AS SEEN ON TV: HOT LIPS!

MAJOR MARGARET HOULIHAN

AS SEEN IN:

'M*A*S*H'

AS PLAYED BY:

Loretta Swit

CREATED BY:

Richard Hooker

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

STATUS:

Multiversal

From Wikipedia:

Major Margaret J. "Hot Lips" Houlihan is a fictional character first created in the book "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors" by Richard Hooker. Actress Sally Kellerman portrayed the character in the Robert Altman film adaptation (where she is sometimes referred to as O'Houlihan). Houlihan was later portrayed by Loretta Swit in the long-running television series.

The character of "Hotlips Houlihan" was inspired by real-life Korean War MASH head nurse Hotlips Hammerly, also a very attractive blonde, of the same disposition.

Over the run of the show, Margaret mellowed from a completely "by-the-book" head nurse (who was also not above using her romantic contacts with superior officers in attempts to get her way, nor going against regulations for her personal benefit), to a more relaxed member of the cast who tempered her authority with humanity. Key episodes in this development were "The Nurses", in which Margaret gave an emotional tirade to her nurses about how their disdain of her hurt her and thus stuns them, and "Comrades In Arms", where Hawkeye and Margaret make peace once and for all while lost in the wilderness.

Despite her being a patriotic American, Houlihan was accused by a conniving Congressional aide of being a communist sympathizer, due to a long-ago relationship. Thanks to the help of her friends, the plan to accuse her was foiled.

When the show ended, Margaret was on her way back to the US to take up a position in an Army hospital. Not coincidentally, the change for her character came when Linda Bloodworth-Thomason joined the show's writing team. The last time she took a hardline stance with one of her nurses was in Episode 8.7, "Nurse Doctor", where she tells nurse Gail Harris, "If you think I was tough on you before you're in for seven weeks of 'You ain't seen nothing yet'. If you even think of stepping out of line your butt will be tattooed with my boots." Unlike other incidences, this chewing out was deserved and immediately after it Margaret offered to help Gail with her medical studies.

IN THE LITERARY UNIVERSE:
In the series of novels co-written with (or ghost-written by) William E. Butterworth, Houlihan reappears as the twice-widowed Margaret Houlihan Wachauf Wilson, both husbands having expired untimely on the nuptial couch through over-strain caused by excessive indulgence in her still-outstanding physical charms. Her career has taken a new direction as the Reverend head of the "God Is Love In All Forms Christian Church, Incorporated", a cult or sect with the unusual distinction that its entire congregation consists of homosexual men. Most of these are extremely flamboyant and the Reverend Mother herself is conspicuously glitzy and glittery. However, it appears that Margaret genuinely cares for her flock and is not merely shaking them down in pursuit of material gain.

IN THE MOVIE UNIVERSE:
The name "Hot Lips" originates from an infamous scene in M*A*S*H, the movie, in which Margaret Houlihan is played by Sally Kellerman. During sex with Frank Burns, Margaret is initially unaware that the public address microphone has been planted beneath their cot, broadcasting graphic details of their rendezvous throughout the camp on its public address system. Other members of the camp overhear her saying to Frank "Kiss my hot lips."

BCnU!