document_title: M*A*S*H (TV series)

question_text: mash tv show what does it stand for

question_tokens: mash tv show what does it stand for

text: M*A*S*H (TV series)

text: Plot[edit]

text: M*A*S*H aired weekly on CBS, with most episodes being a half-hour (25 minutes) in length. The series is usually categorized as a situation comedy, though it is also described as a "dark comedy" or a "dramedy" because of the dramatic subject material often presented.[a]

text: The show was an ensemble piece revolving around key personnel in a United States Army Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) in the Korean War (1950–1953). (The asterisks in the name are not part of military nomenclature and were creatively introduced in the novel and used in only the posters for the movie version, not the actual movie.)[clarification needed] The "4077th MASH" was one of several surgical units in Korea.

text: As the show developed, the writing took on more of a moralistic tone. Richard Hooker, who wrote the book on which the television and film versions were based, noted that Hawkeye's character was far more liberal in the show than on the page (in one of the MASH books, Hawkeye makes reference to "kicking the bejesus out of lefties just to stay in shape"). While the show is traditionally viewed as a comedy, many episodes were of a more serious tone. Airing on network primetime while the Vietnam War was still going on, the show was forced to walk the fine line of commenting on that war while at the same time not seeming to protest against it. For this reason, the show's discourse, under the cover of comedy, often questioned, mocked, and grappled with America's role in the Cold War.

text: Episodes were both plot- and character-driven, with several episodes being narrated by one of the show's characters as the contents of a letter home. The show's tone could move from silly to sobering from one episode to the next, with dramatic tension often occurring between the civilian draftees of 4077th – Hawkeye, Trapper John, and B.J. Hunnicutt, for example – who are forced to leave their homes to tend the wounded and dying of the war, and the "regular Army" characters, such as Margaret Houlihan and Colonel Potter, who tend to represent ideas of patriotism and duty (though Houlihan and Potter could represent the other perspective at times, as well). Other characters, such as Col. Blake, Maj. Winchester, and Cpl. Klinger, help demonstrate various American civilian attitudes toward army life, while guest characters played by such actors as Eldon Quick, Herb Voland, Mary Wickes, and Tim O'Connor also help further the show's discussion of America's place as Cold War warmaker and peacemaker.

text: Characters[edit]

text: Main cast[edit]

text: M*A*S*H maintained a relatively constant ensemble cast, with four characters  – Hawkeye, Father Mulcahy, Margaret Houlihan, and Max Klinger  – on the show for all 11 seasons. Several other main characters departed or joined the program midway through its run. Also, numerous guest actors and recurring characters were used. The writers found creating so many names difficult, and used names from elsewhere; for example, characters on the seventh season were named after the 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers.[1]

text: Note: Character appearances include double-length episodes as two appearances, making 260 in total.

tag: ul

text:
Character
Actor/actress
Rank
Role
Appearances

Hawkeye Pierce
Alan Alda
Captain
Chief surgeon
251

Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan
Loretta Swit
Major
Head nurse,
temporary adjutant
243

Max Klinger
(Recurring seasons 1–3, regular 4–11)
Jamie Farr
Corporal,
later sergeant
Corpsman,
later company clerk
219

Father Mulcahy
(recurring seasons 1–4, regular 5–11)
George Morgan (pilot episode), replaced by William Christopher
First lieutenant,
later captain
Chaplain
218

Trapper John McIntyre
(seasons 1–3)
Wayne Rogers
Captain
Surgeon
72 + 1 uncredited voiceover ("Welcome to Korea")

Henry Blake
(seasons 1–3)
McLean Stevenson
Lieutenant colonel
Commanding officer,
surgeon
70

Frank Burns
(seasons 1–5)
Larry Linville
Major,
later lieutenant colonel (off-screen)
Surgeon, executive officer
temporary commanding officer (following the death of Henry Blake)
118

Radar O'Reilly
(seasons 1–8)
Gary Burghoff
Corporal
(one episode as second lieutenant due to falsified promotion)
Company clerk,
bugler
156

B. J. Hunnicutt
(replaced Trapper;
seasons 4–11)
Mike Farrell
Captain
Surgeon
187

Sherman Potter
(replaced Henry Blake;
Seasons 4–11)
Harry Morgan
Colonel
Commanding officer (after Lt. Col. Blake),
surgeon
188

Charles Emerson Winchester III
(replaced Frank Burns;
seasons 6–11)
David Ogden Stiers
Major
Surgeon, executive officer (after Major Burns)
137

text: Main character timeline[edit]

text: Cast pictures[edit]

text:
The cast of M*A*S*H from Season 2, 1974 (clockwise from left): Loretta Swit, Larry Linville, Wayne Rogers, Gary Burghoff, McLean Stevenson, and Alan Alda

The cast of M*A*S*H from Season 5, 1977 (clockwise from left): William Christopher, Gary Burghoff, David Ogden Stiers, Jamie Farr, Mike Farrell, Alan Alda, Harry Morgan, Loretta Swit.

The cast of M*A*S*H from season 8 onwards (clockwise from left): Mike Farrell, William Christopher, Jamie Farr, David Ogden Stiers, Loretta Swit, Alan Alda, and Harry Morgan

text: Character development[edit]

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text: Pierce was born and raised in New England, most often mentioning Crabapple Cove, Maine, with a few references to Vermont. The character refers to having a sister but at other times identifies himself as an only child. His mother is deceased, and he is close to his father (in the novels lobsterman/fisherman "Big Benjy" Pierce, in the TV series Dr. Daniel Pierce). In the film Hawkeye is married with children, but in the TV series he is a bachelor and something of a ladies' man. He was given the nickname "Hawkeye" by his father, from the character in the novel The Last of the Mohicans, "the only book my old man ever read."[2] His birth name is taken from a member of Hooker's own family named Franklin Pierce.[3]

text: He attended Androscoggin College. In the book and the film, Hawkeye had played football in college; in the series, he is non-athletic. After completing his medical residency, he was drafted into the U.S. Army Medical Corps and sent to serve at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War, an assignment he openly resents. Alda said of Pierce, "Some people think he was very liberal. But he was also a traditional conservative. I mean, he wanted nothing more than to have people leave him alone so he could enjoy his martini, you know? Government should get out of his liquor cabinet".[4]

text: Pierce has little tolerance for military red tape and customs, feeling they get in the way of his doing his job, and has little respect for most Regular Army personnel. He never wears rank insignia on his fatigues, never polishes his combat boots, and on the rare occasions he wears his Class A uniform, does not wear any of the decorations to which he is entitled (which include the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean War Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, a couple of Army commendation medals, and the Army Distinguished Unit Citation,[5] four Purple Hearts, and the Combat Medical Badge). On occasions, he assumes temporary command of the 4077th due to the absence or disability of Colonel Blake or Colonel Potter. Although he acquits himself well, it is plain he is not comfortable with the responsibility that goes with being the commanding officer.

text: As a surgeon, he does not like the use of firearms. He refuses to carry a sidearm as required by regulations when serving as Officer of the Day.[6] When ordered by Col. Potter to carry his issue pistol on a trip to an aid station, and they are ambushed on the road, he fires it into the air rather than at their attackers.[7]

text: In the series finale, "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen", Hawkeye experiences a mental breakdown when a Korean woman responds to his frantic demand that she quiet her infant child lest enemy soldiers hear it and discover them, by suffocating it. When the Korean Armistice is announced, he states his intention to return to Crabapple Cove, to be a local doctor who has the time to get to know his patients, instead of contending with the endless flow of casualties he faced during his time in Korea. In Hooker's two sequels, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine and M*A*S*H Mania, Hawkeye returns to live in Crabapple Cove.

text: Wayne Rogers ("Trapper" John McIntyre) was planning to return for season 4, but abruptly withdrew over a disagreement about his contract. Rogers had a dislike of having a supporting role for Alda, and had been threatening to leave since season 1.[8] His departure was unexpected and, unlike that of McLean Stevenson, no onscreen farewell was used. Rogers felt his character was never given any real importance and that all the focus was on Alda's character, Hawkeye Pierce.

text: Rogers's replacement, Mike Farrell, was hastily recruited during the 1975 summer production hiatus. In the season's first episode, "Welcome to Korea", Hawkeye is informed by Radar that Trapper was transferred to a "stateside" assignment while Hawkeye was on leave, and B.J. Hunnicutt is Trapper's replacement. Trapper was described by Radar as being so jubilant over his release that "he got drunk for two days, and then he ran naked through the mess tent with no clothes on." He made Radar promise to give Hawkeye a kiss as a final farewell message.

text: Actor Pernell Roberts later played a middle-aged Trapper in the seven-year run of Trapper John, M.D.

text: When Margaret Houlihan became engaged to a fellow officer, Lt. Col. Donald Penobscot, she had a falling-out with Frank; she became much friendlier toward Hawkeye and B.J., and her subordinate nurses. She later married Penobscot, but the union did not last long. The "Hot Lips" nickname was rarely used to describe her after about the midway point in the series. In early seasons she speaks of the war in glowing terms, and the potential end of it as a negative thing, but by "Temporary Duty", when a friend comments that the war can't last forever, she says, "It already has." Later, she regards it as major factor in her eventual divorce, crying, "It's my fault. Look at the place I picked to have a marriage." Loretta Swit wanted to leave the series in the eighth season to pursue other acting roles (most notably the part of Christine Cagney on Cagney & Lacey), but the producers refused to let her out of her contract. Swit originated the Cagney role in the made-for-TV movie that served as that pilot of the series.

