Emergency!
Encyclopedia
Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama
and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited
(Jack Webb
’s company) and distributed by Universal Studios
. It debuted as a midseason replacement
on January 15, 1972, on NBC
, replacing the short-lived series The Good Life
, and ran until September 3, 1978, with several more made-for-TV movies during the 1978-1979 season. Emergency! was created and produced by Jack Webb
and Robert Cinader, both of whom were also responsible for the police dramas Adam-12
and Dragnet
.
s John Gage and Roy DeSoto (played by Randolph Mantooth
and Kevin Tighe
) of the Los Angeles County Fire Department
's Station 51 (actually Station 127 in Carson, California), and the hospital emergency room staff Dr. Kelly Brackett, Nurse Dixie McCall and Dr. Joe Early (acted out by, respectively, Robert Fuller
, Julie London
and Bobby Troup
) with whom the paramedics work to save lives. It was also the first show to feature paramedics who help rescue victimized or hurt patients. Emergency! and Adam-12 were similar in that they featured dedicated civil servants handling two or three varied and unrelated incidents during a typical shift; however, Emergency! had a larger cast and a sixty-minute running time, compared to the half-hour allotted for Adam-12, which typically allowed for more plot and character development.
Despite not being a Top 30 series Emergency! still garnered a loyal audience and enjoyed a six season run, finally being canceled in 1978. However, the show returned as a series of six "Movie of the Week" specials between late 1978 and the spring of 1979. Three of the TV movies have the two paramedic characters traveling to San Francisco (twice) and Seattle for EMS conventions. While in both cities, they end up assisting the local agencies (San Francisco's Rescue-2 and Seattle's Medic One
) with several rescues. The others were "The Steel Inferno", which dealt with a high-rise blaze, "Survival on Charter #220", in which two airplanes crash over a residential neighborhood—at the time it was reportedly the most expensive TV-movie ever made) and a finale, called "Greatest Rescues On Emergency!" and consisting mainly of clips from previous episodes, in which the firefighter/paramedics are both promoted to captain. Series stars London, Troup (who were husband and wife), Mantooth and Tighe appeared in all the episodes of the series, throughout its run; Fuller appeared in all but two episodes. Years after the cancellation of the series, it was sold into syndication, TV Land
, and RTV
.
wrote the series' theme song and scored the first two seasons, with Billy May
taking over the scoring duties for the third season.
program in the Los Angeles County
Fire Department
(LACoFD) with the focus on the personnel of Fire Station 51, in particular of young firemen/paramedics John Gage (Randolph Mantooth
) and Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe
). The paramedics coordinate with the Emergency Room (ER)
staff of Rampart General Hospital: head physician Dr. Kelly Brackett (Robert Fuller
), head nurse Dixie McCall (Julie London
), neurosurgeon Dr. Joe Early (played by Julie's real-life husband Bobby Troup
), and young intern Dr. Mike Morton
(Ron Pinkard
).
), Marco Lopez (Marco Lopez
, an actor using his real name, is often thought to be an actual LACoFD firefighter), Mike Stoker (LACoFD firefighter Mike Stoker
as himself), Captain Dick Hammer
(LACoFD Captain Richard Hammer as himself, later John Smith, first season), Captain Henry "Hank" Stanley (Michael Norell
, remaining seasons). LACoFD Dispatcher Sam Lanier portrayed himself in an uncredited voice role (over the radio) throughout the series.
Marco Lopez spoke Spanish
, and occasionally translated for the crew when a victim or onlooker spoke Spanish but no English. Lopez had done this occasionally on Dragnet
as well.
Other recurring character
s included Battalion Chiefs Conrad (Art Balinger
), Sorensen (Art Gilmore
), Miller, and McConnike (William Boyett
), Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Vince (Vince Howard
), and recurring ambulance
attendants Albert "Al" (Angelo DeMeo) and his assistant, George (George Orrison). Boyett was also a regular on Adam-12
, playing Sergeant MacDonald.
in the middle and late 1970s. Los Angeles County was one of the first communities—along with Columbus, Ohio
, Miami, Pittsburgh and Seattle to start a paramedic program in connection with the fire department between 1969 and 1971. The show was also credited for demonstrating first aid
techniques that enabled some viewers to save lives in real medical emergencies. When the medical community saw that the general public were using First Aid and CPR in response to this show, they started the teaching programs for CPR in every state. However, the show later had to add a disclaimer
stating that the first aid techniques demonstrated should only be performed by trained persons.
Actual local disasters were worked into some story lines, such as the 1971 Sylmar earthquake which destroyed the newly-completed Olive View Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley
; and a 1973 brush fire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
, which itself was spun off from Jack Webb's Dragnet
.
Characters from Emergency! and Adam-12 crossed over on two occasions. The police officers appeared in the pilot episode of Emergency!, and the firefighter/paramedics appeared in the Adam-12 episode titled "Lost and Found." Strangely, in the Emergency! episode titled "Hang-Up", there was a subplot in which the crew of Station 51 watched Adam-12 as a television show. Further complicating things, is the fact that the Los Angeles County Fire Department does not serve the City of Los Angeles. This makes the crossover somewhat factually dubious, which is not typical of the highly realistic Jack Webb
productions.
Emergency! spun off an animated version called Emergency +4
which ran on NBC Saturday mornings from 1973 to 1976, and featured four teenagers who participated in adventures with the firefighter/paramedics.
Mantooth's Gage and Tighe's DeSoto appeared in the tenth episode of Sierra
, another Webb/Cinader production centered around a pair of National Park Service
rangers
, which appeared for only a partial season in 1974. In that episode, The Urban Ranger, the two paramedics participate in mountain rescue
training and get involved in many of the episode's subplots. Following recurring themes from Emergency!, Gage continues to fail in his attempts to get a date, while DeSoto briefly considers changing careers to become a park ranger.
The 905-Wild episode of Emergency!, broadcast during Season 4 on March 1, 1975, was intended to be the pilot for a new show created and produced by Jack Webb. The series was to have been about the adventures of two Los Angeles County Department of Animal Control officers, and the staff of a county animal shelter
. The episode featured Albert Popwell
and Mark Harmon
as the officers and David Huddleston
and Gary Crosby in supporting roles. It failed to sell, and a follow-up show was never produced.
Engine 51 and Squad 51 briefly appeared in the CHiPs
episode "MAIT Team", responding from the station to a traffic accident. Further, in the episode "Cry Wolf," Squad 51 can be seen briefly, responding from the station to a false accident report.
Fire Station 51 also briefly appeared in an episode of Quincy, M.E.
, as an LAFD Fire Station. The episode later showed LAFD paramedics supposedly from that station on a cardiac arrest
call.
The TV movies were in syndication on TV Land
during 2001 and also were shown in syndication as two-part episodes starting in the 1980s.
The "Most Deadly Passage" television movie was actually considered as a pilot for a proposed series, "Medic 1 Seattle". It was to be about the Seattle Fire Department's renowned Medic One
paramedic program.
Charlton Comics
published several issues of an Emergency! comic book in the mid-1970s. One of the issues is notable for being among the earliest published work of John Byrne. Charlton also published four issues of an illustrated black-and-white magazine featuring art by Neal Adams
and others.
in 1976, after the fifth season. Local stations mainly aired it between 4:30 and 6 p.m. Eastern (3:30 to 5:30 Central) for the same viewers that were its most loyal audience on NBC, elementary school-aged children. Emergency!, however, was not nearly as successful in reruns as Dragnet 1967-70 and Adam-12 were. When the program was first syndicated, it went by the title Emergency One! (the stock title "Emergency!" appeared with the word "One" fading in beneath) to avoid confusion with the new episodes still airing on Saturday nights on NBC
and continued to be called that when the TV movies aired as well. The syndicated episodes would revert to the original title, Emergency!, in 1979. Renaming programs for syndication was commonplace until the 1980s. Although in the early 2000s it had a brief run on TV Land
, Emergency! had been rarely seen in recent times because the series had come under the ownership of the Jack Webb Estate.
Emergency! seasons 1 - 6 are now available on Netflix on demand. Reruns are also available on the RetroTV Network
, an over-the-air service mainly seen on digital subchannels of local television stations.
has released all six seasons of Emergency!, and the six post-series tele-films (as The Final Rescues), on DVD in Region 1.
A feature film is slated to be released in 2012. Ashton Kutcher
is rumored to play paramedic John Gage and Paul Walker
as paramedic Roy DeSoto, Eric Bogosian
as Dr. Kelly Brackett, James Spader
as Dr. Joe Early, Bow Wow
as intern Dr. Mike Morton, and Blake Lively
as R.N. Dixie McCall. It is unknown if Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe will make cameos.
