
RAH Humor Review: The M*A*S*H Novels
by Dave Bealer

In 1968 the United States seemed to be flipping it's collective lid.
It was a year of riots and assassinations at home, meanwhile young
Americans were laying down their lives in the jungles of Southeast
Asia.  In the midst of this insanity came an appropriately insane
novel, one that recalled the exploits of some other young Americans,
from the previous generation, who served in another Asian land war
that wasn't officially a war.

_M*A*S*H_, by Richard Hooker, recounts the exploits of the surgeons,
nurses, and support staff of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH)
during the Korean War.  The novel was well received, being compared
by reviewers to that classic novel of military insanity, _Catch-22_.
In fact _M*A*S*H_ would go on to surpass _Catch-22_ in commercial
success, inspiring a hit movie, and even bigger hit television
series.

The motion picture _M*A*S*H_ was released in 1970, and starred Donald
Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, and Robert
Duvall.  I first saw the movie that summer at a drive-in theater with
my parents.  I loved it!  It was funny and poked fun at authority;
just the kind of thing to appeal to a twelve-year-old.  My mother was
quite upset by the film, although she claimed to be more bothered by
the blood in the surgical scenes than by the dialogue, which included
several words I would have been slapped for saying myself.

Within a few years a hit situation comedy based on the novel and
movie was developed by Larry Gelbart.  It ran for eleven years, and
made stars out of Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, Loretta Swit, Mike
Farrell, David Ogden Stiers, Gary Burghoff, Jamie Farr, and virtually
everyone who landed a major role in the show.  A top-ten rated series
for most of its original run, "M*A*S*H" is still a popular resident
of syndication, and is well known to most people. 

Rather less well known is the fact that Richard Hooker, who did not
participate in the production of either the movie or the TV series,
went on to write several sequels to the original novel.  I found some
of them in used book stores starting in the late 1970s.

It should be noted that these books continue the characters as
developed in the original novel, on which the movie was based, and
have nothing whatever to do with the TV series.  This means that if
your only exposure to M*A*S*H has been through the sitcom, you really
need to read the original _M*A*S*H_ novel and _M*A*S*H Goes To Maine_
before starting any of the others.  As a single example of the
inconsistencies, the TV Hawkeye was an only child whose father was a
physician.  Hawkeye as presented in these novels is from a large 
family, the brood of a Maine lobsterman.

_M*A*S*H Goes To Maine_, by Richard Hooker, was published in
hardcover by William Morrow in February 1972.  The Pocket Book
paperback reprint came out in January 1973.  This books picks up the
tale of Hawkeye Pierce shortly after his return from Korea.  After
passing his general surgical boards, Hawkeye is persuaded by Trapper
John to move to the New York City area for a couple of years and
complete his residency in thoracic surgery.  Hawkeye turns down an
invitation to become a part of the "Cardia Nostra," the big league of
heart surgeons to which Trapper belongs.  Instead he returns to
Crabapple Cove, there to live while becoming the top surgeon in
nearby Spruce Harbor.  By the end of the book Hawkeye manages to lure
the rest of the inmates of "The Swamp" to Spruce Harbor where they
continue their madcap antics.  Oddly, one of the best chapters in
this screwball comedy is the serious, tear-jerking tale of Hawkeye's
attempts to save the life of Jonas "Moose" Lord, a lobsterman who had
been a friend to every kid growing up in Crabapple Cove for years
(including the young Hawkeye). 

The rest of these novels were cowritten by Richard Hooker and William
E. Butterworth.  They were published as paperbacks by Pocket Books.
They all have advertising language on their covers relating them to
the M*A*S*H TV series, although (as mentioned) they having nothing to
do with that show.  The sitcom *was* one of the most popular shows on
the air when these novels were published, which explains everything.

_M*A*S*H Goes To New Orleans_ was released in January 1975.  In this
story, Hawkeye is drugged by his loving wife and spirited to New
Orleans by Trapper John.  The idea is to get Hawkeye well out of the
way while his fourth child is born, since he was driving everyone
nuts.  While in New Orleans, our heroes try desperately to avoid
attending any convention sessions of the American Tonsil, Adenoid and
Vas Deferens Society (Francis Burns, M.D. - public affairs vice 
president).  By several extraordinary coincidences (read: plot
devices), a few other 4077 alumni are staying in the same hotel.
These include Hot Lips, Father (now Archbishop) John Mulcahy, and
Jean-Pierre "Horsey" de la Chevaux, a former infantry sergeant whose 
leg was once saved at the 4077th MASH.  Horsey, now a petroleum
millionaire, is a regular inhabitant of these novels.  He's usually
accompanied by his comrades, the drunken members of the Bayou Perdu
Council, Knights of Columbus. 

_M*A*S*H Goes To Paris_ was also released in January 1975.  The
French government is giving out awards, and the recipients include 
Radar O'Reilly, mid-western fast food tycoon, and Hot Lips, who is
now a religious leader.  A new regular character introduced here is
Boris Korsky-Rimsakov, a world renown opera singer whose life was
once saved at a certain MASH unit in Korea (what a convenient, and
oft used, plot device).

_M*A*S*H Goes To London_ was released in June 1975.  England may
never recover from the visit of the 4077 alumni.  The aristocracy of
two continents are hammered in this book, which features the presence
of a U.S. Secretary of State with a thick German accent.  I wonder
who that is supposed to be?

_M*A*S*H Goes To Las Vegas_ was released in January 1976.  This story
revolves around the activities of the mysterious "Matthew Q.
Framingham Theosophical Foundation," of which Hawkeye Pierce is a
long time member.  It features Radar's wedding at Nero's Villa.

_M*A*S*H Goes To Vienna_ was released in June 1976.  The Swamp Rats
and a good portion of the new characters from _M*A*S*H Goes To
London_ descend on the home of wiener schnitzel.  The heavily
accented Secretary of State makes another appearance.

These novels are not, in general, great literature.  They make good
light entertainment, though.  If you like parodies of politicians,
the medical profession, Hollywood, opera, and religion (which is
redundant, given the other items in the list) you should enjoy these
novels.  The above list of M*A*S*H novels is not complete.  These are
the ones I own so far.  I'm still combing used book stores for the
records of the M*A*S*H gang's journeys to: Hollywood, Miami, Texas,
Montreal, Morocco, and San Francisco.                           {RAH}