text: Larry Linville noted that his "Frank Burns" character was easier to make light of after head comedy writer Larry Gelbart departed after season 4 and Frank and Margaret parted ways in season 5. After season 4, Linville realized that he had taken Frank Burns as far as he could, and he decided that since he had signed a five-year contract, he would leave the series after season 5.[8] During the first episode of season 6, "Fade Out, Fade In", Burns (off camera) suffers a nervous breakdown due to Margaret's marriage and is held for psychiatric evaluation. Hawkeye offered a toast to Frank's departure, pausing only a moment, then stating "Goodbye, Ferret Face." In an unexpected twist, Burns is transferred to an Indiana Veterans Administration hospital, near his home in Fort Wayne,[9] and is promoted to lieutenant colonel – in a sense, Frank's parting shot at Hawkeye. Unlike McLean Stevenson and Wayne Rogers, Linville had no regrets about leaving the series, saying, "I felt I had done everything possible with the character."[8] Linville was not alone when he left; Executive Producer Gene Reynolds left after the production of season 5, and Burt Metcalfe and star Alan Alda took over the producing responsibilities. During season 6, Alda and Metcalfe even consulted Reynolds once a week, mainly to obtain help with their jobs as executive producers. These two men remained as executive producers for the remaining six seasons, as Reynolds was credited as a creative consultant along with Alan Alda.

text: Frank Burns had four different middle names during his time on the show: W. (on the punching bag in "Requiem for a Lightweight"), D., X., and Marion.

text: Radar's first name is stated as Walter, and once (in "Fade Out, Fade In"), he introduces himself by his full name to Charles Emerson Winchester III as "Walter Eugene O'Reilly". The book says his name is J. Robespierre, and his first name is not revealed in the film. Radar O'Reilly was fraudulently "promoted" for a short time (through a semi-intentional machination of Hawkeye and B.J.) to second lieutenant, but discovered he disliked officers' duties and asked them to "bust" him back to corporal. Gary Burghoff, one of only two cast members of the original 1970 film to play the same character in the TV series, had been growing restless in his role since at least season 4. With each successive year, he appeared in fewer episodes; and by season 7, Radar is in barely half of the shows. Burghoff planned to leave at the end of the seventh season (in 1979), but was convinced by producers Alda and Metcalfe to wait until the beginning of season 8, when they filmed a two-part farewell episode, "Good Bye, Radar" (originally intended to be the seventh season's finale), as well as a few short scenes that were inserted into episodes preceding it (Radar is shown having a horrible R & R in Tokyo). The final nod to Radar came in the penultimate episode of the series, "As Time Goes By", when his iconic teddy bear (though it was a different bear than was used throughout the show) was included in a time capsule of the 4077th initiated by Margaret, which Hawkeye says is a symbol of those who "came as boys and went home as men."

text: By season 3 (1974–1975), McLean Stevenson had begun chafing at what he considered to be a supporting role to Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers. Midway through the season, he informed the producers that he wanted to leave M*A*S*H. With ample time to prepare a "Goodbye, Henry" show, it was decided that Henry Blake would be discharged and sent home for the season 3 finale, which aired on Tuesday, March 18, 1975. In the final scene of his last episode ("Abyssinia, Henry"), Radar tearfully reports that Henry's plane has been shot down over the Sea of Japan, and there were no survivors. This part of the script was kept secret from the cast. The producers wanted the reaction to be as much of a surprise as possible. Originally, the episode was written with Henry making it home, but the writers wanted to show that it was war and people may not make it home.

text: Max Klinger also grew away from the cross-dressing reputation that overshadowed him. He dropped his Section 8 pursuit when taking over from Radar as company clerk. Both Jamie Farr and the producers felt that there was more to Klinger than a chiffon dress, and tried to develop the character more fully. In the role of company clerk, Klinger's personality turned more to the "wheeler-dealer" aspects developed in the streets of (Farr's actual hometown) Toledo, Ohio, using those skills to aid the 4077th. Farr stayed throughout the rest of the series. Klinger was later promoted from corporal to sergeant (he and Father Mulcahy were the only two characters to be promoted on-screen in the entire series; Frank Burns received his promotion off-screen after having left the series). In the final episode, Klinger is, ironically, the only character who announces that he is staying in Korea. He wants to help his wife, Soon Lee, find her parents. (He and Soon Lee marry at the end of the episode.) When Klinger announces that he is staying in Korea, Hawkeye says, "You don't have to act crazy now. We're all getting out!" However, in the short-lived spin-off, AfterMASH, it becomes clear that soon after the end of the war, Klinger, with new wife Soon Lee (Rosalind Chao), returned to the United States. After Soon Lee was subjected to discrimination in Toledo, the Klingers moved to River Bend, Missouri, and Max got a job similar to that he had had as the 4077th's company clerk for Chief of Staff Dr. Sherman Potter, now head of the General Pershing VA Hospital there.

text: Throughout the series, Klinger frequently introduces himself by his full name, Maxwell Q. Klinger, but never says what the Q. stands for.

text: Chaplain of the 4077 unit, Father Mulcahy plays the piano and likes to feel needed. He is a fairly good amateur boxer and poker player, and at one stage takes up jogging. A recurring storyline throughout the series has him visiting and bringing supplies to local orphanages. An episode in season 7, "Dear Sis", is filmed from his point of view, as he struggles with feeling useless at the 4077th. William Christopher plays Mulcahy, replacing actor George Morgan, who played Father Mulcahy in the pilot episode. Dago Red, Mulcahy's nickname from the book and film, was shortened to "Red" for television and used by Trapper John in the pilot episode and by Hawkeye in "Dear Dad" and was dropped. Starting in season 4, Colonel Potter started calling Mulcahy "padre", and that nickname kept for the rest of the series, even mentioning it once in the series finale "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen". Mulcahy was promoted to captain in the episode "Captains Outrageous" after several attempts in previous seasons. Before the promotion, he was a first lieutenant.

text: In the finale ("Goodbye, Farewell and Amen"), Father Mulcahy tells Klinger that his full name is Francis John Patrick Mulcahy, in case Klinger might want to name any of his children after him. Also, in the eighth-season episode "Nurse Doctor", he gives his full name as Francis John Patrick Mulcahy. Yet, in all other episodes, his name was John Patrick Francis Mulcahy, and he just wanted others to call him by his confirmation name, Francis.

text: B.J.'s real name is the subject of an episode's secondary plot line. Hawkeye goes to extreme lengths to learn what "B.J." stands for, but all official paperwork concerning his friend indicates that B.J. really is his first name. Toward the end of the episode, B.J. (in explaining who gave him his name) says, "My mother, Bea Hunnicut, and my father, Jay Hunnicut." A recurring joke in that episode is that upon being asked what B.J. stands for, B.J. merely replies, "Anything you want." Mike Farrell asked that his character's daughter's name be Erin, after his real-life daughter (the character's name was originally going to be Melissa). When B.J. spoke on the telephone on-camera, Erin or his then-wife Judy were on the other end.

text: In the third episode of the fourth season, "Change of Command", Col. Sherman T. Potter arrives at the unit to assume command, replacing Frank Burns, who had taken over as commander after Blake's departure (season 3, episode 24). Harry Morgan, who played Potter, had previously guest-starred in the first episode of season 3, "The General Flipped at Dawn", as General Hamilton Steele.

text: Colonel Potter is a regular Army man, having served in both World War I and World War II, first in the cavalry and later as a doctor. He is passionate about horses, and keeps an old US Cavalry issue McClellan saddle in his office, which is later put to use when he acquires a horse, when Radar gives one to him for his wedding anniversary, after B.J. and Hawkeye are unable to catch it. This horse, which remained with Col. Potter until the end of the series, was referred to as a colt (Potter remarks, "He can't be more than four years old") in its first appearance, after which it is named "Sophie" and referred to as a mare. In his spare time, Potter also enjoys painting.

text: Charles Emerson Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers) was brought in as an antagonist of sorts to the other surgeons, but his relationship with them was not as acrimonious, although he was a more able foil. Unlike Frank Burns, Winchester did not care for the Army. His resentment stemmed, in part, from the fact that he was transferred from Tokyo General Hospital to the 4077th due, in part, to a cribbage debt owed to him by his commanding officer, Lt. Col. Horace Baldwin. What set him apart from Burns as an antagonist for Hawkeye and B.J. was that Winchester was clearly an excellent, technically superior surgeon, although his work sometimes suffered from his excessive perfectionism when rapid "meatball surgery" was called for. As with many new MASH surgeons, Winchester took some time to wrap his head around the fact that faster, less precise work saved lives that more elegant, slower work might cost.

text: Winchester was respected by the others professionally, but at the same time, as a Boston blue blood, he was also snobbish, as when he stated in the scrub room, "I do one thing at a time, I do it very well, and then I move on," which drove much of his conflict with the other characters. Still, the show's writers occasionally allowed Winchester's humanity to shine through, such as in his dealings with a young concert pianist who had partially lost the use of his right hand, the protection of a stuttering soldier from the bullying of other soldiers (it is revealed later that Winchester's sister Honoria stutters),[10] his keeping a vigil with Hawkeye when Hawkeye's father went into surgery back in the States ("Sons and Bowlers"), his willingness to be officer of the day for Hawkeye when Hawkeye was offered three days in Seoul, giving blood to a patient even though he already donated blood five days earlier, or his continuing a family tradition of anonymously giving Christmas treats to an orphanage. Winchester subjects himself to condemnation after realizing that "it is sadly inappropriate to offer dessert to a child who has had no meal." Isolating himself, he is saved by Klinger's own gift of understanding. Klinger scrapes together a Christmas dinner for Charles, with the provision that the source of the gift remain anonymous (Klinger had overheard Winchester's argument with the manager of the orphanage). For the final moment of the episode ("Death Takes a Holiday"), the two are simply friends as Charles says, "Thank you, Max," and Klinger replies, "Merry Christmas, Charles." As well, in the series finale "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen", Charles comes across a group of Chinese musicians who surrender to him. When Charles takes them back to the camp as prisoners of war and later listens to his record of Mozart's Quintet in A major for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581, the musicians attempt to play the piece of music. Charles, ever the perfectionist, cannot stand to hear them play the piece incorrectly (and is impressed that they can even attempt to play the music after only hearing it once) and spends the next week conducting them on how to play the piece properly. During this time, Charles is forced to use the little patience that he rarely shows. When the Chinese musicians are taken off to a prisoner of war camp in a prisoner exchange to Charles' dismay and protest, their final goodbye to Charles is the Mozart piece played correctly. Later, one of the musicians returns to the camp mortally wounded on a Jeep. When Charles inquires as to where the other musicians are, it's revealed that the truck the musicians were on was ambushed and that there were no other survivors. In a combination of shock and disbelief, Charles returns to The Swamp to listen to the Mozart record, but removes the record and smashes it in anger. Later still on the final night that everyone at the M*A*S*H is together, Charles says that before the war, music was a stress reliever to him, but because of the Chinese musicians and their fate, music will forever be a reminder of the horrors of war.

