"Now, just a minute! This is a press conference! The last thing I want to do is answer a lot of questions!"
(General Mitchell, in The Incubator)
Brigadier General Maynard M. Mitchell is a one-star General who appeared in three Season 2 episodes of the M*A*S*H television series, first in The Trial of Henry Blake, then The Incubator and finally Officers Only. General Mitchell was portrayed by Robert F. Simon.
He is the fourth in a long line of Generals who oversee the 4077th M*A*S*H (amongst other units), succeeding Generals Hammond, Barker, and Clayton (all Brigadiers as well). Although seen in only three episodes, General Mitchell is frequently referred to throughout season 2. He disappears after that without comment or explanation; at the start of season 3, the general overseeing the 4077th and other units is General Steele.
About General Mitchell[]
General Mitchell first appears in the episode The Trial of Henry Blake as the Presiding Officer at a preliminary hearing after Frank and Margaret bring formal charges against Henry. A fair-minded person, Mitchell dismisses the minor charges after listening to Henry's explanations that the outlandish behavior such as the gurney races were necessary to maintain morale in the severely overworked MASH.
As to the more serious charge of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, Mitchell learns that the "aid" was in the form of medical supplies was actually given to a North Korean clinic run by American Meg Cratty, who takes patients regardless of politics. Hearing this, Mitchell moves to expunge the record - asking Frank to drop the charges, which he refuses to do until Hawkeye and Trapper threaten to tell Frank's wife about Margaret. Mitchell ends the proceedings by inviting all present for a drink.
Mitchell makes his second appearance in The Incubator. Hawkeye and Trapper are looking for an incubator for the 4077th. Col. Lambert, the commander of the 728th EVAC hospital refuses to release an incubator to them and suggests that if they wanted to appeal higher up the chain of command, they should go to General Mitchell. Lambert describes Mitchell as "honest, true-blue as the day is long, and about as interesting as a five-pound bag of fertilizer."
Hawker and Trapper crash a press conference where Mitchell is fielding questions with non-answers. They ask the general why MASH units are not given incubators. He is evasive, but the surgeons are persistent, leading the reporters to ask for more details, whereupon he famously responds: "Now just a minute! This is a press conference! The last thing I want to do is answer a lot of questions!" The session descends into chaos when Hawkeye calls him a "nincompac" and shouts "Give me an incubator or give me death!"
In Mitchell's final appearance in Officers Only, he appears to have forgotten or forgiven all the past events. He visits the 4077th after they have operated on his son, a paratrooper, and saved his life. Suitably grateful, he gives Henry a case of scotch and rewards his son's doctors, Hawkeye and Trapper, with a free 3-night stay at a luxury suite in Tokyo's Imperial Hotel.
When Hawkeye and Trapper return from their R&R, they find that Mitchell has also donated an Officers Club to the MASH. Although Hawkeye and Trapper like the idea of a bar they can hang out at, they soon find that it causes friction between them and the enlisted men in the camp because the club is restricted to officers only. Hawkeye and Trapper try to get a petition going to allow enlisted men into the club, but naturally Frank and Margaret refuse to join in. So, when Mitchell arrives for the official opening of the club, Hawkeye objects to Mitchell's son attending the party because he is an enlisted man. Henry wants to make an exception because the club was Mitchell's donation, but the fair-minded general accepts Hawkeye's point, saying that a custom is a custom. However, Hawkeye suggests that they could stretch a point by admitting relatives of officers. Mitchell asks Henry's opinion, and of course he readily agrees. The point settled, Mitchell's son is admitted, whereupon Hawkeye introduces all the enlisted men in the MASH as his "relatives". Mitchell sportingly accepts this and then spends the rest of the night dancing with Margaret.
In other episodes, all in Season 2, Mitchell is frequently mentioned as the recipient of reports from Frank and Margaret about the goings on in the 4077th MASH. In Hot Lips and Empty Arms, Margaret threatens to send a report to Mitchell about the camp's Thanksgiving "Come as your favorite nude pilgrim" party. In For Want of a Boot, Radar tells Henry that Margaret is preparing a report to Mitchell about Henry's poor management. The next episode Operation Noselift opens with Henry composing a reply to Mitchell to what might well be that report. Apparently Margaret and Frank had accused Henry of conduct unbecoming by dressing up as King Neptune during a Mardi Gras celebration. Later in the same episode, Frank reveals that he is in the habit of sending weekly anonymous reports to Mitchell. In As You Were, Klinger writes a letter to Mitchell to "prove" that he is mentally imbalanced, enclosing a photo of him in a Rita Hayworth dress.
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