"Henry Blake."

"Even Frank Burns."

"Hot Lips Houlihan."

"Future used-car dealer, Radar O'Reilly."

"Ginger Bayliss."

"Father Mulcahy."

"Corporal Klinger."

"All the ladies of the ensemble."

"And of course me."

"Your loving son,
and unsuccessful draft dodger,

Hawkeye."