Wait. Did they forget to stencil this one letter in the M*A*S*H opening credits?
Looks like M*A*S*H forgot to cross some Ts.
On M*A*S*H, McLean Stevenson arguably had the most dramatic exit of any character to leave the show. There was not a dry eye in the audience after his final episode in the third season “Abyssinia, Henry.” Apart from how beloved his character Henry Blake was, some of that had to do with being sad to say goodbye to the actor, too. He was the only one on the cast other than Alan Alda to win a Golden Globe for his work on the show, and his performances will forever remain a highlight for M*A*S*H fans.
Which brings us to our head scratch of the day. We were watching a second season episode of M*A*S*H when we noticed there was something a little off about Stevenson’s name in the opening credits. Where every other letter shown is stenciled, the “T” in Stevenson did not get the same stencil treatment. What gives? Did they just forget to stencil this one letter?
In case you were wondering if maybe a “T” just doesn’t leave much room for stenciling, all you need to do is check out Loretta Swit’s credit which comes just a few beats later. She’s got three Ts in her name, and all three of them managed to get stenciled. See photographic evidence below:
Now, looking at this credit, if you’re on our level at this point, you likely noticed the “I” in Loretta Swit has no stencil treatment. This is consistent with how that letter is treated in everybody’s names. See Larry Linville’s credit to confirm:
This leaves us with just the lone “T” in McLean Stevenson being left out of the letter styling. Let’s maybe lump it in with all the other tiny errors we found from the show?