text: Character injuries[edit]

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text: Three MASH 4077 staff members suffered fatalities on the show: Lieutenant Colonel Blake, when the plane taking him back to the States was shot down over the Sea of Japan; an ambulance driver, O'Donnell, in a traffic accident; and a nurse, Millie Carpenter, by a land mine. "Capt. Tuttle", an imaginary person made up by Hawkeye to provide money for Sister Teresa's orphanage, was said to have died when he jumped from a helicopter without a parachute; Hawkeye gave him an ironic eulogy.

text: Among those wounded were Hawkeye Pierce ("Hawkeye", "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", "Comrades in Arms [Part I]", "Good-Bye, Radar [Part I]", and "Lend a Hand"), Radar O'Reilly ("Fallen Idol"), B.J. Hunnicutt ("The Abduction of Margaret Houlihan" and "Operation Friendship"), Max Klinger ("It Happened One Night", "Baby, It's Cold Outside", and "Operation Friendship"), Father Mulcahy ("Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" and "Bombed"), and Sherman Potter ("Dear Ma"). Henry Blake was injured four times: once by a disgruntled chopper pilot ("Cowboy"), once by friendly fire ("The Army-Navy Game"), and in season 3, episode 15 ("Bombed"), Henry is injured when he is blown up while in the latrine. (The gag of Blake being caught in an exploding latrine is also in the episode "Cowboy".) Henry is also injured when the latrine catches fire. Father Mulcahy is given a concussion on two separate occasions – first in the episode "Bombed", where he is in the latrine stall next to Blake when it is blown up; and again in "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" when he is knocked out by mortar fire which strikes close by him; he also suffers severe hearing loss as a result of this incident. Frank Burns is twice awarded Purple Hearts for spurious injuries: throwing his back out after he gave Margaret a dip and could not move – which was later covered up with a story that he slipped on the way to the showers ("Sometimes You Hear the Bullet", 1.17), and getting an egg-shell fragment in the eye ("The Kids", 4.8). Burns' Purple Heart medals were then given to more deserving people: a GI who was admitted with appendicitis and a Korean newborn infant who was hit by a bullet in utero.

text: At least three permanent 4077 personnel suffered emotional breakdowns: Hawkeye Pierce ("Goodbye, Farewell and Amen"), B.J. Hunnicutt ("Period of Adjustment"), and Frank Burns ("Fade Out, Fade In").

text: Guest cast[edit]

text: Production[edit]

text: Writing[edit]

text: As the series progressed, it made a significant shift from being primarily a comedy with dramatic undertones to a drama with comedic undertones. This was a result of changes in writing and production staff, rather than the cast defections of McLean Stevenson, Larry Linville, Wayne Rogers and Gary Burghoff. Series co-creator and joke writer Larry Gelbart departed after Season 4, the first featuring Mike Farrell and Harry Morgan. This resulted in Farrell and Morgan having only a single season reading scripts featuring Gelbart's masterful comic timing, which defined the feel and rhythm of Seasons 1–4 featuring predecessors Rogers and Stevenson, respectively. Larry Linville (the show's comic foil) and Executive Producer Gene Reynolds both departed at the conclusion of Season 5 in 1977, resulting in M*A*S*H being fully stripped of its original tight comedic foundation by the beginning of Season 6 — the debut of the Charles Winchester era.[8]

text: Whereas Gelbart and Reynolds were the comedic voice of M*A*S*H for the show's first five seasons (1972–1977), Alan Alda and newly promoted Executive Producer Burt Metcalfe became the new dramatic voice of M*A*S*H for Seasons 6–11. By the start of Season 8 (1979–1980), the writing staff had been completely overhauled, and with the departure of Gary Burghoff, M*A*S*H displayed a distinctively different feel, consciously moving between comedy and drama, unlike the seamless integration of its first five years.

text: The end of the Vietnam War in 1975 was a significant factor as to why storylines become less political in nature and more character driven. Several episodes also experimented with the sitcom format:

text:
"Point of View" – shown from the perspective of a soldier with a throat wound
"Dreams" – an idea of Alda's, where during a deluge of casualties, members of the 4077 take naps on a rotation basis, allowing the viewer to see the simultaneously lyrical and disturbing dreams
"A War For All Seasons" – features a storyline that takes place over the course of 1951
"Life Time" – a precursor to the American television series 24, it utilizes the real time method of narration[8]

text: Another change was the infusion of story lines based on actual events and medical developments that materialized during the Korean War. Considerable research was done by the producers, including interviews with actual MASH surgeons and personnel to develop story lines rooted in the war itself. Such early 1950s events as the McCarthy era, various sporting events, and the stardom of Marilyn Monroe were all incorporated into various episodes, a trend that continued until the end of the series.[8]

text: While the series remained popular through these changes, it eventually began to run out of creative steam. Korean War doctors regularly contacted producers with experiences that they thought might make for a good storyline, only to learn the idea had previously been used. Harry Morgan admitted that he felt "the cracks were starting to show" by season 9 (1980–1981).[8] Alda wished to make season 10 (1981-1982) M*A*S*H's last, but was persuaded by CBS to produce a slightly shortened 11th season, coupled with a farewell movie finale, because CBS refused to let the show go away so easily. In the end, season 11 had 15 episodes (although six had been filmed during season 10 and held over) and a 2-1/2 hour movie, which was treated as five episodes and was filmed before the nine remaining episodes. The final episode ever produced was the penultimate episode "As Time Goes By". The series finale movie, titled "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", became the most-watched television broadcast in history, tallying a total of 125 million viewers.[8]

text: Set location[edit]

text: The 4077th consisted of two separate sets. An outdoor set in the mountains near Malibu, California (Calabasas, Los Angeles County, California) was used for most exterior and tent scenes for every season. This was the same set used to shoot the movie. The indoor set, on a sound stage at Fox Studios in Century City, was used for the indoor scenes for the run of the series. Later, after the indoor set was renovated to permit many of the "outdoor" scenes to be filmed there, both sets were used for exterior shooting as script requirements dictated (e.g., night scenes were far easier to film on the sound stage, but scenes at the chopper pad required using the ranch).

text: Just as the series was wrapping production, a brush fire destroyed most of the outdoor set on October 9, 1982. The fire was written into the final episode as a forest fire caused by enemy incendiary bombs that forced the 4077th to bug out.

text: The Malibu location is today known as Malibu Creek State Park. Formerly called the Century Ranch and owned by 20th Century Fox Studios until the 1980s, the site today is returning to a natural state, and is marked by a rusted Jeep and an ambulance used in the show. Through the 1990s, the area was occasionally used for television commercial production.

text: On February 23, 2008, series stars Mike Farrell, Loretta Swit and William Christopher (along with producers Gene Reynolds and Burt Metcalfe and M*A*S*H director Charles S. Dubin) reunited at the set to celebrate its partial restoration. The rebuilt signpost is now displayed on weekends, along with tent markers and maps and photos of the set. The state park is open to the public. It was also the location where the film How Green Was My Valley (1941) and the Planet of the Apes television series (1974) were filmed, among other productions.

text: Smithsonian exhibit[edit]

text: The exhibit M*A*S*H: Binding Up the Wounds was at the National Museum of American History from July 30, 1983 through February 3, 1985. The exhibit was extremely popular drawing more than 17,000 in a single week, a record for any Smithsonian display.[11]

text: On exhibit were The Swamp and Operating Room sets, one of the show’s 14 Emmy Awards, early drafts of the pilot script, costumes from the show and other memorabilia. Sets were decorated with props from the show including the iconic signpost, Hawkeye's still and Major Winchester's Webcor tape recorder and phonograph. The exhibit also encouraged visitors to compare the show to real Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals of the Korean and the Vietnam Wars. [12][13]

text: Radar's teddy bear, originally found at the ranch set, was never on display at the Smithsonian. Following completion of production, the prop was kept by the show's set designer. It was sold several times including to Burghoff himself.[14] It was sold at auction on July 29, 2005 for $11,800, it sold again on March 27, 2015 for $14,307.50 after 19 bids.[15]

text: Content[edit]

text: M*A*S*H was one of the first network series to feature brief partial nudity (notably Gary Burghoff's buttocks in "The Sniper" and Hawkeye in one of the "Dear Dad" episodes). A different innovation was the show's producers' desire not to have a laugh track, contrary to the network's desire to have one. They compromised by omitting laughter in the scenes set in the operating room. The DVD releases of the series allow viewers to select an audio version with no laugh track.

text: In his blog, writer Ken Levine revealed that on one occasion, when the cast offered too many nitpicking "notes" on a script, his writing partner and he changed the script to a "cold show" – one set during the frigid Korean winter. The cast then had to stand around barrel fires in parkas at the Malibu ranch when the temperatures neared 100 °F (38 °C). Levine says, "This happened maybe twice, and we never got a ticky-tack note again."[16]

text: Jackie Cooper wrote that Alan Alda, whom Cooper directed in several episodes during the first two seasons, concealed a lot of hostility beneath the surface, and the two of them barely spoke to each other by the time Cooper’s tenure on the show ended.[17]

text: Vehicles[edit]

text: The helicopters used on the series were model H-13 Sioux (military designation and nickname of the Bell 47 civilian model). As in the film, some care seems to have been taken to use the correct model of the long-lived Bell 47 series. In the opening credits and many of the episodes, Korean War-vintage H-13Ds and Es (Bell 47D-1s) were used complete with period-correct external litters. A later (1954–73) 47G occasionally made an appearance. The helicopters are similar in appearance (with the later "G" models having larger two-piece fuel tanks, a slightly revised cabin, and other changes) with differences noticeable only to a serious helicopter fan. In the pilot episode, a later Bell 47J (production began in 1957) was shown flying Henry Blake to Seoul, en route to a meeting with General Hammond in Tokyo.[18] A Sud Aviation Allouette II helicopter was also shown transporting Henry Blake to the 4077th in the episode "Henry, Please Come Home".

text: The Jeeps used were 1953 military M38 or civil CJ2A Willys Jeeps and also World War II Ford GPWs and Willys MB's. Two episodes featured the M38A1 Jeep, one of which was stolen from a General by Radar and Hawkeye after their Jeep was stolen. Two of the ambulances were WC-54 Dodges and one was a WC-27. A WC-54 ambulance remains at the site and was burned in the Malibu fires on October 9, 1982, while a second WC-27 survives at a South El Monte museum without any markings. The bus used to transport the wounded was a 1954 Ford model. In the last season, an M43 ambulance from the Korean War era also was used in conjunction with the WC-54s and WC-27.

text:
Bell 47G helicopter in MASH colours.

