A Hypothetical Based On Reality: "The General Flipped At Dawn"

[Joe Hass]

The first episode of season three of Mash, "The General Flipped At Dawn", isn't one of the great episodes of the show's run. But it does have a critical bit of historical value: Harry Morgan appears in the episode as General Bartford Hamilton Steele ("That's three Es, not all in a row."), a general who is a taco short of a combo platter. This episode effectively opens the door to Morgan getting the gig as Sherman Potter the next season, and the rest is history.

One of Steele's eccentricities is that he likes to make up absurd quotes about legendary members of history. He's also not the most enlightened person on the planet (as might be expected by a 59-year-old (Morgan's age at the time of airing) general during the Korean War). In one scene, he's walking with Henry Blake when he comes across a discarded tongue depressor on the ground. He inexplicably declares that waste like this is why Hannibal lost at Zama. Offhanded, he adds "He was a darkie, you know."

The problem exacerbates later in the episode. And it's here that things start to unfold. Without getting too deep, Steele brings Hawkeye Pierce (our protagonist) up on charges. As part of the preliminary hearing in the climactic scene, Steele wants to interview Martin Williams, a chopper pilot. Williams is Black (everyone else is White). Steele sets Williams at ease before asking him to recount the incident that led to the filing of charges. "But first," Steele adds, "a number."

Williams looks confused. "Sir?"

"You know, a musical number."

Williams, Pierce, and Blake look back and forth at each other.

"Well, you've got it in your blood, boy! Just let it out!"

And with that, Steele starts singing the original lyrics "Mississippi Mud":

"When the sun goes down, the tide goes out/The darkies stand around, and they all begin to shout/Hey, hey, Uncle Fud/It's a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi mud."

Steele grabs his helmet and, shaking it, dances out of the hearing, effectively ending it, the charges against Pierce, and (apparently) Steele's career (though we find out in the coda he just gets promoted).

My question to the reader is this: what do you do with this episode?

A. Leave it be

B. Dub out the offending dialog

C. Remove the first reference and the ending scene

D. Pull it entirely

[Dave Sikula]

I think D is the only possibility right now. MASH is too aimed at a general audience to try to contextualize it. As an avid TCM viewer, I'm well enough aware of the problematic portrayals of non-white people in studio-era films that, as repulsive as some of them can be, I can understand them without excusing them. Even GWTW on HBO is playing to a more exclusive audience that may not be aware of its myriad problems, but at least now has the introduction to put them into some kind of perspective.

I realize this episode's heart is in the right place, but it feels like something best avoided than thrust into an unsuspecting viewer's face.

--Dave Sikula

[JW]

> My question to the reader is this: what do you do with this episode?
> A. Leave it be
> B. Dub out the offending dialog
> C. Remove the first reference and the ending scene

> D. Pull it entirely

A.

Yes, it's a product of its time. But anybody who could watch the episode and not understand that it's mocking the offensive attitude needs to work on their critical faculties.

[Jon Delfin]

Sadly, this is not a time of subtlety or nuance. 

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[Tom Wolper]

On Thu, Jun 25, 2020 at 5:49 AM 'Dave Sikula' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I think D is the only possibility right now. MASH is too aimed at a general audience to try to contextualize it. As an avid TCM viewer, I'm well enough aware of the problematic portrayals of non-white people in studio-era films that, as repulsive as some of them can be, I can understand them without excusing them. Even GWTW on HBO is playing to a more exclusive audience that may not be aware of its myriad problems, but at least now has the introduction to put them into some kind of perspective.

I realize this episode's heart is in the right place, but it feels like something best avoided than thrust into an unsuspecting viewer's face.

I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, TV sitcoms were never meant to be museum pieces, available to be observed in a pristine condition forever. They were meant to be broadcast at a certain time to a certain audience. The syndication model made it extremely lucrative to keep running them even for decades. If a change in social conventions or attitudes means a joke crossed a line that wasn't there 45 years ago then by all means pull the episode.

On the other hand it becomes difficult to describe how ambient racism or misogyny were in that era without available references. Pulling the episode from MeTV and leaving it in DVD box sets seems appropriate. I don't know if MASH is available on a subscription streaming service. If so, a warning at the beginning of the episode should be enough.

What bothered me more than General Steele in the series was the character of Spearchucker Jones who was introduced in the book, was in the movie, and then was in the first few episodes of the TV series. Even though the character was a neurosurgeon in the book (I don't remember if they gave him a specialty in the movie or TV series) I knew as far back as when I started watching in the 70s that the name was offensive.

[Bob Jersey]

Tom Wolper, to Dave Sikula, in part, today (6/25):

On the other hand it becomes difficult to describe how ambient racism or misogyny were in that era without available references. Pulling the episode from MeTV and leaving it in DVD box sets seems appropriate. I don't know if MASH is available on a subscription streaming service. If so, a warning at the beginning of the episode should be enough.

In 2017 a pre-divest Fox announced a deal for the complete series -- among a slew of its library items -- at Hulu. https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/hulu-20th-century-fox-tv-how-i-met-your-mother-glee-bones-mash-1202500027/ (link) Haven't yet found if / how the divestiture impacted that.

What bothered me more than General Steele in the series was the character of Spearchucker Jones who was introduced in the book, was in the movie, and then was in the first few episodes of the TV series. Even though the character was a neurosurgeon in the book (I don't remember if they gave him a specialty in the movie or TV series) I knew as far back as when I started watching in the 70s that the name was offensive.

Wiki noted, "in the episode in which Hawkeye becomes chief surgeon, [Jones'] specialty is indicated as he struggles to do other types of surgery and when he asks Hawkeye for help, he says, 'Anything outside the skull, I'm dead'."

B

[Brad Beam]

From: 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV [mailto:tvor...@googlegroups.com]

>In 2017 a pre-divest Fox announced a deal for the complete series -- among a slew of its library items -- at Hulu. https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/hulu-20th-century-fox-tv-how-i-met-your-mother-glee-bones-mash-1202500027/ (link) Haven't yet found if / how the divestiture impacted that.

 

I’m currently watching the episode on Hulu – with warts and all. (Fwiw, 2-star General/3-star loony Steele states that he’s 62 and could still play for West Point.)

 

_   _

|_>|_>  Brad Beam- Belle WV

|_>|_>  http://www.facebook.com/74bmw

[Joe Hass]

On Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 17:31 Brad Beam <b.b...@suddenlink.net> wrote:

I'm currently watching the episode on Hulu – with warts and all. (Fwiw, 2-star General/3-star loony Steele states that he’s 62 and could still play for West Point.)

Hike.

[PGage]

I did a rewatch of MASH last year and bumped on this episode. I think A or D are the only possible answers, and I lean towards A. Of course the episode would be written differently today, but we are dealing with two historical contexts here, not quite different than 2020: the 1970s and the 1950s. And even in the more racist of those two, the point is what a dick the General is.

Related to this, I am in midst of a re-watch of Wings (humiliating to admit, has something to do with just watching Monk for first time and having a 22 yo son who had never heard of Wings and could not make sense of the gags in the Monk episode where he gets on a commercial plane).

 Anyway, a late series episode of Wings has one of the brothers taking a picture of his penis, which *hilariously* winds up on a roll of film that gets sent to Helen’s mother. First, wow - a dick pic in the early 90s? I don’t remember that as being a thing until digital cameras. But also, wow, quite a shock to see the brothers think of this as cute frat boy stuff and not creepy. Still, while there is always an argument to ban all of Wings from every platform on creative grounds, I would not want to see this episode (or any of the many casually homophobic episodes, which the show has in common with Friends) censored.

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