Did you have a favorite MASH episode?

[dr.strangelove]

78. Not really

They were all told ahead of filming the scene. The true story has been somewhat Hollywoodized to make it sound cool, but is not truly what happened.

There are youtubes spots of Larry Gelbart, Loretta Swift and Jamie Farr talking about what really happened. In short, that episode had 2 OR scenes, the first when Henry was told he was being discharged and the last, when Radar tells everyone Henry died. They did withhold the last scene from everyone until the last day of shooting. They shot the OR scenes last. They did withhold the last scene from scripts to keep it quiet, but as you say, Alan Alda and Larry Gelbart have confirmed Alda knew. McLean Stevenson has said he knew as well, but I have never seen this confirmed.

Anyway, after they finished the scene when Henry was told he had enough points to go home, everyone thought they were wrapped. The cast was told to hang around for a minute for a quick meeting. Then they gave the actors the scene. The actors all talked about it with the director and the writers. Comments on this meeting have described it as being shock, sadness and even some objection. No one has told what anyone specifically said except Gary said he told McLean Stevenson he would probably win an Emmy for the episode (he did not). They then went out to shoot the scene. Unfortunately, there was a technical error and they had to do a second take. The second take is the one that is in the series. They shot a third take, because during the second take someone accidentally dropped a surgical instrument and you can hear the clang. But they thought that it worked well and used the second take in the episode.

Still an amazing story, but not as cool as the urban legend that they were not told until it was put on film. Gary practiced the message a few times ahead of time. The cast all knew, and the shot we have all scene was the second take. It was amazing work by all involved either way and the legend does not take away from their incredible work in my opinion.