RIP Randolph Mantooth of "Emergency!"

[Batman]

When the show premiered, there were 12 paramedic units in all of North America. In the next three years, 46 states enacted laws that allowed paramedics to practice emergency medicine. Within 10 years, more than half of all Americans were within 10 minutes of a paramedic rescue or ambulance unit.

Experts say that growth simply would not have occurred without Emergency!

“When you take life-saving services out of the hospital and into the field, the number of lives that are saved is incalculable,” Mantooth said. “The stars just lined up with this show perfectly for a purpose, for a greater purpose.

“I could be remembered for driving a car that has a name like the General Lee, not that there’s anything wrong with that show. Instead I’m remembered for something that changed emergency medicine, forever. How lucky can any one person be?”

The pilot was more of a dramatic movie about the birth of the paramedic program than the formula the show settled on during its run. It included some of the state politics of getting the bill passed to authorize and fund paramedic programs, and the workplace politics of getting doctors and nurses to accept their worth. Seeing it a few decades later for the first time, after seeing so many episodes, it was weird.

 

[Batman]

Three other fun facts:

1) One of Jack Webb's rules for the show was that every call on the show had to be based on an actual call that firefighters had dealt with. So everything on the show actually happened somewhere.

2) After the show ended, the second Engine 51 spent about 20 years in service with Yosemite National Park's fire department, until it was retired in the late 2000s.

3) Julie London was married to Jack Webb for seven years, and then to Bobby Troup (Dr. Joe Early on the show) for another 40.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Damn, #3 was a very fun fact. She and her ex must have been very friendly.

 

[MileHigh]

Loved Emergency. Had the lunch box as well.

But even as a kid, I figured out their scripts, but really didn't care. Loved watching that show.

 

[Batman]

But as a kid, I was an Emergency P1. My mom sussed the plot out quickly and kind of ruined it for me when she observed the big call was always saved for the end of the episode.

On the show, you could always tell the level of the calls by how many tones went out over the radio. On the big call for the huge fire at the end, they would last 10 or 15 seconds with a roll call of units that lasted another 30.
Sometimes you even got a bonus when they had a second alarm and had to call in some special units like a light truck. That was always cool.

Nowadays, my desk has the newsroom's police scanner on it. Whenever I hear the tones my ears perk up, and whenever I hear three or four they  really perk up because, thanks to Emergency!, I know some big ****'s going down.

 

[BTExpress]

Looks like every 60s-70s actor appeared on that show at least once.

And Larry Csonka, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Mark Spitz, too. Also Michael Lerner from Eight Men Out.

Emergency!

 

[HanSenSE]

Hell, yeah ... Julie London!

View attachment 23286

Code 6.

 

[Bubbler]

When I Wiki'd Julie London and saw that she "was," my heart sank. She was in her mid-40s in the early to mid-70s (pushing 50 at the end of the series, looking at it) and she held it together a lot better than other people of the time. Died in 2000 at age 74. She probably never touched a cigarette.

Born in 1926 and my grandmother, who was born a year later and passed away three years later and smoked probably a pack a day with the windows of her Chrysler New Yorker rolled up, had more wrinkles than Carter had pills.

Actually, when I went down an Emergency wormhole, Julie London was a chain smoker and it directly contributed to her death.

While in the same wormhole, I found out her last album was a loungy version of late 60s hits. Gave it a listen. Would have been square as hell in 1969, but sounds pretty cool now.

 

[WolvEagle]

Loved "Emergency!" as a kid, but then again my Dad was a firefighter. His department, though, was nowhere near as busy as Station 51 (thankfully).

As an adult, one of the side channels that has old shows had the perfect two hours: "Emergency!," "Adam-12" and 'Dragnet."

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I was very young when the show was on, so I don’t really remember it. I do remember one time being in the hospital for something and someone gave me the Emergency! fire hat. I think I saw it at my parents’ house a few years back.

I just saw on Facebook an article where the actors went on real ride alongs for two years so they could be authentic when they acted, but stopped when fans would recognize them and got in the way of the emergency calls to get autographs.

RIP

 

[zufer]

Looks like every 60s-70s actor appeared on that show at least once.

And Larry Csonka, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Mark Spitz, too. Also Michael Lerner from Eight Men Out.

Emergency!

This is an amazing list. Count me as another of the Emergency! faithful. Enjoyed Kevin Tighe’s turn in Lost.

 

[poindexter]

I was more of an Adam-12 kid than Emergency!. I do believe in my school there were more Emergency lunch boxes.

 

[poindexter]

Julie London was a chain smoker and it directly contributed to her death.

Yeah, with that voice and in that time period, I would have been shocked if she wasn't a cigarette smoker.

 

[poindexter]

Gotta say, watching it now, the... lackadaisical approach to emergency situations is hilarious.

I work part time in an elementary school in my retirement. We had a fairly serious medical emergency this school year. The firefighter/paramedics who showed up gave off the same exact relaxed vibe as I remember from the show. I thought they should have been in more hustle mode. But the more I thought about it, they probably go on half a dozen of these calls every shift. The measured approach probably is the best methodology.

 

[TigerVols]

The first weekend I lived in LA I hopped in my car fresh off the transport and drove down to Carson to see the station with my own eyes.


Google Maps

 

[Dyno]

I’m sure I read a 16 Magazine article about how dreamy Randolph Mantooth was.

 

[Here me roar]

I’m sure I read a 16 Magazine article about how dreamy Randolph Mantooth was.

No lies detected

 

[dixiehack]

Am I the only 80s kid with no memory of this being in syndication that decade? I never even heard of it until well into adulthood, and between TBS, WGN and all the local channels, believe you me I did not lack for exposure to shows from the 60s and 70s.

 

[Batman]

I’m sure I read a 16 Magazine article about how dreamy Randolph Mantooth was.

Always thought, when they were both in their prime, he bore a strong resemblance to Keanu Reeves.

 

[Gym Beam]

I’m sure I read a 16 Magazine article about how dreamy Randolph Mantooth was.

I was too busy with Tiger Beat, staring at Susan Dey...