Capt. Tuttle is a 6'4" aubrn haired, hazel eyed, philanthropic, bomb defusing, volunteer Army Surgeon who, when hes not feeding and reading to the local blind orphans and widows, can be found donating his own blood to the wounded men on which hes performing life saving surgery from behind enemy lines.

If you think that sounds all too good to be true, thats because it is... Captain Tuttle was invented by M*A*S*H protagonist Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce and was introduced in the second highest rated episode of the show, according to IMDB, and one of my favorite episodes tited (S1E15 Tuttle). The episode opens on the two protagonists "Hawkeye" and "Trapper" who are stealing some excess supplies to give to the local charities for orphans run by the nuns of South Korea. The nuns are very thankful for the donation and ask the two men whom they can thank for this generosity. Not looking to incriminate themselves, Hawkeye claims that a 'Captain Tuttle' was the one who ordered the dontation and Trapper, bemused and a little confused, agrees with his co-conspirator.

The episode unfolds along a rather simple thread, where a small and well intentioned white lie that starts a story slowly snowballs and quickly takes on a life of its own. Through the power of suggestion and implied peer pressure, the whole camp becomes absolutely convinced that this 'Captain Tuttle' is not only real, but they all have unconciously crafted specific memories of this imaginary man in their minds. Throughout the episode there are only 3 people that know the true nature of Captian Tuttle's existence (or lack therof), Hawkeye, Trapper, and the company clerk "Radar" O'Riley. As always, Radar is the one carrying out most of the work required to keep the charade going, seeing as he is intimately familiar with the workings of the Army.

Eventually the antagonists, Maj.Frank Burns and Maj.Margeret Hoolihan grow jealous of all this positive attention this "new man Tuttle" is getting and decide to call up the chain of command to figure out where he came from. Radar facilitates yet another deception and flags down Hawkeye who pretends to be a General to pre-emptively shoot down any questions about new officer in camp. Now that everyone in camp is on the Tuttle train, they decide to go for a bigger scam, and claim the 14 months of backpay that this fictional man never received. Amazingly simply because a clerk was able to put a name down on a few of the correct forms, the Army approves thousands of dollars in a lump sum to this man they do no further background check on, but insist on delivering the money in person. This time, Hawkeye poses as Tuttle himself behind a surgical mask to desguise himself from the accountant in charge of the money transfer. Hawkeye then informs the accountant that all of his future income, should go the orphanage, ensuring that the in person disguise is not needed to allow the scam can continue.

This last philanthropic act is so stunning, it makes its way up the chain of command until the general, hearing of this noble act, decides to come down to personally honor the man they call 'Tuttle' at a ceremony in front of the whole camp. The camp falls in at the ceremony, all eager to see their 'friend Johnny' get the honor he so clearly deserves. But Johnny isnt there... the word is that he went out to do some field surgery behind enemy lines but when Hawkeye shows up holding a backpack, sullen faced and determined, he delivers the devastating news, "There is no Tuttle... not anymore". While out on his mission, Tuttle jumped from a helicopter to get to the patients faster, but forgot his parachute. Hawkeye is then forced into to giving a eulogy about his imaginary friend, to all of his distraught co-workers as they mourn the loss. In typical Tuttle fashion, Hawkeye confirms that all of Tuttle's GI benefits are marked out to the orphanage making one final and grand pass as redistributing some Army resources through this fictional entity. The episode ends on the camp commander wiping tears from his eyes, that Tuttle "...was the best O.D. we ever had!"

This episode is so simple and yet shows so much about human psychology and really led me to question... was Tuttle actually real? I mean, he dontated tens of thousands of dollars in tangible resources and actual cash to an orphanage, left his co-workers and friends with fond memories of dinners and long OR sessions, and will be remembered as a hard worker, who cared about the downtrodden and unfortunate.

I have this depate about fictional characters in the real world and I think that this episode brilliantly poses the same question. 'Can fictional things be more real than the people that created them?' I believe that its very difficult for this phenomenoa to take place but, if you create a truely compelling fiction, compelling meaning engaging to humans from a large variety of backgrounds, education levels, personalities, etc. then that character can transcend their own creators and become 'immortal'. Who is more real to you today? William Shakespeare, or Romeo and Juliet? There was only one Shakespeare, and sure he could be represented in other creative genuises of their time, but alnost all love stories between almost all people that love has an element of Romeo and/or Juliet in them. Those characters can been reused as templates for new characters over, and over, and over, and over again. The staff working on M*A*S*H clearly have a similar opinion to mine as they actually added a credit at the end of the episode alongside the other real actors as 'Captain Tuttle as Himself'. To me this is confirmation that these creatives also believe that these 'fake people' and even the 'fake people that those fake people can create in a fake world' are at least as important and real as the living breathing actors reading the lines.

This is why I started Tuttle Studios.

Because, we are all blessed to be in the position of Hawkeye in that episode (or more accurately the writers: Larry Gelbart, Bruce Shelly, and David Ketchum in this life) to be able to breathe existence into an idea, and watch as that idea grow legs, and take on a life of its own in the hearts and minds of all who experience it. And I hope that the ideas, images, and stories that pass through Tuttle Studios can follow in the footsteps of creators and characters of M*A*S*H and invigorate ideas that will last for centuries.