At first, Henry Blake's wife's name was Mildred, then it was changed to Lorraine. You have to watch an early episode and then a later one, before Henry was killed.
In one episode for certain, Henry Blake's wife's name IS Mildred...it's the scene where Radar goes to wake Henry up, and Henry is laying in his bed with eye shades on. Radar has just won a ton of money in a poker game. Henry comments (as he is being awakened): "Please, Mildred, I've had a tough day!"
Sorry Jekey, but he's right, Col. Potters wife's name was Mildred and so was Henry Blakes. I started watching M*A*S*H from the Potter episodes and then saw the Blake episodes in rerun and noticed this slip up...
Actually it wasn't when Harry Morgan was playing General Steele that he was the victim of the practical joke, that was after he took up the role of Col. Potter.
As a matter of fact it was Hunnicut who was playing jokes on a lot of people. Hawkeye finally caught him.
Yes Henry's wife's name was Mildred at first but later changed to Lorraine. Why? Only the writers know. Mildred was later kept for Col. Potter. P.S. Yes Hunnicutt play some jokes but it wasn't Hawkeye who caught him, it was Dr. Sydney Freeman who caught B.J. filling Frank's air raid trench beside their tent.
I own all the seasons that are released on DVD and have watched every episode in order and otherwise...I can tell you that Henry Blakes wife had 3 names: Lorraine, Louise, and Mildred. Sherman Potter's wife was also named Mildred, and a couple of times is named Louise. Peggy, Hunnicut's wife, and Louise, Frank Burns' wife are the only two who haven't had different names throughout the show.
The writers must have REALLY liked the name Mildred, because they used it three times. In addition to using the name Mildred for Henry Blake's wife (temporarily) and then Col. Potter's wife (permanently), they also had Trapper John refer to an old girlfriend, "a redhead in Chicago" named Mildred Feeney.
Not only is Henry Blake unable to remember his wife's correct name, he also can't get his story straight on how they met. In one episode showing home movies of his daughter's birthday party, he tells the guys a long involved story about how he met Lorraine at a freshman mixer at Univ. of Illinois/Normal. Then in a later episode ("Adam's Ribs") he tells the guys he met her at the Dearborn Street train station in Chicago.
I missed Blake calling his wife Louise and as I'm new here, don't know if it's been pointed out before but in the first season, Hawkeye's widowed father lived at home with wife and daughter. Margaret's father managed to somehow come back from the dead too. Her father, it was referred to in the past tense and yet in later seasons, he and his wife were going through a divorce and he even visited her at the camp! All that said, I still think it's one of the best programmes ever made.
There was mention from Manos about BJ's practical joking and that Colonel Potter was one of his victims, not General Steele, also played by Harry Morgan. That's right but BJ wasn't found out by Hawkeye but by Captain Sidney Freedman, played by Allan Arbus. Incidentally, has anyone noticed that the Colonel's Horse started out as a stallion when Radar rescued it with Hawkeye and BJ before being named Sophie?
Actually I recall Henry referring to his wife as Mildred twice in the first season. Once when Radar wakes him up and he says something like, "Not now Mildred." And in the last episode, Showtime, when he calls back home to the hospital because his wife his having a baby. Radar asks about Mildred Blake. In the second and third season her name is Lorraine, and I think once he calls her Louise, which is the name of Frank's wife.
another comment about Col. Potter is that he was seen before he was Col. Potter. He appeared on an episode as a crazy General and they played a practical joke on him and gave put shoe polish on his binoculars. Then he reappeared as Col. Potter.
Actually, I recall another episode where Henry called his wife Louise. Of course Frank's wife is Louise, as is Trapper's...guess the writer liked the name.
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