Script Spotlight 40: “Bananas, Crackers, and Nuts”

When I decided that I was going to do a complete rewatch of M*A*S*H throughout 2025 (see my New Year’s Day post to learn more), I wanted to sync the Script Spotlight posts with my rewatch. Since I plan to watch one season of M*A*S*H a month, it made sense to review a script for each of the seasons as I progress through the series. For January, I am rewatching season one, so I had that task of finding a script that was interesting and for an episode that hadn’t already reviewed. I decided to focus on early season one, and I picked the script for “Bananas, Crackers, and Nuts” (01×07). I don’t have too many season one scripts in the collection, and I wasn’t sure what to expect when I pulled this script out of the cabinet. At first, it looked like an ordinary script with some revised pages. But as I dug in and rewatched the episode, I quickly discovered that the episode underwent some major revisions. Let’s begin with the script.

The Script

At first, I was a little disappointed to find that this script didn’t have any production documents such as Call Sheets or the Shooting Schedule. However, there are a lot of revised pages. Out of the 37 total pages in this script, only 11 pages are left without revisions. The revisions were made over a few sets of revised pages with the first being dated August 29, 1972 (blue) and the second being dated September 1, 1972 (pink). The majority of the revised pages are from September 1, and while there are no handwritten notes on these pages, Larry Gelbart’s “handwriting” is all over them. Since Styler was an outside writer, it was not uncommon for the writers room to adjust the script to match the style of the series. Since this episode was very early in the show’s run, Gelbart and Gene Reynolds would have been still developing the tone of the show, so it made sense for Gelbart to revise the episodes. After watching the episode, I realized that there must have been at least one more set of revisions after September 1 because there are several more changes that are not in this draft of the script.

The numbering of the pages in this script interests me. It was not uncommon for a revised page to be extended beyond the length of the page. The way that was handled, without messing up the page numbering of the rest of the script, was adding a letter to the number. For example, if page 7 was revised and it bled over to a second page, there would be a revised page 7 and a page 7A. Page 8 was left as it was. There are several instances of that being done in this script. There is also an example of lines being removed so two pages were merged into one. To not affect the page numbering, they numbered one page as “18-19” to keep the script flowing. However, there is something in this script I have never seen before. There are pages missing! The scene between Hawkeye and Trapper in the Swamp after surgery, when the still is empty, flows like it does in the final episode, but the script skips pages 3, 4, and 5. So the scene must have been longer at first, and then likely shortened for time. It is interesting that they didn’t number page two as “2-5” to keep the numbering in sync with the rest of the script.

I know I say this just about every month, but I enjoy reviewing these scripts because no two are alike. Even when I have multiple scripts for the same episode, there are differences between the versions, there are production documents included or missing, and there are differences with the revised pages being included or not. I would like to find a version of this script from August 25, 1972, without the revised pages, to see how different it was. Nearly 70% of this script was rewritten before it was filmed, so it would be very interesting to see the initial draft. And that illustrates the other enjoyable part about reading the scripts. Writing an episode of a show, such as M*A*S*H, is a process. The scenes are written, lines are written, and once actors say those lines out loud in a table read or rehearsal, the lines might be modified again. The writers of the show worked to ensure that they produced the best possible script each and every week, and these drafts of the scripts allow us to see that process.

The Final Episode

After a deluge in the O.R., Hawkeye and Trapper want some R&R. They ask Henry, but with him leaving camp, Frank is left in charge. Trapper and Hawkeye know that Frank will never grant them the 3-day passes, so Hawkeye pretends to “crack up” to get the passes. He puts an oxygen mask on the camp dog in checks him into post-op, he turns down a date with Lt. Culter, and he turns up at dinner in a full surgical gown. The scheme seems to be working, but it backfires when Frank and Margaret send for a psychiatrist, Captain Phillip Sherman, to evaluate Hawkeye. He keeps up the act during his evaluation, and Captain Sherman wants to take Hawkeye to Tokyo for further evaluation. Having realized that they messed up, Trapper and Hawkeye devise a plan to get Sherman out of camp, without Hawkeye, by setting him up in Margaret’s tent. Chaos breaks out when Margaret returns to her dark tent to find Sherman waiting for her, and he leaves the 4077th ASAP to avoid getting attacked by Margaret! Henry decides to give Hawkeye and Trapper a week of R&R, but, just as they are about to leave, choppers arrive with wounded.

“Bananas, Crackers, and Nuts” is a pretty solid early episode of M*A*S*H. While it is not among my favorite episodes, it is fairly well written (and rewritten). It some funny moments, but I did cringe a little as Sherman is accosting Margaret and the laugh track is playing in the background. There are some familiar tropes established in this episode. We see Hawkeye use the tent switching trick again in “The Ringbanger” (01×16), and I believe that the effect is better used in that episode because there is a longer setup and a better pay off with Leslie Nielsen’s character. This is also the first of two appearance of Stuart Margolin in M*A*S*H. He played a different character in “Operation Noselift” (02×18), and I think his character of Sherman is more believable than the plastic surgeon he plays in that episode. However, I also prefer to see Sidney Freedman as the psychiatrist! We also saw Marcia Strassman as Lt. Cutler again in this episode, but only briefly. It is also the second time we saw Frank in command with the first being briefly in the pilot episode before Hawkeye sedates him. With this being only the seventh episode of M*A*S*H to air, it helps establish some of the early character tropes that we are familiar with.

As I mentioned earlier, there are a number of changes in script compared to what we see in the final episode. There was a large number of revised pages, and even with the revisions, there are still some significant differences between the script and the final episode. Some of the bigger differences include:

• Page 7 – The scene with Henry, Trapper, and Hawkeye, before Henry leaves, is written longer
• Page 12 – The conversation among Trapper, Frank, and Margaret in the Mess Tent is longer before Hawkeye entered in scrubs
• Page 16 – Before Frank decides to grant Hawkeye R&R, there is a longer summary of Hawkeye’s strange behavior featuring Ginger and Lt. Cutler
• Pages 18-19 – The end of the first act was written differently with the orders from Radar for Hawkeye to remain in his tent to await evaluation, and there are no MPs written in this draft of the script
• Page 24 – When Henry returns, the scene between him and Radar was originally written to be longer
• Page 25 – Sherman and Henry have a conversation before Frank and Margaret come to Henry’s office
• Pages 28 – 28A – The scene between Hawkeye and Sherman where he explains to Hawkeye why he is taking him to Tokyo was written to be longer

This script is a great example of why I enjoy reviewing these scripts each month. The script had pages removed, countless revisions, and it still made it to screen with a fairly solid story. Seeing these early scripts helps put into perspective that M*A*S*H was still finding its way. It takes a lot of effort to define characters, build storylines, and allow those characters to grow as a series progresses. The revisions to this script that we can see made the episode better. While it may not be a fan favorite, “Bananas, Crackers, and Nuts” is still a solid early episode that offers some funny, classic M*A*S*H scenes.