Monster M*A*S*H
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Colonel Reese, a visiting officer, appears in the Season 3 episode of the CBS-TV series M*A*S*H titled "House Arrest". The part of Col. Reese was played in the episode by veteran film/TV/stage actress Mary Wickes.

About the Colonel[]

When Colonel Reese arrives to inspect the nurses, Margaret shows her to her tent, for they will be bunking together. When Reese meets Frank, who is waiting in Margaret's tent, he sports a terrific shiner. The Colonel, who almost immediately has designs on the unsuspecting Frank, guesses correctly that he's not all that happy in his marriage and fooling around with Margaret.

Meanwhile, Trapper tells Henry what he witnessed in the scrub room, when Hawkeye punched Frank after the Major snapped him with a towel after Hawkeye insulted Hot Lips, who was uptight and nervous about Col. Reese's upcoming visit. Pierce is placed on house arrest; Trapper concocts a story of Frank slipping on a bar of soap and hitting his face on the sink. Whammo! Henry goes along with the lie and has Radar write it up.

When Frank goes to Margaret's tent during the movie, he finds only Colonel Reese, alone and wearing just her robe. Reese quickly starts massaging Frank's shoulders as he talks about the stresses in his life. She brings up his unhappy marriage, softens him up with blackberry brandy, and insinuates that, with her help, Frank could be a Colonel, serving at Walter Reed hospital in Washington, D.C. Flush with passion, the now-amorous Reese kisses Frank on the lips just as Margaret walks in. Reese, caught in the act, to save face, hollers rape, causing the whole movie audience to congregate outside Margaret's tent. Reese wants charges filed, but Hawkeye protests he does not want to share his house arrest with anybody. A jealous Margaret declares Hawkeye to be innocent, because after all, Frank hit his face after slipping on a bar of soap! Eventually, although not placed in the script, and as intimated in later episodes, the Colonel withdraws her charges.

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