When M*A*S*H premiered on CBS on September 17, 1972, viewers met Major Margaret Houlihan, the no-nonsense head nurse played by Loretta Swit. They also quickly learned that just about everyone knew her by a much more memorable nickname: “Hot Lips.”
But if you only watched the TV series, you may have wondered where that name came from. The show never really explains it. To get the full story, you have to go back to the 1970 M*A*S*H movie, and technically even further to the novel that started it all.