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Larry Gelbart interview on 'Abyssinia, Henry' and directing the episode.

'Abyssinia Henry'- Season 3 episode 24. Original Air Date- March 18, 1975 Written by Everett Greenbaum, Jim Fritzell Directed by Larry Gelbart

'…𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛.'

'I did something-- I directed ['Abyssinia, Henry'], as it turned out it was my turn in the box. And I did the one sort of directorial touch I’ve ever done in my life that that no one ever notices…and…but it was just kind of a pleasure for me to do. When– whenever Henry was seen in his office, there was always the skeleton behind him as though it foretold what might happen to the character.' -- Larry Gelbart (Full interview here.)

Happy 51st birthday to one of the best episodes of American television of all time.

(a few days late, but just forget that part)

#larry gelbart #abyssinia henry #henry blake #M*A*S*H #mash #mac stevenson #mclean stevenson #i'm a few days late from the anniversary of this episode #genius aesthetic choices from directors #brilliant directing #the skeleton foretold it all #M*A*S*H trivia #M*A*S*H directorial choices #abyssinia henry anniversary (a few days late)#mashblr #recovering academic this M*A*S*H post is the best I can do with a broken brain right now #once upon a time I could have turned this into an academic article on the directing choices of M*A*S*H directors #but broken brain and broken body mean you just get occasional tumblr posts #M*A*S*H academic #happy 51st birthday to this incredible episode #abyssinia henry anniversary #all screenshots of Henry are from Abyssinia Henry #but actually they do this a fair amount in the series as well #all the screenshots of Henry above are from different scenes

One of hundreds of letters sent to CBS after “Abyssinia Henry” aired 50 years ago today on March 18th, 1975. Many of them were from young children.

Last summer I started working on a project with these letters where I tracked down and spoke to many of the children who wrote them (now in their 60s). The project is on hold until I finish this school year, but I leaving cryptic messages on the answering machines of America's boomers resulted in some of the best conversations I've ever had. I'll keep you updated. I chose to share this image as the letter writer is anonymous.

Photo by me, taken 3 July 2024. “Letters from viewers regarding the death of Henry Blake.” Box 22, Folder 4. M*A*S*H Television Show Collection, 1950-1984, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. https://sova.si.edu/record/nmah.ac.0117/ref359?s=0&n=10&t=C&q=NMAH.AC.0117&i=0

#m*a*s*h #mash #abyssinia henry #henry blake #colonel henry blake #larry gelbart #MASH history #television history #archive #smithsonian museum of american history

Big respect to Larry Gelbart for writing the introduction to "The Complete Book of M*A*S*H" in the form of a scripted conversation between himself and Sidney. This guy was ahead of the game on self-inserts.

I imagine that he is not the only person in the world who wants to be therapized by Dr. Freedman

#mash #mash 4077 #mashposting #m*a*s*h #sidney freedman #larry gelbart

Today we remember M*A*S*H co-creator, producer, director, and writer Larry Gelbart (1928 - 2009) on what would have been his birthday

#happy birthday #larry gelbart #mash #mash 4077 #mash tv #television #fox #cbs

#MASH #m*a*s*h #sitcoms #larry gelbart #alan alda #Youtube

‘Television is a weapon of mass distractrion.’

– Larry Gelbart, writer and playwright, #botd in 1928

#larry gelbart

Thought I'd share this quote* from Larry Gelbart about the goals of MASH from his point of view. It's an interesting one to my read because it calls into question how much of the behavior we see on screen is consistent with the way these characters act at home. There are a few clear cases where conduct is specifically referenced as being consistent (see, e.g., Frank's affair with his secretary as consistent with his affair with Margaret) or inconsistent (see, e.g., BJ discussing alcohol in The Interview), but it leaves a lot of room for interpretation as well. Was Henry cheating on Lorraine back home? Maybe. Maybe not. Was Hawkeye serial dating the way we saw on screen? Maybe. Maybe not. The ways in which these characters cope is central to the show and it's sometimes a nice reminder that, at least during the Gelbart years, there was an understanding that the characters were in extraordinary circumstances and handled that in ways that don't always reflect what they would have done if they were at home, where they actually wanted to be.

As a note, this isn't to say any read is more or less valid. It's just a little footnote onto the idea that there's a fair basis for a lot of fluid interpretation.

*Quote from Watching M*A*S*H*, Watching America, page 18.

#I've been meaning to upload this for a while and kept forgetting so I'm doing it #anyway this isn't prescriptive but I sometimes do like playing with the idea that these characters actually are different at home #how they're different changes in my head on a regular basis haha #but it's still interesting to me and a fun way to play with things #larry gelbart #mashposting