The Moon is Not Blue

"The Moon Is Not Blue" was the 248th episode of the M*A*S*H television series, and the eighth of season eleven. The episode aired on December 13, 1982.

Plot

Everyone is frustrated by the unrelenting hot weather, and Hawkeye and B.J. are bored with the movies the unit is sent. After reading about a newly released movie The Moon Is Blue and its supposedly salacious content in a Boston newspaper, they decide it's the movie they want sent to the camp. They attempt to pull strings with the delivery driver, Corporal Bannister, in exchange for pills (placebos sent to the hospital in error) to help him control his nerves in advance of a date. He leads them to Major Frankenheimer, who will send on the movie if Hawkeye and B.J. can get hold of a copy on his behalf. When the movie arrives, Frankenheimer goes against his word and schedules the movie to be sent to his "A-list" first. Bannister helps them by switching labels on the movie can with State Fair, only to have State Fair end up at the camp.

Some weeks later, The Moon Is Blue arrives at the camp and is screened to a full house. Hawkeye and B.J. are disappointed by its lack of promised sexually explicit content. Father Mulcahy points out that "One of the characters did say 'virgin'", to which Hawkeye replies, exasperated, "That's because everyone was!"

Historical References

The original movie sent to the 4077th, Sahara, was probably a reference to the 1943 film with Humphrey Bogart.

The Moon is Blue was released in the USA on July 8, 1953, only nineteen days before the armistice for the Korean War was signed. The episode plot suggests the action took place over a considerably longer time, and there is no mention of the end of the war being in sight.

Harry Morgan, who played Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H, has a brief role in the film State Fair as a midway pitchman.

High Noon was a 1952 movie with Gary Cooper and would have been a year old when The Moon is Blue was released.

Hawkeye's comment about "revenuers" after the still is confiscated refers to the U.S. Prohibition agents who worked indirectly for the United States Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Busby Berkeley was a choreographer and movie director in the early to mid 20th Century. Hawkeye references him when he sees all the movie posters in Frankenheimer's office.

External links

• "The Moon is Not Blue" at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Moon is Not Blue" at TV.com