California State Parks

ZDS Communications had the honor of helping California State Parks (CSP) publicize refurbishment of the patch of Malibu Creek State Park where TV’s “M*A*S*H” was shot for 11 years.

CSP volunteer docent extraordinaire Brian Rooney organized a news conference and public celebration to trumpet renewal of the wooded site that doubled for the South Korean camp where the beloved series’ characters struggled with life and death at their 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. News of the event was carried around the world by AP and UPI and featured throughout Southern California by such papers as The Los Angeles Times, the Daily News, Malibu Times and the Santa Monica Mirror. Television news coverage ran on Fox 11 and KCBS/KCAL, and Zan Dubin Scott was interviewed on KFWB News 98 radio. To relive it yourself through YouTube, click here.

Celebrities attending the genuinely uplifting celebration included Loretta Swit, Hot Lips herself; Mike Farrell, a.k.a. B.J. Hunnicutt; Bill Christopher, who played Father Mulcahy; and Jeff Maxwell, known as Igor the cook. Above-the-liners included Charles S. Dubin, who directed a record 44 episodes; Gene Reynolds, the series’ creator; and Burt Metcalfe, who stayed on as producer from start to finish.

The event was timed to coincide with the 25^th anniversary of the series’ 1983 finale, which remains the most watched episode in U.S. TV history, and the site’s sprucing up included restoration of the M*A*S*H camp’s helicopter pad and brush removal, which revealed a long-parked vintage ambulance. Remember the multi-directional signpost pointing to Coney Island, Seoul, Burbank and elsewhere? That was rebuilt and served as a backdrop for many of the 300 camera-clicking Mashies, as the show’s enduring fans are sometimes called, who trekked two miles to ask for autographs, share nostalgia, and say cheese with Hot Lips & company.