Zelmo Zale

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Staff Sergeant Zelmo Zale was a fictional character on the M*A*S*H television series. Zale was portrayed by Johnny Haymer.

Zale was the supply sergeant for the 4077th MASH unit and also was the camp's electrian-such as trying to keep the MASH 4077 generator going {until it blew up} and repairing the juke box in the Officers club after the Marines bust it up. He made his first appearance in the Season 2 episode, "For Want of a Boot", and his final appearance in the Season 8 episode, "Goodbye Radar" (which, coincidentally enough, also marked Gary Burghoff's last appearance on the show as Corporal Radar O'Reilly). Zale's name is mentioned for the final time in "Yes Sir, That's Our Baby".

Zale was portrayed as a hotheaded individual who frequently sparred with Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger. Like Corporals O'Reilly; Klinger; Igor Straminsky, and Sergeant Luther Rizzo, Zale served as comic relief for the show; once, in order to help a poor Korean family, B.J. Hunnicutt had to blackmail Zale for supplies by threatening to reveal that Zale was sending a Quonset hut home to his wife.