15. Tuttle

January 14, 1973 (J-315)

Written by: Bruce Shelly and David Ketchum
Directed by: William Wiard
Guest Stars: Mary Robin Redd as Sister Theresa, Dennis Fimple as Sergeant Pryor, James Sikking as the finance officer and Captain Tuttle as himself.
You may know James Sikking better with a 'B' in the middle of his name, and appearing on Hill Street Blues.
Semi-regulars: William Christopher as Father Mulcahy. Herb Voland as General Clayton.

Plot: When Hawk 'n' Trap lift some supplies to give to orphans, Hawkeye practices humility by claiming he is acting under a Captain Tuttle, based on his childhood imaginary friend. Henry, upon hearing of this supposed new man, makes him Officer of the Day. Radar and the boys end up having to create a file for him to cover. Hot Lips falls in love with Tuttle's file description, and double-checks Tuttle's credentials with General Clayton (really Hawkeye putting on a silly voice). Tuttle's reputation grows and grows as time goes on. General Clayton even comes out to give him recognition, in the form of a citation. Hawkeye ultimately fakes a heroic death for Tuttle to get them out of hot water. (Well, as heroic as forgetting your parachute can be.)

Glitches: Hawkeye changes position between shots when he's leaning on Sister Theresa's truck.
Burns and Hot Lips's discussion when the PA announces Tuttle's OD duty is extremely badly looped.
The PA calls Henry 'Lieutenant Colonel Henry Brake'.

Great Lines: Radar explains Henry's absence: 'He's doing some very important sleeping for the Army right now.'
Hawkeye includes in his eulogy for the fictitious Tuttle, 'There's a little Tuttle left in all of us,' then adds, 'You could say that between all of us, we made up Tuttle.'

Continuity is for Wimps: Tuttle hadn't been paid in 14 months - assuming that he was drafted the second the war started, this makes it at least 1951, which (again) ought to mean that Colonel Potter should be there.
Radar's time-travelling comic book salesman has been at it again. More Captain Savage comics. Captain Marvel, on the other hand, is fairly authentic period stuff.

Notes: Hawkeye had an imaginary friend called Tuttle, Radar had one called Shirley.
Burns always volunteers to be OD.
Radar is reading Captain Savage comics in the office again. His counterpart in Seoul, Sgt Pryor, reads Captain Marvel ('Shazam!').
Trapper implies he was born in 1924 (making him 26 through 28).
Sgt Sparky Pryor is Radar's counterpart at HQ Seoul.

Comments: An out-and-out silly episode, one of the best. This is a variation on the 'tit for tat' theme which is just amazingly funny - Hawkeye's litany of the things Tuttle did wrong as a child is hilarious, as is the creation of the fictitious file. Mind you, it's just disturbing when Radar describes Shirley as looking just like him 'with tiny little breasts'. (Wait till episode 54. Springtime in Season 3 for a full play-out of this little fantasy). Marvellous work all round.

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