Where were you the night that the finale of the comedy TV series "MASH" aired 25 years ago to a record-setting number of viewers?
Most of the people gathered in a woodsy-fragrant clearing in Malibu Creek State Park on Saturday morning could tell you where they were while watching that famous episode. Some, alas, could not; they would be the ones who hadn't been born 25 years ago.
But they could all look across to the chaparral-covered mountains and recognize the backdrop for the show's opening scene of helicopters flying in as the melancholy theme song played. They pointed up the grassy slope to the place where the injured would arrive to be cared for by the characters of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.
And they grinned in delight as they posed for pictures next to the replica of the camp signpost with its medley of wooden arrows pointing to the hometowns of MASH personnel.
For this group, the clearing was sacred ground -- and not just because it's the archaeological site of a Chumash village. It was the outdoor filming location of the beloved TV show about a Korean War MASH unit that presaged the now-routine melding of comedy and drama in television. Devoted fans -- both original and DVD-raised -- hiked in or hitched bumpy rides in vintage military vehicles Saturday for a tribute to the show and its panoramic location.
"It's like Graceland; I love it," said Stephanie Ouellette, a 24-year-old actor who came with her friends, Jenn Morrison, 24, and Giancarlo Damiani, 23, also actors. Morrison and Ouellette were nurtured on reruns and DVDs of the show.
"I think Hot Lips is awesome," Morrison said. "She's so spunky."
No one seemed more moved than the actors who became stars as a result of the show. That included Hot Lips herself, who still sports near-platinum-blond hair in long curls.
"It's thrilling to be honored in this way," said Loretta Swit, who played Maj. Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan. "I think if I had to sum it up, what we're most proud of is that we made everybody come together. And I think this will also bring people together."
One of the "MASH" directors, Charles Dubin, 89, as well as producers Gene Reynolds and Burt Metcalfe, all took turns at the microphone. William Christopher, who played Father Mulcahy (the boyish MASH priest is gone but that lilting voice is still there) spoke, as did actor Jeff Maxwell, who called his character, the cook Igor, more "biscuit" than "role."
