Prop Spotlight: The Still

Introduction

For eleven years, the cornerstone of the Swamp was the homemade distillery. Presumably, Hawkeye and Trapper built it together and it was a daily presence in their lives. Later, B.J. came to love the contraption just as much as Trapper. Over the years it was destroyed — once by Frank, once by B.J. — only to be rebuilt and returned to glory. Hawkeye called the gin it dispensed, often strong enough to curl your toes, the breakfast of champions.

Three Episodes, Three Stills

The still went through three incarnation during the first three episodes produced. Not the first three aired, the first three produced. CBS often aired episodes out of order, as was and is a common practice with sitcoms. In each of these episodes the still looked very, very different. In “M*A*S*H – The Pilot” (originally broadcast September 17th, 1972; production number J301), which was the first episode produced and aired, the still is a large metal barrel with a copper coil at the top. It sits on a small portable stove. Frank, in a rage, grabs the still and winds up throwing it to the ground. We never see it repaired.

“M*A*S*H — The Pilot”

The second episode produced was “Henry, Please Come Home” (originally broadcast November 19th, 1972; production number J302) although it was the ninth episode to be aired. When Frank is placed in command he marches into the Swamp with an aide and an MP and confiscate the still at gunpoint. It is now a large glass jar connected with the same tubing to various glass beakers. Although Hawkeye, Trapper and others are shown drinking at the end of the episode we never see the still returned to them.

“Henry, Please Come Home”

Finally, in “To Market, To Market” (originally broadcast September 24th, 1972; production number J303), the third episode produced and the second aired, the familiar still makes its debut, with a large round glass beaker connected to a metal pipes and assorted other glass beakers and, of course, the same copper coil.

“To Market, To Market”

The Still Over The Years

In “Cowboy” (originally broadcast November 12th, 1972) Trapper is shown hard at work on a new batch of gin.

“Cowboy”

Later, in “Alcoholics Unanimous” (originally broadcast November 12th, 1974) Frank is once again in charge and orders Radar to take apart the still. Thankfully Trapper is able to make quick repairs.

“Alcoholics Unanimous”

When the 4077th has to break down camp and leave for safer grounds in “Bug Out” (originally broadcast September 21st, 1976) Hawkeye stocks up on gin before B.J. begins to take apart the still for transportation. Frank soon arrives and insists that the still cannot be transported on military trucks because it is not military equipment. B.J. explains that the heating coil is from an ammo truck, the funnel is from the generator shed and the filter is made with shredded skivvies (Frank’s, to be exact).

“Bug Out”

Later in the episode, Radar informs Hawkeye that the still is being transported via Wat San Lee’s cab along with Radar’s animals and Klinger’s dress collection.

“Bug Out”

In “The Merchant of Korea” (originally broadcast December 20th, 1977) Hawkeye and B.J. roll up the netting on the Swamp and set up chairs just outside the tent. They extend the tubing from the still to a table set between them for easy access.

“The Merchant of Korea”

In “Temporary Duty” (originally broadcast February 13th, 1978) Roy Dupree speaks poorly of the still’s alcohol and attempts to improve on the engineering but instead breaks the coil.

Temporary Duty

“Temporary Duty”

Distraught over his daughter calling Radar, recently discharged, Daddy, B.J. trashes the still and slugs Hawkeye in “Period of Adjustment” (originally broadcast October 22nd, 1979).

“Period of Adjustment”

At the end of the episode Hawkeye, B.J. and Klinger rebuild the still.

“Period of Adjustment”

In “The Moon is Not Blue,” after General Rothaker bans booze on base, Hawkeye and B.J. return to the Swamp to discover that Colonel Potter has reluctantly removed their still for the duration of Rothaker’s visit. Its return is not shown on screen.

The Moon is Not Blue

“The Moon is Not Blue”

The Still At The Smithsonian

Following the end of production on M*A*S*H in January 1983, 20th Century-Fox donated the O.R. set and the Swamp set to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Included was the still. An exhibition was held at the National Museum of American History from July 1983 to January 1985. When the exhibition closed, the sets were packed up and placed in storage. The still is likely in a box somewhere in a warehouse.

