Daily Dialogue — June 2, 2020

“Bravo! Author!”

— MASH (1970), screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr., novel by Richard Hooker

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Shower. Today’s suggestion by Esther Agulian Carr.

Trivia: The first take of the shot where Hot Lips is revealed in the shower didn’t work because Sally Kellerman anticipated the reveal, and was already lying on the floor when the tent flap went up. To distract her, Robert Altman and Gary Burghoff entered the shower tent and dropped their trousers while the shot was rolling outside. While Kellerman was staring at them, the tent flap was raised, resulting in her genuine surprise and shock when she realized what had happened. In the Special Edition double disc DVD, they say that Radar is standing naked beside the camera, and that’s the reason why Sally Kellerman looks so surprised when the flap was raised.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Esther:

One of my favorite shower scenes is from the movie M.A.S.H. They gather an audience to attend Margaret O’Houlihan as she showers. Just as she starts to sing, they drop the tent side. There she is. Bare naked. You can’t help but feel for her. I have never forgotten this scene.

Her tirade afterward is classic, too. She runs in, soaking wet in her robe, to Col. Blake, who is naked in bed with a woman. He listens calmly to: “This isn’t a hospital! It’s an insane asylum, and it’s your fault!”