The glee club meets in the mess tent at 0800 hours. The first number on tonight's schedule is, uh, Father Mulcahy's solo, "I'm Confessin' That I Love You."
P.A. announcer
The episode of MASH that first aired on this night in 1972, "Dear Dad," was the series' first to use what became a rather familiar tactic on the show — telling a story in the form of a letter being written to someone back home.
The device would be used with other characters over the years, but in this case it was Hawkeye (Alan Alda) who was writing a letter to his father during the Christmas season. Other episodes utilizing the "Dear Dad" title would focus on Hawkeye's letters to his father, but letters home from Col. Potter, Radar, Klinger, etc., were also used in future episodes.
Thus the narration was in fact the text of the letter that Hawkeye was writing during a lull in the fighting.
The episode also helped to firmly establish the dual themes of the series — the antiwar theme and the comedic theme. "Dear Dad" was only the series' 12th episode, and MASH was still seeking its identity.
As I say the Christmas season had arrived, and Hawkeye used the letter to fill his father in on the news from MASH 4077th.
Radar (Gary Burghoff) was mailing a Jeep back to the States — one piece at a time.
Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson) delivered a sex lecture despite being clearly uncomfortable doing so.
And Hawkeye and Trapper John (Wayne Rogers) sabotaged the tent where Hot Lips (Loretta Swit) and Frank (Larry Linville) were to spend the evening together.
But all those things could have happened at any time of the year. They didn't have to be a week before Christmas.
What really made the episode a Christmas episode was the final segment, in which the 4077th was hosting its annual Christmas party for the local Korean children. Hawkeye was slated to play Santa Claus.
But his plans changed. He was called away to do emergency field surgery on a chest wound.
Still dressed as Santa, he descended by rope from a chopper as the battle raged around him.
A soldier waiting in a foxhole with the wounded man saw Hawkeye's descent and said to his buddy, "And you said there was no Santa Claus."
The concept of using a letter as the narration for an episode was a good idea and worked better in future efforts. It was a case of improving each time it was done.
But "Dear Dad" succeeded pretty well as a first effort — and it is still a pretty good Christmas episode.
