M*A*S*H (TV Series)

Morale Victory (1980)

David Ogden Stiers: Maj. Charles Winchester

Photos 

Quotes 

• Major Charles Winchester : Don't you see? Your hand may be stilled; but your gift *cannot* be silenced if you refuse to *let* it be.

  Private David Sheridan : Gift? You keep talking about this damn gift. I *had* a gift, and I exchanged it for some mortar fragments, remember?

  Major Charles Winchester : Wrong! Because the gift does not lie in your hands.

  [David huffs in frustration] 

  Major Charles Winchester : *I* have hands, David. Hands that can make a scalpel sing! More than anything in my life... I wanted to play. But I do not have the gift! I can play the notes; but I cannot make the *music*. You've performed Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Chopin! Even if you never do so again, you've already known a joy that I will never know as long as I live! Because the true gift is in your head, and in your heart, and in your soul. Now you can shut it off forever, or you can find new ways to share your gift with the world - through the baton, the classroom, the pen. As to these works, they're for you! Because you and the piano will always be as one.

• Maj. Charles Winchester : [Charles displays piano music in front of David]  I'm sure you've heard of these.

  Private David Sheridan : Huh? Pieces for the left hand. Of course I've heard of them. What are you suggesting now? That I make a career out of a few freak pieces written for one hand?

  Maj. Charles Winchester : Not at all. I won't make any pretense about your physical ability to play concerts. Not my point. Are you familiar with the story behind the Ravel?

  Private David Sheridan : No, and I don't really...

  Maj. Charles Winchester : It was written for an Austrian concert pianist named Paul Wittgenstein. He lost his right arm during the First World War. He embarked on a long search to commission piano works for the left hand alone. Composer after composer turned him down, but he refused to give up. Finally, he found Ravel who, like him, was willing to accept this great challenge.

• Col. Sherman T. Potter : Having some trouble over there, Winchester?

  Maj. Charles Winchester : Au contraire, Colonel. Thanks to an incomparable display of surgical prestidigitation, this lad will still have two legs to stand on when he gives me the ovation I so richly deserve.

  Capt. Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce : Ah, the immortal words of Elizabeth Barrett Winchester: How do I love me? Let me count the ways.

  Capt. B.J. Hunnicutt : Yowsa, yowsa. Once again from the Arrogance Ballroom, you've just heard Satchmo Winchester blowing his own horn.

  Maj. Charles Winchester : Ha ha ha ha. Spew on, supercilious twits. This lad was a mélange of mortar fragments, an airtight candidate for amputation. But an arterial graft here, a bit of tendon repair there, and this boy shall soon be walking home.

  Maj. Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan : How about the hand, doctor?

  Maj. Charles Winchester : Well, there's slight damage to the flexor tendon and the neurovascular bundle.

  Col. Sherman T. Potter : Winchester, you've got a silo full of smug, but you sure know which end of a scalpel is up.

• Father Francis Mulcahy : You know, you're being much too harsh on yourself. You mustn't think that you failed.

  Maj. Charles Winchester : But I have. The boy's a graduate of Juilliard. He just embarked on a promising career. I reach out to him, but no matter what I do, I cannot get through.

  Father Francis Mulcahy : That's not your fault.

  Maj. Charles Winchester : Oh, isn't it? We both know that there are other doctors here more able to show compassion, provide comfort. I have no magic words. I work my wonders on flesh and bone. I perform no miracle surgery on the soul. That's--That's your department.

  Father Francis Mulcahy : Major, I know how difficult it was for you to come here. It's obvious that you care a great deal.

  Maj. Charles Winchester : Of course I care.

  Father Francis Mulcahy : Then you must not give up. There's no one here with a greater love or knowledge of music. And that's the key. You must show him that his musical career is not over. You can't let him waste that precious talent that God has given him.

  Maj. Charles Winchester : Thank you, Father.

• Maj. Charles Winchester : David?

  Private David Sheridan : What time is it?

  Maj. Charles Winchester : It's very late. David, I'm sorry to awaken you, but I feel that we need to talk.

  Private David Sheridan : Doctor, we have talked. How many times do you need to come here? I've told you I don't blame you for what happened, but that doesn't give me my hand back.

  Maj. Charles Winchester : Whether you blame me or not, makes no difference. It's you, David. You see no future for yourself, and that gnaws at me.

  Private David Sheridan : Your concern is admirable, but there must be better ways for you to spend your time because I don't give a damn.

  Maj. Charles Winchester : You have a very special gift.

  Private David Sheridan : Had, doctor. HAD. I'm very tired. Good night.