I've always thought the character of Sidney Freedman was an example of absolutely perfect casting. When Sidney paid a visit it was always a great episode.
here here. whenever someone goes a little ,...shall we say crazy?, he's available, and it's a comfort, even when he's simply mentioned ."call Sidney Freeman"
I saw Alan Arbus interviewed one time and he told a story about how his daughter had been injured and went to the hospital. When Alan arrived the doctor on duty started talking to him like he was a real doctor. He had to remind the doctor that he was only an actor and didnt understand on the medical jargon
Sydney Freedman is the reason I became a therapist. I love the line, "Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice. Take down your pants and slide on the ice." Brilliant, wry delivery. And I agree with Alan Alda - Alan Arbus was completely convincing.
I have to agree that Sidney was one of the great characterizations of a kind and dedicated professional - my students all wanted to be Dr. Freedman... maybe me, too!
I just bought this episode because it was always one of my favorites. My favorite scene was when BJ and Friedman pranked Frank and he tripped into the air raid hole!
I'm absolutely with you and your students. Allan Arbus was terrific and brought a really nice touch to this character. He could play empathy with a deliciously light touch.
That he talks about treating Alan Arbus as an actual psychiatrist is rather amusing. In one of his books, Alda describes going to the doctor's office and having his doctor speak to him as if he was a physician. "I don't understand what you're saying. I'm not a surgeon in real life."
3:58 What Alda said about writing is spot on. It's so satisfying to write something, put it down, then come back to it awhile later and say "well, hey! This is pretty good." It's especially satisfying because so often, you look back on something you wrote years (even months) ago and you're mortified that you could jot something so flawed from top to bottom.
I feel that way about my comment sometimes LOL I'll run across a video that I swore never seen only to see that I commented on it and I look at it and I go did I Really write that?. Wow that's profound LOL😂 Same with my art. I craft a lot of stuff and have my whole life and many times I put things aside and said no I don't like it it's not good enough only to look at pictures of it years later and wonder why I didn't like it because it was absolutely beautiful
57 year old pro photographer from seattle here... would watch MASH with my parents growing up and LOVED it...of course. How did I never know that Allan Arbus was married to Diane Arbus and they both shared a photography business with each other? Diane was a photo guru! Allan was no slouch himself now that Im researching it a bit...just blown away learning this!
As a poet a lot of what I come up with is what I "hear" as if being spoken by one of the muses or my particular Muse. I've also heard Bob Dylan say that he has no idea where much of his early work came from and how he could have possibly written it. Tom Petty thought the songs already existed and it was a matter of keeping oneself prepared to transcribe them when they presented themselves. After more than 50 years it continues to be a very mysterious process!
I too am a poet. Your reply sounds remarkably like things I am always saying. It's already "out there" and our job, our talent if you will, is to be able to pick it up.
Dear Alan, I'm so glad you wrote "Dear Sigmund" JUST AS YOU DID! Allan Arbus was great as Sidney, and creating an episode that centered on him was a really nice idea. And the episode was humorous and very touching. I also thought "Inga" was a great show that focused Hawkeye in a new direction. M*A*S*H had a great way of pivoting the characters from what they had been and toward what they would be.
My aunt, a former MASH nurse, ended up taking her own life...she missed this show and I can't help but wonder if she would have found any solace in it's presentation.
ashandalsmom I was Sad to hear of your Auntie’s story. Would it be presumptuous to ask which a Nurse She played? If you are not comfortable it’s 👍 OK. MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU & YOURS.😇 Either way Thanks for the memories! I still watch 1 or 2 Episodes per day🤓😇
@@l.richmondchilds9548 She was not an actress, she was an actual MASH nurse during the Korean Conflict. Her husband, my uncle, was a fighter pilot who died in a training accident after they got home.
ashandalsmom I was sobered to hear of your story as I am both a student of History and Human behavior. I am ill at this time and for the 1st time in my life I totally understand The weariness that causes suicidal desires. I have had a wonderful & rich life but chronic illness puts a new face on our lives. I ‘m 👌 OK. MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU AND YOURS!
@@l.richmondchilds9548 Please take care of yourself and hang in there. The devastation to loved ones after her passing was horrible, not only for my mom and family but to my 11 year cousin she left behind. This world is hard enough, we must lift each other up with kindness!
that is one of my favorite episodes. it's like i new more about the actors / actress. in that one episode then any other and i stile watch mash every time it's on
I always thought that it would have been a better ending if the big reveal at the end of the episode had been that Friedman was the mystery practical joker (as a way of relieving his depression) rather than BJ.