Burned Dodge ambulance at Malibu Creek State Park

Burned Jeep (most likely an M38) at Malibu Creek State Park

text: Laugh track[edit]

text: Series creators Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds wanted M*A*S*H broadcast without a laugh track ("Just like the actual Korean War", he remarked dryly). Though CBS initially rejected the idea, a compromise was reached that allowed for omitting the laughter during operating room scenes if desired. Seasons 1–5 utilized a more invasive laugh track; a more subdued audience was employed for Seasons 6–11 when the series shifted from sitcom to comedy-drama with the departure of Gelbart and Reynolds. Several episodes ("O.R.", "The Bus", "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?", "The Interview", "Point of View" and "Dreams" among them) omitted the laugh track altogether; as did almost all of Season 11, including the 135-minute series finale, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen".[19] The laugh track is also omitted from some international and syndicated airings of the show; on one occasion during an airing on BBC2, the laugh track was accidentally left on, and viewers expressed their displeasure, an apology from the network for the "technical difficulty" was later released, as during its original run on BBC2 in the UK, it was shown without the laugh track. UK DVD critics speak poorly of the laugh track, stating "canned laughter is intrusive at the best of times, but with a programme like M*A*S*H, it's downright unbearable."[20]

text: On all released DVDs, both in Region 1 (including the U.S. and Canada) and Region 2 (Europe, including the UK), an option is given to watch the show with or without the laugh track.[21][22]

text: "They're a lie," said Gelbart in a 1992 interview. "You're telling an engineer when to push a button to produce a laugh from people who don't exist. It's just so dishonest. The biggest shows when we were on the air were All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show both of which were taped before a live studio audience where laughter made sense," continued Gelbart. "But our show was a film show – supposedly shot in the middle of Korea. So the question I always asked the network was, 'Who are these laughing people? Where did they come from?'" Gelbart persuaded CBS to test the show in private screenings with and without the laugh track. The results showed no measurable difference in the audience's enjoyment. "So you know what they said?" Gelbart said. "'Since there's no difference, let's leave it alone!' The people who defend laugh tracks have no sense of humor."[19] Gelbart summed up the situation by saying, "I always thought it cheapened the show. The network got their way. They were paying for dinner."[23]

text: Episodes[edit]

text: Episode list[edit]

text:
Season
Episodes
Originally aired
Nielsen ratings[24]

First aired
Last aired
Rank
Rating

1
24
September 17, 1972 (1972-09-17)
March 25, 1973 (1973-03-25)
N/A
N/A

2
24
September 15, 1973 (1973-09-15)
March 2, 1974 (1974-03-02)
4
25.7

3
24
September 10, 1974 (1974-09-10)
March 18, 1975 (1975-03-18)
5
27.4

4
25
September 12, 1975 (1975-09-12)
February 24, 1976 (1976-02-24)
14
22.9[b]

5
25
September 21, 1976 (1976-09-21)
March 15, 1977 (1977-03-15)
4
25.9

6
25
September 20, 1977 (1977-09-20)
March 27, 1978 (1978-03-27)
8
23.2[c]

7
26
September 18, 1978 (1978-09-18)
March 12, 1979 (1979-03-12)
7
25.4

8
25
September 17, 1979 (1979-09-17)
March 24, 1980 (1980-03-24)
4
25.3[c]

9
20
November 17, 1980 (1980-11-17)
May 4, 1981 (1981-05-04)
4
25.7

10
22
October 26, 1981 (1981-10-26)
April 12, 1982 (1982-04-12)
9
22.3

11
16
October 25, 1982 (1982-10-25)
February 28, 1983 (1983-02-28)
3
22.6[d]

text:
Jump up ^ The term "dramedy" (drama + comedy), although coined in 1978, was not in common usage until after M*A*S*H had gone off the air.
Jump up ^ Tied with The Waltons
^ Jump up to: a b Tied with Alice
Jump up ^ Tied with Magnum, P.I.

tag: ol

text: Final episode: "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen"[edit]

text: "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" was the final episode of M*A*S*H. Special television sets were placed in PX parking lots, auditoriums, and dayrooms of the U.S. Army in Korea so that military personnel could watch that episode, in spite of 14 hours' time-zone difference with the East Coast of the U.S. The episode aired on February 28, 1983, and was 2½ hours long. The episode got a Nielsen rating of 60.2 and 77 share[25] and according to a New York Times article from 1983, the final episode of M*A*S*H had 125 million viewers.[26]

text: When the M*A*S*H finale aired in 1983, 83.3 million homes in the United States had televisions, compared to almost 115 million in February 2010.[27]

text: "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" broke the record for the highest percentage of homes with television sets to watch a television series. Stories persist that the episode was seen by so many people that the New York City Sanitation/Public Works Department reported the plumbing systems broke down in some parts of the city from so many New Yorkers waiting until the end to use the toilet. Articles copied into Alan Alda's book The Last Days of M*A*S*H include interviews with New York City Sanitation workers citing the spike in water use on that night. According to the interviews at 11:03 pm, EST New York City public works noted the highest water usage at one given time in the City's history. They attributed this to the fact that in the three minutes after the finale ended, around 77% of the people of New York City flushed their toilets.[28] These stories have all since been identified as part of an urban legend dating back to the days of the Amos and Andy radio program in the 1930s.[29]

text: The finale was referenced in a passage from Stephen Chbosky's coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, in which the main character and his family watch the finale together.[30]

text: International broadcast[edit]

text:
Australia - Network Ten (1973–1998), Seven Network (1999–2011), One (2011–2017), 7TWO (2018–)
UK - BBC Two - (1984-1995)
Ireland - RTÉ2 - (1985-1996)

text: And many more international broadcasts.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Ratings and recognition[edit]

text: The series premiered in the U.S. on September 17, 1972, and ended on February 28, 1983, with the finale, showcased as a television film, titled "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", becoming the most-watched and highest-rated single television episode in U.S. television history at the time, with a record-breaking 125 million viewers (60.2 rating and 77 share),[31] according to the New York Times.[26] It had struggled in its first season and was at risk of being cancelled.[32] Season two of M*A*S*H placed it in a better time slot (airing after the popular All in the Family); the show became one of the top 10 programs of the year and stayed in the top 20 programs for the rest of its run.[32] It is still broadcast in syndication on various television stations. The series, which depicted events occurring during a three-year war, spanned 256 episodes and lasted 11 seasons. The Korean War lasted 1,128 days, meaning each episode of the series would have averaged almost four and a half days of real time. Many of the stories in the early seasons are based on tales told by real MASH surgeons who were interviewed by the production team. Like the movie, the series was as much an allegory about the Vietnam War (still in progress when the show began) as it was about the Korean War.[33]

text: The episodes "Abyssinia, Henry" and "The Interview" were ranked number 20 and number 80, respectively, on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time in 1997.[34] In 2002, M*A*S*H was ranked number 25 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.[35] In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it as the fifth-best written TV series ever[36] and TV Guide ranked it as the eighth-greatest show of all time.[37] In 2016, Rolling Stone ranked it as the sixteenth-greatest TV show.[38]

text: Season ratings[edit]

text:
Season
Ep #
Time slot (ET)
Season Premiere
Season Finale
Nielsen Ratings

Rank
Viewers
(in millions)
Rating

1
1972–73
24
Sunday at 8:00 pm
September 17, 1972
March 25, 1973
#46[39]
N/A
17.4

2
1973–74
24
Saturday at 8:30 pm
September 15, 1973
March 2, 1974
#4[40]
17.02[40]
25.7

3
1974–75
24
Tuesday at 8:30 pm
September 10, 1974
March 18, 1975
#5[41]
18.76[41]
27.4

4
1975–76
25
Friday at 8:00 pm (Episode 1)
Friday at 8:30 pm (Episodes 2–13)
Tuesday at 9:00 pm (Episodes 14–25)
September 12, 1975
February 24, 1976
#15[42]
15.93[42]
22.9

5
1976–77
25
Tuesday at 9:00 pm (Episodes 1, 3–25)
Tuesday at 9:30 pm (Episode 2)
September 21, 1976
March 15, 1977
#4[43]
18.44[43]
25.9

6
1977–78
25
Tuesday at 9:00 pm (Episodes 1, 3–19)
Tuesday at 9:30 pm (Episode 2)
Monday at 9:00 pm (Episodes 20–25)
September 20, 1977
March 27, 1978
#9[44]
16.91[44]
23.2

7
1978–79
26
Monday at 9:00 pm (Episodes 1–4, 6–26)
Monday at 9:30 pm (Episode 5)
September 18, 1978
March 12, 1979
#7[45]
18.92[45]
25.4

8
1979–80
25
Monday at 9:00 pm
September 17, 1979
March 24, 1980
#5[46]
19.30[46]
25.3

9
1980–81
20
November 17, 1980
May 4, 1981
#4[47]
20.53[47]
25.7

10
1981–82
22
Monday at 9:00 pm (Episodes 1, 3–22)
Monday at 9:30 pm (Episode 2)
October 26, 1981
April 12, 1982
#9[48]
18.17[48]
22.3

