As far as network executives were concerned, CBS’ All in the Family made iconoclasm cool – enough to transform Robert Altman’s rowdy big-screen version of Richard Hooker’s novel M*A*S*H into something acceptable for prime time. It took a full season, followed by a summer’s worth of reruns, to transform the small-screen iteration into a ratings hit. Eventually, it became one of America’s most beloved shows, an anti-war dramedy populated by Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John, Hot Lips Houlihan, B.J. Hunnicutt and the other immortal meatball surgeons who broke audience’s hearts while wearing an anarchic grin. From that revered series, which ran from 1972 until the most viewed “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” in TV history in 1983, comes one of its most familiar totems: the signpost adorned with the hometowns of the doctors, nurses and soldiers who staffed the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. Three were made for the series: One was destroyed in a fire, one was donated to the Smithsonian Institution, and one is in this auction.
Intelligent Collector