MovieChat Forums > After MASH (1983) Discussion > What's the deal with Klinger?

What's the deal with Klinger?


Here’s something I never understood about this show.

During the Korean War, Klinger (Jamie Farr) was always wearing a dress because he thought in doing so, they would kick him out of the Army on a section 8 so he wouldn’t have to be the secretary for the Army hospital anymore. Also, he kept talking about how great it was to live in Toledo, Ohio, and would do anything to go back to be with his friends.

So the war is over, and Klinger goes back to the United States. Fine. What I want ot know is, why did Klinger keep wearing the dress in “After Mash”? It makes no sense whatsoever. Also, why didn’t he go back to Toledo? Why was he in that Veteran’s Hospital?

What gives?



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I think the reason he keeps wearing dresses is because he has actually started to prefer them over men's clothing. I remember him mentioning this to Dr. Freedman in an episode of MASH, and there are at least a few MASH episodes where he seems to care about fashion/gets excited about some new dress/etc.

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[deleted]

It's called "bad writing." Basically, most of America is too brain dead to realize that characters, like people, change. "Why ain't he wearin' no dress no more?" is a question the producers of After Mash were afraid to hear...

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He got married to a girl back home (I wanna say her name is Francine...but I don't remember) in the third season (of M*A*S*H) and divorced her a few seasons later (which in a stupor of drunken depression almost caused him to re-enlist). In the last episode Klinger got married to Soon-Lee a LIP and chose to stay in Korea to find her parents. I never heard of this "After MASH" show but it sounds like they traded continuity in a vain attempt recapture the old formula.

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[deleted]

Klinger's first wife was named Laverne. He didn't stay in Toledo long with his new bride Soon-Lee because prejudiced landlords (this is 1953) wouldn't rent to a mixed couple. He then moved to MO as Potter assured him a job. I recall he started cross-dressing again in Season 2 to try to pull an "insanity" stunt as he was in legal trouble again.

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Exactly! They did it for one reason: as a last-ditch effort to improve ratings on a dying show. They also brought in guest appearances from Radar and even the dim-witted Col. Flagg.

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IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY AFTER RETURNING TO TOLEDO KLINGER AND SOON LING ARE MET WITH RACIAL DISCRIMINATION. THEY ARE ON THEIR WAY TO CALIFORNIA WHEN THEY FOR SOME REASON WIND UP IN THE MIDWEST HOSPITAL. RACISM WAS FEATURED IN AN EPISODE WHEN KLINGER TRIES TO BUY A HOUSE AND HAVING A KOREAN WIFE BECOMES AN ISSUE.

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Thank goodness we don't live in a world where racism plays a part in trying to get a home loan. The worst thing we have to worry about today is people who can't quite get the hang of turning off their capslock.

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Um, it doesn't? It absolutely DOES. It's forbidden, yes, but it does happen. Ever seen that commercial (or maybe it airs in only Massachusetts) where the guy is looking through the classifieds for an apartment, and calls the same apartment like fifteen times, each time using a different foreign accent, and each time is denied? And then at the end he uses a white man's voice and is granted a tour of the apartment? It absoLUTELY happens.

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You're talking about tenet discrimination, which does happen all too often.

Loans, on the other hand, are pretty much an automatic process looking at things like income or credit rating. It doesn't matter what somebody looks like when they walk into a bank, their approval will be determined by a computer. That's on purpose.

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obviously anytime people are involved, they bring their stupid flaws with them. i do wonder, however, reading about this issue on the board here has sort of made me consider about a possible conundrum...

let's say, earlier thizs century, a black man applies for a loan. this was, of course, prior to technology making checking credit such an easy, turnkey process, and when everything is taken into consideration, he is a borderline candidate for approval. however, because the town where they are both located, let's call it commode, alabama, is in the south, thus the opportunty the man may have is going to be restricted because the town, and indeed the entire american south, was idiotically mired in racism, and therefore his future earning potential is going to be extremely limited...he will be able to make a living, and save money, but he will probably never be rich, or even necessarily comfortable, unless he owns a farm or something and the price for whatever he is growing just goes through the roof for a few years, and he manages to cash in and have a bundle.

not only that, but, if he were to get the loan from the bank and use it to buy or build a big, nice house, there exists the possibility that the redneck isiots who live around him, being jealous b/c he is smart/industrious/fortunate enough to have gotten such a nice home, might decide to just up and burn it down one day, just because they 'ain't neverf had a house thay-it bee-ig buhfo-re. it aint ferr!'

given all of this, what is the bank's responsibility. through no fault of his own, the man is a risky investment for the bank. on a pure business level, approving the loan is a risk. indeed, if the town is backwards enough, such an act might be considered 'radical and put the bank at risk, esp if they deny any white person ever.

so, what do you do? obviously the morally correct thing is to approve the loan...hell, i would forget the loan and just g9ve it to him if it would piss off the 'necks, if i had it to give.

but what do you do? are you racist for considering the climate of the town, even if that climate backwards and stupid and evil? what is your responsibilioty, to the institution responsible for your employment, or to the overfall good, the institution responsible for gthe well being of the entire country, and indeed your very soul? what do you do?

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Caps lock is cruise control for cool.

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Hahaha! That's a great quote, Kempster.