11
1982–83
16
Monday at 9:00 pm (Episodes 1–15)
Monday at 8:30 pm (Episode 16)
October 25, 1982
February 28, 1983
#3[49]
18.82[49]
22.6

text: Awards[edit]

text: M*A*S*H was nominated for over 100 Emmy Awards during its 11-year run, winning 14:

text:
1974 – Outstanding Comedy Series – M*A*S*H; Larry Gelbart, Gene Reynolds (Producers)
1974 – Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Alan Alda
1974 – Best Directing in Comedy – Jackie Cooper: "Carry On, Hawkeye"
1974 – Actor of the Year, Series – Alan Alda
1975 – Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series – Gene Reynolds: "O.R."
1976 – Outstanding Film Editing for Entertainment Programming – Fred W. Berger and Stanford Tischler: "Welcome to Korea"
1976 – Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series – Gene Reynolds: "Welcome to Korea"
1977 – Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series – Alan Alda: "Dear Sigmund"
1977 – Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series – Gary Burghoff
1979 – Outstanding Writing in a Comedy-Variety or Music Series – Alan Alda: "Inga"
1980 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Variety or Music Series – Loretta Swit
1980 – Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Variety or Music Series – Harry Morgan
1982 – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Alan Alda
1982 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Variety or Music Series – Loretta Swit

text: The show won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series (Musical or Comedy) in 1981. Alan Alda won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series (Musical or Comedy) six times: in 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1983. McLean Stevenson won the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series in 1974.

text: The series earned the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Comedy Series seven times: 1973 (Gene Reynolds), 1974 (Reynolds), 1975 (Hy Averbeck), 1976 (Averbeck), 1977 (Alan Alda), 1982 (Alda), 1983 (Alda).

text: The show was honored with a Peabody Award in 1975 "for the depth of its humor and the manner in which comedy is used to lift the spirit and, as well, to offer a profound statement on the nature of war." M*A*S*H was cited as "an example of television of high purpose that reveals in universal terms a time and place with such affecting clarity."[50]

text: Writers for the show received several Humanitas Prize nominations, with Larry Gelbart winning in 1976, Alan Alda winning in 1980, and the team of David Pollock and Elias Davis winning twice in 1982 and 1983.

text: The series received 28 Writers Guild of America Award nominations – 26 for Episodic Comedy and two for Episodic Drama. Seven episodes won for Episodic Comedy in 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, and 1981.

text: Home media[edit]

text: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has released all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H on DVD in Region 1 and Region 2.

text:
DVD title
Ep No.
Release dates

Region 1
Region 2

M*A*S*H Season 1
24
January 8, 2002
May 19, 2003

M*A*S*H Season 2
24
July 23, 2002
October 13, 2003

M*A*S*H Season 3
24
February 18, 2003
March 15, 2004

M*A*S*H Seasons 1–3
72
N/A
October 31, 2005

M*A*S*H Season 4
24
July 15, 2003
June 14, 2004

M*A*S*H Seasons 1–4
96
December 2, 2003
N/A

M*A*S*H Season 5
24
December 9, 2003
January 17, 2005

M*A*S*H Season 6
24
June 8, 2004
March 28, 2005

M*A*S*H Season 7
25
December 7, 2004
May 30, 2005

M*A*S*H Season 8
25
May 24, 2005
August 15, 2005

M*A*S*H Season 9
20
December 6, 2005
January 9, 2006

M*A*S*H Seasons 1–9
214
December 6, 2005
N/A

M*A*S*H Season 10
22
May 23, 2006
April 17, 2006

M*A*S*H Season 11
16
November 7, 2006
May 29, 2006

Martinis and Medicine Collection
(Complete Series, including the Original Movie)
256
November 7, 2006
October 30, 2006

Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen Collector's Edition
1
May 15, 2007
N/A

text: In January 2015, it was announced that the first five seasons of M*A*S*H would be available on Netflix's instant streaming service beginning February 1, 2015. This marked the first time the series was made available on an internet platform. As of July 1, 2015, all 11 seasons were available; syndicated versions of hour-long episodes were utilized for streaming, splitting these shows into two parts.[51] In contrast to the DVD sets, the Netflix streams did not have an option for disabling the laugh track on the soundtrack. On April 1, 2016, M*A*S*H was removed from Netflix due to its contract to stream the series expiring.[52]

text: In November 2016, SundanceTV announced it will begin airing M*A*S*H and several other classic TV shows. M*A*S*H can be seen on Mondays at 6 am – 1 pm weekly, starting on November 14 with seven hours with the first 14 episodes from Season 1.[53]

text: As of 2016, M*A*S*H episodes air on the MeTV television network.[54]

text: In July 2017, it was announced that Hulu had acquired online streaming rights for the entire run of M*A*S*H along with several other 20th Century Fox-owned TV programs.[55]

text: Spinoffs and specials[edit]

text: AfterMASH[edit]

text: M*A*S*H had two spin-off shows. The short-lived AfterMASH (1983–85) inherited the parent show's Monday night time slot and featured several of its characters reunited in a Midwestern hospital after the war.

text: Trapper John, M.D.[edit]

text: The more successful Trapper John, M.D. (1979–86) took place nearly three decades after the events of M*A*S*H and depicted Trapper John McIntyre as chief of surgery at a San Francisco hospital.

text: W*A*L*T*E*R[edit]

text: In an unpurchased television pilot, W*A*L*T*E*R (1984), Walter "Radar" O’Reilly joins the St. Louis police force after his farm fails following his return to the U.S.

text: Documentaries and reunions[edit]

text: A documentary special titled Making M*A*S*H, narrated by Mary Tyler Moore and taking viewers behind the production of the season 8 episodes "Old Soldiers" and "Lend a Hand", was produced for PBS in 1981. The special was later included in the syndicated rerun package, with new narration by producer Michael Hirsch.[56]

text: Two retrospective specials were produced to commemorate the show's 20th and 30th anniversaries. Memories of M*A*S*H, hosted by Shelley Long and featuring clips from the series and interviews with cast members, was aired by CBS on November 25, 1991.

text: A 30th Anniversary Reunion special, in which the surviving cast members and producers gathered to reminisce, aired on the Fox network on May 17, 2002. The two-hour broadcast was hosted by Mike Farrell, who also got to interact with the actor he replaced, Wayne Rogers; previously filmed interviews with McLean Stevenson and Larry Linville (who had died in 1996 and 2000, respectively) were featured, as well. The two specials are included as bonuses on the Collector's Edition DVD of "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen". Also included is "M*A*S*H: Television's Serious Sitcom", a 2002 episode of the A&E cable channel's Biography program that detailed the history of the show.

text: In the late 1980s, the cast had a partial reunion in a series of commercials for IBM personal computers. All of the front-billed regulars (with the three exceptions of Farrell, Stiers, and Stevenson) appeared in the spots over time.


document_title: Herman Hollerith

question_text: who invented a faster way to compile the u.s census

root

text: Herman Hollerith

text: Personal life[edit]

text: Herman Hollerith was born the son of German immigrant Prof. Georg Hollerith from Großfischlingen (near Neustadt an der Weinstraße) in Buffalo, New York, where he spent his early childhood.[5] He entered the City College of New York in 1875, graduated from the Columbia University School of Mines with an "Engineer of Mines" degree in 1879 at age 19, and in 1890 asked for (and was awarded) a Ph.D based on his development of the tabulating system.[3][6] In 1882 Hollerith joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he taught mechanical engineering and conducted his first experiments with punched cards.[7] He eventually moved to Washington, D.C., living in Georgetown, with a home on 29th Street and a business building at 31st Street and the C&O Canal, where today there is a commemorative plaque installed by IBM. He died in Washington D.C. of a heart attack.[7]

tag: p

text: Electromechanical tabulation of data[edit]

text: At the urging of John Shaw Billings, Hollerith developed a mechanism using electrical connections to increment a counter, recording information.[8] A key idea was that a datum could be recorded by the presence or absence of a hole at a specific location on a card. For example, if a specific hole location indicates marital status, then a hole there can indicate married while not having a hole indicates single. Hollerith determined that data in specified locations on a card, the now-familiar rows and columns, could be counted or sorted electromechanically. A description of this system, An Electric Tabulating System (1889), was submitted by Hollerith to Columbia University as his doctoral thesis, and is reprinted in Randell's book.[9] On January 8, 1889, Hollerith was issued U.S. Patent 395,782,[10] claim 2 of which reads:

text: The herein-described method of compiling statistics, which consists in recording separate statistical items pertaining to the individual by holes or combinations of holes punched in sheets of electrically non-conducting material, and bearing a specific relation to each other and to a standard, and then counting or tallying such statistical items separately or in combination by means of mechanical counters operated by electro-magnets the circuits through which are controlled by the perforated sheets, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

text: Inventions and businesses[edit]

text: Hollerith had left teaching and begun working for the United States Census Bureau in the year he filed his first patent application. Titled "Art of Compiling Statistics", it was filed on September 23, 1884; U.S. Patent 395,782 was granted on January 8, 1889.[10]

text: Hollerith initially did business under his own name, as The Hollerith Electric Tabulating System, specializing in punched card data processing equipment.[14] He provided tabulators and other machines under contract for the Census Office, which used them for the 1890 census. The net effect of the many changes from the 1880 census: the larger population, the data items to be collected, the Census Bureau headcount, the scheduled publications, and the use of Hollerith's electromechanical tabulators, was to reduce the time required to process the census from eight years for the 1880 census to six years for the 1890 census.[15]

text: In 1896 Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company (in 1905 renamed The Tabulating Machine Company).[16] Many major census bureaus around the world leased his equipment and purchased his cards, as did major insurance companies. Hollerith's machines were used for censuses in England, Italy, Germany, Russia, Austria, Canada, France, Norway, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines, and again in the 1900 census.[3]

text: He invented the first automatic card-feed mechanism and the first keypunch. The 1890 Tabulator was hardwired to operate on 1890 Census cards. A control panel in his 1906 Type I Tabulator simplified rewiring for different jobs. The 1920s removable control panel supported prewiring and near instant job changing. These inventions were among the foundations of the data processing industry and Hollerith's punched cards (later used for computer input/output) continued in use for almost a century.[17]

text: In 1911 four corporations, including Hollerith's firm, were amalgamated to form a fifth company, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR).[18] Under the presidency of Thomas J. Watson, CTR was renamed International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in 1924. By 1933 The Tabulating Machine Company name had disappeared as subsidiary companies were subsumed by IBM.[19]

text: Death and legacy[edit]

text: Hollerith is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[13]

text: Hollerith cards were named after Herman Hollerith (they eventually reached 128 columns width),[17] as were Hollerith constants (a string constant declaration in some computer programming languages, sometimes called a Hollerith string).[20]

text: His great-grandson, the Rt. Rev. Herman Hollerith IV, is the Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Southern Virginia, and another great-grandson, Randolph Marshall Hollerith, is an Episcopal priest and the dean of Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.[21][22]

