Sidney Freedman
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| M*A*S*H character | |
Dr. Sidney Freedman as played by Allan Arbus |
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| Sidney Theodore Freedman | |
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| Rank | Major |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Black |
| Eye color | Brown |
| Home city | New York City, New York |
| Film portrayer | None |
| Television portrayer | Allan Arbus |
| First appearance | "Radar’s Report" |
| Last appearance | "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" |
In the television series M*A*S*H, Dr. Sidney Theodore Freedman, played by Allan Arbus, is a psychiatrist frequently summoned in cases of mental health problems.
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[edit] First appearance
Freedman first visited the camp to do a psychiatric evaluation of Klinger, who was aiming for a discharge (as always). After Freedman had finished the report, he quietly took Klinger in for an interview and told him that while he is obviously not mentally ill, Freedman was willing to declare him transvestite and a homosexual. This label would not leave him, though, as he put it: "From now on, you go through life on high heels." Klinger vociferously denied, "I ain't any of those things! I'm just crazy!" Klinger's discharge was uniformly dropped, and Freedman left the camp.
In this first appearance in the series, Dr. Freedman's first name was Milton, not Sidney. The name change may have been due to the prominence of the economist Milton Friedman, or possibly to give him the same initials as Sigmund Freud, who he admired. He may also have been named after an acquaintance of a writer.
[edit] Subsequent appearances
Freedman helped the 4077th in many cases, such as when Hawkeye had trouble with nightmares and sleepwalking, or had a bout of uncontrollable sneezing which proved to be psychosomatic, triggered by an old repressed memory of when a childhood false friend deliberately almost drowned him. Colonel Potter began to doubt his skills following a surgical error, and opened up to Freedman in private. In turn, Freedman found his visits to the camp a welcome break from his regular duties. He came frequently to play cards, and once stayed for several days after the suicide of one young patient, to get insight into how the M*A*S*H'ers coped with their experience. (As a psychiatrist, he'd also been to medical school, and was able to assist the surgeons when emergencies arose.) For their part, the staff of the 4077th hold him in high regard and he is their first choice of professionals to whom to refer patients on mental health matters.
Freedman treated a bomber pilot whose horror over the deaths of the civilians his bombs killed led him to believe he was Jesus Christ. He recommended that the pilot be encouraged to remember and resume his identity, but not his military role. This infuriated another visitor, Colonel Flagg, who decided Freedman must be a Communist, or a disloyal American, especially since Sidney didn't sign his loyalty oath. However, Freedman refused to be intimidated, and Flagg's subsequent investigations of the doctor evidently turned up nothing useful against him.
Freedman used a post-hypnotic suggestion to stop the suicidal thoughts of another soldier, a Chinese-American named Sgt. Michael Yee. Yee had served in Europe, not the Pacific Theater, in World War II. "This is the first time he's fought an Asian enemy," Freedman told Hawkeye. "He has to kill Chinese to be a good American, and he has to kill himself to be a good Chinese." Another time, Freedman used hypnosis to help a combat medic with amnesia recover his memory, and had Hawkeye and B.J. Hunnicutt help by providing sound effects and the voices of soldiers.
[edit] Finale
In an early episode, Freedman told those gathered in the operating room, "Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice: Pull down your pants and slide on the ice." He repeated that advice in the series finale, following his treatment of Hawkeye, who had finally cracked under the strain of the war. Freedman led Hawkeye to stop suppressing the memory of seeing a Korean mother who had smothered her coughing and crying baby in an effort to keep it silent, in order that threatening North Korean troops wouldn't hear them and kill all in their group. (In Hawkeye's suppression, he had 'remembered' that the mother had killed a 'chicken', until Freedman brought the memory into the light.) He convinced a reluctant Hawkeye that the best thing for him now was to return to duty for the last days of the war.
[edit] Trivia
- Originally, when Radar was written out of the series, Sidney Freedman was going to join the cast of M*A*S*H. However, Allan Arbus didn't want to commit to be anything other than being a guest star, so the character remained an irregular character.
- Sidney once wrote a letter to Sigmund Freud to make observations about the various members of the 4077th.
[edit] Quotes
- (Upon first being introduced to, and preparing to psychologically examine the cross-dressing Klinger) "What's your name, honey?"
- (regarding a patient who is holding Frank hostage in the shower with a gun and firing shots) "I'm not going out there without a bulletproof couch."
- (To Flagg) "I'd like to go on talking to you, Flagg, but with your schizophrenia I'd have to charge you double rates."
- "Anger turned inward is depression. Anger turned sideways is Hawkeye."
- "Ladies and Gentlemen, take my advice: Pull down your pants and slide on the ice."
- (In letter to Sigmund Freud) "In the greatest enterprise ever conceived to separate a man's brains from his buns, BJ [Hunnicutt] goes calmly on. I envy his serenity."
[edit] External links
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