Script Spotlight 22: “Edwina”

This week, I pulled a script for what is probably one of the most consistently worst rated episode of the series. The episode “Edwina” (01×13) was one of the weakest episodes in season one, and there are a few weak episodes the first season. Today, the storyline would never get approved, and there was controversy about the script when it was first presented to the cast in 1972. The episode went through an overhaul by Larry Gelbart to create what we see on screen. The script itself is one of the only ones I’ve seen where well over half the pages were revised. But after hearing how and why the story changed, I understand why. Let’s look at the script, learn what changed, and then compare the script to the final episode!

The Script

This episode has been for its primary story, and that is a fair criticism. For 1972, and for the 1950s when the series took place, “Edwina” pushed some boundaries, and not in a good way. However, thanks to an interview with McLean Stevenson that was recently published by the M*A*S*H Matters podcast (episode 100, starting at 40:11), we learned that this script was actually worse as originally written. Stevenson explains that in the original draft of the script, Edwina wasn’t a klutz, but she was overweight. He explained what happened after the initial table read of the script, “Nobody said anything, and Larry Gelbart, he looked around and said, ‘Well, doesn’t anyone have anything to say?’ And nobody said anything. Then Loretta said, ‘I won’t do this show’…Larry, without even having to say why, said, ‘Well, I can understand how you feel, but remember now we are doing a show about 1952.’ And she said, “I would find this offensive in 1952.’” Gelbart listened to the actors, and he took the script back and rewrote the story so that Edwina was a klutz instead of being overweight. He admits that while the episode was better, “It was a pretty flimsy, dumb show. It was not our best episode.”

The draft that I have is after that initial rewrite. I think that explains why there are so many revised pages in this script (26 of the 37 pages were revised). In fact, there are three different sets of revised pages dated: September 8, 1972 (pink), September 11, 1972 (green), and September 12, 1972 (yellow). The fact that Gelbart was able to take a script that the cast did not like, rework it, and keep the filming on schedule is a testament to his writing talents and his respect for M*A*S*H as a series. The rewrites were likely extensive because there are so many scenes in which we see Edwina messing something up.

Overall, the script itself doesn’t have much beyond the revised pages. Sadly, there are no production documents nor are the original pages that the revised pages replaced present. Personally, I would like to read the original draft because it would demonstrate how quickly the story could change when necessary. And this story needed to change. Stevenson mentions that he was concerned that the episode as written could have angered the audience and tuned them out. Season one was not stellar for M*A*S*H, and they could not afford to anger audiences that early in the series run. This episode isn’t great. And Stevenson says that he believes that “Edwina” is often skipped in syndication, or at least not played as often as some other episodes. I am curious whether that is still the case today.

The Final Episode

The episode opens with us meeting a nurse at her surprise birthday party. Lieutenant Edwina Ferguson, Eddie for short, is quickly introduced as an ancient-prone individual. She reveals to nurse Culter that her boyfriend stopped writing her after he was drafted and sent to Korea and that she has “never been with a man.” She hoped to find a new man in Korea (an odd plot line since war is often not thought of as a dating game), but she was about to go home and was still alone. Cutler organizes the nurses and things are very “cool” between the men and women of the 4077th. The men decide that someone needs to date Eddie, and they draw straws to determine who that will be. Hawkeye draws the short straw, so he and Eddie have a very memorable (and painful for Hawkeye) date. Eddie goes home, and we find out that everything in the episode happened over the course of two weeks, but the relationships between the men and women of the outfit have gone back to normal.

As I mentioned before, a significant portion of this script is revised pages, and this was due to the issues the cast had with the story itself. Even after being reworked, there were some lines that made me cringe. For example, on page 8, the line for Hawkeye to Nurse Cutler is written, “…I can tell that your problem is mental. You think too much. That’s very bad for a girl…” Thankfully, the last sentence was not included in the episode itself. Other changes in this episode include an additional exchange between Hawkeye and Margaret (page 3), there’s a longer exchange between Hawkeye and Cutler (pages 7-8), and the scene with all of the men in the tent drawing straws was longer as written (page 13). There is a non-line change in the episode that I noticed as well. On page 18, when Hawkeye and Eddie are in the O.R., the song “It’s Magic” was supposed to play over the P.A speaker. This did not happen, and I wonder if that choice was made because the writers tried to keep the O.R. scenes more serious.

I think that most M*A*S*H fans would agree that this is one of the weakest episodes in the series. Season one had a few episodes that weren’t the greatest, but this is understandable since the show was new, under a lot of scrutiny by the network, and was still trying to find its voice. The storyline is weak, but as we learned from the interview with Stevenson on M*A*S*H Matters, it could have been much worse. I believe this episode could have been better if more of Eddie’s backstory, particularly the part where her boyfriend stopped writing her, was more fleshed out. But she was only a one episode character, so the time to add more dimension was limited. It would be interesting if this episode had been written after the introduction of the Dr. Sydney Freedman. Having psychiatrist’s perspective could have been an alternative route for Eddie’s character. This episode is a product of its time (1972-73), and it is a good reminder of how far we have come.