Where Dragnet and Adam-12
were half-hour shows, Emergency!, because of the greater scope of its format, was a full-hour series.
and equipment
in the series. Although a few key items were fictionalized, such as the identification of Station 51 and its equipment, many of the locations and apparatus reflected the operating reality of locations used in some filming. The extensive cooperation of the LACoFD is repeatedly apparent in the program.
s to Universal crews so the studio could build its own unit on a 1972 Dodge D300
"dualie" (two rear tires on each side, on one axle) chassis
. (This conversion was subsequently completed on a 1973 and 1974 Dodge D300 chassis as well.) The replica's accuracy is evident that the white light atop the "Twinsonic" lightbar was part of the blueprint, but never installed by LAcoFD on its departmental units. This light was supposed to differentiate paramedic units from regular rescue units. After the filming of the show, the studio donated the unit to LACoFD in 1978, which pressed it into occasional service as a reserve unit before it was eventually retired from service.
In 1999, LACoFD donated the Universal-built squad to the Los Angeles County Fire Museum http://www.lacountyfiremuseum.com/Squad51.html. It has been restored and is located in the museum, 9834 Flora Vista Street, Bellflower, California 90706. The Los Angeles County Fire Museum is open to the public the first Saturday of every month 10AM to 2PM (Except Holidays) or by special arrangement.
, and was portrayed by LACoFD Engine 127's 1965 Crown in stock footage at the fire station (in reality LACoFD Station 127), and by LACoFD Engine 60's 1965 Crown (the unit assigned to Universal Studios) for filming on the grounds of the studio. In a few isolated instances from the first and second seasons, the regular apparatus borrowed from LACoFD and used for filming appear to have been unavailable as some scenes show a slightly different vintage Crown Firecoach pumper, most evident by the different style of emergency lights on the cab's roof. The mixing of stock station and response footage with footage filmed for specific storylines created continuity errors by mixing these apparatus.
Beginning early in the third season and through the end of the series, Engine 51 was represented by a 1973 Ward LaFrance
P80 Ambassador triple-combination pumper. LACoFD was purchasing numerous P80s at the time, and Ward LaFrance donated a P80 unit to Universal Studios specifically for use in the show. The Ward LaFrance Engine 51 was thus not a disguised unit and did not require the use of LACoFD resources for filming.
Engine 127's 1965 Crown, one of the two originally used for the show, was later refitted with a closed cab. Eventually it was placed into reserve status when Station 127 received a new engine. In its reserve capacity, it was serving temporarily as Engine 95 when it was involved in a serious collision. Beyond repair, it was salvaged for parts and sold as scrap. The County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association now owns and has restored the 1965 Crown which formerly served as Engine 60 at Universal Studios and appeared most often as the Crown version of Engine 51.
The Ward LaFrance P80 Ambassador that represented Engine 51, owned by the studio outright, made its final Emergency! appearance in the movie The Steel Inferno, but was marked as Engine 110. The Ward remained at Universal Studios as a prop following the conclusion of the show, and made brief appearances such as in the 1979 film The China Syndrome
and a short educational film produced by the National Fire Protection Association
in 1984. Eventually, the Ward was pressed into active duty at Yosemite National Park
, as MCA Recreation Services (Universal's then-owner/operator) was under contract to provide visitor services at the park at the time, and it remained with YNP Fire after MCARS' involvement at the Park ended. It served continuously as YNP Fire's Engine 7 until finally being retired and replaced in July 2008. Per terms of a previous agreement between the Park and the County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association, the museum assumed ownership of the Ward and added it to the museum collection. As of December 2010, the museum is preparing a complete restoration of the Ward to its original appearance in the show. The Ward is a part of the collection as Engine 51 http://www.lacountyfiremuseum.com/Engine51Ward.html and is available for public viewing at The Los Angeles County Fire Museum, 9834 Flora Vista Street, Bellflower, California 90706 on the first Saturday of each month 10AM to 2PM (Except Holidays) or by special arrangement.
127, located at 2049 East 223rd Street (between Wilmington and Alameda Streets) in Carson, California
(33°49′28"N 118°14′18"W - Maps Street View), and it is still in use today. Universal was permitted to use the station number of "51" for the program because at that time there was no existing Station 51 since the closing of LACoFD Station 51, which had been located near the intersection of Arlington Ave and Atlantic Ave, in the late 1960s due to the area being annexed by the city of Lynwood.
Station 127 was chosen for its natural lighting by series co-creator Robert A. Cinader, and the station was eventually named in his honor. A plaque honoring Robert A. Cinader is now mounted on the station next to the office front door. At the time of filming Station 127 housed Engine 127 and Truck 127, but it has never actually fielded its own paramedic unit.
For filming on location, Truck 127 was moved off-site and replaced with Universal's Squad 51, while Engine 127 was disguised as Engine 51. After Universal obtained the 1972 Ward LaFrance for Engine 51, both of Station 127's companies would be replaced by Universal's Engine 51 and Squad 51 for filming on location. While some filming of scenes set at Station 51 were done on sets at the studio, these sets accurately recreated the interior of Station 127.
Despite being "kicked out" of their own station for filming, Truck 127 still appeared in numerous episodes under its own callsign. The Carson location of Station 127 was directly referenced in one episode where a phone call was traced to a house "in Carson" that Engine 51 and Squad 51 eventually responded to.
"KMG365", which is said by the crewmember acknowledging a call for a unit at Station 51, is a real FCC
call sign
used by LACoFD assigned to Fire Station 98 in Bellflower, and it appears on the Station Patch for Station 127, which today still houses Engine 127 and Truck 127 (now known as Light Force 127) as well as Foam 127.
In a nod to the lasting cultural impact of the show, LACoFD officially changed the designation of the fire station located on the grounds of Universal Studios from Station 60 to Station 51 in 1994, over twenty years after the debut of Emergency! The companies at Station 60 were also changed so that this station is now indeed the home of Engine 51 and Squad 51 as well as Patrol 51.
at 1000 West Carson Street, the intersection of Vermont Avenue and Carson Street (33°49′49"N 118°17′30"W - http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1000+W+Carson+St,+Torrance,+Los+Angeles,+California+90502&sll=33.910226,-118.192785&sspn=0.012198,0.016909&g=1000+W+Carson+St,+Torrance,+Los+Angeles,+California+90502&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FY86BAId2P3y-A&layer=c&cbll=33.830219,-118.292647&panoid=wvYeLBKvVMTkiI5liWCI8w&cbp=1,80.92007263164413,,0,-9.79512924544138&ll=33.83449,-118.292499&spn=0.012209,0.016909&z=16|GoogleMaps Street View]. The pairing of Station 127 and Harbor General as "Station 51" and "Rampart" was accurate, since if a squad had actually been quartered at Station 127, it would likely have operated from Harbor General Hospital, since they are only 2.1 miles (3.4 km) apart. Truck 127 appeared in one episode where a rescue event occurred at Rampart (Harbor General), as the hospital really is in Truck 127's "first-due" district.
In an episode near the end of the series, one character, an aged jazz
musician, hearing the name Rampart General, says, "My grandaddy used to play on Rampart Street in New Orleans!" The name Rampart actually comes from the show Adam-12
and is the real name of a division of the LAPD.
In 1978, by the approval of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
, Harbor General Hospital was renamed as Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
http://www.humc.edu/calendar/ca6070.html.
Another real-life LACoFD firefighter
, Mike Stoker
, portrayed himself throughout the entire run of the series as a driver/engineer of Engine 51. Since Stoker possessed a Screen Actors Guild
card, it was helpful to Universal to have an actor who was also fully trained and qualified to actually drive and operate Engine 51. Stoker retired from the LACoFD as a Captain in 1996.
LACoFD Dispatcher Sam Lanier, although rarely seen on camera, portrayed himself as a dispatcher in virtually every episode. Despite being the recognizable voice over the radio sending Station 51 and other LACoFD crews to all sorts of emergencies, he was never listed in the show's credits. Lanier retired shortly after the show ended in 1977. He died of a massive heart attack in 1997, while attempting to assist at an automobile crash outside of his home.
Numerous uncredited LACoFD personnel were used throughout the course of the series when other actual LACoFD units were utilized during filming.
. It came in an orange fiberglass case and was fully portable. It could transmit EKG and voice simultaneously, could be charged in 15 minutes, and had one hour of talking time. The radio had 8 duplex UHF channels and a total of 12 watts of transmitting power. There were two Biophones used on the show, one smaller than the other.
In "Survival on Charter #220",Gage and DeSoto are briefly seen using a Motorola Apcor
, with Dr. Early and Nurse McCall using a Motorola base station back at Rampart.
The electrocardiograph
(ECG or EKG) machine used in the show was a Datascope Model 850 Dual Trace Physiological Monitor. This model came out in 1971 and was the first portable, battery rechargeable unit of its kind. Its original price was $2000.00. In the middle of Season 4, the show switched to a Datascope MD/2, which was a combined monitor and defibrillator that allowed the monitor unit to slide out. The paramedics also carried some medical equipment in a black model "PF-3300" Old Pal tackle box, commonly used by LACoFD at the time. The other medical gear, terminology
, jargon
, and emergency medical practices at the time were usually represented as faithfully and accurately as possible, although the results of some rescue efforts were frequently dramatized to the point of the occasional unlikely outcome. Mantooth and Tighe actually went through paramedic training as preparation for their role, both completing the class but neither actually taking the certification exam. Because of the attention to detail, there were times when the actors had some difficulty pronouncing the "medical" words in the show convincingly, so some scenes show the characters from the back or behind a mask, which allowed them to dub in the correct pronunciations at a later time.
