Maxwell Klinger
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- This article is about the M*A*S*H character.. For the German artist, see Max Klinger.
| M*A*S*H character | |
| Image:Jf boa.jpg Corporal Maxwell Klinger, as played by Jamie Farr, dressed as a woman, his trademark gag | |
| Klinger | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Corporal (formerly) Sergeant (currently) |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Black |
| Eye color | Brown |
| Home city | Toledo, Ohio, USA |
| Film portrayer | None |
| Television portrayer | Jamie Farr |
| First appearance | "Chief Surgeon Who?" |
| Last appearance | "Saturday's Heroes" (AfterMASH) |
Maxwell Q. Klinger is a fictional character from the M*A*S*H television series played by American actor Jamie Farr.
A Lebanese-American hailing from Toledo, Ohio (just as Jamie Farr is in real life), Maxwell Q. Klinger serves as an orderly (and later a company clerk) assigned to the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital unit during the Korean War. Klinger is proud of his family, and of his hometown, which he regularly mentions (including references to Tony Packo's Cafe, a real-life local attraction). He is also a Toledo Mud Hens baseball fan.
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[edit] History
B.J. Hunnicutt once remarks that Klinger is actually the sane one by always trying to get out, while the rest of the camp are crazy for accepting their situation and making the most of it. Making no secret of his disdain for the Army, Klinger constantly tries to get a discharge. Outside the occasional outlandish desertion attempt (he once attempts to escape by posing as a Korean woman, and another time by trying to fly out on a hang-glider in season 2), he is unwilling to accept a dishonorable discharge and instead tries to convince his commanding officer to grant him a medical discharge on the basis of mental instability (then called a "Section 8" in military jargon). In at least two episodes, Klinger reveals that his main issue with the Army is that he doesn't want to die, adding once that "I don't want to have to kill someone either. And I don't want someone telling me where to stand when I have to do it."
These efforts often involved continually crossdressing, part of the joke being that he never affects any feminine characteristics other than the outfits themselves. In the episode "Radar's Report", Frank Burns and Margaret Houlihan, having had enough of Klinger's antics, demand that Klinger be discharged from the Army. In response Henry Blake calls for a psychiatrist to examine Klinger. This psychiatrist, Dr. Freedman, examines Klinger and offers to support Klinger's discharge if Klinger will agree to sign a statement saying that he is a transvestite and a homosexual. Klinger, knowing that being discharged for such reasons will follow him for the rest of his life, refuses, saying that he is only crazy and that he wants out, that he is neither a transvestite nor a homosexual. (Freedman deadpans: "You ain't Errol Flynn, either.")
Klinger also engages in other bizarre behaviour like trying to eat a Jeep piece by piece, dressing as Moses or as a civilian laborer, faking amnesia or delirium, and wearing heavy clothing during a heat wave. At one time he tries to get a medical discharge by eating his way out in a program he calls "Food for Freedom" (Colonel Potter calls it "Suicide by Salami"), and another time by pole-sitting in freezing weather wearing his fur coat, setting a camp record when Colonel Potter orders him to stay up. He even goes so far as to appear on guard duty stark naked before a visiting general. Other attempts include faking deaths in the family, pretending that he has received the throne as Zoltan, King of the Gypsies, and threatening to set himself on fire, waving a jerrycan around. Thoughts of what his family at home would think of his antics are no deterrent, especially since one of his uncles tried the same trick and regularly sends Klinger his own dresses.
His commanding officers are never fooled, and Klinger is continually frustrated. The commanders largely tolerate his antics because they are entertaining, and Klinger is otherwise a conscientious and reliable orderly who makes a point of never letting his schemes interfere with his duties. At one point Klinger almost gets a medical discharge when his hearing is damaged by an exploding land mine (caused by the contracting ground and metal in land mines due to cold weather), but the injury isn't permanent and Klinger regains his hearing—and retains his post at the 4077.
Eventually, Klinger gives up wearing women's clothing, a change demanded by Farr because he felt his children would be ashamed of his appearing in women's clothing week after week on national television[citation needed]. He takes over Radar O'Reilly's job of company clerk with reasonable seriousness, eventually getting promoted to Sergeant. Klinger also performs a near pitch-perfect impression/impersonation of Colonel Potter, which he uses several times to manipulate others into giving the unit supplies or information that requires the Colonel's direct approval (which is often hard to obtain, since he is frequently in surgery when needed on the phone).
