Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Toughest Ticket - 1984

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This ad (drawn by my former instructor Joe Kubert!) appeared in issues of DC Comics, starting with books cover-dated April 1984. This particular one came from my copy of Justice League of America #225.

Aside from the numerous unusual aspects of the ad (Sgt. Rock talking to the real-life Ed McMahon, an appeal clearly meant for adults running in comic books), its the fifth panel that's really intriguing for any M*A*S*H fan:
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...so let me get this straight: there were radio show-style productions of M*A*S*H episodes broadcast in V.A. hospitals? Wow!

I have to think that somewhere, somehow, tapes of at least one or two of these shows (assuming they did more than one M*A*S*H, which is a big assumption) must still exist. I'd absolutely kill for the chance to hear one of them (Btw--for completion's sake: the above dialog is from Season Five's "Last Laugh")--I bet they're amazing things to behold.

I have absolutely no idea where I'd start looking for such recordings, but every time I look through an old comic that has this ad, I think about it all over again...


3 comments:

Richard said...

From http://www.veteransbedsidenetwork.org/vbnetwork/

"Our activities are TV & radio programs and patients are the stars. The volunteers bring scripts, adaptations of favorite radio and TV shows. They bring songbooks with the lyrics of the most popular songs of the century. They bring tape machines and record the productions. Before they leave the hospital, the tape is played back for the veterans to hear their performance as actors and singers."

Also: Ed McMahon is terrifying.

Benni said...

I'm a little late to this party Rob but I have to say that this blog is fantastic. This is easily the best M*A*S*H site I've found on the internet. I especially loved reading your Fun Facts and Favorite Line sections of the episode reviews! Thank you.

rob! said...

RAB-
Thanks for the link!

Benni-
Thanks for the nice words--better late than never!

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