Many items of the equipment were donated to the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History
in May 2000.
The protective clothing ("turn-out gear") that the firefighters wore, including the MSA Topgard helmets, as well as nearly all other equipment such as insignia, were standard LACoFD issue at the time.
The badges used in the series were authentic LACoFD badges. At the end of filming each day, they were collected, stored for safe keeping and then reissued the next day.
and Adam-12
. Troup and London remained married until his death in 1999. London died the following year.
Produced by Jack Webb
and Mark VII Productions
, Adam West
, Richard Jaeckel
, Marion Ross
, Mark Harmon
, Erik Estrada
, Henry Jones
, Jackie Coogan
, Anne Lockhart
, Dabbs Greer
, George Ives, John Carradine
, Ron Masak
, Nick Nolte
, Seymour Cassel
, Jeanette Nolan
, Robert Alda
, Mariette Hartley
, Jamie Farr
, Bruno Kirby
, Jock Mahoney
, Michael Lerner
, Melissa Gilbert
, Kim Richards
, John Travolta
, Ruth Buzzi
, and Jack Carter
, among many others.
Future Eight is Enough
stars Dick Van Patten
and Grant Goodeve
made guest appearances on separate episodes, then current Adam-12
stars Martin Milner
and Kent McCord
made a guest appearance on the pilot
of a two-part episode, while sports figures Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
and Mark Spitz
made cameo
appearances on two separate episodes. Future Kojak
stars Mark Russell and Kevin Dobson
made cameo
appearances in various episodes. Relatives and friends of the cast of Emergency! made guest appearances on various episodes, including those of London's and Troup's children, Ronne
and Kelly, while Cynnie Troup was script supervisor
. Mantooth's brother Donald and Fuller's ex-Laramie co-star John Smith
each made a guest appearance on separate episodes early in the 2nd season, and former Leave It To Beaver star Tony Dow
made an appearence in season two as a burglar.
Medical drama
A medical drama is a television program, in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment.In the United States, most medical episodes are one hour long and, more often than not, are set in a hospital. Most current medical Dramatic programming go beyond the...
and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited
Mark VII Limited
Mark VII Limited was the production company of actor, producer, and director Jack Webb, and was active from 1951 to 1982. Many of its series were produced in association with Universal Television; most of them aired on the NBC television network in the U.S....
(Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...
’s company) and distributed by Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. It debuted as a midseason replacement
Midseason replacement
In American and Canadian television, a midseason replacement is a television series that premieres in the second half of the traditional television season, usually between January and May...
on January 15, 1972, on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, replacing the short-lived series The Good Life
The Good Life (1971 TV series)
The Good Life is an American situation comedy which was aired on NBC as part of its 1971-72 lineup. The series stars Larry Hagman and Donna Mills, and was produced by Lorimar, in association with Screen Gems.-Synopsis:...
, and ran until September 3, 1978, with several more made-for-TV movies during the 1978-1979 season. Emergency! was created and produced by Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...
and Robert Cinader, both of whom were also responsible for the police dramas Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
and Dragnet
Dragnet (series)
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
.
Central characters and core format
The show focuses on paramedicParamedic
A paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...
s John Gage and Roy DeSoto (played by Randolph Mantooth
Randolph Mantooth
Randolph Donald Mantooth is an American character actor of stage, film and television. Mantooth is best known for his work in the 1970s medical drama, Emergency!, as Johnny Gage, a Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic...
and Kevin Tighe
Kevin Tighe
Kevin Tighe is an American character actor primarily known for his roles on television. Tighe is best known for his role as Roy DeSoto, a senior paramedic, on the NBC series Emergency! . He and Randolph Mantooth, his partner in the series, have remained close friends...
) of the Los Angeles County Fire Department
Los Angeles County Fire Department
The Los Angeles County Fire Department , serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including La Habra. It should not be confused with the Los Angeles City Fire Department, which serves the city of...
's Station 51 (actually Station 127 in Carson, California), and the hospital emergency room staff Dr. Kelly Brackett, Nurse Dixie McCall and Dr. Joe Early (acted out by, respectively, Robert Fuller
Robert Fuller (actor)
Robert Fuller is an American former television Western actor and current rancher. In his five decades of television, he's best known for starring roles on the popular 1960s western series Laramie as Jess Harper, and Wagon Train as Cooper Smith, as well as his work for his lead role, Dr...
, Julie London
Julie London
Julie London was an American singer and actress. She was best known for her smoky, sensual voice. London was at her singing career's peak in the 1950s. Her acting career lasted more than 35 years...
and Bobby Troup
Bobby Troup
Robert William "Bobby" Troup Jr. was an American actor, jazz pianist and songwriter. He is best known for writing the popular standard " Route 66", and for his role as Dr...
) with whom the paramedics work to save lives. It was also the first show to feature paramedics who help rescue victimized or hurt patients. Emergency! and Adam-12 were similar in that they featured dedicated civil servants handling two or three varied and unrelated incidents during a typical shift; however, Emergency! had a larger cast and a sixty-minute running time, compared to the half-hour allotted for Adam-12, which typically allowed for more plot and character development.
Brief broadcast history
- See also: List of Emergency! episodes
Despite not being a Top 30 series Emergency! still garnered a loyal audience and enjoyed a six season run, finally being canceled in 1978. However, the show returned as a series of six "Movie of the Week" specials between late 1978 and the spring of 1979. Three of the TV movies have the two paramedic characters traveling to San Francisco (twice) and Seattle for EMS conventions. While in both cities, they end up assisting the local agencies (San Francisco's Rescue-2 and Seattle's Medic One
Medic One
The Seattle & King County Emergency Medical Services System is a fire-based two-tier response system providing prehospital basic and advanced life support services....
) with several rescues. The others were "The Steel Inferno", which dealt with a high-rise blaze, "Survival on Charter #220", in which two airplanes crash over a residential neighborhood—at the time it was reportedly the most expensive TV-movie ever made) and a finale, called "Greatest Rescues On Emergency!" and consisting mainly of clips from previous episodes, in which the firefighter/paramedics are both promoted to captain. Series stars London, Troup (who were husband and wife), Mantooth and Tighe appeared in all the episodes of the series, throughout its run; Fuller appeared in all but two episodes. Years after the cancellation of the series, it was sold into syndication, TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
, and RTV
Retro Television Network
The Retro Television Network is a system of television stations that airs classic television shows as well as more recently produced programs...
.
Music
Composer Nelson RiddleNelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
wrote the series' theme song and scored the first two seasons, with Billy May
Billy May
William E. "Billy" May was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music, for The Green Hornet , Batman , and Naked City and collaborated on films, such as Pennies from Heaven , and orchestrated Cocoon, and Cocoon: The Return among...
taking over the scoring duties for the third season.
Regular cast
The series follows the early years of the paramedicParamedic
A paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...
program in the Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
Fire Department
Los Angeles County Fire Department
The Los Angeles County Fire Department , serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including La Habra. It should not be confused with the Los Angeles City Fire Department, which serves the city of...
(LACoFD) with the focus on the personnel of Fire Station 51, in particular of young firemen/paramedics John Gage (Randolph Mantooth
Randolph Mantooth
Randolph Donald Mantooth is an American character actor of stage, film and television. Mantooth is best known for his work in the 1970s medical drama, Emergency!, as Johnny Gage, a Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic...
) and Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe
Kevin Tighe
Kevin Tighe is an American character actor primarily known for his roles on television. Tighe is best known for his role as Roy DeSoto, a senior paramedic, on the NBC series Emergency! . He and Randolph Mantooth, his partner in the series, have remained close friends...
). The paramedics coordinate with the Emergency Room (ER)
Emergency department
An emergency department , also known as accident & emergency , emergency room , emergency ward , or casualty department is a medical treatment facility specialising in acute care of patients who present without prior appointment, either by their own means or by ambulance...
staff of Rampart General Hospital: head physician Dr. Kelly Brackett (Robert Fuller
Robert Fuller (actor)
Robert Fuller is an American former television Western actor and current rancher. In his five decades of television, he's best known for starring roles on the popular 1960s western series Laramie as Jess Harper, and Wagon Train as Cooper Smith, as well as his work for his lead role, Dr...
), head nurse Dixie McCall (Julie London
Julie London
Julie London was an American singer and actress. She was best known for her smoky, sensual voice. London was at her singing career's peak in the 1950s. Her acting career lasted more than 35 years...
), neurosurgeon Dr. Joe Early (played by Julie's real-life husband Bobby Troup
Bobby Troup
Robert William "Bobby" Troup Jr. was an American actor, jazz pianist and songwriter. He is best known for writing the popular standard " Route 66", and for his role as Dr...