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ "Lucia Beverly Talcott". ancestry.com. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
Jump up ^ Cambell-Kelly, Martin; Aspray, William (2004). Computer: a history of the information machine (2 ed.). Basic Books. p. 16.
^ Jump up to: a b c Da Cruz, Frank (March 28, 2011). "Herman Hollerith". www.columbia.edu. Columbia University. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
Jump up ^ Brooks, Frederick P.; Iverson, Kenneth E. (1963). Automatic Data Processing. Wiley. p. 94 "semiautomatic".
Jump up ^ "Herman Hollerith (1860-1929)". www.hnf.de. Paderborn: Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum. April 18, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
Jump up ^ Austrian, 1982, p.56
^ Jump up to: a b O'Connor, J.J.; Robertson, E.F. "Herman Hollerith". The MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive. School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
Jump up ^ Lydenberg, Harry Miller (1924). John Shaw Billings: Creator of the National Medical Library and its Catalogue, First Director of the New York Public Library. American Library Association. p. 32.
Jump up ^ Randell (ed.), Brian (1982). The Origins of Digital Computers, Selected Papers (3rd ed.). Springer-Verlag. ISBN 0-387-11319-3. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
^ Jump up to: a b US patent 395782, Herman Hollerith, "Art of compiling statistics", issued 1889-01-08
Jump up ^ (Truesdell, 1965, p.144)
Jump up ^ Austrian, Geoffrey D. (1982). Herman Hollerith: Forgotten Giant of Information Processing. Columbia University Press. pp. 41, 178–179. ISBN 0-231-05146-8.
^ Jump up to: a b "Oak Hill Cemetery Map". www.oakhillcemeterydc.org. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
Jump up ^ (Austrian, 1982, p.153)
Jump up ^ Report of the Commissioner of Labor In Charge of The Eleventh Census to the Secretary of the Interior for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1895 Washington, D.C., July 29, 1895 Page 9: "You may confidently look for the rapid reduction of the force of this office after the 1st of October, and the entire cessation of clerical work during the present calendar year. ... The condition of the work of the Census Division and the condition of the final reports show clearly that the work of the Eleventh Census will be completed at least two years earlier than was the work of the Tenth Census." Carroll D. Wright Commissioner of Labor in Charge.
Jump up ^ (Engelbourg, 1954, p.52)
^ Jump up to: a b Mackenzie, Charles E. (1980). Coded Character Sets, History and Development. The Systems Programming Series (1 ed.). Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. p. 7. ISBN 0-201-14460-3. LCCN 77-90165.
Jump up ^ "IBM Archives: Frequently Asked Questions" (PDF).  Some accounts of the forming CTR state that only three corporations were included. This reference notes that only three of the four corporations are represented in the CTR name. That may be the reason for the differing accounts.
Jump up ^ William Rodgers (1969). THINK: A Biography of the Watsons and IBM. p. 83.
Jump up ^ American Standard FORTRAN. American Standards Association, X3.9-1966. p. 38.  "4.2.6 Hollerith Type. A Hollerith datum is a string of characters. This string may consist of any characters capable of representation in the processor. The blank character is a valid and significant character in a Hollerith datum."
Jump up ^ Steven G. Vegh (February 13, 2009). "New Epsicopal bishop to face tough challenges". Virginian-Pilot.
Jump up ^ "Virginia diocese to install bishop". Richmond Times-Dispatch.

text: Further reading[edit]

text:
Ashurst, Gareth (1983). Pioneers of Computing. Frederick Muller. pp. 77–90.
Austrian, Geoffrey D. (1982). Herman Hollerith: The Forgotten Giant of Information Processing. Columbia University Press. p. 418. ISBN 0-231-05146-8.
Beniger, James R. (1986/2009) The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic Origins of the Information Society, Harvard University Press, 1986 pp. 390–425
Cortada, James W. (1993). Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, & Remington Rand & the Industry they created, 1865 - 1956. Princeton. p. 344. ISBN 0-691-04807-X.
Essinger, James (2004). Jacquard's Web: How a Hand-Loom Led to the Birth of the Information Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Engelbourg, Saul (1954). International Business Machines: A Business History (Ph.D.). Columbia University. p. 385.  Reprinted by Arno Press, 1976, from the best available copy. Some text is illegible.
Heide, Lars (2009). Punched-Card Systems and the Early Information Explosion, 1880-1945. Johns Hopkins. ISBN 0-8018-9143-4.
Hollerith, Herman (April 1889). "An Electric Tabulating System". The Quarterly, Columbia University School of Mines. X (16): 238–255.  From the Columbia Univ. History site: This article is the basis for his 1890 Columbia Ph.D. Extracts reprinted in (Randell, 1982).
Hollerith, Herman (1890). In connection with the electric tabulation system which has been adopted by U.S. government for the work of the census bureau. Ph.D. dissertation. Columbia University School of Mines.
Hollerith, Herman (December 1894). "The Electrical Tabulating Machine". Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Blackwell Publishing. 57 (4): 678–682. doi:10.2307/2979610. JSTOR 2979610.  From Randell (1982),"... brief... fascinating article... describes the way in which tabulators and sorters were used on ... 100 million cards ... 1890 census."
Truedsell, Leon E. (1965). The Development of Punch Card Tabulation in the Bureau of the Census 1890-1940. US GPO.  Includes extensive, detailed, description of Hollerith's first machines and their use for the 1890 census.


document_title: Fräulein

question_text: how do you say young lady in german

question_tokens: how do you say young lady in german

text: Fräulein

text: Look up fräulein in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

tag: table

text: Fräulein (German: [ˈfʁɔɪ̯laɪ̯n] ( listen)) is the German language honorific previously in common use for unmarried women, comparable to Miss in English.

text: Description[edit]

text: Fräulein is the diminutive form of Frau, which was previously reserved only for married women. Frau is in origin the equivalent of "Mylady" or "Madam", a form of address of a noblewoman. But by an ongoing process of devaluation of honorifics, it came to be used as the unmarked term for "woman" by about 1800. Therefore, Fräulein came to be interpreted as expressing a "diminutive of woman", as it were implying that a Fräulein is not-quite-a-woman. By the 1960s, this came to be seen as patronising by proponents of feminism, and during the 1970s and 1980s, the term Fräulein became nearly taboo in urban and official settings, while it remained an unmarked standard in many rural areas. This process was somewhat problematic, at least during the 1970s to 1980s, since many unmarried women of the older generation insisted on Fräulein as a term of distinction, respecting their status, and took the address of Frau as offensive or suggestive of extra-marital sexual experience.

text: Since the 1970s, Fräulein has come to be used less often, and was banned from official use in West Germany in 1972 by the Minister of the Interior.[2] Nowadays, style guides and dictionaries recommend that all women be addressed as Frau regardless of marital status, particularly in formal situations.[3][4] A newsletter published on the website of the German dictionary Duden in 2002, for instance, noted that women should only be addressed as Fräulein when they specifically request this form of address.[5]

text: Despite its less common everyday use nowadays, Fräulein has seen a revival in recent years as a vogue term, especially in popular culture. [6][7] The term has also seen a rise in use by antiquarians, traditionalists and reactionaries.


document_title: Major League Baseball Triple Crown

question_text: who won the last triple crown in baseball

text: Major League Baseball Triple Crown

text: Batting Triple Crown[edit]

text: The term "Triple Crown" generally refers to the batting achievement. A batter who completes a season leading a league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in (RBI) may be said to have won the "Triple Crown".[1] As the term, unless modified, connotes the batting achievement, it may not be necessary to refer to this as the "batting" Triple Crown.

text: The Triple Crown reflects the ability of a batter to excel in three important ways: to hit safely a high percentage of the time (batting average); to hit the ball long distances (home runs); and to produce when runners are on base, driving them home to score (RBI). It is an uncommon feat to lead all batters in each of these categories. It has been accomplished 17 times, most recently in 2012, by Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera's was the first since 1967, when Carl Yastrzemski accomplished the feat.

text: The most batting Triple Crowns won by a player is two. Rogers Hornsby was the first to accomplish it, winning his first in 1922 and then leading all major leagues in 1925 en route to his second Triple Crown, both with the St. Louis Cardinals.[3][4] Ted Williams later matched this mark in the AL, winning in 1942 and 1947 with the Boston Red Sox.[5][6] The Cardinals have won the most batting Triple Crowns as a franchise with four. Along with Hornsby's two, Tip O'Neill won in the now-defunct American Association in 1887 while the team was known as the St. Louis Browns,[7] and Joe Medwick added the Cardinals' fourth in 1937.[8] Eleven of the thirteen eligible players who have offensive Triple Crowns have been elected to the Hall of Fame.[9] Players are eligible for the Hall of Fame if they have "been retired five seasons" or deceased for at least six months,[10] which means currently active Miguel Cabrera, whose 2012 Triple Crown is the most recent, isn't yet eligible.[11] Baseball writer and ESPN contributor Tim Kurkjian believes the Triple Crown has become more difficult to win with the advent of more hitters who choose to specialize in either hitting for batting average or power.[12]

text: Pitching Triple Crown[edit]

text: A pitcher who leads the league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average (ERA) may be said to have won the "Pitching Triple Crown".[13] Because these statistics are all largely complementary of one another, the Pitching Triple Crown is not quite as rare as the batting feat.

