Sam Flagg
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| M*A*S*H character | |
 Lt. Col/Col. Sam Flagg, played by Edward Winter | |
| Sam Flagg | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel/Colonel |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Dark Brown |
| Eye color | Unknown |
| Home city | Unknown |
| MASH (film)>Film portrayer | None |
| M*A*S*H (TV series)>Television portrayer | Edward Winter |
| First appearance | "A Smattering of Intelligence" |
Colonel Samuel Flagg is a fictional character on the television series M*A*S*H, played by actor Edward Winter.
Col. Flagg is a U.S. Military Intelligence agent. His behavior is rather paranoid and irrational, and he appears to the staff of the 4077th to be mentally unstable; the fact that he deliberately seriously injures himself to advance an investigation seemed proof of that (He tried to get into CIC headquarters by crashing his jeep into a brick wall and set himself on fire; he orders a helicopter pilot to crash and then twice breaks his own arm.) . He claims that he is either with the CIA, the CIC, or the CID, depending on who he's dealing with. Majors Frank Burns and Margaret Houlihan, strong anti-Communists and super-patriots, followed one of his assignments with great interest, but were unable to "buddy up" to him as they'd hoped.
Flagg used multiple aliases, including "Captain Halloran" (during Winter's initial appearance, in the episode "Deal Me Out"), "Captain Goldberg" (a Jewish chaplain with horn-rimmed glasses), and others. (One of his code names was "Queen Victoria".) At the conclusion of his second appearance (and his first under the name Flagg), a rival intelligence officer (who also used multiple sobriquets) says, "Buy you a cup of coffee, Sam?", revealing his (probable) first name.
Flagg used his position (and a photocopy of an old motel register where Blake had taken his mistress) to manipulate 4077th commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake. When Colonel Potter took Blake's place, Potter made a point of standing up to Flagg, telling him coldly "I'm not fond of personal abuse." Army psychiatrist Major Sidney Freedman also refused to cave in to Flagg's intimidation: "I'd like to help you, but with your schizophrenia, I'd have to charge you double rates." Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John McIntyre, and later B.J. Hunnicutt were high on Flagg's list of suspects (as "unpatriotic" Communist sympathizers or subversives), but always outwitted him, if Flagg wasn't busy outwitting (or harming) himself.
Flagg considers himself to be "like the wind": his "trademark" is that no one sees him leave when he finishes a job. However, keeping up that image backfired at least once when he ordered all of the others in the room to close their eyes and tried unsuccessfuly leave through the window. When everyone opened their eyes after hearing a yelp of pain, Hawkeye investigated and gleefully noted "The wind broke his leg."
Flagg made a serious mistake when he tried to manipulate Major Winchester into spying on Hawkeye. Winchester, who was of better character than Flagg suspected, instead duped him into thinking a camp bridge game (which included the Mayor of Ouijongbou and his brother, the city's chief of police, as guest players), was a meeting of conspirators, which Flagg then attempted to raid. The two angry Korean officials vowed to use their US military contacts to ensure that Flagg would be punished, and since Flagg was never seen again in the series, they apparently succeeded.
Flagg did appear several years after the war in a visit to General Pershing Veteran's Hospital (a guest appearance on the short-lived spinoff AfterMASH), indicating that he at least remained in the military.
Rank
During Flagg's visits (to MASH 4077), in the first three seasons (1972-75), he held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Afterwards, for the rest of the series (1975-83), he held the rank of Colonel. Note- his rank was the same with each MASH 4077 commanding officer: Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake & later Colonel Sherman Potter.Service
In one episode Flagg remarks he has been in Intelligence for twenty years.Quotes
"I've trained myself not to laugh or smile. I watched a hundred hours of the Three Stooges; every time I felt like smiling or laughing, I jabbed myself in the stomach with a cattle prod.""My father touched me like that once. To this day, he still has to wear orthopedic shirts."
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