The Last Days of MASH [VINTAGE 1983]

Alda, Arlene (photographs and notes); Alda, Alan (commentary

Published by The Unicorn Publishing House, New Jersey, 1983

About this Item

Near fine condition color photographic softcover wraps. Includes Authors' Dedication; Acknowledgments; Introduction by Alan Alda; Publisher's Note; Postscript; History of Korea; Pearl S. Buck Foundation; About the Authors; Publisher' Acknowledgments and Staff and Crew of the Final Season of MASH. Profusely illustrated with full color photographs. Second printing (the number line starts with the number 2). Vintage 1983. Unpaginated. "The MASH set burned to the ground on a Saturday. They called me at about ten o'clock the next morning to let me know. We still had our interiors on the sound stage at 20th Century Fox, but the buildings in the Malibu mountains were destroyed. We were in the middle of filming the two hour movie that would end the MASH series, and there was no way we could shoot the scenes that were left without the exterior sets. I put the phone down and took my script into the living room to see what changes could be made in the story to accommodate a brush fire. I was amused to realize that what I felt, instead of sadness and loss, was excitement. It was the same feeling I had had as a young actor on the stage when another player wold miss an entrance. I would be all alone out there and I would think, with that same little stab of excitement, "Okay, let's see what I can make of this." It was the feeling I would have many times years later as we filmed MASH when we would realize that a scene just didn't work and with a calm born of totally irrational confidence, we would put a hand into that thick dark place just beyond our reach and pull out an idea. Within a few minutes, I realized that some scenes would actually play better against the activity of a bug out as the MASH unit scrambled to escape a brush fire. An hour later I drove with Burt Metcalfe, the producer of the show, to the mountains near Malibu to see how bad the damage was. There was nothing left. Only the "Best Care Anywhere" sign was still standing, and one or two tents. The big tin hospital building was completely destroyed. It had melted into little puddles on the ground. In every direction, the hills were covered with gray and black ash and were still smoking. We were told by a ranger that the fire had swept through the place at about 40 miles an hour as it made its way down to the sea. Two days earlier the fire marshall had considered shutting us down because the fire was in a neighboring valley and headed in our direction. It wasn't until I heard how fast the fire had moved that I understood his concern. If we had been there when the fire hit, there would have been no way to move the hundred people in our crew out of the canyon before the fire swept across it. I realized the value of having an objective eye like that of the fire marshall on the set. When you have the right light and the actors are ready, all you want to do is turn the camera. You don't tend to stop just because a fire is headed toward you. That's the way it was with us. For eleven years, we didn't stop for anything. Then we looked up and realized that pretty soon we'd be burned out. And then we stopped. This is the story of our last few days." - Alan Alda, from the Introduction.

Seller Inventory # 010636

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Last Days of MASH [VINTAGE 1983]
• Publisher: The Unicorn Publishing House, New Jersey
• Publication Date: 1983
• Language: English
• Binding: Soft cover
• Illustrator: Brady, Sharon (book design)
• Printing: 2nd Printing
• Condition: Near Fine