By the end of the Korean War, Klinger has fallen in love with and married a native Korean woman, Soon Lee (Rosalind Chao). In the final M*A*S*H episode, Klinger reverses his longtime goal to leave Korea, and decides to stay to help search for her relatives (inspired by real US troops choosing to stay in Korea after the war). In the short-lived spin-off to the series called AfterMASH, we learn that soon after the end of the war, Klinger and his wife, having found her family, return to the United States. Klinger, though, has been disowned and ostracized by his own family for marrying a Korean and finds his hometown unwelcoming to a mixed-race couple. In desperation, Klinger resorts to petty crime to make ends meet, and is caught and put on trial. Klinger contacts Colonel Potter seeking help, and a deal is struck whereby, in exchange for the charges' being dropped, Klinger and his wife will move to St. Louis, Missouri and work at the hospital that Colonel Potter now administrates. Klinger and Soon Lee make the move, and Klinger studies for a Civil Service Exam, while he and Soon Lee await their first baby.
Klinger was the first main character introduced on M*A*S*H not to have appeared in the movie or novel. Originally introduced as a bit character in the early first–season episode "Chief Surgeon Who?" as a simple gag of a soldier who wanted out of the army and was trying to fake his way to a "Section 8" medical discharge, he made such an impression on the producers and audience that he became a recurring character throughout the season, and by the second season was a regular member of the cast.
[edit] Miscellaneous
In one episode, Klinger is seen with a scarf around his neck. When Maj. Burns tells him to remove it as it is not military, Klinger refuses, as he feels it will protect him from harm. Unlike his other costume choices, this one is wholly sincere. When a further altercation results in Maj. Burns causing Klinger to drop a tray of specimens, Klinger physically attacks him. Moments later, he is on his way back to the post-op(erative) ward with a live grenade with the intention of killing Burns. He is confronted by Father Mulcahy, however, and is convinced to return to his normal duties, with the promise that he can keep his scarf.
[edit] Quotes
- Colonel Potter: "Every time you lie, your nose gets smaller."
- Klinger: "I'll be back!"
Colonel Potter: "I'll be here." - Klinger: "You can get discharged for being fat?"
- Colonel Potter: "Klinger, you have no brothers."
Klinger: "Whoever said that was lying."
Colonel Potter: "You said that!"
Klinger: "Right, I was lying." - Klinger: (in a gypsy costume) "My tribe awaits me."
- Henry Blake: (reviewing Klinger's file) "Here's an oldie but a goodie...half of the family dying, other half pregnant. Klinger, aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
Klinger: "Yes sir... I don't deserve to be in the army." - Henry Blake: "Klinger, I've never hit a woman before!"
- Henry Blake: "Klinger, it is my considered opinion that no one is going to believe you are pregnant."
- Klinger: "When I was born my father said to my mother, "Thanks a lot for the 8 lb baby nose."
[edit] Trivia
- It was never established what the "Q" stood for in Maxwell Q. Klinger.
- Series writer Larry Gelbart stated during the M*A*S*H* 30th Anniversary Reunion special that Klinger's antics were inspired by stories of Lenny Bruce attempting to dodge his own military service by dressing himself as a WAVES member.
- The antics also suggest Joseph Heller's Catch-22.
- Jamie Farr noticed the women's wardrobe in his dressing area on his arrival, and thought at first he'd be sharing the space with a woman. Finding out the clothing was for his character, he was surprised, but took it in stride.
- Early filmed scenes, with Farr performing in a sissyish way, didn't work. Farr suggested his own vision of the character: Klinger was heterosexual, but crazy, thinking it was normal for him to dress like a woman but behave like a man. This version of Klinger clicked on camera, and with the TV audience.
- The dog tags Klinger wore on the show were Jamie Farr's own from when he served in Korea in the United States Army.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Finest-Kind.net - M*A*S*H website with character profile
- Best Care Anywhere - M*A*S*H website with character profile
| Preceded by: Radar O'Reilly | Company Clerk Of MASH 4077 1979–1983 | Succeeded by: none |
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