text: The pitching Triple Crown has been accomplished 38 times, including 8 since 1997. The most pitching Triple Crowns captured by one player is three, accomplished by three players. Grover Cleveland Alexander captured his first two in consecutive seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies (1915–1916), and won a third in 1920 with the Chicago Cubs. Alexander is the only pitching Triple Crown winner to win his titles with more than one team.[14][15][16] Walter Johnson won his three Triple Crowns with the first Washington Senators, leading the league in all three categories in 1913, 1918, and 1924.[17][18][19] Sandy Koufax was the most recent to capture three Triple Crowns, winning his three within four seasons for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1963, 1965–1966); all of Koufax's crowns were Major League crowns (meaning he led both leagues in all three categories), the most for any player.[20][21][22]

text: Other pitchers who have won multiple Triple Crowns include Christy Mathewson (1905 and 1908 New York Giants), Lefty Grove (1930 and 1931 Philadelphia Athletics), Lefty Gomez (1934 and 1937 New York Yankees), and Roger Clemens (1997 and 1998 Toronto Blue Jays).[23]

text: One pitcher, Guy Hecker, won a Triple Crown in a major league that is currently defunct; he led the American Association in wins, strikeouts, and ERA in 1884 while pitching for the Louisville Colonels.[24]

text: Eighteen of twenty-four eligible pitchers who have won a Triple Crown have been elected to the Hall of Fame.[25] Under the aforementioned eligibility rules for the Hall of Fame, four living pitchers who have been active since 2011 are ineligible for election. The Triple Crown winners who most recently became eligible for the Hall are Pedro Martínez and Randy Johnson. Both were elected to the Hall of Fame in 2015, each in their first year of eligibility.[26]

text: The most recent Triple Crown winners for pitching are Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander, who won for the NL and AL respectively in 2011 (the first season since 1924 to see Triple Crown winners in both leagues).[27]

text: Records[edit]

text: The first Triple Crown winner was Tommy Bond, who won the NL pitching crown in 1877. The following year, Paul Hines won the first batting Triple Crown in the NL; he and Miguel Cabrera are the only two batting Triple Crown winners from the NL or the AL who are not in the Hall of Fame, although Cabrera is not yet eligible to be elected.[9][23] The highest home run and RBI totals by a batting winner were achieved by Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig, respectively; Mantle hit 52 home runs in 1956, and Gehrig batted in 165 runs in 1934, their only Triple Crown seasons. In the National League, Hornsby is the leader in home runs, with 42, and Medwick's 154 RBI lead as well. Hugh Duffy's .440 average in 1894 is the highest ever during a winning season, and the AL leader is Nap Lajoie (.426). Among the pitching triple crown winners, the lowest ERAs belong to Johnson (1.14 in the 1913 AL) and Alexander (1.22 in the 1915 NL). Johnson is also the AL leader in wins (36), but Charles Radbourn's NL total is over 20 wins higher; his 59 wins in 1884 are a Major League Baseball single-season record.[28] Radbourn also struck out 441 batters that season, the highest total for a Triple Crown winner; Pedro Martínez struck out 313 in the 1999 season to notch the highest strikeout total for an AL winner. The highest strikeout total for a Triple Crown winner in both the modern era (post-1900) and the live-ball era (post-1920) is Koufax's 382 in 1965, which was also a modern-era record at that time.

text: Triple Crown winners[edit]

text:
Year
Links to the article about the corresponding Major League Baseball season

Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Player is active

*
Denotes "Major League" Triple Crown

§
Player also won the MVP Award in the same year

HR
Home runs

RBI
Runs batted in

AVG
Batting average

W
Wins

K
Strikeouts

ERA
Earned run average

NL
National League

AL
American League

AA
American Association

text: Batting[edit]

text: NOTE: Research in 2015 places the Chicago Cubs' Heinie Zimmerman of 1912 (back) on this list as well.[29] Yet there is doubt over whether Hugh Duffy's 1894 RBI totals were the highest.[30]

text:
Year
Player
Position
Team
League
HR
RBI
AVG
Ref(s)

1878
Hines, PaulPaul Hines
Center fielder
Providence Grays
NL
4
50
.358
[31]

1887
O'Neill, TipTip O'Neill
Left fielder
St. Louis Browns
AA
14
123
.435
[7]

1894
Duffy, HughHugh Duffy
Outfielder
Boston Beaneaters
NL
18
145
.440
[32]

1901
Lajoie, NapNap Lajoie
Second baseman
Philadelphia Athletics
AL
14
125
.426
[33]

1909
Cobb, TyTy Cobb
Right fielder
Detroit Tigers
AL
9*
107*
.377*
[34][35]

1922
Hornsby, RogersRogers Hornsby
Second baseman
St. Louis Cardinals
NL
42
152
.401
[3]

1925
Hornsby, RogersRogers Hornsby
Second baseman
St. Louis Cardinals
NL
39*
143*
.403*
[4][36]

1933
Foxx, JimmieJimmie Foxx§
First baseman
Philadelphia Athletics
AL
48
163
.356
[37]

1933
Klein, ChuckChuck Klein
Right fielder
Philadelphia Phillies
NL
28
120
.368
[38]

1934
Gehrig, LouLou Gehrig
First baseman
New York Yankees
AL
49*
165*
.363*
[39][40]

1937
Medwick, JoeJoe Medwick§
Left fielder
St. Louis Cardinals
NL
31
154
.374
[41]

1942
Williams, TedTed Williams
Left fielder
Boston Red Sox
AL
36*
137*
.356*
[5][42]

1947
Williams, TedTed Williams
Left fielder
Boston Red Sox
AL
32
114
.343
[6]

1956
Mantle, MickeyMickey Mantle§
Center fielder
New York Yankees
AL
52*
130*
.353*
[43][44]

1966
Robinson, FrankFrank Robinson§
Right fielder
Baltimore Orioles
AL
49
122
.316
[45]

1967
Yastrzemski, CarlCarl Yastrzemski§
Left fielder
Boston Red Sox
AL
44
121
.326
[46]

2012
Cabrera, MiguelMiguel Cabrera§
Third Baseman
Detroit Tigers
AL
44
139
.330
[47]

text: Pitching[edit]

text:
Year
Player
Team
League
ERA
W
K
Ref(s)

1877
Bond, TommyTommy Bond
Boston Red Caps
NL
2.11
40
170
[48]

1884
Hecker, GuyGuy Hecker
Louisville Colonels
AA
1.80
52
385
[24]

1884
Radbourn, CharlesCharles Radbourn
Providence Grays
NL
1.38
59
441
[49]

1888
Keefe, TimTim Keefe
New York Giants
NL
1.74
35
335
[50]

1889
Clarkson, JohnJohn Clarkson
Boston Beaneaters
NL
2.73
49
284
[51]

1894
Rusie, AmosAmos Rusie
New York Giants
NL
2.78
36
195
[52]

1901
Young, CyCy Young
Boston Americans
AL
1.62
33
158
[53]

1905
Mathewson, ChristyChristy Mathewson
New York Giants
NL
1.27
31
206
[54]

1905
Waddell, RubeRube Waddell
Philadelphia Athletics
AL
1.48
27
287
[55]

1908
Mathewson, ChristyChristy Mathewson
New York Giants
NL
1.43
37
259
[56]

1913
Johnson, WalterWalter Johnson
Washington Senators
AL
1.14*
36*
243*
[17][57]

1915
Alexander, Grover ClevelandGrover Cleveland Alexander
Philadelphia Phillies
NL
1.22*
31*
241*
[14][58]

1916
Alexander, Grover ClevelandGrover Cleveland Alexander
Philadelphia Phillies
NL
1.55
33
167
[15]

1918
Johnson, WalterWalter Johnson
Washington Senators
AL
1.27*
23*
162*
[18][59]

1918
Vaughn, HippoHippo Vaughn
Chicago Cubs
NL
1.74
22
148
[60]

1920
Alexander, Grover ClevelandGrover Cleveland Alexander
Chicago Cubs
NL
1.91
27
173
[16]

1924
Johnson, WalterWalter Johnson
Washington Senators
AL
2.72
23
158
[19]

1924
Vance, DazzyDazzy Vance
Brooklyn Robins
NL
2.16*
28*
262*
[61][62]

1930
Grove, LeftyLefty Grove
Philadelphia Athletics
AL
2.54*
28*
209*
[63][64]

1931
Grove, LeftyLefty Grove§
Philadelphia Athletics
AL
2.06*
31*
175*
[65][66]

1934
Gomez, LeftyLefty Gomez
New York Yankees
AL
2.33
26
158
[67]

1937
Gomez, LeftyLefty Gomez
New York Yankees
AL
2.33
21
194
[68]

1939
Walters, BuckyBucky Walters§
Cincinnati Reds
NL
2.29
27
137
[69]

1940
Feller, BobBob Feller
Cleveland Indians
AL
2.61
27
261
[70]

1945
Newhouser, HalHal Newhouser§
Detroit Tigers
AL
1.81*
25*
212*
[71][72]

1963
Koufax, SandySandy Koufax§
Los Angeles Dodgers
NL
1.88*
25*
306*
[20][73]

1965
Koufax, SandySandy Koufax
Los Angeles Dodgers
NL
2.04*
26*
382*
[21][74]

1966
Koufax, SandySandy Koufax
Los Angeles Dodgers
NL
1.73*
27*
317*
[22][75]

1972
Carlton, SteveSteve Carlton
Philadelphia Phillies
NL
1.97
27
310
[76]

1985
Gooden, DwightDwight Gooden
New York Mets
NL
1.53*
24*
268*
[77][78]

1997
Clemens, RogerRoger Clemens
Toronto Blue Jays
AL
2.05
21
292
[79]

1998
Clemens, RogerRoger Clemens
Toronto Blue Jays
AL
2.65
20
271
[80]

1999
Martínez, PedroPedro Martínez
Boston Red Sox
AL
2.07
23
313
[81]

2002
Johnson, RandyRandy Johnson
Arizona Diamondbacks
NL
2.32
24
334
[82]

2006
Santana, JohanJohan Santana
Minnesota Twins
AL
2.77*
19*
245*
[83][84]

2007
Peavy, JakeJake Peavy
San Diego Padres
NL
2.54
19
240
[85]

2011
Kershaw, ClaytonClayton Kershaw
Los Angeles Dodgers
NL
2.28
21
248
[86]

2011
Verlander, JustinJustin Verlander§
Detroit Tigers
AL
2.40
24
250
[87]


document_title: Stradivarius

question_text: what kind of wood is a stradivarius violin made of

text: Stradivarius

text: Construction[edit]