Here’s a photograph of the still as it appeared in the exhibition from The Complete Book of M*A*S*H:

The Still at the National Museum of American History

Originally published on June 26th, 2009
Last updated September 12th, 2012


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71 Replies to “Prop Spotlight: The Still”

  1. The still is one of the most intricate props in the show, it looks like they put a lot of work into it. I already created a replica of the signpost, andthe still is my next project… hope it doesnt blow up in my face! 🙂

      1. My youngest daughter started watching the reruns even before she was 12….thanked me publicly at a Father -Daughter lucheon for introducing her to it…today I am proud to say she is a Doctor herself at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia….

      2. BTW, the Father-Daughter luncheon was when she was graduating College…..she also thanked me for introducing her to Country Music and Superman….now she is a Pediatrician….Did the fine doctors of Mash have an influence on her going into medicine?, I hope so…

      3. Never thought of the connection until just now, but 2 of my 3 kids (one boy and one girl) are registered nurses … and we watched a lot of MASH when they were all young.

      4. i used to watch the series with my dad when it was still being made. i think that would put me at around your age then 🙂

      5. I introduced my daughter to M*A*S*H when she was around thirteen and she loved it (and still does).

      6. I watched an episode or two at that age, because I hiked out to where they had filmed it. Got about a season in during high school right before netflix took it down. Finally found it again on Hulu during college and am nearly done!

      7. I watched it in elementary school. The final episode ran in 1983 when I was 11. I was fighting back tears pretty hard when the helicopter flew away.

  2. I would love to have some good pic or a diagram of the still think it would realy look cool next to my real still would be even better if i could make it functional

  3. L.S. Does anyone know if a still like the prop on mash actually works or can be made into a working gin still? If so could he/she be letting me in on the technology please. I could do with a belt about now 😉

    Regards, Sander ([email protected])

    1. I read once that the final still was purposely made to NOT resemble a still that would work. They were worried that people would start building stills based on the show.

  4. It looks like it is largely for show. The copper coil needs to have more coils and/or be submerged in water to condense the alcohol or else you lose a lot as alcohol vapor. The plastic tubing at the top of the “pot” that connects it to the copper coil doesn’t sound like a good idea (hottest vapor hitting 1950’s plastic? – at a minimum I think the flavor would be affected). Several tubes appear to be completely for show (e.g. large plastic tube passing above and behind the coil). I am not sure about the heat stability of surgical tape, but I think the tape itself was mostly cloth back then – which might work. Now I am getting into the guessing area, but the metal array with the glass flasks hanging below it looks like something we used in P-chem to react different gases together and collect the resulting chemical. I can’t quite figure out how the copper coil outlet ties into the system, but it may be through the surgical tubing on the left of the array. Is so, the array is useless unless they are adding the “gin” to some flavoring agent in the flasks (juniper would be nice). Otherwise, they can just tap it straight from the coil to the glass like I think they did in the show.

    Sorry for the overly technical answer! 🙂

    1. I’ll take all the info I can as i’m presently in the process of building a similar working model { actual size } to put to real use, personal that is , not for profit

    2. Knowing a little about the distillation process.. 😉 I had often wondered what the layers of dry ingredients were in what should have been the main pot. It looks like sand an charcoal. At the very least, it should have been a mash of sugar, water and yeast that had been fermented.

      Or, if I were in Korea in the 1950s, I could have easily acquired a bucket full of Makkoli (Korean rice beer – pretty powerful stuff by itself) and distilled that to something more potent.

      It’s really Rube-Goldbergesque contraption that invokes the idea of a still. It really should be just; a boiling pot with cover, a coil to cool the alcohol vapor, and a collection jar.

      The first still made from copper sheet was actually the most likely functional version in the series. The laer versions more of a doctors lab kit design, ut not really working.

      Yes. the still was mostly for show and likely non-functional.

  5. “with a large round glass beaker connected to a metal pipes ”

    It’s a boiling flask. Did you learn nothing from my chemistry class?
    -Walter White

    1. Did you Ever learn that this is television sitcom, not to be taken seriously, but for entertainment. Some viewers, I would imagine, did not take Chemistry, therefore they were not so apt to leap down anyone’s throat for not being informed of boiling pot beakers. Let’s all be kind to each other, please and thank you.

