When Jamie Farr was offered a role in the TV version of the hit film "M+A+S+H," he jumped at the chance. Little did he know he'd need earrings and a brassiere.

Gene Reynolds, the show's executive producer, had remembered Farr from when he hired him for a bit part as an American Indian standup comic in an episode of "F Troop." When the part of Maxwell Klinger, the Section 8-seeking corporal, opened on "M+A+S+H," he had only Farr in mind.

There was just one thing: Farr had to wear dresses, gaudy jewelry and pantyhose.

The prospect frightened Farr.

"This will ruin my career," he told a friend. "What good things can I possibly expect after that?"

Famous last words.

"In a sense, it has ruined my career," Farr said. "It's been very hard to shake that character.

"People, they don't separate the character from Jamie Farr the actor. The first thing they do is hit you with dress jokes."

That's why Farr put a publicity photo of a smiling, hairy-chested Klinger wearing a Cleopatra outfit on the cover of his new book, "Just Farr Fun" (Eubanks-Donizetti Enterprises, $21.95), the first autobiography from a "M+A+S+H" cast member giving a poignant insight into the series.

"If 20th Century-Fox is making money off me all these years," he said with a bellowing laugh, "why the hell shouldn't I make a buck off me?"

Yeah, why not? Farr was part of perhaps the most celebrated cast in TV history.

After 251 episodes and countless Emmy Awards in 11 seasons, "M+A+S+H" signed off on Feb. 28, 1983, with a finale that became the highest rated single program ever. Some 125 million viewers tuned in.

"If I just got a half of a percent of 125 million people to buy he book," Farr said, "that's half a million people!"

There's just one problem: Getting bookstores to put "Just Farr Fun" on the shelves. "Every time they put the book out, it moves,"Farr said. "But it's been an uphill battle from Day 1."

"Just Farr Fun," co-written by Robert Blair Kaiser, is no literary masterpiece and there are no lurid revelations, but it humorously sums up the 41-year career of a self-professed "lucky S.O.B." from Toledo, Ohio. It takes readers through his role in the 1950s juvenile delinquent film "Blackboard Jungle" and a live-TV apprenticeship with Red Skelton to becoming a game-show mainstay and then, of course, "M+A+S+H."

"Getting a publisher was extremely difficult," Farr said, "because nobody wanted that kind of book. What they wanted was: Why do I hate Alan Alda? And I would tell them, `I don't hate Alan Alda! I love Alan Alda!' "

Bob Eubanks, the longtime host of "The Newlywed Game," and his partner Larry Donizetti stepped in and entered the publishing world with their eyes closed. They've been learning the ropes ever since.

"I had so many wonderful stories I wanted to tell," Farr said. "I'm so tired of these `Mommie Dearest' kind of books, talking about their sexual preferences, peeking through keyholes and dumping on other actors.

"I didn't want that. First of all, that didn't happen with us. We really had a very enjoyable time doing the series."

Farr said he purposely avoided any mention of "AfterMASH," the ill-fated series sequel that ran a little more than one season (1983-84).

" `AfterMASH' is a whole other story," he said, "and I didn't want to get into that. I wanted everything to be positive in this book. `AfterMASH' might be another book in what not to do and various other things."