Script Spotlight 25: “Letters”

As we begin October, fall is finally upon us. I spent a few days thinking about an episode to review this month, then I remembered one Charles Emerson Winchester III line: “Autumn in New England.” That line comes from the episode “Letters” (09×02). In it, the camp responds to letters from kids. Charles is not really the kindest pen-pal, but when a girl sends a fall leaf, he utters that line, “Autumn in New England,” before sending a truly heartfelt response. I chose this episode because of that one line from Charles, but then I was even more excited once I saw that the script belonged to wardrobe director Albert Frankel. So, let’s begin!

The Script

Because this script came from a set that belonged to Frankel, it has the full collection of production documents including Call Sheets, the Shooting Schedule, and his wardrobe sheets. This is not the first script I’ve featured that belonged to him (see posts for “A War for All Seasons” (09×06), “Death Takes a Holiday” (09×05), “No Sweat” (09×11), and the production documents for “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” (11×16)), so I will not go into great detail about what each document was. Instead, I want to focus on the shooting schedule and the filming location. I’ve been asked about how often they filmed on Stage 9 at Fox vs. Malibu Creek State Park. Using the Call Sheets and Shooting Schedule, I will break down the location and scenes filmed each day.

“Letters” was filmed over a series of eight days instead of the usual four, but that was because they were filming scenes from two other episodes at the same time. Two other season nine episodes were filmed at the same time: “The Best of Enemies” (09×01) and “Cementing Relationships” (09×03). Since all three of the episodes contained outdoor scenes filmed at Malibu Creek State Park, the filming bled together. This was likely possible because all three episodes were directed by Dubin (Update: Thanks to Dan Harrison, this has been confirmed. He also told me that the term used in the industry for this practice is “crossboarding”). Below, I will break down each days filming location and schedule for the eight days of filming presented in this script.

• Tuesday, October 14, 1980 – Location: Stage 9 – All scenes on the first day were filmed for “Letters.” The scenes filmed took place in the Mess Tent (interior), Mulcahy’s Tent (interior), Margaret’s Tent (interior), Potter’s Tent (interior), and Klinger’s Office (interior).
• Wednesday, October 15, 1980 – Location: Stage 9 – All scenes filmed on the second day were filmed for “Letters.” These scenes took place in O.R. (interior), Pre-Op (interior), Post-Op (interior), and the Swamp (interior).
• Thursday, October 16, 1980 – Location: Malibu Creek State Park – No scenes were filmed for “Letters.” All scenes were filmed for “The Best of Enemies” and only required Alan Alda, Mako, and Steven Lum as the wounded North Korean soldier (this role appears to be uncredited).
• Friday, October 17, 1980 – Location: Malibu Creek State Park – Scenes were filmed for both “The Best of Enemies” and “Letters.” For “Best of Enemies,” they filmed in the clearing (where Hawkeye met the North Korean soldier), the compound, and Margaret’s Tent (exterior and interior). For “Letters,” the basketball scenes were filmed in the exterior compound.
• Monday, October 20, 1980 – Location: Malibu Creek State Park – The scenes filmed on this day were only for “Letters.” The locations included the compound (wrapping up the basketball scenes), the compound (with the dog for Mulcahy’s letter), and Rosie’s Bar (exterior).
• Tuesday, October 21, 1980 – Location: Stage 9 – Scenes were filmed for both “The Best of Enemies” and “Letters.” For “Letters,” a scene was filmed in the O.R. (interior). Meanwhile, three scenes were filmed in the Officers’ Club (interior) for “The Best of Enemies.”
• Wednesday, October 22, 1980 – Location: Stage 9 – Once again, scenes were filmed for both “The Best of Enemies” and “Letters.” The majority of the scenes filmed were for “The Best of Enemies” and were filmed in the Mess Tent (interior) and the Swamp (interior). For “Letters,” scenes were filmed in the Swamp (interior).
• Thursday, October 23, 1980 – Location: Stage 9 – For the final day of filming for “Letters,” scenes were filmed in the Swamp (interior), Klinger’s Office (interior), and Potter’s Tent (interior). A scene in Klinger’s office (interior) was also filmed for “Cementing Relationships.”

