Spearchucker Jones

MASH character


Timothy Brown as "Spearchucker" Jones.
bgcolor=#c00
fgcolor=#000
rank=Captain
name=Spearchucker Jones
gender=Male
hair=Black
eyes=Brown
home=Forrest City, Georgia
film=Fred Williamson
tv=Timothy Brown
español=Benjamín Rivera
first=""
last="Germ Warfare" (on screen)

Captain Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones or Captain Oliver Wendell "Spearchucker" Jones was a surgeon in the movie and television series "M*A*S*H". He was portrayed by Fred Williamson in the movie and by Timothy Brown (who had played the corpsman Corporal Judson in the film) in the television series. Spearchucker was shown during several episodes during the first season of the series.

Dr. Jones was one of the original Swampmen, along with Trapper, Hawkeye, and Frank Burns. The TV show producers decided to drop the character after the first few episodes deciding they wouldn't be able to write enough meaningful episodes for Spearchucker if they were concentrating on Hawkeye and Trapper, and because they were made aware that there is no record of African-American doctors serving in Korea. [Whitebols, James H. Watching M*A*S*H, Watching America: A Social History of the 1972-1983 Television Series, pg 17]

"Spearchucker" Jones was also a character in both the novel "M*A*S*H" (and its sequels) by Richard Hooker and Robert Altman's movie. In each, the Spearchucker character, who was a stand-out collegiate athlete ("Spearchucker," ordinarily a racial slur, ironically referred in this case to his javelin-throwing prowess) as well as a surgeon, is transferred to the 4077th to help them win a football game against a rival outfit. It is established in the novel that Jones is from Duke Forrest's hometown of Forrest City, Georgia, and knew Duke's father.

In the sequel novels, Jones joins the other doctors in their own practice in Maine, becoming a highly successful doctor and prominent citizen.

References

External links

* [http://www.finest-kind.net/theseries/supporting.php List and description of the M*A*S*H supporting character cast]