), and young intern Dr. Mike Morton
Mike Morton
Michael Anthony Morton is a former American football linebacker. Morton played college football for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels and went on to play for four teams in a 7-year National Football League career.Since his retirement from the NFL, he is now a dentist and opened his...
(Ron Pinkard
Ron Pinkard
Ronald F. Pinkard is an African-American actor best known for his role as Dr...
).
Other regular characters
The crew of Engine 51 was Chester "Chet" Kelly (Timothy "Tim" DonnellyTim Donnelly
Timothy David Donnelly , not to be confused with California Republican politician Tim Donnelly, is an American actor and director, and is the younger brother of Jack Webb stock director Dennis Donnelly....
), Marco Lopez (Marco Lopez
Marco Lopez (actor)
Marco Antonio Lopez , also credited as Marco Antonio, Antonio Lopez, and Marco Lopez, is an American actor who was known for his roles in Jack Webb-produced television series, such as Adam-12, where he played the recurring character of Officer Sanchez, and Dragnet, where he was credited as Marco...
, an actor using his real name, is often thought to be an actual LACoFD firefighter), Mike Stoker (LACoFD firefighter Mike Stoker
Mike Stoker
Charles Michael "Mike" Stoker is a retired firefighter, engineer and captain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department . He was an actor on the NBC / Universal TV series Emergency!...
as himself), Captain Dick Hammer
Dick Hammer
Richard B. Hammer was a retired Captain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and played the role of Captain Hammer in the first season of the Jack Webb produced television show Emergency!...
(LACoFD Captain Richard Hammer as himself, later John Smith, first season), Captain Henry "Hank" Stanley (Michael Norell
Michael Norell
Michael Alden Norell is an American screenwriter/actor, and Executive Producer that starred as Captain Henry "Hank" Stanley in the Jack Webb produced television series Emergency! from 1973 to 1978....
, remaining seasons). LACoFD Dispatcher Sam Lanier portrayed himself in an uncredited voice role (over the radio) throughout the series.
Marco Lopez spoke Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, and occasionally translated for the crew when a victim or onlooker spoke Spanish but no English. Lopez had done this occasionally on Dragnet
Dragnet (series)
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
as well.
Other recurring character
Recurring character
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus...
s included Battalion Chiefs Conrad (Art Balinger
Art Balinger
Arthur Brent "Art" Balinger was an American actor known for television roles throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Specifically, Balinger was cast in numerous productions created by Jack Webb and his production company, Mark VII Limited.Balinger was born to parents, Sheldon and Ellen Balinger, in...
), Sorensen (Art Gilmore
Art Gilmore
Arthur Wells "Art" Gilmore was an American voice actor and announcer whose voice has been heard in radio and television programs, movies, trailers, advertising promotions and documentary films.-Biography:...
), Miller, and McConnike (William Boyett
William Boyett
William Boyett was an American actor best known for his work as the low-key but authoritative Sergeant William 'Mac' MacDonald on the police drama Adam-12...
), Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Vince (Vince Howard
Vince Howard
Vince Howard is an American actor who has made many guest appearances on television.-Television appearances:* General Hospital * Dallas * Murder, She Wrote * Hill Street Blues...
), and recurring ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
attendants Albert "Al" (Angelo DeMeo) and his assistant, George (George Orrison). Boyett was also a regular on Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
, playing Sergeant MacDonald.
Highlights and impact on emergency medical services
The show highlighted the adventures of the then-fledgling paramedic program, and its popularity coincided with (and may have encouraged) the widespread establishment and improvement of emergency medical services paramedic programs across North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in the middle and late 1970s. Los Angeles County was one of the first communities—along with Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, Miami, Pittsburgh and Seattle to start a paramedic program in connection with the fire department between 1969 and 1971. The show was also credited for demonstrating first aid
First aid
First aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by non-expert, but trained personnel to a sick or injured person until definitive medical treatment can be accessed. Certain self-limiting illnesses or minor injuries may not require further medical care...
techniques that enabled some viewers to save lives in real medical emergencies. When the medical community saw that the general public were using First Aid and CPR in response to this show, they started the teaching programs for CPR in every state. However, the show later had to add a disclaimer
Disclaimer
A disclaimer is generally any statement intended to specify or delimit the scope of rights and obligations that may be exercised and enforced by parties in a legally recognized relationship...
stating that the first aid techniques demonstrated should only be performed by trained persons.
Actual local disasters were worked into some story lines, such as the 1971 Sylmar earthquake which destroyed the newly-completed Olive View Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
; and a 1973 brush fire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Spin-offs and crossovers
Emergency! was a third generation spin-off, having been spawned from Adam-12Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
, which itself was spun off from Jack Webb's Dragnet
Dragnet (series)
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
.
Characters from Emergency! and Adam-12 crossed over on two occasions. The police officers appeared in the pilot episode of Emergency!, and the firefighter/paramedics appeared in the Adam-12 episode titled "Lost and Found." Strangely, in the Emergency! episode titled "Hang-Up", there was a subplot in which the crew of Station 51 watched Adam-12 as a television show. Further complicating things, is the fact that the Los Angeles County Fire Department does not serve the City of Los Angeles. This makes the crossover somewhat factually dubious, which is not typical of the highly realistic Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...
productions.
Emergency! spun off an animated version called Emergency +4
Emergency +4
Emergency +4 is an American animated television series based on the live action prime-time series Emergency!. The series began on NBC's Saturday morning schedule on September 8, 1973 and ran twenty-three 30-minute episodes over two seasons. It remained on the network until September 4, 1976 through...
which ran on NBC Saturday mornings from 1973 to 1976, and featured four teenagers who participated in adventures with the firefighter/paramedics.
Mantooth's Gage and Tighe's DeSoto appeared in the tenth episode of Sierra
Sierra (TV series)
Sierra was a short-lived 1974 television crime drama series focusing on the efforts of National Park Service rangers to enforce federal law and to effect wilderness rescues. The program aired on NBC and was packaged by Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited for Universal Television. John Denver wrote the...
, another Webb/Cinader production centered around a pair of National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
rangers
Park ranger
A park ranger or forest ranger is a person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Different countries use different names for the position. Ranger is the favored term in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Within the United...
, which appeared for only a partial season in 1974. In that episode, The Urban Ranger, the two paramedics participate in mountain rescue
Mountain rescue
Mountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. The difficult and remote nature of the terrain in which mountain rescue often occurs has resulted...
training and get involved in many of the episode's subplots. Following recurring themes from Emergency!, Gage continues to fail in his attempts to get a date, while DeSoto briefly considers changing careers to become a park ranger.
The 905-Wild episode of Emergency!, broadcast during Season 4 on March 1, 1975, was intended to be the pilot for a new show created and produced by Jack Webb. The series was to have been about the adventures of two Los Angeles County Department of Animal Control officers, and the staff of a county animal shelter
Animal shelter
An animal shelter is a facility that houses homeless, lost, or abandoned animals; primarily a large variety of dogs and cats.Parrots, for example, are the third most common pet owned by people...
. The episode featured Albert Popwell
Albert Popwell
Albert Popwell, , was an African American actor in television and films from the late 1960s. Born in New York City, Popwell started as a professional dancer before taking up a career in acting...
and Mark Harmon
Mark Harmon
Mark Harmon is an American actor who has been starring in American television programs and films since the mid-1970s, after a career as a collegiate football player with the UCLA Bruins. Since 2003, Harmon has starred as Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the CBS series NCIS.-Early life:Harmon was born Thomas...
as the officers and David Huddleston
David Huddleston
David William Huddleston is an American actor, best known for his roles in Blazing Saddles, Santa Claus: The Movie and The Big Lebowski.-Early life:...
and Gary Crosby in supporting roles. It failed to sell, and a follow-up show was never produced.
Engine 51 and Squad 51 briefly appeared in the CHiPs
CHiPs
CHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol...
episode "MAIT Team", responding from the station to a traffic accident. Further, in the episode "Cry Wolf," Squad 51 can be seen briefly, responding from the station to a false accident report.
Fire Station 51 also briefly appeared in an episode of Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E., also called Quincy, is a United States television series from Universal Studios that aired from October 3, 1976, to September 5, 1983, on NBC...
, as an LAFD Fire Station. The episode later showed LAFD paramedics supposedly from that station on a cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
call.
TV movies and comic books
From 1977 through 1979, the show returned as a series of "Movies of the Week". The movies included "Emergency!: Survival on Charter #220", "Most Deadly Passage", "The Steel Inferno", "The Convention", "What's A Nice Girl Like You Doing...", and "Greatest Rescues On 'Emergency!'" "The Steel Inferno", which was the first TV movie after the show was cancelled in 1977 and first aired in January 1978, would be the last time the entire original cast of the show was featured. After this, from "Most Deadly Passage" on, Gage and DeSoto were the sole original cast members in the remaining TV movies. The last movie aired was "Greatest Rescues On 'Emergency!'" It aired on New Year's Eve 1978 and featured mainly flashbacks from the original series to the notable rescues and incidents involving Gage and DeSoto. The paramedics/firefighters were also promoted to captains in this final movie, capping the six-season run of Emergency with a "happy ending" for both Gage and DeSoto.The TV movies were in syndication on TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
during 2001 and also were shown in syndication as two-part episodes starting in the 1980s.
