The novel "M.A.S.H."

M.A.S.H. - A Novel About Three Army Doctors


Dr. Richard Hornberger spent his childhood in Hightstown, N.J., where he attended elementary school and high school. He spent his summers in Maine where his family had its roots. After studying medicine at Bowdoin College and the Cornell Medical School, he was drafted at the age of 26 years and fulfilled his military duty as doctor at the 8055th M.A.S.H., one of the 5 field hospital units of the Korean war.

Original cover (4 KB)
Original cover

After the war he returned to Maine and opened a doctor's office in Waterville. In the beginning he had not many patients and he began to write his war experiences down as a novel during the waiting times. He finished the work after 8 years and presented the book to many publishing companies. But it was rejected more than a dozen times, before he was able to publish his novel M.A.S.H. under the pen name Richard Hooker in 1968. This pseudonym was a reference to his golf swing by the way.

The book was a bit of a different war novel, after all the doctors made unmilitary things like drinking-bouts or stupid jokes to pass the time. Reality was of course not quite as hilarious as told in the book, but the doctors had not much respect for "brass".

"They had trouble getting surgeons, as long as I did my work, I could do anything I wanted to. Our unit was relatively unmilitary.", Dr. Hornberger has later said of his time in the Army.

New edition 1996 (3 KB)
New edition 1996

Dr. Hornberger sold the film rights for about 100,000 Dollar to Ingo Preminger, who produced the movie in 1970, the director was Robert Altman. The author was so impressed by the result, that he saw the movie 7 times in cinema during a short period. Above all he liked the transformation of the characters from the book to the screen. What he never liked though was the TV series M*A*S*H. He had always thought of himself as model for Hawkeye and made the character a conservative Republican in the book, like he was himself. Therefore he never liked the rather liberal interpretation of the character by Alan Alda. When the series ended in 1983, he told, "I get paid for it, so I'd like it to go on forever. But I'm certainly not upset that it's ending." For each first run of an episode he was paid 500 Dollar, for reruns he got fewer money. All in all he earned roughly 250,000 Dollar with the M*A*S*H mania, nowadays these numbers are just "peanuts".

Dr. Hornberger and William E. Butterworth wrote a total of 14 sequels to the book (not without hope of taking advantage of the successful TV series) and Hornberger continued practicing medicine until his retirement in 1988. He died on November 5, 1997 at the age of 73 years at the Maine Medical Center.

The novel was out of print for a long time, but in 1996 it was republished as paperback. Because of its size of 219 pages it is also suitable for people, who are no bookworms, and it is a good choice for every M*A*S*H fan.


The novels from the M.A.S.H. series


As mentioned above, there are 14 sequels to Hornbergers first book, written mainly after the series had started its success story on the screen. All of the later books are out of print now and can only be found in second hand bookstores. After the first two books Hooker took William E. Butterworth as "collaborator". Some people are saying though, that due to the differences in writing style Hornbergers main contribution to the later sitcom books was their approval and the taking of the emoluments checks. The final book from the series titled MASH Mania was written by Hornberger alone again. Please keep also in mind, that these books have no connection to the movie or the series, therefore the characters and their development differs from their counterparts in the series. Additionally many new characters are invented in the books and regarding the short descriptions, the novels are seeming to be a bit strange - carefully said...

MASH (4 KB)
MASH

Author: Richard Hooker
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: 1969
ISBN: 0-671-77232-5 (Original), 0-688-14955-3 (New edition)
Buy it at: Amazon.com (Includes also the first few pages as samples)

The doctors and nurses who worked in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) during the Korean War were trained, dedicated, and pushed to the brink. And they were young - too young to be doing what they had to do. As Richard Hooker writes in the Foreword, "A few flipped their lids, but most of them just raised hell, in a variety of ways and degrees."
Meet the true-life heroes and lunatics who fought in the Korean War, and experience the martini-laced mornings, marathon hijinks, sexual escapades, and that perfectly corrupt football game that every fan of the movie will remember. It's also a story of hard work and skill in the face of enormous pressure and odds. Here is where it all began - the novel that made M*A*S*H a legend.

