M*A*S*H Trading Cards, Part 7

Donruss M*A*S*H Trading Cards 19-21:

Can you Guess The Episode shown in card #20? The person who first correctly names the episode gets bragging rights and is named an official AfterM*A*S*H blog Swamp Rat!

M*A*S*H Trading Cards, Part 6

Donruss M*A*S*H Trading Cards 16-18:

Can you Guess The Episode shown in card #16? The person who first correctly names the episode gets bragging rights and is named an official AfterM*A*S*H blog Swamp Rat!

Also--why the heck was Card #18 not Card #1?!?

M*A*S*H Trading Cards, Part 5

Donruss M*A*S*H Trading Cards 13-15:

Card #13 looks like its from a specific episode, but its so vague I can't really tell. The other two cards are just nice portraits of Mike Farrell and Loretta Swit!

M*A*S*H Trading Cards, Part 4

Donruss M*A*S*H Trading Cards 10-12:

Can you Guess The Episode shown in card #12? The person who first correctly names the episode gets bragging rights and is named an official AfterM*A*S*H blog Swamp Rat!

M*A*S*H Trading Cards, Part 3

Donruss M*A*S*H Trading Cards 7-9:

Can you Guess The Episode shown in card #7? The person who first correctly names the episode gets bragging rights and is named an official AfterM*A*S*H blog Swamp Rat!

AfterM*A*S*H Podcast, Episode 1: "MASH The Pilot"

M*A*S*H Trading Cards, Part 2

Donruss M*A*S*H Trading Cards 4-6:

Card #6 is a still from an actual episode. Every time we post one of those, the blog invites commenters to Guess The Episode (an idea ripped entirely off from the M*A*S*H 4077TV.com site!). The person who first correctly names the episode gets bragging rights and is named an official AfterM*A*S*H blog Swamp Rat!

M*A*S*H Trading Cards, Part 1 - 1982

One piece of M*A*S*H merchandise not yet covered is the 1982 trading card series by Donruss!

Why M*A*S*H would be considered suitable subject for a trading card line, I know not; yet here they are. The cards themselves are a little on the dull side: many of the pictures are staged studio/PR shots, and only the then-current cast of the show was represented: no Trapper, Henry, Frank, or even Radar. Plus there are some downright odd choices for card fronts that we'll get to down the line.

Starting today, we'll be posting three cards per post, so check back every day! Here's cards 1-3:

M*A*S*H IBM Print Ad - 1986

I found this print ad for IBM for sale on eBay. I didn't know they even had a print component for the series of commercials, but of course it makes sense: when you spend this much time and effort putting together an ad campaign like this, you're going to go all out.

The commercials featured almost every member of the M*A*S*H cast, Farrell, Stevenson, and Steirs excepted. I have no idea if there are other print ads that feature Alan Alda as well--I sure hope so!

M*A*S*H Bloopers

A couple of minutes of surprisingly foul-mouthed M*A*S*H bloopers!

Milton Bradley Puzzles - 1982

Saw these two 250-piece puzzles for sale on eBay--I cannot imagine they sold well, considering the fact that Milton Bradley (or someone else) picked the most boring or just plain weird scenes possible to use for the puzzles!

When did you ever see Margaret clowning around with Klinger like that? And Col. Potter could not look more bored in that shot with Sophie (who also looks bored). Very strange!

M*A*S*H Postcard - 1983

This M*A*S*H postcard is on sale on eBay--it's from the Smithsonian's exhibit on the show (which featured a couple of the show's sets, including The Swamp) which ran not too long after it went off the air.

I wonder how CMR did on her mid-term?

M*A*S*H Playing Cards - 1982

Saw this for sale on eBay--since the staff of the 4077th played cards a lot, I guess you could call this a completely justifiable tie-in!

Galveston Daily News - 2/28/83

An article from the day of M*A*S*H's final show!

Frederick News Post - 2/25/83

A "Hot Lips Look-alike contest"? As Radar might say, Holy Cow!

Lethbridge Herald - 3/3/83

An interesting piece about the emotional toil M*A*S*H going off the air had on people!

Wisconsin State Journal - 6/3/73

This article came less than a year into M*A*S*H's run, and before CBS moved the show to after All In The Family--where the rest of America pretty much found it, so the Wisconsin State Journal (or some AP reporter) was ahead of the curve. Click the image to read the whole piece!

Roswell Daily Record - 12/20/82

A very favorable piece about M*A*S*H Executive Producer Burt Melcalfe, a little less than three months before the show left the air.

Check out the headline and last line of the first paragraph, which describes Metcalfe as having "made a great show even greater." Now, I love the show as a whole, all eleven seasons, and think some of the series' best moments occurred in Seasons Six through Eleven. But you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who says that M*A*S*H's best years, as a whole, were post-Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds.

Yuma Daily Sun - 12/2/77

A surprising amount of column space devoted to what would, ultimately, not really go anywhere: the "romance" between Hawkeye and Margaret. That's how big M*A*S*H was!

Daily News Herald - 7/15/82

Pretty self-explanatory--M*A*S*H rules!

The Lowell, MA Sun - 3/18/75

Obsessed as I am now with finding new things to post here, and having concluded the run of episode adverts I had, I went searching for M*A*S*H-related newspaper articles.

This one is, of course, all about McLean Stevenson's final episode on the show. This article ran the day of "Abyssinia, Henry"--March 18, 1975--which means people read it before the episode in question aired.

Now check the copy, especially the last line: they give away the ending!! One of the biggest shocks ever delivered by a TV show, and this newspaper article gives it away to anyone familiar with the movie Mr. Roberts. I cannot imagine how furious I would have been, either as a viewer or a member of the M*A*S*H staff--if I had seen that. And since a lot of these types of articles were written by the AP or a similar outfit, its possible this piece ran in other newspapers, as well. Sheesh!


I'm happy to report I found quite a few interesting(?) newspaper articles related to the show, so check back here often as I'll be posting them regularly!

M*A*S*H Ad: "AfterM*A*S*H"

I know CBS meant well, but re-running the classic "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen" just one week before the premiere of AfterM*A*S*H was really putting the latter show behind the eightball.


This is the last "M*A*S*H Ad" in my collection; I hope everyone had as much fun seeing these pieces of 4077th Obscura as much as I did!

M*A*S*H Ad: "Springtime"

I find it interesting that the write-up bothered to mention that guest-star Mary Kay Place co-wrote the script of this episode. Pre-auteur TV, scriptwriters' existence were barely acknowledged.

M*A*S*H Ad: "Our Finest Hour"

M*A*S*H's one and only "clip show."

M*A*S*H Ad: "Oh, How We Danced"

"Klinger catches it surreptitiously on tape"? Er, no...other than that, pretty good description of the episode!

M*A*S*H Ad: "The More I See You"

Not an ad, exactly, but who cares, especially when discussing one of my all-time favorite episodes...

M*A*S*H Ad: "Morale Victory"

What is it with the Klinger-in-a-tux shot??

M*A*S*H Ad: "Heal Thyself"

For once, a pretty accurate and non-goofy description of the episode!

M*A*S*H Ad: "Letters"

A generic picture, but a very charming one!