The "Most Deadly Passage" television movie was actually considered as a pilot for a proposed series, "Medic 1 Seattle". It was to be about the Seattle Fire Department's renowned Medic One
Medic One
The Seattle & King County Emergency Medical Services System is a fire-based two-tier response system providing prehospital basic and advanced life support services....
paramedic program.
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
published several issues of an Emergency! comic book in the mid-1970s. One of the issues is notable for being among the earliest published work of John Byrne. Charlton also published four issues of an illustrated black-and-white magazine featuring art by Neal Adams
Neal Adams
Neal Adams is an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who...
and others.
Syndication
The show was first syndicatedTelevision syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
in 1976, after the fifth season. Local stations mainly aired it between 4:30 and 6 p.m. Eastern (3:30 to 5:30 Central) for the same viewers that were its most loyal audience on NBC, elementary school-aged children. Emergency!, however, was not nearly as successful in reruns as Dragnet 1967-70 and Adam-12 were. When the program was first syndicated, it went by the title Emergency One! (the stock title "Emergency!" appeared with the word "One" fading in beneath) to avoid confusion with the new episodes still airing on Saturday nights on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and continued to be called that when the TV movies aired as well. The syndicated episodes would revert to the original title, Emergency!, in 1979. Renaming programs for syndication was commonplace until the 1980s. Although in the early 2000s it had a brief run on TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
, Emergency! had been rarely seen in recent times because the series had come under the ownership of the Jack Webb Estate.
Emergency! seasons 1 - 6 are now available on Netflix on demand. Reruns are also available on the RetroTV Network
Retro Television Network
The Retro Television Network is a system of television stations that airs classic television shows as well as more recently produced programs...
, an over-the-air service mainly seen on digital subchannels of local television stations.
DVD releases & Film
Universal Studios Home EntertainmentUniversal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Studios Home Entertainment is the home video division of Universal Pictures...
has released all six seasons of Emergency!, and the six post-series tele-films (as The Final Rescues), on DVD in Region 1.
| Name | Ep# | Region 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Season One | 12 | August 23, 2005 |
| Season Two | 21 | February 7, 2006 |
| Season Three | 22 | February 13, 2007 |
| Season Four | 22 | January 29, 2008 |
| Season Five | 24 | January 20, 2009 |
| Season Six | 24 | April 13, 2010 |
| The Final Rescues | 6 | March 29, 2011 |
- See also: List of Emergency! episodes
A feature film is slated to be released in 2012. Ashton Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher
Christopher Ashton Kutcher , best known as Ashton Kutcher, is an American actor, producer, former fashion model and comedian, best known for his portrayal of Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show...
is rumored to play paramedic John Gage and Paul Walker
Paul Walker
Paul William Walker IV is an American actor. He became well known in 1999 after his role in the hit film Varsity Blues. He is also known for starring in the surprise summer hit The Fast and the Furious. His other films include Joy Ride, Running Scared, Into the Blue and Eight Below...
as paramedic Roy DeSoto, Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
as Dr. Kelly Brackett, James Spader
James Spader
James Todd Spader is an American actor best known for his eccentric roles in movies such as Pretty in Pink, Less Than Zero, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Crash, Stargate, and Secretary...
as Dr. Joe Early, Bow Wow
Bow Wow
Shad Gregory Moss , better known by his stage name Bow Wow , is an American rapper and actor. As Lil' Bow Wow, he released his first album, Beware of Dog in 2000 at age 13, which was followed by Doggy Bag 2001...
as intern Dr. Mike Morton, and Blake Lively
Blake Lively
Blake Christina Lively is an American actress and model who stars as Serena van der Woodsen in the television teen drama series Gossip Girl...
as R.N. Dixie McCall. It is unknown if Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe will make cameos.
Series format details
Where Webb's Dragnet typically followed a pair of detectives investigating a single crime or a series of related crimes, Emergency! much more resembled Adam-12, typically following the firemen and paramedics of Station 51, and the Emergency Room staff of Rampart General Hospital, through a series of incidents, some of which advance one or more overall plot threads that serve to unify the episode, and others of which are completely unrelated. Usually, the very first incident or its aftermath will begin the overall plot. Most episodes included at least one incident included strictly for comic relief, which usually involved someone or something humorously trapped in an unexpected yet basically harmless manner, yet which requires intervention by the crew of Station 51 and/or Rampart Hospital. Episodes frequently concluded with a spectacular fire or rescue taking up the entire final act, with the overall plot usually concluding in concurrence with the final incident in some way.Where Dragnet and Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
were half-hour shows, Emergency!, because of the greater scope of its format, was a full-hour series.
Fire apparatus, equipment, stations and personnel
The creators of Emergency! made significant efforts to accurately portray the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) by utilizing current apparatusFire apparatus
A fire apparatus, fire engine, fire truck, or fire appliance is a vehicle designed to assist in fighting fires by transporting firefighters to the scene and providing them with access to the fire, along with water or other equipment...
and equipment
Glossary of firefighting equipment
- A :* Adapter: plumbing accessories for connecting hoses and pipes of incompatible diameter, thread, or gender. See also reducer, increaser, double male, double female, water thief. May contain combinations, such as a double-female reducer...
in the series. Although a few key items were fictionalized, such as the identification of Station 51 and its equipment, many of the locations and apparatus reflected the operating reality of locations used in some filming. The extensive cooperation of the LACoFD is repeatedly apparent in the program.
Squad 51
The vehicle which represented Squad 51 was constructed by Universal crews and was an accurate replica of the units built in-house on stock truck chassis by LACoFD at the time. The LACoFD shops were unable to fulfill a request from Universal to build a unit for the show within the short deadline the studio asked, but did provide the blueprintBlueprint
A blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term "blueprint" has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan....
s to Universal crews so the studio could build its own unit on a 1972 Dodge D300
Dodge D Series
The D Series was a line of pickup trucks sold by the Dodge division of American automaker Chrysler from 1961-1980. After 1980, the trucks were renamed the Dodge Ram and the same basic design was retained until the 1994 introduction of a completely redesigned Ram...
"dualie" (two rear tires on each side, on one axle) chassis
Chassis
A chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...
. (This conversion was subsequently completed on a 1973 and 1974 Dodge D300 chassis as well.) The replica's accuracy is evident that the white light atop the "Twinsonic" lightbar was part of the blueprint, but never installed by LAcoFD on its departmental units. This light was supposed to differentiate paramedic units from regular rescue units. After the filming of the show, the studio donated the unit to LACoFD in 1978, which pressed it into occasional service as a reserve unit before it was eventually retired from service.
In 1999, LACoFD donated the Universal-built squad to the Los Angeles County Fire Museum http://www.lacountyfiremuseum.com/Squad51.html. It has been restored and is located in the museum, 9834 Flora Vista Street, Bellflower, California 90706. The Los Angeles County Fire Museum is open to the public the first Saturday of every month 10AM to 2PM (Except Holidays) or by special arrangement.
Engine 51
The original Engine 51 was a 1965 open cab Crown FirecoachCrown Coach Corporation
Crown Coach Corporation was a manufacturer of school buses and fire trucks located in southern California. Crown closed in March 1991 due to declining demand for school buses at the time.-History:Crown Coach Corporation was founded by Don M...
, and was portrayed by LACoFD Engine 127's 1965 Crown in stock footage at the fire station (in reality LACoFD Station 127), and by LACoFD Engine 60's 1965 Crown (the unit assigned to Universal Studios) for filming on the grounds of the studio. In a few isolated instances from the first and second seasons, the regular apparatus borrowed from LACoFD and used for filming appear to have been unavailable as some scenes show a slightly different vintage Crown Firecoach pumper, most evident by the different style of emergency lights on the cab's roof. The mixing of stock station and response footage with footage filmed for specific storylines created continuity errors by mixing these apparatus.
Beginning early in the third season and through the end of the series, Engine 51 was represented by a 1973 Ward LaFrance
Ward LaFrance Truck Corporation
The Ward LaFrance Truck Corporation was an American manufacturer of trucks and fire apparatus founded by Addison Ward LaFrance in 1916 in Elmira Heights, NY. The company ceased operations in 1979...
P80 Ambassador triple-combination pumper. LACoFD was purchasing numerous P80s at the time, and Ward LaFrance donated a P80 unit to Universal Studios specifically for use in the show. The Ward LaFrance Engine 51 was thus not a disguised unit and did not require the use of LACoFD resources for filming.
Engine 127's 1965 Crown, one of the two originally used for the show, was later refitted with a closed cab. Eventually it was placed into reserve status when Station 127 received a new engine. In its reserve capacity, it was serving temporarily as Engine 95 when it was involved in a serious collision. Beyond repair, it was salvaged for parts and sold as scrap. The County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association now owns and has restored the 1965 Crown which formerly served as Engine 60 at Universal Studios and appeared most often as the Crown version of Engine 51.
