More than one hundred people voted in last month’s poll, which asked “Have you read the novel MASH?” The majority of poll takers (67% to be exact) said no. MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, written by Richard Hooker (the pen name of real life surgeon and Korean War veteran H. Richard Hornberger) with collaborator W. C. Heinz, was originally published in 1968. I have read it, once, but remember very little about it. Over the years I have considered rereading it, particularly to see how Larry Gelbart took a minor plot line in the novel involving a raffle to raise money for Ho Jon and turned it into the pilot episode of M*A*S*H (recall that the end credits to “M*A*S*H – The Pilot” state “Based on a Novel by Richard Hooker”). As a huge fan of television tie-in novels, I have always regretted the fact that there were never any original novels based on M*A*S*H the television series featuring the characters as the developed on the small screen.

At one point, more than a decade ago, I toyed with the idea of expanding the scope of this website to focus on the novel and the film in addition to the television series (and the play, too, for good measure). But I thought better of it. M*A*S*H — the television series is distinct from both the novel and the film, both of which are likewise different from one another. In fact, I have read that the original screenplay for MASH was quite a bit different than the final film.

So, for those who have read MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, what are your thoughts? For those who haven’t, why haven’t you? Has anyone read all 15 novels (the bulk of which were written by Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth; Hooker himself only wrote two additional novels on his own)?

Forty years ago today, on January 25th, 1970, Robert Altman’s MASH (or M*A*S*H) premiered in New York City. It opened in Los Angeles roughly a month later on February 18th and in the rest of the country in March. Based on the novel by Richard Hooker, the screenplay for MASH was written by Ring Lardner, Jr. The movie was produced by Ingo Preminger. Johnny Mandel wrote the famous theme song and Mike Altman (son of Robert Altman) provided the lyrics. Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould starred as Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre, respectively, with Tom Skerritt as Duke Forrest (a character not carried over to the television series), Sally Kellerman as Hot Lips, Robert Duvall as Frank Burns, Roger Bowen as Colonel Henry Blake, Rene Auberjonois as Father John Mulcahy and Gary Burghoff as Radar O’Reilly. Other cast members included Jo Ann Pflug as Lieutenant Dish, Fred Williamson as Oliver “Spearchucker” Jones and G. Wood as General Hammond.

Here’s a poster for the movie, courtesy of Aaron Handy III, who also reminded me that this anniversary was coming up:

Poster for MASH

Some two and a half years after MASH hit theaters, the television version we all know and love premiered on CBS. It would run until 1983. Had the movie not succeeded financially and critically, M*A*S*H never would have been made. A two-disc collector’s edition was released on DVD in February of 2006; the movie was also included as an extra in the complete series “Martinis & Medicine Collection” when it was released in November of 2006. You can read more about the movie at AFI.com and IMDb.com.

What are your thoughts on MASH, forty years after it first hit theaters?