Loretta Swit was so excited to get out in front of “M*A*S*H” fans Sunday morning at Steel City Con that she showed up 10 minutes early for an event that wasn’t scheduled to begin until 11 a.m.
A crowd of about 750 fans of the legendary TV show came to the Monroeville Convention Center to see a M*A*S*H reunion featuring Swit, who played Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan, and Jamie Farr, who played the cross-dressing Corporal Max Klinger. Swit and Farr are among only four principal actors on “M*A*S*H” who lasted for the entire 11-season run of the show. They are also two of the few surviving cast members.
The running banter between the two stars delighted fans, who were invited to ask questions during the session. Farr was immediately asked which, of all the outrageous dresses and outfits he wore as section 8 discharge-seeking Klinger, was his favorite.
“I’ll take a break now…,” said Swit, who kiddingly began walking off the stage as the crowd roared with laughter.
“Let me tell you something,” said Farr. “She used to get mad at me because I had a better wardrobe than she did.” He then turned the tables and asked Swit which one was her favorite.
Loretta Swit ("Hot Lips" Houlihan) and Jamie Farr (Max Klinger) at the M*A*S*H reunion at Steel City Con Sunday in Monroeville. A fan asked Farr which was his favorite outfit he wore as Klinger. pic.twitter.com/jHfXch3hHX
— Paul Guggenheimer (@PGuggenheimer) June 13, 2021
“My favorite was Cleopatra. But there’s something about the Statue of Liberty,” said Swit, referring to a season three episode in which Klinger dresses up like Lady Liberty, complete with flaming torch, to get visiting Gen. Douglas MacArthur to notice him. When MacArthur is inspired rather than repulsed and gives Klinger a salute, it’s one of the show’s all-time funniest moments.
“It was so much fun going to work everyday and getting paid for what we were doing,” said Farr. “I would go home and everyday my sides would be hurting from laughing with everybody. It was so much fun I couldn’t wait to get up every morning to go to work with all these wonderful people.”
Swit said she gets asked if she ever gets tired of being recognized by “M*A*S*H” fans.
“No! How would you like to live your day with a hundred people telling you they love you?” said Swit. “It validates everything I’ve ever done as an actress. This is why I’m here.”
Swit and Farr spent three days at Steel City Con talking with fans and putting autographs on glossy photographs. (Farr’s photo showed him as Klinger wearing the Cleopatra outfit.)
Swit was asked by a fan “what she got” out of performing in “M*A*S*H.”
“What I got the most from the show was the humanity. That was the core of ‘M*A*S*H,’” said Swit. “I think more than anything, the humanity of the show — and the way it brought families together and people together — that’s the most important thing that I got from it.”