  6. BTW, the Father-Daughter luncheon was when she was graduating College…..she also thanked me for introducing her to Country Music and Superman….now she is a Pediatrician….Did the fine doctors of Mash have an influence on her going into medicine?, I hope so…

  7. In the 80’s the show would come on where I lived at 10:30 pm weeknights. Started recording the shows (with commercials) at that time. Had a box of approximately 32 VHS tapes. My daughter was born in 1990 and introduced her to the show when she was 8. Loved the show, wore out the tapes. Two years ago she bought me the entire 11 season boxed set including a bunch of extra goodies. We still watch it together when we get the chance. We try to out trivia the other about the show and it’s characters.

  8. I watch MASH every night I have the whole set of seasons and I love it over and over.It does not matter if the still was to perfection it was and is fine just like it is. That show will never go away.

  9. Did anybody else ever play “Spot Radar’s hand?” I think there are only three episodes in the whole canon where the audience can see Radar’s “flipper” hand. Usually he hides it with a pen or clipboard or microphone.

  10. I would love to ‘illegally’ create a similar working still for my gazebo turned Swamp! Like you all though, I can’t seem to find instructions but I would like to share this page I came across.

    http://www.stillcooker.com

    Hopefully it’ll serve some use!

  11. I’m currently working on the still prop and it has been fun yet a big pain in the butt. The biggest challenge had been the big glass orb. But THANK YOU THANK YOU for this blog because having all those pictures together has helped A LOT! If the still isnt a totally embarrassment I will post photos. I have a lot of weathering and such to do. Any ideas or tips would be awesome!

  12. As a fan of the series, and a bit of a tinkerer myself, i thought i would clear a few things up.

    A basic still just converts “mash” to alcohol. Mash is usually wheat/sugar/potatoes or any other basic carbohydrate mixture that’s been fermented. The mixture is gently heated, and at a certain temperature, the gas is condensed and out comes 97 percent pure ethanol. (Look up spirit distilling for the fine process, one of the chemicals that come out is methanol which is deadly poisonous)

    You can drink that ethanol.. if you are crazy. Its moonshine. I
    The first sane step is filtering. That ethanol is usually filtered through charcoal multiple times. (Or skivvies as in MASH)

    The next step is to dilute it to 50 percent of spring/still water, and that gives you a basic 100 proof spirit. Its a base. If the mash is potatoes, you could call it vodka.

    That still in MASH looks kinda of like that step. Its not gin, its just vodka.

    Once you have that basic spirit, THEN you can do things with it.
    Gin itself is a basic infusion. The ethanol water mixture is boiled/infused with juniper berries and a few other herbs. Filtered, and then bottled. It doesnt age.

    Gin is a two step batch process, so that still in MASH couldnt actually be used to make gin.

    HOWEVER.
    If the large glass bottle contained juniper berries, and they were stealing medicinal ethanol, it could be used to make gin. They would be able to get a hold of a lot of ethanol thanks to being in a hospital, and the process to convert ethanol to gin is a lot less “explosivey”

  13. Hawk has said a number of times that rice is one of the ingredients, “first brewed in hermann goering navel.”

    I also started watching when I was 14 back in the late 80’s with my dad. I also got my MA degree and later my registaration RMA. I also used a couple of the episodes in a couple of papers I had written for my classes.

  14. Born in 1970, I believe I was sitting on the living room floor at the age of 5 watching M*A*S*H, probably doing homework (coloring), without question of the meaning of the show. I specifically remember eating peanuts out of a can, (before canned laughter, haha),, and that the show made me giggle a lot. But as the years went by I found myself more interested in the story of war itself. My father being an American vet of the Korean war would watch it only at times. But I found myself simply interested in the companionship, the sanity near insanity, the love and loss and the outcome of it all, within such a horrible state of time.

    I own all MASH episodes and watch them from time to time, (season 4 and 5 in the last few days)
    I wish I could speak with Alan Alda about pages I’ve written for a 2-4 night “Return To Korea” idea that I have for Television.

    Well, to shorten this up I am interested in making a clone of the 3rd still and sitting it in a glass showcase, (everyone knows it will be in my garage on a table for full use).
    And on that note, I bid a Goodbye, Farewell and Amen.

    “What shall we drink to? well, it’s 7, let’s drink to
    8. then we can drink to 9”

    Danimal

  15. What’s the name of the glass vase looking thing they held the martinis in? I know it’s something medical can’t remember though.

