The M*A*S*H Historian 4th Anniversary

As the site reaches its 4th anniversary, I look back on the last 48 months in disbelief. I can’t believe it has been four years. I can’t believe how much the collection has grown in the last four years, and I really cannot believe how the site has been received by the M*A*S*H community. Everyone is so supportive, and the feedback I get is my favorite part of writing for this site. The collection began 18 years ago, and late last year, I began to realize that something had changed. The M*A*S*H Historian site and collection had become my primary focus. So much so that I lost sight of why I started collecting items from the show to begin with. I love M*A*S*H! So, after I wrote last year’s anniversary post, I decided to embark on a full rewatch of the series in 2025 and document my thoughts in monthly posts. It had been at least ten years since I last watched M*A*S*H in order, from start to finish, so I was curious how I would react to the show. After all, our opinions and tastes change as we age. And after rewatching ten seasons so far, my love of the show has only grown. Seeing the behind the scenes details that I provide here each week has made me appreciate what we see on the screen even more. So, please allow me to take a moment to look back at the past year of The M*A*S*H Historian!

If my biggest project of 2024 was creating an inventory of the entire collection, then my biggest project this year has been my M*A*S*H rewatch. I watch the episodes and take notes. I make observations about inconsistencies, new details that I’ve just caught, and my thoughts on the episodes as a whole. I’ve seen each episode several times, so I mostly know what the storyline is, and that allows me to focus on the details. In addition to the rewatch, I added a new post with M*A*S*H Headlines. This allowed me to dig deeper into the press reaction to M*A*S*H, and I will discuss these posts in more detail in a few paragraphs.

The site has brought visibility to the collection, and I have appeared on a few podcasts in the last year. Last fall, I was a guest on The History on Film Podcast where Ross, Ryan, and I discussed what we dubbed “The M*A*S*H Cinematic Universe” which included the novel, movie, series, and AfterMASH. Then over the summer, I was a guest panelist on an episode of the Best Care Anywhere Podcast for their rewatch of the episode “Abyssinia, Henry” (03×24). Their podcast is fun because co-hosts Anthony and Ethan come at M*A*S*H from very different perspectives. Anthony is a long time M*A*S*H fan, and Ethan is watching the series for the first time. He knew Col. Blake died, but he didn’t know how until he watched the episode. It was interesting to get a true first impression of that historic moment in television.

This year was tough for losses in the M*A*S*H community. We lost actors Art Evans (“Private Finance” (08×08)), Patrick Adiarte (Ho-Jon in several season one episodes), legendary actor George Wendt (“Trick or Treatment” (11×02)), and Rick Hurst (“Fade Out, Fade In” (06×01)). One of the writers of the popular episode “Tuttle” (01×15), David Ketchum, passed away in August. And in October, Grammy award winning composer Ian Freebairn-Smith passed away. He was one of the “Suicide is Painless” vocalists for Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H. The toughest moment this year was the unexpected passing of Loretta Swit. She was more than Major Margaret Houlihan. She was very active in the M*A*S*H community online and at conventions, and she will be greatly missed.

There were plenty of reasons to celebrate this year as well! In September, the documentary M*A*S*H: The Comedy that Changed Television was released on Blu-ray. 2025 also marked the 50th anniversary of “Abyssinia, Henry” (03×24), and the 50th anniversary of the introduction of B.J. and Col. Potter in season four. There were also countless birthdays of cast and crew members to celebrate including the 91st birthday of Jamie Farr in July! Of course, the community remains as strong as ever across social media and podcasts. In addition to M*A*S*H Matters, there are a number of fan rewatch podcasts that I recommend checking out (see a list on the Links page), and Alan Alda continues to host Clear & Vivid.

In the last year, the collection continued to grow, and I continue to add items that allow me to tell more stories of the men and women who worked for M*A*S*H. That is the joy of sharing the collection through The M*A*S*H Historian is that I get to tell a deeper story and often highlight the people whose names didn’t appear in the credits of each episode. The posts continue to be something that I look forward to writing, even on the weeks I am busy with life and work! When I started the site in 2021, I knew I wanted to post weekly, but I wanted there to be structure. So I developed five types of posts. This year, those five types of posts expanded to seven with the addition of Headlines and the M*A*S*H Rewatch. Some highlights from the past year for each of the post types are below:

• Script Spotlight – With the rewatch this year, I have watched one season per month. The scripts for the script spotlight for each month have come from the season I rewatched. It made it easier for me, and it ensured that I featured at least one script per season this year! There have been some fan favorites featured this past year including: “Dear Dad” (01×12), “Abyssinia, Henry” (03×24), “Change of Command” (04×02), “Fade Out, Fade In” (06×01), and “Life Time” (08×11).
• Press Pass – The selection of items to write about for press pass is starting to get thin. I have a lot of publications, but actual press materials are starting to run low because there are only so many ways I can say “this is a press photo from M*A*S*H!” So I halved the number of posts this year and split the time with the “Headlines” posts. There are some good press materials left to cover including the time when King Charles III visited the M*A*S*H set and when McLean Stevenson appeared on Cher’s variety show.
• Headlines – As I mentioned last year, I knew that I would start to run out of Press Pass posts because of limited materials. I decided to take a different approach, and create a new series of posts called “Headlines.” Instead of looking at what Fox and CBS sent, I wanted to see how the press reacted to certain events in M*A*S*H history. I used Newspapers.com, and downloaded over 500 newspapers! The topics I have covered so far include the premiere of the M*A*S*H movie (1970), the series premiere of M*A*S*H (1972), the death of Col. Henry Blake (1975), the changing of characters, and the final day of filming (1983). There are more to come!
• From the M*A*S*H Library – In 2024, I focused on reviewing the memoirs of the M*A*S*H actors. This year was more of a random collection of books from the collection. Some highlights include: Watching M*A*S*H, Watching America: A Social History of the 1972 – 1983 Television Series, One Helicopter Pilot’s Experience, CBS: The First 50 Years, M*A*S*H: The Comedy that Changed Television (a documentary), and M*A*S*H: A Full-Length Comedy (a theater production).
• MishM*A*S*H – For MishM*A*S*H posts, I have been featuring my growing collection of M*A*S*H licensed products. I didn’t intend to collect these items, but once I started, the collection quickly grew! Some of the coolest items include: the Tristar action figures, M*A*S*H themed alcohol, a rare Transogram board game, a Bachmann train set, the Tristar vehicles (jeep, ambulance, and helicopter), and a rare beach towel featuring caricatures of the early cast.
• M*A*S*H-ish – Of all the posts, M*A*S*H-ish is the one I struggle with the most. There are so many miscellaneous items in the collection that I never know what to feature. Thankfully, I only have to write four a year! So far, I have featured a teddy bear made by Larry Linville, propaganda leaflets from the Korean War, a press kit for AfterMASH season two, and a framed copy of a commencement address given by Alan Alda in 1979.

Sadly, this past year was not good year for two of my long term goals. I did not create the new episode guide I’ve wanted to start for the last three years, and I didn’t take advantage of my sad, empty YouTube channel. I still want to replace the episode guide with the episode details and descriptions from one of the Twentieth Century Fox Television syndication kits, and someday, I will send a lifeline to the YouTube channel! There is one big project I have in store for early 2026, but I am not ready to disclose what that is yet.

I will wrap up this year’s anniversary post, as I always do, with a big THANK YOU for reading the site, for reaching out to me, and for reacting to and sharing the posts on social media. The M*A*S*H community is the best! I look forward to writing new posts, interacting with the community, and growing the collection to preserve the history of M*A*S*H, the greatest show ever made!