text:
Stradivari made his instruments using an inner form, unlike the French copyists, such as Vuillaume, who employed an outer form. It is clear from the number of forms throughout his career that he experimented with some of the dimensions of his instruments.[4]
The woods used included spruce for the top, willow for the internal blocks and linings, and maple for the back, ribs, and neck.[5]

text: There has been conjecture that the wood used may have been treated with several types of minerals, both before and after construction of a violin. Scientists at National Taiwan University have detected trace amounts of aluminum, copper, and calcium in wood from Stradivari violins.[6][7] The traces may have come from chemical preservatives applied by loggers to the wood they sold.[1] As well, the violin makers applied varnishes to their instruments. Potassium borate (borax) may have been used to protect against Woodworm.[8] Sodium and potassium silicate may have been used to prevent mildew, rotting and insect damage.[9] Simone Fernando Sacconi suggested that Vernice bianca, an egg tempera varnish composed of gum arabic, honey, and egg white, may have been used.[10]

text: More recently, French chemist Jean-Philippe Echard and his co-workers have studied varnishes on Stradivarius violins. He reports that even when varnish is no longer visible to the human eye on the surface of older violins, it can be detected within the top layers of cells.  A lower layer of varnish is found within the topmost wood cells while an upper rests upon the wood. Echard's findings also suggest that Stradivari used a mixture of common Cremonese resin, oil, and pigment as a varnish, rather than making his own. Echard did not find traces of specialized ingredients such as protein materials, gums, or fossil amber.[1][11]

text: A comparative study published in PLOS ONE in 2008[12] found no significant differences in median densities between modern and classical violins, or between classical violins from different origins; instead the survey of several modern and classical examples of violins highlighted a notable distinction when comparing density differentials.   These results suggest that differences in density differentials in the material may have played a significant role in the sound production of classical violins.  A later survey, focused on comparing median densities in both classical and modern violin examples, questioned the role available materials may have played in sound production differences, though it made no comment on variations in density differentials.[13] The content of copper and aluminium is higher than current instruments.[6][7]

text: Market value[edit]

text: A Stradivarius made in the 1680s, or during Stradivari's "Long Pattern" period from 1690 to 1700, could be worth hundreds of thousands to several million U.S. dollars at today's prices.[14] The 1697 "Molitor"[15] Stradivarius, once rumored to have belonged to Napoleon (it did belong to a general in his army, Count Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor), sold in 2010 at Tarisio Auctions to violinist Anne Akiko Meyers for $3,600,000, at the time a world record.[16][17]

text: Depending on condition, instruments made during Stradivari's "golden period" from 1700 to about 1725[18] can be worth millions of dollars. In 2011, his "Lady Blunt" violin from 1721, which is in pristine condition, was sold in London for $15.9 million (it is named after Lord Byron's granddaughter Lady Anne Blunt, who owned it for 30 years). It was sold by the Nippon Music Foundation in aid of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami appeal.[19] In Spring 2014 the "Macdonald" viola was put up for auction through the musical instrument auction house Ingles & Hayday in conjunction with Sotheby's via silent auction with a minimum bid of $45 million.[20] The auction failed to reach its minimum bid by 25 June 2014,[21]  and the viola was not sold.

text: Vice magazine reported in May 2013 that "in recent years, Stradivarius investment funds have started to appear, pushing already astronomical prices even higher".[22]

text: Stradivarius instruments are at risk of theft. Stolen instruments are often recovered, however, even after being missing for many years. They are difficult to sell illicitly as dealers will typically call the police if approached by a seller with a Stradivarius known to have been stolen.[23] In recent years, the General Kyd Stradivarius was stolen in 2004. It was returned three weeks later by a woman who found it and handed it over to the police.[24][25][26]  The Sinsheimer/Iselin was stolen in Hanover, Germany in 2008 and recovered in 2009.[27] the Lipinski Stradivarius  was stolen in an armed robbery on 27 January 2014[28] and subsequently recovered.[29] The Ames Stradivarius was stolen in 1981 and recovered in 2015.[23]

text:
A number of stolen instruments remain missing, such as the Davidoff-Morini, stolen in 1995,[30] the Le Maurien, stolen in 2002,[31]
and the Karpilowsky, stolen in 1953.[32]

text: Comparisons in sound quality[edit]

text: Above all, these instruments are famous for the quality of sound they produce. However, the many blind experiments from 1817[33][34] to the present (as of 2014[2][35][1]) have never found any difference in sound between Stradivari's violins and high-quality violins in comparable style of other makers and periods, nor has acoustic analysis.[36][37] In a particularly famous test on a BBC Radio 3 programme in 1977, the violinists Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman and the violin expert and dealer Charles Beare tried to distinguish between the "Chaconne" Stradivarius, a 1739 Guarneri del Gesú, an 1846 Vuillaume, and a 1976 British violin played behind a screen by a professional soloist. The two violinists were allowed to play all the instruments first. None of the listeners identified more than two of the four instruments. Two of the listeners identified the 20th-century violin as the Stradivarius.[38] Violinists and others have criticized these tests on various grounds such as that they are not double-blind (in most cases), the judges are often not experts, and the sounds of violins are hard to evaluate objectively and reproducibly.[37][39]

text: In a test in 2009, the British violinist Matthew Trusler played his 1711 Stradivarius, said to be worth two million U.S. dollars, and four modern violins made by the Swiss violin-maker Michael Rhonheimer (de). One of Rhonheimer's violins, made with wood that the Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) researcher Francis Schwarze had treated with fungi, received 90 of the 180 votes for the best tone, while the Stradivarius came second with 39 votes. The majority (113) of the listeners misidentified the winning violin as the Stradivarius.[40][41][42]

text: In a double-blind test in 2012[43][44] published in the study "Player preferences among new and old violins",[35] expert players could not distinguish old from new instruments by playing them for a short time in a small room.[45] In an additional test, performed in a concert hall, one of the Stradivarius violins placed first, but one of the participants stated that "the audience in the concert hall were essentially equivocal on which instruments were better in each of the pair-wise instrument comparisons" and "I could tell slight differences in the instruments... but overall they were all great. None of them sounded substantially weaker than the others" [43] Modern violins were rated as having better sound-carrying qualities and were preferred again in a study in 2017.[46][1]

text: While many world-class soloists play violins by Antonio Stradivari, there are notable exceptions. For example, Christian Tetzlaff formerly played "a quite famous Strad", but switched to a violin made in 2002 by Stefan-Peter Greiner. He states that the listener cannot tell that his instrument is modern, and he regards it as excellent for Bach and better than a Stradivarius for "the big Romantic and 20th-century concertos."[47]

text: Theories and reproduction attempts[edit]

text: Some maintain that the very best Stradivari have unique superiorities.[48] Various attempts at explaining these supposed qualities have been undertaken, most results being unsuccessful or inconclusive. Over the centuries, numerous theories have been presented – and debunked[1] – including an assertion that the wood was salvaged from old cathedrals.[49] Dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating, has proved this false.

text: A more modern theory attributes tree growth during a time of global cold temperatures during the Little Ice Age associated with unusually low solar activity of the Maunder Minimum, circa 1645 to 1750, during which cooler temperatures throughout Europe are believed to have caused stunted and slowed tree growth, resulting in unusually dense wood.[50][1] Further evidence for this "Little Ice Age theory" comes from a simple examination of the dense growth rings in the wood used in Stradivari's instruments.[51] Two researchers – University of Tennessee tree-ring scientist Henri Grissino-Mayer and Lloyd Burckle, a Columbia University climatologist – published their conclusions supporting the theory on increased wood density in the journal Dendrochronologia.[52]

text: In 2008, researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, announced further evidence that wood density caused the claimed high quality of these instruments. After examining the violins with X-rays, the researchers found that these violins all have extremely consistent density, with relatively low variation in the apparent growth patterns of the trees that produced this wood.[12]

text: Yet another possible explanation is that the wood was sourced from the forests of northern Croatia.[53] This maple wood is known for its extreme density resulting from the slow growth caused by harsh Croatian winters. Croatian wood was traded by Venetian merchants of the era, and is still used today by local luthiers and craftsfolk for musical instruments.

text: Some research points to wood preservatives used in that day as contributing to the resonant qualities. Joseph Nagyvary[54][55] reveals that he has always held the belief that there are a wide range of chemicals that will improve the violin's sound. In a 2009 study co-authored with Renald Guillemette and Clifford Spiegelman, Nagyvary obtained shavings from a Stradivarius violin and examined them, and analysis indicated they contained "borax, fluorides, chromium and iron salts."[56] He also found that the wood had decayed a little, to the extent that the filter plates in the pores between the wood's component tracheids had rotted away, perhaps while the wood was stored in or under water in the Venice lagoon before Stradivarius used it.

text: Steven Sirr, a radiologist, worked with researchers to perform a CT scan of a Stradivari known as the "Betts." Data regarding the differing densities of woods used were then used to create a reproduction instrument.[57]

text: Violins bearing the Stradivari label[edit]

text: While only about 650 original Stradivari instruments (harps, guitars, violas, cellos, violins) survive, thousands of violins have been made in tribute to Stradivari, copying his model and bearing labels that read "Stradivarius" on them. The presence of a Stradivarius label does not confirm that the instrument is a genuine work of Stradivari.[58]

text: Stradivari instruments[edit]

text: Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York[edit]

text:
"Gould" violin (1693)

"Francesca" violin (1694)

"Antonius" violin (1711)