With November 4 being Loretta Swit’s birthday, I wanted to find an episode that featured her acting talents as well as her comedic timing. In my mind, there was only choice, “Hot Lips and Empty Arms” (02×14). Of course, the first question was whether I had the script or not. Early scripts are harder to find, and I am happy to say that I have this script in my collection! Not only that, but it is a unique backstory in that the script belonged to the episode’s director, Jackie Cooper. It has been well publicized that the M*A*S*H cast and Cooper did not see eye to eye (I will review Cooper’s autobiography soon), but the 13 episodes he directed, including this one, are some of the best in the early seasons. This week, let’s look at Cooper’s script and what makes it unique, plus re-watch this classic episode.
The Script
This script is a “Final” draft dated November 6, 1973. It was written by Linda Bloodworth and Mary Kay Place, who would both go on to write for other shows, and in the case of Place, have a career as an actor. Bloodworth is credited with writing a total of five episodes of M*A*S*H, three of which were written with Place. As I mentioned in the introduction, the episode was directed by actor Jackie Cooper, and he directed 13 episodes with this being toward the end of his time on the series. This was one of the first episodes to have a primary story (or an “A story”) about Margaret. It was also the first episode to be written by women.
I actually have all 13 of Cooper’s scripts in my collection, and they are bound together in three volumes. There’s one volume for his episodes from season one and two volumes for his episodes from season two. “Hot Lips and Empty Arms” is bound in the second volume of season two. They are bound in order of their production dates, so after this episode, he only directed two more. Since the script belonged to him, it has several of the key production documents including the call sheets. Interestingly, this script doesn’t have the shooting schedule. However, there is one document in this script that we haven’t seen before, the “Script Supervisor’s Daily Report.” This half sheet document notes the episode details and the amount of progress from each day of production. It notes the time filming began, lunch time, and the time they wrapped for the day. The summary includes the number of scenes filmed, the number of script pages filmed, the number of minutes captured, and the number of setups completed that day. This document really shows how much work went into each day of filming.
Cooper’s script also includes the revised pages. For “Hot Lips and Empty Arms,” there are two sets of revised pages: from November 7 (blue) and from November 19 (pink). Sadly, the original pages have been discarded, so we cannot see what changes were made between the versions of the drafts. Probably the most interesting aspect of Cooper’s scripts are his markups. He made extensive notes throughout the script noting camera angles, what door someone should walk in/out, where people were sitting at tables, which tables each doctor worked at in the O.R., and much more. Just about every page has something written on it, and there are some rewritten lines here and there. As the director, Cooper was responsible for capturing the scene and ensuring the episode and dialogue looked and sounded great on film. The notes to himself ensured that happened.
While Cooper and the cast may have had their differences, his script highlights how seriously he took his role as director. In fact, Cooper won his first Emmy for his work on M*A*S*H. Episodes such as “Hot Lips and Empty Arms” demonstrate that while the cast and director may have had issues behind the scenes, you’d never know it on camera. Everyone was professional and cared about the final episode. Cooper’s scripts are some of the most unique in my collection since they include a lot of little details about the production itself. The director ran the set, and these scripts illustrate how involved of a process that truly was.
The Final Episode
The episode opens with Radar delivering the mail, and everyone has gotten something from home. While most of it is happy news, Margaret is clearly bothered by something she received. This becomes apparent when she tells Frank that she is unhappy with where her life has led her, and she wants a change, including dumping Frank. She goes to see Col. Blake, who is watching a dirty film with Trapper and Hawkeye, to request a transfer. Henry reluctantly approves her transfer. Hawkeye and Trapper bring Margaret some “champaign” which leads to a great series of scenes were Margaret becomes progressively more and more drunk. Before a batch of wounded arrive, Hawkeye and Trapper sober her up so she can work in the O.R. In the end, she decides to stay.
This is one of the funniest episodes of season two. There are so many classic M*A*S*H quotes that all come from this episode. Margaret’s “I’m not so think as you drunk I am” line is one of the highlights! This episode shone the spotlight on Swit’s acting abilities, and we see the beginning of the growth of the character of Margaret. She is still called “Hot Lips” in season two, but it wouldn’t be much longer before her name on screen would simply become “Margaret.” I think the combination of allowing the Margaret character to grow and the introduction of women writers made the character stronger as the series progressed. The scene where Margaret clearly wishes she has more than just her career added a depth to her character that we hadn’t seen up to that point. There are also some nice moments between her and Col. Blake and, later, her and Trapper and Hawkeye.
There were some changes between the script and final episode. Besides the usual minor line changes, there were a few scenes that were originally longer or were presented in a different order. The opening scene where Trapper and Hawkeye discuss their mail was shortened (pages 1 -2), the scene between Margaret and Frank in her tent is in a different order and is slightly different (pages 8 – 9), the same scene in Margaret’s tent was originally longer (page 11), the scene with Hawkeye, Trapper, and Margaret in her tent originally ended with Hawkeye and Trapper discussing Margaret’s planned report (page 23), and while Hawkeye and Trapper are sobering Margaret up, they are asked about her condition by Ginger (page 32). I am sure many of these scenes were cut for time, but they really didn’t add much to the episode. I actually think the episode is pretty close to perfect how it is!
The episode “Hot Lips and Empty Arms” is part of my favorite season, and one of my favorite episodes of the series. It is a great example of how M*A*S*H could be a comedy without overdoing it. The episode could have been too “slapstick,” but it was very well balanced. We see the characters in the O.R. doing their jobs, we get a deeper understanding of their interpersonal relationships, and we see Margaret begin to develop the more independent personality that she became known for. And the script provides some great insight into how this episode was directed. We know that Cooper and the cast didn’t get along, but the fact that they were able to produce this kind of episode in spite of that says a lot for the professionalism everyone exhibited on the set of M*A*S*H.
The M*A*S*H Historian 