    1. A Google search shows that they are old antique lab glass beakers or graduated size pharmacy bottle measures.

  16. I loved watching with my dad just the way he would laugh when Hawkeye, Trapper or Honeycutt would insult Frank. And the Coronal in charge would 2nd it. He’s resting now waiting his heavenly saviors return. But the look on his face of pure joy recalling all the similar stunts he and his men pulled. When going to “summer camp” for 2 weeks in the summer, every summer back in the, 60’s, and 70’s. Back then the cable network would run the program, Mash for hours. Sometimes 4 or 6 in a row. The good ol’ days !

  17. Had a blast recreating the still for a theatre production 4 years ago then last month they called to say they cold not hang onto it any longer would I like it back? Now I’ve got it in my garage.
    The last prop I detailed this way ended up at the entrance to Colossus at Magic Mountain, Glad it was well care for and it made it home.

    1. John,

      I’m in a small theater company as well and we are getting ready to do M.A.S.H. this winter. I’d like to build a replica for our set and would appreciate any information on this you can provide.

  18. I remember as a kid having one tv in the house and it was a power struggle to watch it. We wanted to watch cheers and the adults wanted to watch mash reruns.. We never won that battle and I tried to hate Mash because if it but it really was just a good show.. The more I watched the less I fought my patents to watch something else! I grew to love it and still watch it to this day! I wish tv were as wholesome now as it was then. That’ll never happen. It’s true what they say, you can never go back! I can’t believe some of the stuff that is on air today, the language they use even in cartoons. It’s unreal.

  19. The reason no one built a kit and sold it, is because it was like a bunch of tinker toys thrown together. It Doesn’t Work. It is just a Hollywood movie attempt and depicting a still. Every backwoods distiller knows this thing is just a joke. The revenue agents would pounce on it and haul it away for sure… but all they got was a bunch of tubes and lab cast off stuff.

    1. It would of probably blown up considering lack of cooling to the condenser and they built a steam trap with the manifold

  20. basically a 3000 ml boiling flask (maybe 4000, biggest i’ve found), stopper, half inch copper tubing coil, the manifold im not sure could never figure out i think it maybe homemade but assume it was to hold a smaller boiling flask to mix the distillate with vermouth, used to watch it everyday after school and started trying to build my own still at 14 spent a fortune ordering from stolen labware books from my science class (pre amazon) never actually got it running but i looked on amazon the other day and you can buy most the pieces now for under a hundred

  21. I hate to be a wet blanket, but I think a couple of points need to be made, for everyone’s well-being. First of all, home distillery (not home beer brewing or wine making) is illegal in the United States, and for good reason: If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can all too easily make the wrong kind of alcohol, which really can blind or kill you. It’s not a myth. So, cool as the still looked, and despite every M*A*S*H fan’s secret (or not so very) yearning to have one, it’s really not a good idea.

  22. did anyone ever notice that the final incarnation of the still , with the large rounded globe with the mash in it , never had a heat source under it?

    1. BoBo says:
      31 May, 2018 at 7:57 pm

      Licorice can be substituted for juniper berries.

      Juniper berries are a spice used in the primary flavoring in gin (and responsible for gin’s name, which is a shortening of the Dutch word for juniper, genever)

  23. Licorice can be substituted for juniper berries.

    Juniper berries are a spice used in the primary flavoring in gin (and responsible for gin’s name, which is a shortening of the Dutch word for juniper, genever)

  24. All those props in warehouses somewhere. What will become of them? I want just ONE piece of a real set from mash. Preferably from the swamp

    1. There’s so much stuff in the Smithsonian’s underground archives that will likely never see the light of day. It’s tragic, really.

  25. Part of what I loved about MASH was the richness of the color. The Dark OD Green tents, the wood office and the Officer’s Club contrasted with the faces and props and made them pop. When they made the switch to After MASH, the new color pallet was light yellow, white and beige. It was very flat. The new characters were more cartoonish and played by less experienced actors. There was also less mischief and less deep content. It was hard to connect to.

  26. I watch MASH from episode one too The Finale on repeat. It’s the only TV show I watch. Most people take medication for depression. I watch MASH!

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