Abyssinia, Henry
"Abyssinia, Henry" | |
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M*A*S*H episode | |
Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 24 |
Directed by | Larry Gelbart |
Written by |
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Production code | B324 |
Original air date | March 18, 1975 |
Guest appearances | |
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"Abyssinia, Henry" is the 72nd episode of the
The title of the episode refers to the 1920s–1930s slang use of "Abyssinia" for "goodbye". ("Abyssinia", pronounced "ab-ee-SIN-ee-ah" can be understood as "I'll be seeing you".)[1]
After the production of this episode, both Stevenson and
Plot
The episode opens with a typical operating room scene;
Majors
The next morning, Frank attempts to assemble the company for a formal send-off, but Hawkeye and Trapper are out of uniform and unshaven, and
The staff follow Henry to the helicopter pad, which also bears a wounded soldier that Henry tries to care for before the other doctors nudge him on. Henry spots an emotional Radar saluting him and approaches to return the salute, hug him, and chide him like a loving father to behave himself, before boarding and flying away.
Towards the end of the episode, in another typical operating-room scene, Radar enters, visibly shaken. Trapper and Hawkeye make joking comments, but Radar announces, "I have a message. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake's plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spun in. There were no survivors." Radar then leaves the operating room as the camera pans across the stunned staff, each visibly fighting to retain composure and continue with their work.
After a commercial break, the episode closes with a "reluctant and affectionate farewell" to Blake by means of a light-hearted montage of clips from past episodes.
Production
"We didn't want Henry Blake going back to Bloomington, Illinois and going back to the country club and the brown and white shoes, because a lot of guys didn't get back to Bloomington."
Gene Reynolds[2]
The final scene, in which Radar informs the 4077th of the death of Henry Blake, was unprecedented: it was the first time in American television history that a main character departing a comedy series was killed off in a tragic way.[3] When Stevenson decided to leave the series partway through the third season, producers Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart decided to make a statement regarding the unexpectancies and horror of war, especially with the Vietnam War fresh in viewers' minds.[3]
To evoke genuine emotions of shock and sadness, the final O.R. scene was kept a secret from the cast until immediately before filming; only then did Gelbart hand out the last page of the script.[3][4] As a result, Stevenson was still on the set and saw the final scene being filmed.[5] After shooting was completed, a season-ending cast party was planned. Stevenson left the set almost immediately after the end of filming, and the party was canceled due to the dour mood of the cast. Stevenson later said in an interview that he was deeply hurt that his character's death was revealed in this fashion and the party was "ruined".[5] Gelbart later said of the event, "I wish we could say to him, 'We didn't mean it, Mac.'"[6]
Reaction and impact
...if we turned on the [television] set we would see fifteen people [killed in Vietnam every night]. They don't complain about that because it is unfelt violence, it is unfelt trauma. And that's not good. I think that if there is such a thing as the loss of life there should be some connection. And we did make a connection. It was a surprise, it was somebody they loved. They didn't expect it but it made the point. People like Henry Blake are lost in war.
Gene Reynolds[7]
Certain journalists revealed Blake's fate in the weeks leading up to the episode's broadcast. Gary Deeb of
Initially, Gelbart and Reynolds hand-wrote letters in response to the feedback, but eventually, due to the overwhelming number of letters, a form response was created explaining the rationale of their decisions. Negative reactions were not exclusive to the home viewers of the program: both
Not all reaction to the airing was negative. On an episode of the variety series Cher that aired shortly afterward and featured Stevenson as a guest, the situation was parodied when the episode opened to a studio shot of Stevenson as Blake floating on a smoking raft and shouting, "I'm OK! I'm OK!"[11]
In Bobbie Ann Mason's 1985 novel In Country, the teenage protagonist recalls having watched the episode as a child and being "so shocked she went around stunned for days," and confesses that Blake's death on the show had seemed more real to her than the death of her own father in Vietnam.[12]
The final scene was spoofed on the
In 1997, TV Guide included this episode in their list of the "100 Greatest Episodes of All Time," ranking it number 20.[14]
In 2005, TV Land included this episode as part of its "Top 100 Most Unexpected Moments in TV History", ranking it number 15.[15]
Aftermath
Not everybody, not every kid gets to go back to Bloomington, Illinois. Fifty thousand – we left fifty thousand boys in Korea – and we realized it was right for the show, because the premise of our show was the wastefulness of the war.
Gene Reynolds[16]
While "Abyssinia, Henry" is well known for the departure of McLean Stevenson from the series, it was also the final episode in which Wayne Rogers appeared. During the summer 1975 break between seasons three and four, he quit the series. 20th Century Fox sued him for breach of contract, but the lawsuit collapsed, because Rogers hadn't signed any contract.[17] The character of Trapper John McIntyre was subsequently written off the series in "Welcome to Korea," the first episode of the next season.[18]
As a result, when the cast returned to begin filming the series' fourth season in September 1975, there were major changes in both the makeup and the direction of the show. The more earnest and faithful family man
In general, the show began to take on a more serious tone as a seriocomic (or
References
- ^ See for example, Oxford English Dictionary: Abyssinia, 2nd edition 1989, online edition September 2011 (subscription required)
- ^ Making 'M*A*S*H'. Patterson Denny (director) Michael Hirsh (writer). PBS. January 21, 1981.
{{cite AV media}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ ISBN 0-7864-1701-3.
- Snopes.com. March 21, 2009. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
- ^ a b "M*A*S*H". TV Tales. Season 1. Episode 2. April 21, 2002. E!.
- ^ Lipton, Michael A.; Michele Keller (March 5, 1996). "Officer and a gentleman". People. Vol. 45, no. 9. pp. 48–49.
- ^ a b c "Making M*A*S*H". finest-kind.net. Archived from the original on June 25, 2006.
- ^ Deeb, Gary (January 25, 1975). "Controversial Killoff True to MASH Form". Chicago Tribune. pp. B18. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- ^ YouTube. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. August 22, 2000. Accessed 2011-12-09.
- ^ "Abyssinia, Henry." Written by Fritzell, Jim and Greenbaum, Everett. M*A*S*H. DVD. Prod. by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Dist. by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC., 1975 (2003 DVD release).
- ^ Clip from Cher 1975: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxmvqrCNwH8
- ^ Bobbie Ann Mason, In Country, 1985.
- Fifteen Minutes of Shame".
- ^ "The 100 Greatest TV Episodes of All Time". Archived from the original on October 28, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link), TV Guide, 6/25/97. "As chosen by the staff of TV Guide and Nick at Night TV Land". Retrieved from Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Last accessed March 18, 2012. - ^ "TV Guide and TV Land Join Forces To Count Down The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments". PR Newswire (Press release). December 1, 2005. Archived from the original on August 30, 2006. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
- ^ 'M*A*S*H': 30th Anniversary Reunion (2002) at 1 hour, 4 minutes and 44 seconds in the movie
- ^ Spelling, Ian (July 27, 2002). "30 years later, revisiting MASH". Calgary Herald. pp. ES.06.
- Welcome to Korea". M*A*S*H. Season 4. Episode 11. CBS..
- ^ Wittebols, James H. Watching M*A*S*H, watching America: A Social History of the 1972–1983 Television Series. 62–74. 1998. 272.
- ^ Shires, Jeff. "M*A*S*H". The Museum of Broadcast Communications. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved September 29, 2006.
External links
- "Abyssinia, Henry" at IMDb
- 25 Episodes That Changed Television at VOX