Great point. I just watched this episode tonight and I have thought that also. It actually seems like the show was leading to this too, but instead, it was BJ.
Thinking back to the episode, I agree, it would've been better if it was Sydney the whole time. Only, instead of blatantly coming out that it was him, give a subtle hint at the end that it was him the whole time.
BJ was by nature the practical joker, with Frank Burns and later Charles Winchester his favorite targets. In time, BJ came to respect Winchester much more than head twat Ferret Face.
You could make that argument, but i always thought the point of the story was that Sidney admired how the MASH people managed to stay sane and that's what helped him pick himself up and dust himself off. The practical joke thing just didn't seem to be his style.
I also loved Alan Arbus and the man who played Col Flagg. This was an excellent episode. Hawkeye's evolution from player to more dimensional guy was wonderful.
I watched (and still do) watch a lot of MASH. Personally, I now see some of my influences were more so Father Mulcahy and Col. Potter. I did get some of my rebellious stuff off Hawkeye, minded.
Was so glad Alan Arbus (Sidney Friedman) had a pretty big role in the show finale, he was perfect casting and just had this aura when he was on an episode, it would be a good one… He and Colonel Flagg were on here and there, but were welcomed cast members!
Zachery Kubish: Flagg: from Freedman “ With your Schizophrenia I’d have’ta charge YOU double time”. What a great & timeless insult!...that went right over Flaggs head...I feel that he was only then ‘given wings’ to fly out the window sill later break his (Col. Flaggs’ ) 🦵 leg!! With or W/O The laugh track--Flagg deserves his fate. His broken leg or fake Appendectomy....😃😁🤓😎🤪
I like the way he puts it, that when you're writing, some of the best stuff just comes by. I've written a couple novels and some of the best characters just appeared one day and their story was easy to tell because they told it through me. It sounds strange, but that is how it works. If I could explain it, I would do it more often and be closer to Steven King than the guy who writes stuff he doesn't like for money and stuff he loves for himself. But if you haven't tried it, you really should because as Alan points out, when you write something and then revisit later and realize it's pretty good, well, that's a feeling that's hard to beat.
Mister Alda, you are the the backbone of M*A*S*H, its skeleton, the heart and soul of the whole thing! Thank you a lot! I give you four thousand and seventy seven high fives!
I know names change sometimes during a show's run (especially when new writers come on board), but for all we know, Milton could have been his actual first name, yet chose to go by his middle name Sidney.
Eric Andrews yes that’s what I thought. It could’ve been Milton Sidney Freedman or Sidney Milton Freedman. Maybe Milton to the army and Sidney to friends
GOD, do I wish that writers on other shows -- and I'm talking about GOOD shows -- had heeded Alda's advice about being careful to keep a character from affecting the audience negatively, in the way that they are meant to affect the other CHARACTERS negatively. The writers on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" did this perfectly with Ted Baxter; the writers on "Barney Miller" failed abjectly with Inspector Luger, who was as grating and unpleasant for the viewers as he was for the men of the 12th precinct. Even "M*A*S*H" didn't entirely escape this problem. The Frank Burns character's racism and unending grouchiness really got to be a pain to watch after a while; I was SO thankful when Charles -- a much more complex and interesting character -- replaced him.
he waited 2 solid minutes to display ''directed by ALAN ALDA" after ''written by'' ALAN ALDA".what is up w/ that? I'm a big fan, but well,...3 paragraphs of dialogue subsequently passed by.
" Okay, Alan and Mike. We agreed this would be a rap session. Not another Psych session. Damn! I have zero idea how to cure male shtuff! " -- Alan Arbus
These episodes could never have happened! Freudian psychiatrists touring mash units during the Korean War! Think about that. Hawkeye having nervous breakdowns every so often and the psychiatrist coming in observing him speaking to him and treating him. Never could have happened. This was war. It was brutal. Hawkeye standing outside at night bouncing basketballs through a hoop, yes we had a basketball hoop In Korea at a mash unit, crazy huh? And the psychiatrist is there talking to him observing him, if you think that could happen in war you’re out of your mind. Mash was an anti-war anti-conservative leftist gobbledygook of 1960s pop psychology mixed in with this fake war format! It could never have happened.
Alan Alda sort of ruined MASH with his liberal views and feminism as well as making Wayne Rogers and McClean Stevenson both quit because he hogged most of the lines and stories.
I've always thought the character of Sidney Freedman was an example of absolutely perfect casting. When Sidney paid a visit it was always a great episode.
AHHHHHHHGREED!
Yes
I absolutely agree. I loved Sidney.
