Episode 59 - Adam's Rib

Season 3, Episode 59: Adam's Rib
Original Air Date: 11/26/74
Written by: Laurence Marks
Directed by: Gene Reynolds

With little or no wounded to take care of, Hawkeye and Trapper are bored, bored, bored!

To make matters worse, the Mess Tent has served the same awful food for 11 straight days--liver or fish. Hawkeye swears if they serve liver or fish one more time...

They head to the Mess Tent, and indeed, they are serving liver or fish. Hawkeye goes bonkers, at first yelling at the cooks and then leading the whole company in a chant of "We want something else!"

Henry makes a half-hearted attempt at a reprimand, but when he makes an off-handed comment about ribs, it sparks something in Hawkeye: ribs! That's what he wants!

Hawkeye decided he wants--nay, needs--ribs from Adam's Ribs, a takeout joint in Chicago. Henry sort of dismisses this juvenile demand, but Hawkeye won't be dissuaded. In the middle of the night, he has Radar place a call all the way to Chicago, lying to an ever-growing list of people so they patch him in to Adam's Ribs.

Finally, he places an order. The only problem now is, how to get them to the 4077th?

After a couple of false leads, Trapper remembers that he knew a girl in Chicago named Mildred. They call her, and Trapper makes sweet talk with her so she'll go pick up the ribs and ship them overseas. Mildred is pleased to hear from "Big John."

The ribs get stuck in Supply, since they didn't come with the requisite pile of official paperwork. The greedy Supply Sergeant, upon hearing the package contains the famous Adam's Ribs, demands a cut...and cole slaw! He is stunned when Hawkeye sadly informs him that he forgot to order the cole slaw.

Finally, the ribs arrive, and Hawkeye, Trapper, Radar, Klinger, and Henry sit down to eat. Just as they are about to dig in...wounded arrive. Hawkeye, in a rare moment of not dropping everything at the sound of incoming choppers, has to be dragged off by Trapper and Henry, begging for even the tiniest piece of rib to tide him over.


Fun Facts: A fairly silly premise ends up making for a classic episode, due to the superb jokes and excellent comedic performances. The two different phone call scenes--the first with Hawkeye talking to Adam's Ribs, the second with Trapper talking to Mildred--are like classic radio bits, since we only get to hear one side of the conversation.

Neither Frank or Hot Lips make an appearance in this episode.


Favorite Line: When Hawkeye is B.S.ing his way through to Adam's Ribs, at one point he poses as a reporter, doing a story on "Our star-freckled, spangled fighting boys" and gives his name as "Cranston Lamont", a bizarre, out-of-left-field reference to The Shadow that makes me laugh every time I hear it.