Back when it aired frequently on FX, I watched M*A*S*H quite a bit. I had the free time, it was usually funny (well, the early seasons were funny), and heck, my roommate liked it too, and it's always nice to find something everyone can enjoy. At some point I started to wonder how Henry Blake would have fared if he had to deal with Major Charles Emerson Winchester III. It never happened, obviously, since Blake was discharged (then apparently shot down on the way home) well before Frank Burns went round the bend*, which opened up the spot that Winchester filled. By that point, Colonel Potter was well established in command.
So I watch Winchester gripe and moan about how he wants out of Korea, and back to Tokyo, or preferably, Boston, and I watch Potter calmly deflect those requests, and I think about how much more difficult Blake would have found that.
Colonel Blake had trouble fending off Majors Burns and Houlihan, and those two were idiots compared to Winchester, though Houlihan did have more pull with the brass. At the end of the day, if Henry didn't acede to their demands, they just went over his head**, and so Henry could get some piece for awhile, which is all I think he really wanted. Besides, whatever problems Burns and Houlihan were causing, Hawkeye and Trapper would eventually outwit them, and ease the pressure one Henry***. Winchester seemed like a more forceful personality, one that could have overwhelmed Henry, and the Pierce/Hunnicut combo only seemed to have about a 50% success rate in their battles with Charles, so it's not for certain they could have forced him to back off.
I remember one point shortly after Winchester had arrived, and subsequently was trying to leave, he told Potter that his father knew Harry Truman. He didn't like him, but he knew him. Potter just smiled at the threat, and responded that Charles should have his dad talk to Truman, then Truman could talk to Potter, and they'd see what could be arranged, but until then, and he stopped smiling at that point, Winchester was staying put. End of discussion. I can't see Blake being able to marshal that kind of resolve. At best, he might be able to fumble, stall, or make vague promises to look into getting Charles a transfer to an extent that would placate Winchester for a time, but I don't know how long he could hold up under a repeat of those barrages.
* I mean in-story, not that Larry Linville, the actor who played Frank Burns, went around the bend.
** Which is I guess the military equivalent of tattling.
*** When they weren't the ones applying pressure themselves, either because they wanted him to do something, or their antics were getting him in hot water. Honestly, they were pretty crappy friends to Henry Blake, always making him out ot be the bad guy if he didn't go along with them, even though he was the one who always wound up covering their butts when they did something stupid.
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2 comments:
I think you're right. Henry was more trying to keep his head down until he could get that trip back Stateside (sob ...) - I think Chuck had a Hot Lips-level of steel in him that, allied to the fact that he was not a complete boob like Major Ferret-Face, would have been very difficult for someone like Colonel Blake to resist.
Matthew: I think the one thing that might have helped Henry was that Winchester probably wouldn't be trying to get Henry ousted as C.O., so Henry might be able to cope with Charles' demands more readily, since they probably wouldn't Henry's superiors down on him as often. Maybe.
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