The filming schedule for M*A*S*H was not always this mixed up. I believe that this was possible since all three episodes were directed by Dubin, but it is interesting to see to how they took advantage of having filming prepared on a certain set. Since they had one set prepared, the Swamp for example, they would film scenes on the same set for another episode. It made sense due to the time and effort required to set up the sound, lighting, and cameras. This was a busy eight days for the actors and crew, but by the end of it, they had two complete episodes and were starting a third.

Inside the script, this copy contains original pages mixed with five different sets of revisions. Revised pages are dated October 13 (blue), October 14 (green), October 14 (pink), October 15 (yellow), and October 16 (gold). I don’t think I have seen a script before with two sets of revised pages from the same day, but they were working on scenes from three episodes at once. The pages of the script are marked up with Frankel’s notes and underlines. He wrote a few notes here and there, but his underlining focuses on characters, locations, and conditions. At the back, Frankel’s wardrobe pages are there for the male characters. There are quite a few wardrobe changes given the number of scenes in this episode.

Frankels scripts are some of my favorites because they are what I call “complete” (or pretty close to it). They have Call Sheets for each day of filming, the full Shooting Schedule, and his wardrobe notes for the male characters. When I pulled this script out of the archive for this post, I did not expect it to contain the complexity that it does. This script illustrates how the production crew made use of their time, filming schedule, and Malibu Creek State Park. It wasn’t a matter of filming one scene at a time since by 1980 Malibu Creek State Park was open to the public. They had to take full advantage of their time there, so scenes for multiple episodes were filmed.

The Final Episode

It is rainy and dreary at the 4077th, and everyone is in low spirits until Hawkeye receives a set of letters from a fourth grade class in Crabapple Cove, Maine. He divides them up, and they each respond to letters. We see each character read and respond to a letter with a flashback to something that happened at the unit. Father Mulcahy recounts helping a dog with a drinking problem, Klinger writes about his unsuccessful attempt to breed chinchillas, Margaret writes about comforting the wounded and dying, Potter tells a story about nearly breaking the camp basketball free throw record, and B.J. recalls the Army sending a lawyer instead of a doctor as a temporary replacement for Charles. Hawkeye receives a difficult letter from a child whose brother was treated by a doctor, then sent back to die. He struggles to answer, but eventually does. The best responses come from Charles! At first, he didn’t want to take part, but then he became mean spirited in his responses…until he gets a letter from a girl who sends a birch leaf. The memory of “Autumn in New England” even softens Charles who sends a touching thank you letter to the fourth grader who sent it.

M*A*S*H has a series of episodes involving letters home from the characters. In most of these episodes, we see one character writing home to a family member. “Letters” is unique because each character gets the chance to tell a quick story. We get a glimpse into what each character values, how they respond to children, and how the war has affected them. I was also delighted to see an appearance from Eileen Saki as Rosie in this episode. Overall, the script is pretty close to the final episodes since it has revised pages, but there were a few changes. On page 14, the dying soldier’s name is written as “Frank” but he is called “Mike” in the episode. I imagine someone pointed out how the name Frank could be an issue due to her past with Frank Burns. The letter that B.J. wrote was originally longer (page 22), and Hawkeye’s letter was changed substantially (pages 32 – 33).

This is a great example of a later episode in the series. There’s a good mix of laughs and drama, each character gets a decent amount of screen time, and I think that the letters offer a glimpse into how each character was affected by the war. If I were introducing someone new to the series, I would explain how the cast changed beginning in season four, then I would suggest “Divided We Stand” (02×01) and this episode to give a good overview of the original and final casts. This is a really good episode, and the script is another great example from Frankel. These scripts are so special to me because they are what started my collection 16 years ago!