In a few weeks, we will celebrate Father’s Day in the United States, and for June’s script spotlight, I felt like the best episode choice was “Father’s Day” (09×04). This episode has a lot going for it. It has a strong A-story, we get to meet Margaret’s infamous father, the B-story is light hearted and funny, and it was the first episode written by Karen Hall. I have two copies of this script in my collection, and while the script signed by Loretta Swit is a copy, the other is an original with revised pages. In this week’s post, let’s dig into the script and episode for “Father’s Day” as we prepare to celebrate fathers in a few weeks!
The Script
The original script in my collection is a Final draft dated August 29, 1980. The episode was directed by Alan Alda and written by Karen L. Hall. This was her first episode of M*A*S*H. She would work with series through season 11 as a writer, story editor, and executive story consultant. She was also one of the co-writers of the series finale. Hall would go on to write for other series including Hill Street Blues, Judging Amy, and The Good Wife. She also served as producer on Judging Amy and a creative consultant on Roseanne. M*A*S*H was her second writing credit after the series Eight is Enough.
Unfortunately this script does not have any of the production documents we have seen in other scripts in the collection. There aren’t any call sheets, no shooting schedule, and no wardrobe pages. There are revised pages, however. The revised pages are blue and are dated October 24, 1980. You maybe be wondering why there was a long delay between the script being written (August 29) and the revised pages being released in October. The simple answer is that there was an actors’ strike in 1980. The writers weren’t on strike, so they continued writing episodes, but the actors were on strike from July 21 through October 23. Meaning that the day after the strike ended, work on M*A*S*H resumed. The strike also affected the length of the season. Most seasons of M*A*S*H had 24 episodes, but season nine only had 20. In fact, season eight was the last season of M*A*S*H to have 24+ episodes since seasons ten and eleven were also abbreviated.
Scripts always tell a story, and this one tells the story of writers who continued to work through an actors’ strike. They made sure that there was work for the actors when the strike ended, and this script is a great example of that. It was written in the middle of the strike, and revisions were ready to go on the first day back of filming. This script has two other legacies of note. It is an important episode for the development of Margaret’s character. Most importantly, it is the first episode written by Hall. While she was not the first woman to write for M*A*S*H, she became a fixture of the M*A*S*H writers’ room in the last three seasons of the series and was often the only female voice in that room. Hall’s work on M*A*S*H helped launch a career that would span decades and feature work behind the camera on both sit-coms and dramas.
The Final Episode
Margaret gets a phone call while she is in the shower and learns that her father, the infamous Col. Alvin “Howitzer Al” Houlihan (played by Andrew Duggan) is coming to visit. She goes into overdrive preparing the camp for his arrival. When he arrives, he inspects the nurses and she escorts him to VIP tent. He observes the 4077th at work in the O.R., but he abruptly leaves after Margaret knocks over a surgical tray. She believes that her mistake is why he left. After talking with Margaret in the VIP tent (and not addressing the incident in the O.R.), he decides to go to the Officers’ Club where he has a confrontation with Hawkeye and B.J. As Col. Houlihan is about to leave, Col. Potter has a fairly stern, but very meaningful, talk with him about Margaret and the true reason he left the O.R is revealed: he was about to lose his lunch! As he leaves, he invites Margaret to visit him Tokyo on his next visit. While Col. Houlihan is there, a former patient of Hawkeye’s sends him a side of beef that was meant for a general. They decide to wait until Col. Houlihan leaves before they eat it. However, the general from whom the beef was stolen begins searching for it, so they quickly devise a plan to make the beef disappear. The M.P.s show up at the 4077th just in time for a steak dinner!
I have always enjoyed this episode for two reasons: Loretta Swit’s performance as a daughter trying to impress her father, and Col. Potter’s conversation with Col. Houlihan before he leaves. This is one of a few episodes that feature Margaret as the central character, and I like that aspect of it. We get a glimpse into why she is the way she is by meeting her father. There is a real world aspect to children wanting to impress their parents, especially when they follow in their parent’s footsteps. At the same time, Col. Houlihan’s frustration with being divorced, retired, and bored is relatable. This is a situation where the viewer can sympathize with both characters, and I think that is why Col. Potter’s conversation with Col. Houlihan is so well done. Their relationship isn’t perfect, and there are issues on both sides. But Col. Potter’s point that Margaret is the person Col. Houlihan should not be pushing away is a great moment. The B-story with the side of beef serves as good comedic relief to the more serious A-story. It makes for a well balanced episode.
There were a few changes between my copy of the script and the final episode. The scene between Hawkeye and the patient who sent him the beef was different in the script (page 4). Just before Klinger comes to tell Hawkeye that a giant package arrived for him, there was a brief scene between Hawkeye and B.J. that was likely cut for time (page 9). Finally, in the episode, the letter from Morgove was read by B.J. while Hawkeye and Klinger pried open the crate. In the script, Hawkeye was supposed to read the letter (page 11). I actually prefer having B.J. read the letter while Hawkeye and Klinger are struggling with the crate! Other than that, the episode pretty much matches the script word for word, which is, once again, a credit to the writing on the series.
The first episode to be written by a woman for M*A*S*H was “Hot Lips and Empty Arms” (02×14), and it was written by Linda Bloodworth and Mary Kay Place. That was the first time dimension was added to Margaret’s character. Women writing female characters often creates more depth, and Margaret had been a great foil for Hawkeye and Trapper, but she was more than just Army discipline. “Father’s Day” is another great example of this. This was the first episode written by Hall, and it revealed a different side of Margaret’s character. Hall would continue to work on M*A*S*H until it ended in 1983, and Margaret’s character continued to evolve. The characters were allowed to evolve, change, and be affected by the events of their surroundings, and that is what makes M*A*S*H unique in the sit-com universe.
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