The Ward LaFrance P80 Ambassador that represented Engine 51, owned by the studio outright, made its final Emergency! appearance in the movie The Steel Inferno, but was marked as Engine 110. The Ward remained at Universal Studios as a prop following the conclusion of the show, and made brief appearances such as in the 1979 film The China Syndrome
The China Syndrome
The China Syndrome is a 1979 American thriller film that tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant. It stars Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, Scott Brady, James Hampton, Peter Donat, Richard Herd, and Wilford Brimley.The film was...
and a short educational film produced by the National Fire Protection Association
National Fire Protection Association
The National Fire Protection Association is a United States trade association that creates and maintains private, copywrited, standards and codes for usage and adoption by local governments...
in 1984. Eventually, the Ward was pressed into active duty at Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
, as MCA Recreation Services (Universal's then-owner/operator) was under contract to provide visitor services at the park at the time, and it remained with YNP Fire after MCARS' involvement at the Park ended. It served continuously as YNP Fire's Engine 7 until finally being retired and replaced in July 2008. Per terms of a previous agreement between the Park and the County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association, the museum assumed ownership of the Ward and added it to the museum collection. As of December 2010, the museum is preparing a complete restoration of the Ward to its original appearance in the show. The Ward is a part of the collection as Engine 51 http://www.lacountyfiremuseum.com/Engine51Ward.html and is available for public viewing at The Los Angeles County Fire Museum, 9834 Flora Vista Street, Bellflower, California 90706 on the first Saturday of each month 10AM to 2PM (Except Holidays) or by special arrangement.
Station 51
Station 51 was represented by LACoFD Fire StationFire station
A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment...
127, located at 2049 East 223rd Street (between Wilmington and Alameda Streets) in Carson, California
Carson, California
Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, Carson had a total population of 91,714. Located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately 14 miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport, it is known as a suburb of the city....
(33°49′28"N 118°14′18"W - Maps Street View), and it is still in use today. Universal was permitted to use the station number of "51" for the program because at that time there was no existing Station 51 since the closing of LACoFD Station 51, which had been located near the intersection of Arlington Ave and Atlantic Ave, in the late 1960s due to the area being annexed by the city of Lynwood.
Station 127 was chosen for its natural lighting by series co-creator Robert A. Cinader, and the station was eventually named in his honor. A plaque honoring Robert A. Cinader is now mounted on the station next to the office front door. At the time of filming Station 127 housed Engine 127 and Truck 127, but it has never actually fielded its own paramedic unit.
For filming on location, Truck 127 was moved off-site and replaced with Universal's Squad 51, while Engine 127 was disguised as Engine 51. After Universal obtained the 1972 Ward LaFrance for Engine 51, both of Station 127's companies would be replaced by Universal's Engine 51 and Squad 51 for filming on location. While some filming of scenes set at Station 51 were done on sets at the studio, these sets accurately recreated the interior of Station 127.
Despite being "kicked out" of their own station for filming, Truck 127 still appeared in numerous episodes under its own callsign. The Carson location of Station 127 was directly referenced in one episode where a phone call was traced to a house "in Carson" that Engine 51 and Squad 51 eventually responded to.
"KMG365", which is said by the crewmember acknowledging a call for a unit at Station 51, is a real FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
call sign
Call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
used by LACoFD assigned to Fire Station 98 in Bellflower, and it appears on the Station Patch for Station 127, which today still houses Engine 127 and Truck 127 (now known as Light Force 127) as well as Foam 127.
In a nod to the lasting cultural impact of the show, LACoFD officially changed the designation of the fire station located on the grounds of Universal Studios from Station 60 to Station 51 in 1994, over twenty years after the debut of Emergency! The companies at Station 60 were also changed so that this station is now indeed the home of Engine 51 and Squad 51 as well as Patrol 51.
Rampart General Hospital
At the time of filming, Rampart General Hospital was represented by Harbor General Hospital, located in Torrance, CaliforniaTorrance, California
Torrance is a city incorporated in 1921 and located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Torrance has of shore-front beaches on the Pacific Ocean, quieter and less well-known by tourists than others on the Santa Monica Bay, such as those of neighboring...
at 1000 West Carson Street, the intersection of Vermont Avenue and Carson Street (33°49′49"N 118°17′30"W - http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1000+W+Carson+St,+Torrance,+Los+Angeles,+California+90502&sll=33.910226,-118.192785&sspn=0.012198,0.016909&g=1000+W+Carson+St,+Torrance,+Los+Angeles,+California+90502&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FY86BAId2P3y-A&layer=c&cbll=33.830219,-118.292647&panoid=wvYeLBKvVMTkiI5liWCI8w&cbp=1,80.92007263164413,,0,-9.79512924544138&ll=33.83449,-118.292499&spn=0.012209,0.016909&z=16|GoogleMaps Street View]. The pairing of Station 127 and Harbor General as "Station 51" and "Rampart" was accurate, since if a squad had actually been quartered at Station 127, it would likely have operated from Harbor General Hospital, since they are only 2.1 miles (3.4 km) apart. Truck 127 appeared in one episode where a rescue event occurred at Rampart (Harbor General), as the hospital really is in Truck 127's "first-due" district.
In an episode near the end of the series, one character, an aged jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician, hearing the name Rampart General, says, "My grandaddy used to play on Rampart Street in New Orleans!" The name Rampart actually comes from the show Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
and is the real name of a division of the LAPD.
In 1978, by the approval of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five-member nonpartisan governing board of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district. They were as of December 2, 2008:*District 1: Gloria Molina...
, Harbor General Hospital was renamed as Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Harbor–UCLA Medical Center is a 570-bed public teaching hospital located at 1000 West Carson Street within the unincorporated Los Angeles County area of West Carson, California...
http://www.humc.edu/calendar/ca6070.html.
Los Angeles County Fire Dispatch
Footage of a dispatcher used during the show appears to have been filmed at the LACoFD dispatch center in East Los Angeles. The screen he looked at to see the street maps is a rear projection from a Kodak Carousel projector built into the console. The man was actual LACoFD dispatcher Sam Lanier, who also lent his voice as the dispatcher for the show's entire run.Personnel
During a portion of the first season, real-life LACoFD Captain Richard Hammer portrayed himself as a Station 51 captain. Hammer died of cancer in 1999.Another real-life LACoFD firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
, Mike Stoker
Mike Stoker
Charles Michael "Mike" Stoker is a retired firefighter, engineer and captain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department . He was an actor on the NBC / Universal TV series Emergency!...
, portrayed himself throughout the entire run of the series as a driver/engineer of Engine 51. Since Stoker possessed a Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
card, it was helpful to Universal to have an actor who was also fully trained and qualified to actually drive and operate Engine 51. Stoker retired from the LACoFD as a Captain in 1996.
LACoFD Dispatcher Sam Lanier, although rarely seen on camera, portrayed himself as a dispatcher in virtually every episode. Despite being the recognizable voice over the radio sending Station 51 and other LACoFD crews to all sorts of emergencies, he was never listed in the show's credits. Lanier retired shortly after the show ended in 1977. He died of a massive heart attack in 1997, while attempting to assist at an automobile crash outside of his home.
Numerous uncredited LACoFD personnel were used throughout the course of the series when other actual LACoFD units were utilized during filming.
- The character "John Gage" was named for James O. Page, a LACoFD battalion chief in charge of development of the paramedic rescue squads who was a technical advisor to Webb and Cinader. Page went on to become a lawyer and publisher of the Journal of Emergency Medical Services. Originally, Cinader requested that Randolph Mantooth's character be named after Page, but he turned it down.
Equipment
The orange radio Gage and DeSoto used was a model 3502 Biocom BiophoneBiophone
The Biophone was a combination voice and telemetry radio communications system commonly used in the 1970s and 1980s by field emergency paramedics to talk to the doctors supervising them from a hospital base station, and also to transmit EKG rhythms...
. It came in an orange fiberglass case and was fully portable. It could transmit EKG and voice simultaneously, could be charged in 15 minutes, and had one hour of talking time. The radio had 8 duplex UHF channels and a total of 12 watts of transmitting power. There were two Biophones used on the show, one smaller than the other.
In "Survival on Charter #220",Gage and DeSoto are briefly seen using a Motorola Apcor
Motorola Apcor
The Motorola APCOR was a 12 watt, paramedic telemetry radio produced by the Motorola company during the 1970s and the 1980s. The Motorola Apcor could transmit voice and EKG simultaneously and was battery operated. There were three or more versions of the Motorola APCOR, the first was similar to...
, with Dr. Early and Nurse McCall using a Motorola base station back at Rampart.
The electrocardiograph
Electrocardiogram
Electrocardiography is a transthoracic interpretation of the electrical activity of the heart over a period of time, as detected by electrodes attached to the outer surface of the skin and recorded by a device external to the body...
