In 1983, Arlene and Alan Alda released a book featuring photos and behind the scenes details from the final days of M*A*S*H. The book, The Last Days of M*A*S*H, is a must own for M*A*S*H fans. However, the book was not the first book release by Arlene to feature photos from the set of one of Alan’s projects. In 1981, Arlene released the book On Set: A Personal Story in Photographs and Words, which showed the behind the scenes process of filming the movie The Four Seasons. The movie was written by, directed by, and starred in by Alan, and Arlene captured the entire process. The book will feel familiar to M*A*S*H fans as it is in a similar format to The Last Days of M*A*S*H. Let’s take a look at this book and learn more about Alan Alda’s film, The Four Seasons.
The Four Seasons
The movie follows a group of friends, three couples, as they navigate life events together, vacation together, and enjoy each other’s company. However, the friendships are tested after one couple divorces, and tensions rise between members of the group. The title doesn’t just refer to the friends’ living through the four seasons of nature, but the film explores the natural seasons that friendships go through. The ups and downs and human emotions that come as a result of relationships as they change and potentially end. The film was written and directed by Alan, and it also starred Carrol Burnett, Len Cariou, Sandy Dennis, Jack Weston, Rita Moreno, Bess Armstrong, and two of Alan and Arlene’s daughters, Elizabeth and Beatrice.
On Set
Since this was the first feature film that Alan had written, starred in, and directed, his wife Arlene decided to use her photography and story telling skills to follow along and document the production of the movie. The filming took place in 1980 in multiple locations including New York, Vermont, Virginia, Georgia, and the Virgin Islands. Arlene followed the production from the initial table reads all the way through the end of the filming. She has behind the scenes photos that show how the film was made, and her written narration tells the story of making a movie in 1980. Since I enjoy the behind the scenes look at M*A*S*H, seeing how a movie was made is very fascinating. In fact, there are several similarities between how The Four Seasons was made and M*A*S*H. Both were single camera, and required the use of a stand-in for Alan since he would also be working behind the camera. Dennis Troy served as Alan’s stand-in in the movie just as he sometimes would on M*A*S*H.
The work that Arlene put into this book is evident from the introduction to the afterward. There have to be 100s of photographs along with the written words that discuss how all parts of the film were made, working with the actors, and the challenges of filming in each location. The book is organized by filming location, and is very well designed. The Four Seasons was released in theaters on May 22, 1981. The film did fairly well at the box office and was nominated for several awards, including four Golden Globes. The Four Seasons was developed into a series by the same name and aired for 13 episodes on CBS in 1984. It was produced by Alan and featured a few familiar faces. The Aldas’ daughters Elizabeth and Beatrice were in the series, as was M*A*S*H actor Allan Arbus, and MASH film actress Jo Ann Pflug. If you are a fan of Alan and/or Arlene’s work, I highly recommend watching The Four Seasons and picking up a copy of this book!
The M*A*S*H Historian 