You ever see the Documentary on M.A.S.H When looking for a replacement for Col.Blake. They used Morgan cause of his role as Gen.Steele.....Alan Alda said filming with him was so much fun.
@@gayled3059 True but, when it came down to it, Col. Potter was NOTHING to play around with himself! On the other hand, I think that's why I liked the guy (Potter, that is).
Harry Morgan's performance in this episode certainly did help land him the role of Col. Potter. But what really did the trick was his manner on the set. Everybody was expecting Morgan to be so strait-laced and almost humourless and instead he regaled cast and crew with jokes and lots of interesting tales of his long career in Hollywood that had them all spellbound in the telling and they all knew they had to have him back on the show. And Morgan had such a great time doing this episode and working with all the MASH people that when the chance for him to become a series regular suddenly popped up he leapt at it.
Another great Klinger spot was when Col Daniel Webster was doing the practical joke with Potter and Klinger showed up as Cleopatra ready to go home---"What's going on here??? I don't get it !!!"...No,you don't.
That Look Klinger has the moment General Steele tells him "Not Now, I'm Inspecting The troops"...the Air literally goes out of him....Love this scene!!
Find a t-shirt shop near your home that can custom make a shirt for you and you're in business. There USED to be a t-shirt shop at the Burlington Center MALL in Westampton NJ (DEAD MALL today) that printed up at least 3 shirts for me. One of them read "This shirt doesn't have a funny message written on it". When I used to wear it to work people would laugh every time I wore it.
I think I heard in an interview with Gary Burghoff that it took 17 takes to get that scene right because Gary Burghoff and McLean Stevenson kept breaking up during this scene. Up until this point, everybody had known Harry Morgan for either westerns or the TV series "Dragnet", which was a dramatic role. What they didn't expect was for Harry Morgan to be that off the wall and he was just too funny doing it.
One could say this episode was an audition for Harry joining the cast, although I am not sure if it was known yet that McLean would leave at the end of this season.
@@ericandy88 Harry Morgan was a fan of the show Mash and was excited to join cast as Colonel Potter in 75 as was Mike Farrell. Morgan shared several traits that his character did such as painting, raising and riding horses. He was a mentor and friend to most of the cast especially Alan Alda, Loretta Swit who his life long friend and a neighbor and was friends with, Jamie Farr, David Ogden Stiers and Mike Farrell up until Morgan’s death. He was best friends with McLean Stevenson from 1974 until McLean Stevensons death in 1996.
Sure is, he thought that was going to be his big break to getting a section 8, but it backfired on him. The look on Radar's face is pretty funny too when Steele yells. "NO TALKING IN RANKS!"
RIP Harry Morgan, McLean Stevenson, David Ogden Stiers, William Christopher, Wayne Rogers ,Alan Arbus (Dr Sidney Freedman) and Larry Linville, Johnny Haymer, Edward Winter and others who passed away.
Rest in Peace, Wayne Rogers (1933-2015), McLean Stevenson (1927-1996), Harry Morgan (1915-2011), Larry Linville (1939-2000), David Ogden Steirs (1942-2018), William Christopher (1932-2016) & Kellye Nakahara (1947-2020)
@@Aetheliaout of main cast Alan Alda, Mike Farrell, Loretta Swit, Gary Burghoff and Jamie Farr are only ones living and recurring actors Jeff Maxwell who played Private Igor and G.W. Bailey who played Sergeant Rizzo. Jamie Farr is the oldest living actor currently from the show at age 90 with Alda and Swit being 88 and 86 years old
I always thought this..."how come nobody at the unit ever told Col. Potter than he looked exactly like the crazy General Steele who visited the camp a while ago?"
They could have also asked why Colonel Potter’s son-in-law looked exactly like the soldier who tried to marry a Korean girl as part of a plan to traffick her into the US to be a prostitute.
I wanted somebody to notice every Colonel and above knew where Hot Lips tent was but she was only a Major.Then she got offended when offered a promotion instead of gaining nothing from her talent.
Jon R yes he guest starred as General Steele before McLean Stevenson left the show. Harry Morgan was a big fan of Mash and was recommended by Alan Alda to take a full time role to replace Stevenson when we’re looking for actors. Morgan accepted the role Colonel Sherman Potter and took over in season 4 in 1976
@@calebduprest6438 Opps, my bad. When I first posted that comment I thought the episode "The General Flipped At Dawn" was the middle to the end of season 3, but I know now it was a full season before Potter came along.
I always found it interesting that MASH added little nods to the UN coalition fighting in the Korean War. At 1:41 you can see what looks to be a member of the Indian armed forces behind Col. Blake. India sent medical personnel to help the UN Coalition so it might make sense there’d be an Indian officer on assignment at a MASH unit.
Maj. Gen. Bartford Hamilton Steele: You're insubordinate! Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce: Right! Maj. Gen. Bartford Hamilton Steele: You're insolent! Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce: Right! And you're nuts!
Teddy Wilson was quite an actor.From a chopper pilot to a wino in "Life Stinks"as Fumes he played a little of everything. General Steele is the only General to visit MASH and not ask Hot Lips if she was still in the same tent.
I'm from England. The BBC ran the whole show without laughtracks. Weird when I watch episodes with them. Couple of times they mistakenly broadcast shows with laugh tracks. Lots of complaints and a BBC apology.