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Its because Jamie Farr is Charming in a dress

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That's Hollywood for you. If you remember, the last show of Mash has Klinger staying behind in Korea with his new Bride to look for her family. Im a native Toledo Resident myself. Jamie Farr has indeed made his mark in Toledo by making Tony Packo's Cafe very famous.

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You mean there was actually a Packo's cafe?? That's great!!!

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Oh yes. If you ever happen to go through Toledo, stop by Tony Packo's Cafe and try one of their Hungarian hot dogs. Note: The original Tony Packo's Cafe is located on Front Street on the east side of Toledo off the Maumee river. They have a restaurant on Monroe Street plus several sub stations at Andersons stores and other locations. You can also look up Packo's on the web.

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I had to find Tony Packo's when I went to Toledo in 1999. They have a few locations around the city, but I found the one that would have been visited by a young Jamie Farr. It was wonderful! The hot dogs are really sausages. The walls are covered with celebrity autographed hot dog buns.

Check out http://www.tonypackos.com

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Klinger did not wear dresses in aftermash. why r u people discussing it like he did?

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Because he DID. There was a story line where KLINGER was going to be Prosecuted for something I don't remember... to avoid prosecution he "faked" insanity by................ dressing in womens clothing, AGAIN.

I admit, it was a lame story line.

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that's not what the original poster asked. he clearly says that he doesn't understand why klinger keeps wearing dresses. as though he wore them on a regular basis like he did in the early seasons of mash. but he did not. there may have been one episode where he does it to get out of trouble... i def. don't remember that, but he did not wear dresses as a regular thing on aftermash.

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maybe the poster only saw one episode?

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Yeah!

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If the original poster only saw 1 episode he is a lucky sob. Wish I was that lucky. :P

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That's quite possible, because the OP also thought Klinger was company clerk. Klinger was a medic that inherited the job from Radar by default--and not long afterward, he quit wearing dresses--about the time he decided he wasn't going anywhere, Col. Potter paid no attention, he had a responsibility, and was interested in becoming sergeant.

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Klinger was NEVER a Medic, he was a corpsman. He just helped carry the gurney's and get supplies.

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Klinger stopped wearing women's clothing on MASH when the writers wanted you to take his character (as well as the rest of the show) more seriously.

It happened around the time that Radar left, blonde Hotlips became Margaret with white hair and you always knew who the episode was about based on what actor directed it.

Fred

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(A section 8 is a military discharge due to mental illness)

I have a question: Supposedly Klinger was wearing 'womens' clothing as a sign that he was 'mentally ill', in an attempt to get discharged from the military, right? Why don't women go insane for wearing those clothing? What is it about the chemical makeup of a male human's brain that causes them to go insane for wearing a piece of cloth sewn into a tube-like shape and worn about the waist (i.e a skirt)? That does not make any sense.

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I think that back then, it was thought that cross-dressing was a sign of mental illness. Of course, it never worked with Klinger as nobody ever thought he was crazy. Sidney once offered him the choice where he could get out of the Army by being listed as homosexual. The implication was that it would be a dishonourable discharge with his carrying the label back to civilian life. Klinger refused as he would only accept an "honourable" discharge for being crazy.

As the show progressed, Klinger wore dresses less and less often (often it was as Radar appeared less, and Klinger began working as company clerk). The reason behind the scenes for this was Jamie Farr requesting that Klinger stop cross-dressing, as his children were being taunted in school about it.

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TorontoJediMaster has it right; cross-dressing would have been considered a sign of mental illness in someone identifying as a heterosexual male while wearing women's clothing, as it would suggest that he is in some way confused. It's nothing to do with going insane from wearing the clothes, but being insane for wearing the clothes.

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Its such a drag to have dress as a female !!!!!

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OK, first off Max and Soon-Li never met with racism in Toledo. The reason they moved to Col. Potters town was because Max was about to go to jail for running the phones in a book making joint in Toledo, but he told the judge that he was offered a job by his former commanding officer and the judge gave him one more chance. The only time racism was brought in was the episode where she was called a g o o k by one of the patients.
2nd, the only time he wore any womens clothing was when he was arested for punching a crooked real estate agent and after escaping from jail he donned a nurses outfit so he could sneak into the OR for the birth of his child.
Trust me about this, because I just finished all 30 episodes about 20 min ago

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Yeah, the racism thing didn't make any sense...Klinger's not even white! Why would a landlord care if an Arab and a Korean are married to each other? Just as long as they pay the rent on time (of course, he'd probably have them pay TWICE as much as the white tenants).

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I know this is a very old post but here goes the explanation with Klinger.

Klinger actually didn't wear a single dress during the first season of AfterMASH. Klinger gets into some problems with the law and his attorney enters a plea of not Guilty due to Insanity. So he gets thrown in the psych ward at the hospital and needs to convince the new Psychiatrist that he is mental so they won't throw him in jail. Thus, he starts acting crazy but only wears a dress a couple of times during the small duration of season 2.

I wish they would release these on DVD with the un-aired episode included in it.

The show wasn't as bad as some people make it out to be. It was a nice follow up to MASH. Got to meet Mildred (Mrs Potter), and we get to see Radar in an episode. The studio was negotiating with Alan Alda about guest starring when the ratings got in and the show got canceled.

I don't think this show would of been gone as long as MASH, or even past a 2nd season. But I think the producers could of done a lot better in season 2 and it would of helped if it had not been placed in the same time slot as The A-Team. That killed the show right there.

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