"This is lusty, uninhibited man-stuff with no holds barred. It is also extremely funny" - PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY
MASH Goes to Maine (4 KB)
MASH Goes to Maine

Author: Richard Hooker
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: January, 1973
ISBN: 0-671-78254-1-125
Buy it at: Amazon.com

Back from Korea and zanier than ever, those four irreverent military surgeons - Hawkeye, Trapper, Duke, and Spearchucker - are eager and ready to operate again. This time it's on the crusty natives of Spruce Harbor, Maine.
There the irrepressible M.D.'s meet their lunatic equals and join with them in a wacky, hilarious romp through every operating room and bedroom in town.
MASH Goes to New Orleans (5 KB)
MASH Goes to New Orleans

Author: Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: January, 1975
ISBN: 0-671-78490-0-150
Buy it at: Amazon.com

The whole M*A*S*H gang - Hawkeye, Trapper, Hot Lips and the rest - hit New Orleans to attend the American Tonsil, Adenoid, and Vas Defernes Society convention. But that's just the beginning. It may take years for Crescent City to recover from the gang's outrageous brand of medical madness - and their boozing, cruising and cutting up all the way from Basin Street to the Louisiana bayous.
MASH Goes to Paris (5 KB)
MASH Goes to Paris

Author: Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: January, 1975
ISBN: 0-671-78491-9-150
Buy it at: Amazon.com

Once again, the intrepid gang from M*A*S*H - Hawkeye, Hot Lips, Trapper, Radar and the General - are called to their country's service. This time they've been called to rescue the U.S. Government from a ticklish diplomatic spot.
And by the time their wenching, wine-soaked tour of duty has ended, they've all but drawn and quartered Gay Paree - from the Quai d'Orsay to Les Champs Elysees, from the Grand Opera to La Tour Eiffel.
MASH Goes to London (4 KB)
MASH Goes to London

Author: Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: June, 1975
ISBN: 0-671-78941-4-150
Buy it at: Amazon.com

M*A*S*H does it again. Only this time in Merry Old England - and the cast of characters includes an opera singer, an orphaned Duke, a castlekeeper, an oil baron, and the entire Bayou Perdu Council, Knights of Columbus - to name a few!
Those lovable, zany members of the medical profession - Hawkeye, Trapper John, Hot Lips, and the rest - will keep you in stitches with their wacky operations - and the Queen's England will never be the same!
MASH Goes to Morocco (5 KB)
MASH Goes to Morocco

Author: Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: January, 1976
ISBN: 0-671-80264-4-150
Buy it at: Amazon.com

Hawkeye, Trapper, and Hot Lips - with the misguided connivance of the U.S. State Department - descend on Merry Morocco. Abetted by a royal prince, a drunken sheikh, a ravishing blonde diplomat, and a wacked-out cast of internationally misfits, the fun-loving medics unleash their own zany brand of chaos on the unsuspecting Arabs.
MASH Goes to Las Vegas (5 KB)
MASH Goes to Las Vegas

Author: Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: January, 1976
ISBN: 0-671-80265-8-150
Buy it at: Amazon.com

It was to be a small, intimate wedding at Nero's Villa, with Radar as the love-sick groom and Kristina Korsky-Rimsakov as his blushing bride. From distant places the well-wishers gathered for a simple prenuptial bash - Hawkeye and Trapper John, Hot Lips and her all-male choir, Boris Korsky-Rimsakov (there to oversee his Little Sister's marriage), Horsey de la Chevaux and his Knights of Columbus Marching Band, plus assorted Arab royalty and other international sporting types. Nero's Villa had entertained unbridled orgies before, but this marriage spree turned into totally wacked-out chaos before the knot was firmly tied by Archbishop John Joseph ("Dago Red") Mulcahy.
MASH Goes to Hollywood (3 KB)
MASH Goes to Hollywood

Author: Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: April, 1976
ISBN: 0-671-80408-1-150
Buy it at: Amazon.com

Those antiseptic angels of mercy, Hawkeye, Trapper, and Hot Lips, do their outrageous best to get an ugly but dedicated state trooper into medical school - even if it means conning him into acting in a soap opera! Aided by an improbably cast of characters that includes the world's best opera singer, assorted soap-opera stars and producers, and a sexy biologist who doesn't want to act, the gang of medics unleash a whirlwind of madness. By the time the dust settles, nothing remains the same...
MASH Goes to Vienna (6 KB)
MASH Goes to Vienna

Author: Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: June, 1976
ISBN: 0-671-80458-8-150
Buy it at: Amazon.com

Those irrepressible practitioners of the cutting art - Hawkeye and Trapper John - descend on unwary Vienna. Inspired by such cronies as Hot Lips, Boris Korsky-Rimsakov, and the ebullient Dowager Duchess of Folkestone - and with memorable assistance from some boob-tube celebrities - they indulge in merry mayhem and blackmail. At least one U.S. senator and two TV personalities - to say nothing of Vienna - will never be the same.
MASH Goes to Miami (5 KB)
MASH Goes to Miami