Right on
here here. whenever someone goes a little ,...shall we say crazy?, he's available, and it's a comfort, even when he's simply mentioned ."call Sidney Freeman"
Alan Arbus was my favorite character on MASH. He, along with Flagg, really added to the presentation.
I saw Alan Arbus interviewed one time and he told a story about how his daughter had been injured and went to the hospital. When Alan arrived the doctor on duty started talking to him like he was a real doctor. He had to remind the doctor that he was only an actor and didnt understand on the medical jargon
Sydney Freedman is the reason I became a therapist. I love the line, "Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice. Take down your pants and slide on the ice." Brilliant, wry delivery.
And I agree with Alan Alda - Alan Arbus was completely convincing.
I have to agree that Sidney was one of the great characterizations of a kind and dedicated professional - my students all wanted to be Dr. Freedman... maybe me, too!
I just bought this episode because it was always one of my favorites. My favorite scene was when BJ and Friedman pranked Frank and he tripped into the air raid hole!
@@paulklenk9605 Yes - the series had SO many great, well-executed moments!
I'm absolutely with you and your students. Allan Arbus was terrific and brought a really nice touch to this character. He could play empathy with a deliciously light touch.
That he talks about treating Alan Arbus as an actual psychiatrist is rather amusing. In one of his books, Alda describes going to the doctor's office and having his doctor speak to him as if he was a physician. "I don't understand what you're saying. I'm not a surgeon in real life."
So down to earth, that's Alan Alda. A realist with a heart of gold.
Alan Alda represents a time in TV shows when thoughts, ideas, morality and good taste ruled out over action or simply "bad writing."
The legendary Air Raid! episode.
rl1800 , yep watching Frank Burns run around, scream, and dive into a water filled foxhole, never gets old.
when i saw that scene i died
i love it...and B.J is so sleek with his practical jokes..i couldn't believe it either..i always thought it was Hawkeye
Probably my favorite scene in the whole series.
My favorite scene of the entire series. Laugh out loud funny to this day.
3:58
What Alda said about writing is spot on. It's so satisfying to write something, put it down, then come back to it awhile later and say "well, hey! This is pretty good." It's especially satisfying because so often, you look back on something you wrote years (even months) ago and you're mortified that you could jot something so flawed from top to bottom.
I feel that way about my comment sometimes LOL I'll run across a video that I swore never seen only to see that I commented on it and I look at it and I go did I Really write that?. Wow that's profound LOL😂
Same with my art. I craft a lot of stuff and have my whole life and many times I put things aside and said no I don't like it it's not good enough only to look at pictures of it years later and wonder why I didn't like it because it was absolutely beautiful
This show is to this day my favorite show of all time. The characters were all very well done. And Sidney Friedman was a great character
Anger turned inwards is depression. Anger turned sideways is Hawkeye Pierce. One of my favorite quotes from the episode.
I always value listening to Alan Alda's memories, thoughts, and opinions.
57 year old pro photographer from seattle here... would watch MASH with my parents growing up and LOVED it...of course. How did I never know that Allan Arbus was married to Diane Arbus and they both shared a photography business with each other? Diane was a photo guru! Allan was no slouch himself now that Im researching it a bit...just blown away learning this!
Dear Sigmund episode is perhaps one of the my all time favorite episodes.
You just gotta love Alan Alda!!!!!!
"Pull down your pants and slide on the ice"
They needed Sidney more often than he appeared. My favorite episode was the one with both Dr. Freedman and Col Flagg. Comedy gold.
Dr. Freedman with 2 ee's. one of my favorite scenes also.
@@chuckfinley6156 I loved you in "Burn Notice." You are one of my favorite characters😀😍🤩.
I am a writer and this whole "antenna" thing is spot on! I was listening to Mr. Alda describing that notion and saying "Yes" repeatedly!
As a poet a lot of what I come up with is what I "hear" as if being spoken by one of the muses or my particular Muse. I've also heard Bob Dylan say that he has no idea where much of his early work came from and how he could have possibly written it. Tom Petty thought the songs already existed and it was a matter of keeping oneself prepared to transcribe them when they presented themselves. After more than 50 years it continues to be a very mysterious process!
I too am a poet. Your reply sounds remarkably like things I am always saying. It's already "out there" and our job, our talent if you will, is to be able to pick it up.
Alan Alda, contemporary understander of the Aeolian Harp. To have intuitions like he does for writing is such an incredible talent.
Love him/hate him: The heart and soul of M*A*S*H. I admire him.
Chris Lawson , yep.
Oh... I have always had the greatest respect for him. Love the part when he spoke of Alan Arbus.
