Movies - TV
The M*A*S*H Cast Needed 20 Takes To Make It Through One Hilarious Scene
By JEREMY SMITH
Per Ed Solomonson and Mark O'Neill’s “T.V.'s M*A*S*H: The Ultimate Guide Book,” filming the “M*A*S*H” episode “The General Flipped at Dawn” resulted in 20 takes of laughter.
The episode encountered a setback when Gary Burghoff, playing Radar, couldn’t stop laughing during a scene where Harry Morgan, as Major Barford Hamilton Steele, scolded him.
Burghoff found the scene “unbearably funny,” but the moment was serious. The scene was something writer Everett Greenbaum “witnessed during his days as a Navy pilot in WW2.”
Burghoff fondly recounts the scene when Major Steel was inspecting the troops “Harry asks me a question and then yells, ‘NO TALKING IN RANKS!’ I knew it [laughter] was coming [...]”
He clarified that the reason for breaking character was his co-star McLean Stevenson, “See, behind Harry was McLean. And I'd see that silly expression on McLean's face.”