(ECG or EKG) machine used in the show was a Datascope Model 850 Dual Trace Physiological Monitor. This model came out in 1971 and was the first portable, battery rechargeable unit of its kind. Its original price was $2000.00. In the middle of Season 4, the show switched to a Datascope MD/2, which was a combined monitor and defibrillator that allowed the monitor unit to slide out. The paramedics also carried some medical equipment in a black model "PF-3300" Old Pal tackle box, commonly used by LACoFD at the time. The other medical gear, terminology
Terminology
Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings, meanings that may deviate from the meaning the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. The discipline Terminology studies among other...
, jargon
Jargon
Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, group, or event. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he...
, and emergency medical practices at the time were usually represented as faithfully and accurately as possible, although the results of some rescue efforts were frequently dramatized to the point of the occasional unlikely outcome. Mantooth and Tighe actually went through paramedic training as preparation for their role, both completing the class but neither actually taking the certification exam. Because of the attention to detail, there were times when the actors had some difficulty pronouncing the "medical" words in the show convincingly, so some scenes show the characters from the back or behind a mask, which allowed them to dub in the correct pronunciations at a later time.
Many items of the equipment were donated to the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. Among the items on display are the original Star-Spangled Banner and Archie Bunker's...
in May 2000.
The protective clothing ("turn-out gear") that the firefighters wore, including the MSA Topgard helmets, as well as nearly all other equipment such as insignia, were standard LACoFD issue at the time.
The badges used in the series were authentic LACoFD badges. At the end of filming each day, they were collected, stored for safe keeping and then reissued the next day.
Off-screen relationships
Bobby Troup and Julie London had been married since 1959, well before being cast as Dr. Joe Early and Nurse Dixie McCall in Emergency!. The role of Dixie McCall was originally written as a love interest for the character of Dr. Kelly Brackett, though the on-screen romance between Brackett and McCall was gradually downplayed and eventually ignored during the course of the series. London had previously been married to producer Jack Webb from 1947 to 1953, though the divorce seems to have been amicable as Webb had also previously cast Troup for roles in DragnetDragnet (series)
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
and Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
. Troup and London remained married until his death in 1999. London died the following year.
Primary cast members
- Robert FullerRobert Fuller (actor)Robert Fuller is an American former television Western actor and current rancher. In his five decades of television, he's best known for starring roles on the popular 1960s western series Laramie as Jess Harper, and Wagon Train as Cooper Smith, as well as his work for his lead role, Dr...
as Kelly Brackett, M.D., F.A.C.S.American College of SurgeonsThe American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913 to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient by setting high standards for surgical education and practice.-Membership:... - Julie LondonJulie LondonJulie London was an American singer and actress. She was best known for her smoky, sensual voice. London was at her singing career's peak in the 1950s. Her acting career lasted more than 35 years...
as Dixie McCall, R.N.Registered nurseA registered nurse is a nurse who has graduated from a nursing program at a university or college and has passed a national licensing exam. A registered nurse helps individuals, families, and groups to achieve health and prevent disease... - Bobby TroupBobby TroupRobert William "Bobby" Troup Jr. was an American actor, jazz pianist and songwriter. He is best known for writing the popular standard " Route 66", and for his role as Dr...
as Joe Early, M.D., F.A.C.S.American College of SurgeonsThe American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913 to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient by setting high standards for surgical education and practice.-Membership:... - Ron PinkardRon PinkardRonald F. Pinkard is an African-American actor best known for his role as Dr...
as Mike Morton, M.D. (identified in the cast of the pilot as "Dr. Tom Gray"). - Randolph MantoothRandolph MantoothRandolph Donald Mantooth is an American character actor of stage, film and television. Mantooth is best known for his work in the 1970s medical drama, Emergency!, as Johnny Gage, a Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic...
as Fireman/ParamedicParamedicA paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...
John Rodrick "Johnny" Gage - Kevin TigheKevin TigheKevin Tighe is an American character actor primarily known for his roles on television. Tighe is best known for his role as Roy DeSoto, a senior paramedic, on the NBC series Emergency! . He and Randolph Mantooth, his partner in the series, have remained close friends...
as Fireman/ParamedicParamedicA paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...
Roy DeSoto - Tim DonnellyTim DonnellyTimothy David Donnelly , not to be confused with California Republican politician Tim Donnelly, is an American actor and director, and is the younger brother of Jack Webb stock director Dennis Donnelly....
as FiremanFiremanFireman may refer to::* Firefighter, person who extinguishes fires and rescues people from harms way.* Fire Safety Officer, a senior ranking firefighter or Fire Safety Inspector in the UK...
Chester B. "Chet" Kelly - Marco LopezMarco Lopez (actor)Marco Antonio Lopez , also credited as Marco Antonio, Antonio Lopez, and Marco Lopez, is an American actor who was known for his roles in Jack Webb-produced television series, such as Adam-12, where he played the recurring character of Officer Sanchez, and Dragnet, where he was credited as Marco...
as Fireman Marco Lopez - Mike StokerMike StokerCharles Michael "Mike" Stoker is a retired firefighter, engineer and captain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department . He was an actor on the NBC / Universal TV series Emergency!...
as Fireman/Engineer Mike Stoker - Dick HammerDick HammerRichard B. Hammer was a retired Captain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and played the role of Captain Hammer in the first season of the Jack Webb produced television show Emergency!...
as CaptainFire captainCaptain is a rank in various fire services.In most American and Canadian fire services, a captain ranks above a lieutenant and below a Battalion Chief. This varies, though, between departments – in the Boston Fire Department, the captain is the officer in overall charge of a fire company...
Dick HammerDick HammerRichard B. Hammer was a retired Captain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and played the role of Captain Hammer in the first season of the Jack Webb produced television show Emergency!...
(First Season Only) - John SmithJohn Smith (actor)John Smith was an American actor remembered in particular for two NBC western television series.-Early life and career:He was born Robert Errol Van Orden, in Los Angeles, California...
as CaptainFire captainCaptain is a rank in various fire services.In most American and Canadian fire services, a captain ranks above a lieutenant and below a Battalion Chief. This varies, though, between departments – in the Boston Fire Department, the captain is the officer in overall charge of a fire company...
Hammer in episode "Hang-Up" 1st season, as CaptainFire captainCaptain is a rank in various fire services.In most American and Canadian fire services, a captain ranks above a lieutenant and below a Battalion Chief. This varies, though, between departments – in the Boston Fire Department, the captain is the officer in overall charge of a fire company...
in episode "Crash" 1st season. - Michael NorellMichael NorellMichael Alden Norell is an American screenwriter/actor, and Executive Producer that starred as Captain Henry "Hank" Stanley in the Jack Webb produced television series Emergency! from 1973 to 1978....
as CaptainFire captainCaptain is a rank in various fire services.In most American and Canadian fire services, a captain ranks above a lieutenant and below a Battalion Chief. This varies, though, between departments – in the Boston Fire Department, the captain is the officer in overall charge of a fire company...
Henry "Hank" Stanley
Creators
R.A. Cinader and Harold Jack BloomHarold Jack Bloom
Harold Jack Bloom was a television producer and screenwriter who scored a notable hit with his first major screenplay to the classic Anthony Mann Western The Naked Spur in 1953, earning an Oscar nomination in the process....
Produced by Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...
and Mark VII Productions
A roster of guest stars
During its six-and-a-half season run, many guest-stars on the show had already achieved stardom while others went on to greater fame. These include Vic TaybackVic Tayback
Victor "Vic" Tayback was an American actor.-Life and career:Tayback was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, the son of Helen and Najeeb James Tayback. His parents were immigrants from Aleppo, Syria. Tayback moved with his family to Burbank, California, during his teenage years and attended...
, Adam West
Adam West
William West Anderson , better known by the stage name Adam West, is an American actor best known for his lead role in the Batman TV series and the film of the same name...
, Richard Jaeckel
Richard Jaeckel
Richard Hanley Jaeckel was an American actor of film and television.-Life and career:Jaeckel was born in Long Beach, New York. A short, but tough guy, he played a variety of characters during his fifty years in movies & television and became one of Hollywood's best known character actors...
, Marion Ross
Marion Ross
Marion Ross is an American actress best known for her role as Marion Cunningham on the television series Happy Days from 1974 to 1984.-Early life:...
, Mark Harmon
Mark Harmon
Mark Harmon is an American actor who has been starring in American television programs and films since the mid-1970s, after a career as a collegiate football player with the UCLA Bruins. Since 2003, Harmon has starred as Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the CBS series NCIS.-Early life:Harmon was born Thomas...
, Erik Estrada
Erik Estrada
Henry Enrique "Erik" Estrada is an American police officer and actor, known for his co-starring lead role in the 1977–1983 United States police television series CHiPs...
, Henry Jones
Henry Jones (actor)
Henry Burk Jones was an American actor of stage, film and television.Jones was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Helen and John Francis Xavier Jones. He was the grandson of Pennsylvania Representative Henry Burk...
, Jackie Coogan
Jackie Coogan
John Leslie Coogan , known professionally as Jackie Coogan, was an American actor who began his movie career as a child actor in silent films. Many years later, he became known as Uncle Fester on 1960s sitcom The Addams Family...