Well I'm from Germany and in our translation, there is no laugh track, too. In my opinion, a show about war should not use laugh tracks due to the serious background. Even though, in some scenes (very few), where they sing in English, we, too, can hear the laughing audience in the background. But personally, I like the show better without the laugh track.
The missing laugh track threw me off at first, but after watching it a second time I can say that this scene was much better off for it. Instead of coming off as light hearted and silly, it feels awkward and tense. I would love to see the entire series without the canned laughter.
The DVD release has an option to watch with and without it, i personally chose without it, some episodes such as the captain chandler episode don’t feature the laugh track to begin with probably because of the very serious nature of that episode
@@alricheim597 I saw the complete dvd set the other day and thought about getting it. The only thing that held me back was the uncertainty about the laugh track. I may press ahead and get it now.
I loved the scene where the black helicopter pilot was asked to testify at Hawkeye’s hearing. “Now feel at ease. Just tell in your own words, the incident at the helicopter pad yesterday at O nine hundred hours. But first, a number!” “Sir?” “You know…a musical number”
Harry Morgan had an amazing career. In the movies (To the Shores of Tripoli, Wing and a Prayer, High Noon, How the West Was Won, Support Your Local Gunfighter) and television with both Dragnet and MASH. You have to wonder that after this episode and with Stevenson leaving if the producers said to themselves, yeah, Harry Morgan would be a perfect fit to replace McClain.
He also played the marshall that befriended John Wayne's character in John Wayne's last movie "The Shootist," which included some of the best Western actors of their time.
Great scene. Never seen it before. I have an idea: let's put all people responsible for pushing 'laugh' tracks or canned 'laughter' up against the wall!
When Harry Morgan appeared as Colonel Potter at the start of Season 4, the character was introduced as "regular Army--God help us all" over the PA system. My mind went back to Morgan's appearance as General Steele, and (forgetting the Steele name over a year's time), I thought it was the same character returning. I knew Morgan from "Dragnet," so he as Steele was bound to stick in my memory. It took some time for me to catch on.
I have a book on the M*A*S*H series. It has brief summaries of all the episodes for seasons 1-8. For this one ("The General flipped at dawn") it says "A spit-and-polish general visits the 4077th, scares everyone with his militarism, and ends up convincing everyone he's balmy". One of my favorite episodes.
Same here, I nearly fell off the couch laughing. The scene that actually did that to me was when Radar was drunk and said "My bear just went off." When Frank discharged that one colonel's gun on his foot. In the episode "The Gun" from season 4. I just said about the bear part because I can't remember the beginning part of the line.
No, they couldn't have. But it's a fun drinking game to "Name the alternate Col Potter". Bob Newhart Leslie Nielsen Ed O'Neill BTW, the same drinking game works great for "Name the alternate Capt Kirk".
They couldn't have started the show with a character like Potter, or the silliness of Mash could never have been established in the first place, nor could they continue forever with an indecisive buffoon in command, or it would eventually break the fourth wall. The show needed a straight-man and Stevenson's departure created the perfect opportunity to balance the cast.
Not surprised, I would have too. A lot of the lines in this show must have taken several takes just trying not to laugh. I wonder how long it took Burghoff to get through his own line in "The Gun" when he's drunk and talking like John Wayne, to then saying "My bear just went off!"
I was just a kid when this show first aired, I remember watching it for an hour every morning right before Saturday morning cartoons, so when I finally collected the seasons ~ this episode thru me for such a loop ~ and I loved it
That should have been the moment that the fight goes out of Klinger forever,for if the Army continued to let an obviously crazy man continue to serve,what chance did he have?
I do like Potter, but I think Harry Morgan’s funniest performance on the whole show was when he played General Steele. Henry and Trapper should have stayed longer.
ONE OF THE THREE BEST MILITARY COMEDIES EVER - MASH, HOGANS HEROES & Mc HALES NAVY..... GOD BLESS THEM ALL & THANK GOD THAT HE GAVE US A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR.......LMAO..!!!!!
And, to a lesser extent, the A-Team. With that foursome interacting in that series, every episode had something that would make me laugh (the final season wasn't all that great, though)
General: "Not now Marjorie, I'm inspecting the troops." It makes you wonder who was mad, Klinger or the general? But the answer is in front of you in the entire series, isn't it? The madmen wanted in on the war, not out. Klinger was perhaps the most insanely sane person in the unit trying everything to get out.
He wasn't insane insane per se. It was more of a "he pretends to be one so he can get out". Granted, it is insane of him in some sense like this, but not diagnosed insane like someone with a mental condition that was contributed during the war.
I wish General Steele had come back after Potter was on the show, with Harry Morgan playing both roles. Imagine how much fun that would have been to have Potter and Steele face off, "He looks familiar."
Somehow I think the producers could avoid that by saying General Steele was committed to the funny farm after this episode. He was already half-way over the sanity cliff anyway.
Hawkeye would probably joke about their being a "resemblance." Potter would likely think that Steele was a nut, but certainly would show respect. I don't know how Steele would view Potter.
Just watching Harry Morgans face during this clip is funny ! His eyes rolling around, blank expression on his face and changing his disposition from one second to the next was summed up by Hawkeye perfectly ........ " You're Nuts !!! " Also I'm sure Morgan was happy that he didn't have to wear the same suit he had worn in every episode of "Dragnet" .