Author: Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: September, 1976
ISBN: 0-671-807056-6-150
Buy it at: Amazon.com

Due to somewhat unusual circumstances, all recounted here in full, honest and bibulous detail, the merry madcaps from M*A*S*H descend upon Florida's Gold Coast.
Their capacity for creating monumental mayhem - with copious help from belts of the bubbly - is augmented by the presence of the Painless Polack (a dentist), an amorous Cuban matriarch, a couple of conniving senators and various roistering dignitaries who may never, ever fully recover.
MASH Goes to San Francisco (5 KB)
MASH Goes to San Francisco

Author: Richard Hooker, William E. Butterworth, and Pamela Ferguson
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: November, 1976
ISBN: 0-671-80786-2-150
Buy it at: Amazon.com

When the bibulous medical team of Hawkeye and Trapper take off on a misguided mission of mercy...
And Hot Lips meets up with her long-lost – and better forgotten – inamorata of Korean days, Major Francis Burns...
And Boris Korsky-Rimsokov befriends a penniless balalaika player of mysterious origins...
The ensuing pandemonium turns the Golden Gate City upside down in one of the merriest escapades ever to involve the mad medics from M*A*S*H
MASH Goes to Texas (5 KB)
MASH Goes to Texas

Author: Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: January, 1977
ISBN: 0-671-80892-3-150
Buy it at: Amazon.com

A ten-gallon tipple in Texas when Nurse Esther Flanagan travels to Dallas for the Saints-Cowboys football game, chaperoned by Hawkeye and Trapper John...
And they are joined by the Reverend Mother Emeritus Hot Lips and millionaire Horsey de la Chevaux...
And they meet Chief Sitting Buffalo and his cowboy friend riding in a 1951 Cadillac hearse...
And most of the entourage arrives at the stadium in a lavender van bearing a bumper sticker that read "Gay Power"...
You know it's going to be a hell of a ball game!
MASH Goes to Montreal (5 KB)
MASH Goes to Montreal

Author: Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: June, 1977
ISBN: 0-671-80910-5-150
Buy it at: Amazon.com

Hawkeye and Trapper John assume unlikely roles as "fathers of the bride" - and U.S.-Canadian relations may never be the same! To Montreal they escort a motley party, determined to celebrate the most memorable wedding that ever joined a love-sick couple. With the help of the Reverend Mother Emeritus Hot Lips, Horsey de la Chevaux, the Royal Canadian Mounties, and a drunken cast of thousands, the nuptial proceedings get under way... and there's a rollicking fight to catch the bouquet!
MASH Goes to Moscow (6 KB)
MASH Goes to Moscow

Author: Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: September, 1977
ISBN: 0-671-80911-3-150
Buy it at: Amazon.com

Non other than the world's greatest, and sexiest, opera star, who lives and loves in Paris. Pursued by twenty-five million Frenchwomen, he's also coveted by the wife of Russia's Chairman. The Chairman has staked his prestige on getting Boris to sing at the Bolshoi – but the great lover ungracefully refuses.
There's an international incident in the offing; not even the president of the United States can persuade Boris to go to Moscow. But maybe Hawkeye and Trapper John can – with an assist from the world's ugliest movie star, the world's messiest anchorman and the world's shortest and randiest Arab sheik.
The results are revolutionary, even for Russia, as the Red Army clashes with the ridiculous, and Moscow meets...
MASH Mania (4 KB)
MASH Mania

Author: Richard Hooker
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: February, 1979
ISBN: 0-671-82178-4-195
Buy it at: Amazon.com

Alive and well in Spruce Harbor, Maine, the hometown of Hawkeye Pierce. He and his wacky pals of the M*A*S*H 4077th may be growing older, but they sure haven't grown up!
Who else would connive to send a forty-year old lobsterman to medical school - on a football scholarship?
Or have a bear and an eighty-year-old physician tried for rape?
Or maneuver a prostitute named Graveyard Alice into bed with a bird - even if he is the Greatest Black-Headed Grosbeak of Them All?
They did it all - and plenty more - and the result, well... is the town of Spruce Harbor still standing?

Source: All Covers and most contents taken from http://www.mash4077.co.uk


Created: January 23, 2002
Last edited: November 20, 2005 - 16:21 CET by Andreas Helm