, Anne Lockhart
Anne Lockhart
Anne Lockhart may refer to:*Anne Lockhart *Anne Lockhart of Tarbrax, daughter of Sir James Lockhart of Lee*Anne Lockhart, Countess of Aberdeen , daughter of the above...
, Dabbs Greer
Dabbs Greer
Robert William "Dabbs" Greer was an American actor who performed many diverse supporting roles in film and television for some fifty years. His distinctive, southern-accented voice fitted well in shows featuring rustic characters, such as westerns...
, George Ives, John Carradine
John Carradine
John Carradine was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns as well as Shakespearean theater. A member of Cecil B DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, he was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history...
, Ron Masak
Ron Masak
Ron Masak is an American actor. He began on stage and much of his work is in theater. His first screen role was as the Harmonica Man in "The Purple Testament," an episode of The Twilight Zone in 1960...
, Nick Nolte
Nick Nolte
Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...
, Seymour Cassel
Seymour Cassel
Seymour Joseph Cassel is an American actor.He first came to prominence in the 1960s in the pioneering independent films of writer/directorJohn Cassavetes...
, Jeanette Nolan
Jeanette Nolan
Jeanette Nolan was an American radio, film and television actress. Nolan was nominated for four Emmy Awards.-Early life:...
, Robert Alda
Robert Alda
Robert Alda was an American actor. He was the father of actors Alan Alda and Antony Alda.-Life and career:...
, Mariette Hartley
Mariette Hartley
Mary Loretta "Mariette" Hartley is an American character actress.-Personal life:Hartley was born in Weston, Connecticut, the daughter of Mary Ickes “Polly” , a manager and saleswoman, and Paul Hembree Hartley, an account executive. Her maternal grandfather was psychologist John B...
, Jamie Farr
Jamie Farr
Jamie Farr is an American television, film, and theater actor. He is best known for having played the role of cross-dressing Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger in the television sitcom M*A*S*H.-Early life:...
, Bruno Kirby
Bruno Kirby
Bruno Kirby was an American film and television actor. He was perhaps best known for his roles in the Hollywood films City Slickers, When Harry Met Sally..., Good Morning, Vietnam, The Godfather Part II and Donnie Brasco.-Early life:Kirby was born Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu, Jr. in New York City,...
, Jock Mahoney
Jock Mahoney
Jock Mahoney was an American actor and stuntman of Irish, French, and Cherokee ancestry. Born Jacques O'Mahoney, he was credited variously as Jock Mahoney, Jack O'Mahoney or Jock O'Mahoney. He starred in two television series, both westerns...
, Michael Lerner
Michael Lerner
Michael Lerner may refer to:*Michael Lerner *Michael Lerner , inventor of the Baby on Board signs*Michael Lerner *Michael Lerner , social activist...
, Melissa Gilbert
Melissa Gilbert
Melissa Ellen Gilbert is an American actress, writer, and producer, primarily in movies and television. Gilbert is best known as a child actress who co-starred as Charles Ingalls's second daughter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, on the dramatic television series Little House on the Prairie...
, Kim Richards
Kim Richards
Kimberly "Kim" Richards is an American actress, former child actress, and television personality. She had roles in several Disney movies in the 1970s and later TV shows in the late 1970s and early 80s before returning to the screen with her sister Kyle Richards on Bravo's The Real Housewives of...
, John Travolta
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
, Ruth Buzzi
Ruth Buzzi
Ruth Ann Buzzi is an American comedienne and actress of theatre, film, and television. She is especially known for her performances on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973.-Early life:...
, and Jack Carter
Jack Carter
Jack Carter may refer to:* Jack Carter, fictional character created by Ted Lewis** from the novels Jack's Return Home, Jack Carter's Law, and Jack Carter and the Mafia Pigeon** from the films Get Carter and Get Carter...
, among many others.
Future Eight is Enough
Eight Is Enough
Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series which ran on ABC from March 15, 1977 until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Thomas Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name...
stars Dick Van Patten
Dick Van Patten
Richard Vincent "Dick" Van Patten is an American actor, best known for his role as patriarch Tom Bradford on the television sitcom Eight is Enough. He began work as a child actor and was successful on the [New York] stage, appearing in more than a dozen plays as a teenager...
and Grant Goodeve
Grant Goodeve
Grant Goodeve is an American actor and television host. He is best known for playing the role of David, the oldest son, on Eight Is Enough, from 1977 to 1981. He sang the theme song for the show as well...
made guest appearances on separate episodes, then current Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
stars Martin Milner
Martin Milner
Martin Sam Milner is an American actor best known for his performances in two popular television series, Adam-12 and Route 66....
and Kent McCord
Kent McCord
Kent McCord is an American actor best known for his role as Officer Jim Reed on the television series Adam-12.- Biography :...
made a guest appearance on the pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
of a two-part episode, while sports figures Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season...
and Mark Spitz
Mark Spitz
Mark Andrew Spitz is a retired American swimmer. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement only surpassed by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics....
made cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
appearances on two separate episodes. Future Kojak
Kojak
Kojak is an American television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, bald New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak. It aired from October 24, 1973, to March 18, 1978, on CBS. It took the time slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour earlier...
stars Mark Russell and Kevin Dobson
Kevin Dobson
Kevin Patrick Dobson is an American film and television actor of Irish descent, who is primarily known for his roles on television. His most prominent roles were as Lt. Theo Kojak's trusted partner, Det. Bobby Crocker on the popular 1970s TV crime drama Kojak, and as Karen MacKenzie's second...
made cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
appearances in various episodes. Relatives and friends of the cast of Emergency! made guest appearances on various episodes, including those of London's and Troup's children, Ronne
Ronne Troup
Ronne Troup is an American actress best known for her 1970–72 role as "Polly Williams Douglas" on the long-running sitcom My Three Sons.-Biography:Ronne is the daughter of musician/actor Bobby Troup, and his first wife, Cynthia Hare...
and Kelly, while Cynnie Troup was script supervisor
Script supervisor
A script supervisor is a member of a film crew responsible for maintaining the motion picture's internal continuity and for recording the production unit's daily progress in shooting the film's screenplay...
. Mantooth's brother Donald and Fuller's ex-Laramie co-star John Smith
John Smith (actor)
John Smith was an American actor remembered in particular for two NBC western television series.-Early life and career:He was born Robert Errol Van Orden, in Los Angeles, California...
each made a guest appearance on separate episodes early in the 2nd season, and former Leave It To Beaver star Tony Dow
Tony Dow
Tony Lee Dow is an American film producer, director, sculptor, and a television child actor of the 1950s and 1960s.Dow is best known for his role in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver, which ran in primetime from 1957 to 1963...
made an appearence in season two as a burglar.
See also
- BiophoneBiophoneThe Biophone was a combination voice and telemetry radio communications system commonly used in the 1970s and 1980s by field emergency paramedics to talk to the doctors supervising them from a hospital base station, and also to transmit EKG rhythms...
- Fire apparatusFire apparatusA fire apparatus, fire engine, fire truck, or fire appliance is a vehicle designed to assist in fighting fires by transporting firefighters to the scene and providing them with access to the fire, along with water or other equipment...
- Fire stationFire stationA fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment...
- Firehouse USA: BostonFirehouse USA: BostonFirehouse USA: Boston was a 2005 TV series on Discovery Channel. The series followed Engine 37 & Ladder 26 stationed out of Huntington Ave, Boston, Mass. Narrator was Mikey Kelley, executive producer was Mark Kadin. The series premiered Sept 20th, 2005 and was canceled later that year...
- Glossary of firefighting equipmentGlossary of firefighting equipment- A :* Adapter: plumbing accessories for connecting hoses and pipes of incompatible diameter, thread, or gender. See also reducer, increaser, double male, double female, water thief. May contain combinations, such as a double-female reducer...
- Glossary of firefighting termsGlossary of firefighting termsFirefighting jargon includes a diverse lexicon of both common and idiosyncratic terms. One problem that exists in trying to create a list such as this is that much of the terminology used by a particular department is specifically defined in their particular standing operating procedures, such that...
- List of firefighting films
- Rescue 8Rescue 8Rescue 8 is a syndicated American action drama series about Los Angeles County Fire Department Rescue Squad Number 8. It premiered in 1958, and originally ran for two seasons with syndicated reruns continuing for almost a decade after. It starred Jim Davis as fireman Wes Cameron, and Lang Jeffries...
- Rescue 77Rescue 77Rescue 77 is an American television series about the professional and personal lives of paramedics in Los Angeles, California. The show aired in the spring of 1999 on Monday nights on the WB network....
- TraumaTrauma (TV series)Trauma is a television series which originally ran on NBC from September 28, 2009 to April 28, 2010 and focused on a group of paramedics in San Francisco, California....
- Squad 51Squad 51Squad 51 is a 1972 Dodge D-300 truck, one of 3 different rescue squad vehicles that were used in the filming of the television series Emergency!...