My post about the death of Pernell Roberts earlier this week led to an interesting conversation in the comments. During the first episode of Trapper John, M.D. there is a scene in which a series of black and white photographs are shown on the office wall of Dr. John McIntyre, M.D. One of these photographs appears to depict Wayne Rogers and Alan Alda in front of the Swamp from M*A*S*H. Here’s the photograph in question, taken from a YouTube video (you can find it easily enough):

Photograph Depicting Wayne Rogers and Alan Alda?

PinkPagoda had this to say about the photograph:

The scene with the picture is on you tube – and it is obvious that the two people in the picture are supposed to be the Hawk and the Trap that we all know and love from the television show (check out the hair) – however I don’t see the symbol on the SWAMP door, the sign post seems to be relocated, and the Trapper figure is MUCH taller than the Hawkeye figure. I don’t think Wayne Rogers is notably taller than Alan Alda, is he? It must have been made for the television show – and not an actual shot. Check it out for yourself on you tube, search for “Trapper John MD first episode” and the picture comes up after the guy on the stretcher is loaded into a helicopter at the hospital. What do YOU think?

In my opinion, the man on the left is obviously Wayne Rogers. But is the man on the right Alan Alda or someone else? I don’t know. The image is blurry, due to the fact that it comes from a YouTube video likely taken from a VHS tape that may or may not be a decade old. It sort of looks like the man has a beard. Or maybe just a shadow near his chin. As for the difference in height, the man on the right could be leaning his head against the door. I’m guessing the photograph was taken on the Stage 9 set at the 20th Century Fox Studios in Hollywood rather than the Fox Ranch (now the Malibu Creek State Park). I also don’t see the symbol on the door to the Swamp but it very well could be there.

So is this an actual promotional photograph for M*A*S*H? If so, someone out there might recognize it. There are an awful lot of photographs in The Complete Book of M*A*S*H if anyone has a copy handy. Here’s an actual promotional photograph for comparison:

Promotional Photograph

Notice that Alan Alda is quite a few inches shorter than Wayne Rogers. Hit the comments with your thoughts on this mysterious Trapper John, M.D. photograph.

Mrs. Frank Burns is trying to identify the following scene and I’ve got to admit I’m stumped:

I remember seeing the following scene a long time ago and haven’t seen it since then.

From memory: Hawkeye and BJ (?) were sitting outside, inches away from a green tent, There was table made from a crate between them. It was hot; I think BJ had on his straw hat. A few minutes later, Radar came over to talk to them. Also, I believe this scene occurred towards the beginning of the episode.

I highly doubt this was from the beginning of ”Bug Out’, since Hawk and Beej are sitting out in the open.

From my description, the one thing that I am positive on is that green tent wall shot at an angle from the camera.

I hope you can help!

December 1st, 2009 Update: Vince and Big Daddy O’Reilly have chimed in to identify the episode as “The Merchant of Korea.” A big thank you to both of them.

“The Merchant of Korea”

Carlos is looking for a good picture of the Swamp door and the symbol painted on it. I thought for sure there was a nice photograph in Suzy Kalter’s The Complete Book of M*A*S*H but after flipping through it this weekend I realized I was mistaken. Does anyone know off the top of their head an episode that has a close-up of the door and/or the symbol that I can make a screen capture of for Carlos?

Sunday, December 6th, 2009 Update: In the comments section below Mrs. Frank Burns suggested a scene from “It Happened One Night” in which the Swamp door and the symbol were visible. After finding that scene and making a screen capture I randomly popped the second disc of Season Two and quickly ran through the episodes. There were two nice shots of the door in “The Sniper” and another in “Henry In Love.” Here they are:

“It Happened One Night”

“Henry in Love”

“The Sniper”

“The Sniper”