Deluge

[George Hiebert]

Just got this ep from the Columbia House collection. It's the one with
old news clips in it. I've always liked this one but seeing it uncut
made me rediscover what a gem it is. A fine piece of writing by Larry G.
and Simon Muntner. My favorite part is where they show clips from a
ballroom dance competition interspersed with clips of Hawkeye checking
out wounded in the compound. Very effective.

[Elsig]

Subject: Deluge

This was perhaps the shortest show, in terms of content, that we turned out.
We kept trimming and trimming the script down to best, however too short,
length. Then, we had the luxury of adding as much stock newsreel footage as we
wanted to bring the show up to its required air time.

Glad it holds up.

Best,

Larry G.

[Buck Rojerz]

I especially liked the cat that "...played ping-pong with pool-like
perfection, in Portland Oregon." Since that is my home town, it struck a
familiar note.
But was that the only episode with those newsreels??? I would have bet that
there were more.

Buck

[George Hiebert]

Buck Rojerz wrote:
>
> I especially liked the cat that "...played ping-pong with pool-like
> perfection, in Portland Oregon." Since that is my home town, it struck a
> familiar note.
> But was that the only episode with those newsreels??? I would have bet that
> there were more.
>
> Buck

I think the "olympics" episode had some newsreel footage. There might be
more. I thought it was a good effect to add them.

[Buck Rojerz]

It was a wonderful touch. It gave the show the depth of view from two sides
of the War. At the front and in the home states, is what I mean by two sides.
I never gave any thought to the fact that the actual show was shortened by the
additional shorts. I had always viewed it as part & parcel of the complete
package, that was the MASH episode. A stroke of genius, in my opinion.
Cheers to Larry G. ,et al.

[Elsig]

Although we used snippets of newsreel footage in several shows, "Deluge" was
the first episode first time we used such material as the glue for a show.

In fact, it was only after we shot the episode and found that we really didn't
have enough for the 24 minutes and 20 seconds that the show ran that we decided
the only way to bulk it up (shooting more original material would have been
impossible) was to buy archival footage (none of that stuff is ever free) and
splice it between our own filmed sequences.

Larry G.