LJWorld.com

The most famous pair of legs in pre-Heidi Klum television history were hairy and usually exposed from just below the knees to the high heels. They belonged to a big-nosed man on a mission to be declared crazy so that he could be sent back home to his beloved Toledo.

Lovable cross-dresser Corporal/Sergeant Maxwell Q. Klinger, who never did get the Section 8 discharge for which he went to such great lengths - calf, knee, even mid-thigh - easily was the most memorable character from "M*A*S*H," the hit TV series (1972-1983).

The character, like the man who played him, was a huge fan of the Toledo Mud Hens and often wore the Triple A baseball team's cap. Actor Jamie Farr also happens to be a "big fan, you bet!" of the University of Toledo Rockets' football team, though Farr's schedule doesn't allow him to be at Friday night's nationally televised KU-Toledo game.

During a telephone interview from his Southern California home Tuesday, Farr offered a "must-do" travel guide to Toledo for KU fans making the trip.

Farr urges not to leave town without eating a meal at a Lebanese restaurant on Monroe Street named The Beirut, which he calls "the best food in the entire United States. I've taken Wayne Gretzky, Charles Barkley and Jim Kelly there when they've been in town for my (LPGA) tournament. It is the very finest Lebanese restaurant in the United States. And the Italian food there is exceptional."

Farr also advised to check out Tony Packo's Cafe. The name should sound familiar to "M*A*S*H" viewers, because Klinger often pined for the sausage-and-sauce sandwich on rye from Packo's.

"The original one is on Front Street, right across from the ballpark," Farr said. "You've got to have the chili dogs, the hot pickles, the peppers. They've got great strudel, good chili, good beer. You'll have a good time there."

What else?

"The Toledo Zoo is one of the best in the United States," Farr said. "It ranks way up there. And we have one of the finest art museums in the entire United States, if not the entire world."

Farr, 72, isn't the only famous Toledo native. Influential feminist Gloria Steinem, also 72, and actress Katie Holmes, 27, were born in Toledo. They can't match Farr's civic pride, though. Hollywood has done nothing to dull his love of Toledo. And he knows his football.

"The Rockets came close at Iowa State, losing in triple overtime, then they go and lose at Western Michigan," he said. "Toledo, University of Kansas, University of Missouri, their football teams remind me of each other through the years. Unpredictable. One week they look like they can beat anybody in the country. The next week they look like they can't beat anybody."

Farr calls Overland Park "my second hometown" because he has performed at New Theatre Restaurant so often and will do so again in April.

He is so popular in Toledo that when he goes to Mud Hens or UT games, he sits in suites, and not in Section 8, so that he can watch the games without interruption.

Farr no longer wears a dress to work, but he will forever be remembered for his greatest quote aired on "M*A*S*H": "If anything happens, bury me in the blue chiffon."