Sergeant Towser

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Sergeant Towser is a minor character in the novel Catch-22. Towser is Major Major's assistant. In an effort to be left alone, Major Major instructs Towser to forbid anyone entry to his office whilst he's inside, and to let people into his office only when he's gone, leaving Towser in de facto control of the squadron (and providing another example of the no-win aspects of Catch 22). When Lt. Mudd is killed on a mission before he reported for duty, Towser claims he never arrived, causing the poor man to disappear.

Towser was played by veteran character actor Norman Fell in Mike Nichols' movie based on the novel. The classic Towser-Major scene has Bob Newhart as Major Major pacing back and forth while addressing Fell's Towser. The portrait on the office wall switches from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Winston Churchill to Joseph Stalin each time the camera pans away.

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Yossarian • Aarfy • Appleby • Captain Black • The Chaplain • Colonel Cargill • Colonel Cathcart • Clevinger • Nurse Cramer • Major Danby • Doc Daneeka • Major —— de Coverley • General Dreedle • Dobbs • Nurse Duckett • Dunbar • Dori Duz • Lieutenant Engle • Captain Flume • Gus & Wes • Havermeyer • Huple • Hungry Joe • Kid Sampson • Sergeant Knight • Corporal Kolodny • Colonel Korn • Kraft • Luciana • Major Major Major Major • McWatt • Michaela • Milo Minderbinder • Colonel Moodus • Mudd (aka the Dead Man in Yossarian's tent) • Nately • Orr • General Peckem • Piltchard & Wren • Major Sanderson • Lieutenant/General Scheisskopf • Mrs Scheisskopf • Corporal Snark • Snowden • The Soldier Who Sees Everything Twice (aka Giuseppe) • Dr. Stubbs • Sergeant Towser • Lieutenant Travers • Corporal Whitcomb • Chief White Halfoat • ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen
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