The only actor that totally ruined his character for me is Meathead such a POS in real life.
@@anselgretel1683 BULLSHIT. I have met him and he was very personable and interacted with my daughter who was very young at the time.
Nobody hates him.
My favorite episode
One of my favourite episodes
Alda is one of the first men I ever loved...at least in my imagination. He is also such a classy guy. This interview demonstrates that perfectly.
Dear Alan, I'm so glad you wrote "Dear Sigmund" JUST AS YOU DID! Allan Arbus was great as Sidney, and creating an episode that centered on him was a really nice idea. And the episode was humorous and very touching. I also thought "Inga" was a great show that focused Hawkeye in a new direction. M*A*S*H had a great way of pivoting the characters from what they had been and toward what they would be.
My aunt, a former MASH nurse, ended up taking her own life...she missed this show and I can't help but wonder if she would have found any solace in it's presentation.
ashandalsmom I was Sad to hear of your Auntie’s story. Would it be presumptuous to ask which a Nurse She played? If you are not comfortable it’s 👍 OK. MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU & YOURS.😇 Either way Thanks for the memories! I still watch 1 or 2 Episodes per day🤓😇
@@l.richmondchilds9548 She was not an actress, she was an actual MASH nurse during the Korean Conflict. Her husband, my uncle, was a fighter pilot who died in a training accident after they got home.
ashandalsmom I was sobered to hear of your story as I am both a student of History and Human behavior. I am ill at this time and for the 1st time in my life I totally understand The weariness that causes suicidal desires. I have had a wonderful & rich life but chronic illness puts a new face on our lives. I ‘m 👌 OK. MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU AND YOURS!
@@l.richmondchilds9548 Please take care of yourself and hang in there. The devastation to loved ones after her passing was horrible, not only for my mom and family but to my 11 year cousin she left behind. This world is hard enough, we must lift each other up with kindness!
May your aunt rest in Heaven, and I thank her for her service to our nation.
Alan Arbus was my favorite guest star of the series. Mr Miyagi was #2
that is one of my favorite episodes. it's like i new more about the actors / actress. in that one episode then any other and i stile watch mash every time it's on
Ricky Miles New more?
I always thought that it would have been a better ending if the big reveal at the end of the episode had been that Friedman was the mystery practical joker (as a way of relieving his depression) rather than BJ.
Great point. I just watched this episode tonight and I have thought that also. It actually seems like the show was leading to this too, but instead, it was BJ.
Thinking back to the episode, I agree, it would've been better if it was Sydney the whole time. Only, instead of blatantly coming out that it was him, give a subtle hint at the end that it was him the whole time.
BJ was by nature the practical joker, with Frank Burns and later Charles Winchester his favorite targets. In time, BJ came to respect Winchester much more than head twat Ferret Face.
You could make that argument, but i always thought the point of the story was that Sidney admired how the MASH people managed to stay sane and that's what helped him pick himself up and dust himself off. The practical joke thing just didn't seem to be his style.
William Henderson Great 👍 Idea 💡. I think 🤔 that would of HELPED US ALL “ Slide o the Ice” ...🤓😜😎😇
I also loved Alan Arbus and the man who played Col Flagg. This was an excellent episode. Hawkeye's evolution from player to more dimensional guy was wonderful.
It's one of the best MASH episode ever very funny
Love Alan Alda
GREAT Episode
He went to my high school: archbishop stepinac. What a legend!
Best episode..i loved it
Great episode, One of the best i remember it well !
One of my biggest influences Capt. HAWKEYE
I watched (and still do) watch a lot of MASH. Personally, I now see some of my influences were more so Father Mulcahy and Col. Potter. I did get some of my rebellious stuff off Hawkeye, minded.
One of my favorite people. I like this man enormously.
I could listen to Alan talk all day long Alan will always be Hawkeye
This is my favorite MASH episode
Was so glad Alan Arbus (Sidney Friedman) had a pretty big role in the show finale, he was perfect casting and just had this aura when he was on an episode, it would be a good one… He and Colonel Flagg were on here and there, but were welcomed cast members!
One of Alan Arbus's best guest starring roles was as the scientist Bleaker in the episode 'The Girl from Ilandia' on TV's Wonder Woman in 1977.
Hawkeye, irreplaceable! Love ❤️ you
It just shows the brilliance of an actor he is.
Most of my favorite episodes included Sydney or Flagg!
Yea, that was the best!
My Favorite one was Quo Vadis Capt Chandler (hence the name). The Flagg and Freedman interaction is wonderful
Ed Winter was SO GOOD as Flagg.
