Alan Alda Studebaker

[SilverHawkDan]

Was watching M.A.S.H. tonight and Alan Alda and Hot Lips were driving in a Jeep when it quit running. Alan gets out to see if he can figure out what's wrong with it. Then he kicks the grill. Hot lips asks him what he's doing. He tells her he once owned a finicky Studebaker and the only thing it understood was a swift kick in the grill. I had to laugh at that one. They can't get it going and along comes an enemy patrol. They hide and the enemy gets it running and drives away. Funny stuff.

[clonelark]

I sat right behind Alan Alda at the NHRA winternationals about 20 years ago.

[JimsLeadCommander]

M.A.S.H. was a great-fun and popular show; I was with a large group of friends for the last M.A.S.H. T.V. show - - - grins all around.

[JRoberts]

I watch M.A.S.H. as often as possible. I remember this episode and its mention of Hawkeye's method of fixing his Studebaker. I believe Col. Potter has mentioned Studebakers once or twice as well over his tenure with the show.

[jclary]

I think that lots of the comments regarding makes of cars, (especially comments that could be perceived as negative) were aimed at orphan makes to keep from offending potential sponsors. Also, defunct companies are less likely to attempt a lawsuit.

[christophe]

That reminds me of this one from the early episodes of Starsky and Hutch.
Starsky is with a lady that owns an old but still good-looking Cadillac. She tells him that when she bought it new, the salesman said: "this car is going to be the hit of the year".
Starsky replies: "Year, that's what the salesman said too when my mom bought a Studebaker!" According to the tone of his voice, I don' think it was in 1951...
You're right. M.A.S.H. is a really great show. I got to buy the DVD's one of the days.
Nice day to all.

[Son O Lark]

I believe Mrs. Potter drives a Studebaker. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[Roscomacaw]

Avoiding mention of contemporary makes would certainly avoid embarrassing them if that mention was deragatory, but there was room to mention those marques in a positive light as well. I think the mention of Studebaker is more of an effort to invoke a note of reminiscence to help take the viewer back to that era. BTW, for me, tough to impossible to name a show that gave me more laughs - even episodes I've seem many times. It's one thing to have funny lines, but it's timeless to have them delivered with the artistry that the M.A.S.H. cast did.

[S_Ferrell]

Studebaker in Mash

Avoiding mention of contemporary makes would certainly avoid embarrassing them if that mention was deragatory, but there was room to mention those marques in a positive light as well. I think the mention of Studebaker is more of an effort to invoke a note of reminiscence to help take the viewer back to that era. BTW, for me, tough to impossible to name a show that gave me more laughs - even episodes I've seem many times. It's one thing to have funny lines, but it's timeless to have them delivered with the artistry that the M.A.S.H. cast did.

There was one episiode, Flatt, the commie hunter, accused Hot Lips of meeting a Red in a motel while she was in college. She said, " Steve and I didnt meet in a hotel, he had a Nash."

[JBOYLE]

There was one episiode, Flatt, the commie hunter ...

His name was Col. Flagg...funny guy.

Minor claim to fame...I met Larry Linville (Major Burns). Nice guy, a pilot.
And this is really important to me...the helicopters in the opening scenes were not only the right type, but the correct model. I flew with an instructor in the type in suburban LA, he brother flew the helicopters for the series.

[Roscomacaw]

Here's a couple that are sometimes confused for one another...

http://www.korean-war.com/KWAircraft/US/USAF/hiller_h23.html

http://www.korean-war.com/KWAircraft/US/USAF/bell_h13.html

While the Bell was produced into the early 70s, I worked on the Hiller production line in 1982 - producing choppers that were virtually the same as the H23. Factr is, both types of chopper are in use to this day in agricultural operations. They often buzz our house here in California. Pretty amazing that designs from the late 40s are STILL in regular service some 60-some years later!

[skyway]

I believe the Potters drove a Packard, but I think that comes from another related and short lived show?

[Gunslinger]

I believe the Potters drove a Packard, but I think that comes from another related and short lived show?

That would have been "After Mash" which didn't go over.

[BobPalma]

While the Bell was produced into the early 70s, I worked on the Hiller production line in 1982 - producing choppers that were virtually the same as the H23. Factr is, both types of chopper are in use to this day in agricultural operations. They often buzz our house here in California. Pretty amazing that designs from the late 40s are STILL in regular service some 60-some years later!

Yeah, well; 'just wait until the electronics industry hears about that infraction, Bob! They'll have those suckers obsoleted in no time. <GGG> BP

[Steve T]

Fun thread!

Mrs Potter drove a blue Pontiac...at least until one of the horses the Colonel had at the time took to trying to jump over it at every opportunity...so Sherm sold the car.

The M*A*S*H Stude reference I always remember came from an episode in which Hawkeye was reminiscing with an injured soldier about the town he grew up in. At one point he mentions "the searchlights at the Studebaker dealership when the new ones came out". The soldier is convinced they grew up in the same place, so accurate are Hawk's reminiscences, and he asks Hawk when he'd been in the town...Hawkeye's reply, poignantly, "Never. I grew up in the same small town, in Maine."

Other Stude drivers in TV shows were Howard Cunningham near the end of "Happy Days" (bright orange early-model Lark 4dr that actually turns up in one episode), and Cliff Clavin in "Cheers"...

S.