Zachery Kubish: Flagg: from Freedman “ With your Schizophrenia I’d have’ta charge YOU double time”. What a great & timeless insult!...that went right over Flaggs head...I feel that he was only then ‘given wings’ to fly out the window sill later break his (Col. Flaggs’ ) 🦵 leg!! With or W/O The laugh track--Flagg deserves his fate. His broken leg or fake Appendectomy....😃😁🤓😎🤪
L. Richmond Childs 😂
AIR RAID AIR RAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I could listen to Alan all day.
I like the way he puts it, that when you're writing, some of the best stuff just comes by. I've written a couple novels and some of the best characters just appeared one day and their story was easy to tell because they told it through me. It sounds strange, but that is how it works. If I could explain it, I would do it more often and be closer to Steven King than the guy who writes stuff he doesn't like for money and stuff he loves for himself. But if you haven't tried it, you really should because as Alan points out, when you write something and then revisit later and realize it's pretty good, well, that's a feeling that's hard to beat.
It’s my favorite episode
I wish we learned about Col. Flagg. What a great character.
Dear Nimrod...
Alan Alda -- a truly talented person and a real gentleman.
At times I thought Alan was a tad overbearing as Hawkeye the wisecracker. Now I think he is so intelligent, real and a kind person.
But enough about me, let's talk about you. What do you think about me?
Mister Alda, you are the the backbone of M*A*S*H, its skeleton, the heart and soul of the whole thing! Thank you a lot! I give you four thousand and seventy seven high fives!
I liked what he said about writing. Sometimes it is just magical. He didn't say magical but I know what he meant
"Lady's and gentleman take my advice. Pull down your pants and slide on the ice." - Dr Sidney Freedman
I am apetite I am delight
Could it just be a coincidence that Sidney Freedman and Sigmund Freud's first and last names start with the same two syllables?
And Sam Flagg.
I always thought it was a play on of Freud.
@@neptunestardust Yes, it was, though in his first appearance in "O.R.", his first name was Milton.
I know names change sometimes during a show's run (especially when new writers come on board), but for all we know, Milton could have been his actual first name, yet chose to go by his middle name Sidney.
Eric Andrews yes that’s what I thought. It could’ve been Milton Sidney Freedman or Sidney Milton Freedman. Maybe Milton to the army and Sidney to friends
GOD, do I wish that writers on other shows -- and I'm talking about GOOD shows -- had heeded Alda's advice about being careful to keep a character from affecting the audience negatively, in the way that they are meant to affect the other CHARACTERS negatively. The writers on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" did this perfectly with Ted Baxter; the writers on "Barney Miller" failed abjectly with Inspector Luger, who was as grating and unpleasant for the viewers as he was for the men of the 12th precinct. Even "M*A*S*H" didn't entirely escape this problem. The Frank Burns character's racism and unending grouchiness really got to be a pain to watch after a while; I was SO thankful when Charles -- a much more complex and interesting character -- replaced him.
he waited 2 solid minutes to display ''directed by ALAN ALDA" after ''written by'' ALAN ALDA".what is up w/ that? I'm a big fan, but well,...3 paragraphs of dialogue subsequently passed by.
Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice. Pull down your pants and slide on the ice...
" Okay, Alan and Mike. We agreed this would be a rap session. Not another Psych session. Damn! I have zero idea how to cure male shtuff! " -- Alan Arbus
Nonsense--writing is easy you just sit down staring at a blank page and open a vein.
you couldn't pay me to watch mash
Yet you watched this and commented. There’s a word for that ...
@@fifthbusiness1678 😆
I wouldn't lose any sleep over it ...... nobody is offering to....
So-called "Alan Alda" isn't even his real name. He sold-out his birth name of Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo to 'Hollywood'.
His dad took the first 2 letters from both and created it. Alan did not. He's a jr.
These episodes could never have happened!
Freudian psychiatrists touring mash units during the Korean War!
Think about that.
Hawkeye having nervous breakdowns every so often and the psychiatrist coming in observing him speaking to him and treating him. Never could have happened.
This was war. It was brutal. Hawkeye standing outside at night bouncing basketballs through a hoop, yes we had a basketball hoop In Korea at a mash unit, crazy huh? And the psychiatrist is there talking to him observing him, if you think that could happen in war you’re out of your mind.
Mash was an anti-war anti-conservative leftist gobbledygook of 1960s pop psychology mixed in with this fake war format! It could never have happened.
Alan Alda sort of ruined MASH with his liberal views and feminism as well as making Wayne Rogers and McClean Stevenson both quit because he hogged most of the lines and stories.
..and what years were you on the show?
@@paulzammataro7185 eh what?