Emergency!

Emergency! is an American action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing two situation comedy series, The Partners and The Good Life, it ran for a total of 122 episodes until May 28, 1977, with six additional two-hour television films in 1978 and 1979.

The show's ensemble cast stars Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe as two rescuers, who work as paramedics and firefighters in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The duo formed Squad 51, a medical and rescue unit of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, working together with the fictional Rampart General Hospital medical staff (portrayed by Robert Fuller, Julie London and Bobby Troup), and with the firefighter engine company at Station 51.

Emergency! was produced by Jack Webb and created by Robert A. Cinader, who had also created the police dramas Adam-12 and Dragnet. Harold Jack Bloom is also credited as a creator; Webb does not receive screen credit as a creator. In the show's original TV-movie pilot, Webb was credited only as its director. However, the series aimed to be much more realistic than its predecessors as it portrayed emergency medical services (EMS). Pioneering EMS leader James O. Page served as a technical advisor, and the two main actors underwent some paramedic training.

The series aired at a time when ambulance coverage in the United States was rapidly expanding and changing, and the role of a paramedic was emerging as a profession, and is credited with popularizing the concepts of EMS and paramedics in American society, and even inspiring other states and municipalities to expand the service.

Nearly 30 years after Emergency! debuted, the Smithsonian Institution accepted Emergency! memorabilia into its National Museum of American History's public-service section, including the firefighters' helmets, turnouts, Biophone, and defibrillator. The vehicles of Station 51 are a part of the collection of the Los Angeles County Fire Museum.

Cast

thumb|Cast of TV's Emergency! (1973), L-R: [[Kevin Tighe, Robert Fuller, Julie London, Bobby Troup and Randolph Mantooth ]]

Set at the fictional Fire Station 51 of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, where one fire engine and the paramedic rescue squad are stationed, the series focuses on two young firefighter-paramedics: young and immature John Roderick "Johnny" Gage (Randolph Mantooth), who is always unlucky in love, and more mature family man Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe), who crew the rescue squad, Squad 51, and, in addition to providing emergency medical care, perform technical rescues such as vehicle extrication.

The paramedics are supervised by 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 London's real-life husband Bobby Troup), and young intern Dr. Michael "Mike" Morton (Ron Pinkard, though in the early episodes was a character named Dr. Thomas Gray).

Other regular characters are the firefighters of Station 51's "A" shift, Chester B. "Chet" Kelly (played by Tim Donnelly) and Marco Lopez (played by actor Marco Lopez). Mike Stoker, a Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighter specialist, drove Engine 51. Los Angeles County Fire Department Dispatcher Samuel Lanier portrayed himself in an uncredited voice role (over the radio) throughout the series, and he is also occasionally shown in a brief clip at the dispatch office just before a dispatch is heard in later seasons; he retired from the department shortly after Emergency! finished. Lopez speaks Spanish, and occasionally translated for the crew when a victim or onlooker spoke Spanish but no English. Unusually, Lopez, Stoker and Dick Hammer play characters named after themselves, though in two episodes, Hammer's character is played by John Smith.

Various characters held the rank of Captain throughout the series. These include Captain Dick Hammer (Los Angeles County Fire Department Captain Richard Hammer as himself for first season/episodes 1–9, then later John Smith for the last two episodes of the season), Captain Hank Stanley (Michael Norell, during the remaining seasons) and Captain Gene "Captain Hook" Hookrader in a couple of later episodes. Actor John Anderson portrayed Captain Bob Roberts in one Season 4 episode, "Smoke Eater".

Other recurring characters include Battalion Chiefs Conrad (Art Balinger), Sorensen (Art Gilmore), Miller, and McConnike (William Boyett), Firefighter Conway / Firefighter Paramedic Tom Wheeler / Animal Control Supervisor Walt Marsh (Gary Crosby), Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy/Carson Police Officer/Sergeant Vince (Vince Howard), and recurring ambulance attendants Albert "Al" (Angelo DeMeo) and his assistant, George (George Orrison). Boyett and Crosby regularly appeared as Sergeant MacDonald and Officer Ed Wells respectively on Adam-12, while Gilmore appeared on that show as watch commander Lieutenant Moore, a recurring character.

Robert Fuller as Kelly Brackett, M.D., F.A.C.S., A.C.E.P., chief of emergency medicine
Julie London as Dixie McCall, R.N., chief nurse of the emergency room
Bobby Troup as Joe Early, M.D., F.A.C.S., A.C.E.P.
Ron Pinkard as Mike Morton, M.D. (identified in the cast of the pilot as "Dr. Tom Gray", also an intern—the two characters never appeared together).
Randolph Mantooth as Firefighter Paramedic John Gage, L.A. County FD Squad 51
Kevin Tighe as Firefighter Paramedic Roy DeSoto, L.A. County FD Squad 51
Tim Donnelly as Firefighter Chester B. "Chet" Kelly, L.A. County FD Engine 51
Marco Lopez as Firefighter Marco Lopez, L.A. County FD Engine 51
Mike Stoker as Firefighter Specialist Mike Stoker, L.A. County FD Engine 51
Dick Hammer as Captain Dick Hammer (first season only), L.A. County FD Engine 51
John Smith as Captain Hammer in episode "Hang-Up" 1st season, as Captain in episode "Crash" 1st season, L.A. County FD Engine 51 (The back of this actor's turnout coat reads "Van Orden", but he is never called by name on the show; he is simply referred to as "Captain".)
Art Balinger as Battalion Chief Conrad
Art Moore as Battalion Chief
Michael Norell as Captain Henry "Hank" Stanley, L.A. County FD Engine 51 (after first season)
James McEachin as Detective Lieutenant Ronald Crockett LAPD.
Vince Howard as L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Vince Howard/Carson Police Officer/Sergeant Vince Howard.
William Boyett as Battalion Chief McConnike (Season 6) Chief Battalion 14
Sam Lanier (uncredited) as, and providing the voice of, the Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher.

The role of Dixie McCall was originally written as a love interest for Fuller's character, Dr. Kelly Brackett, though the on-screen romance between Brackett and McCall was gradually downplayed and eventually ignored over the course of the series; this was explained by Brackett's and McCall's romance not having worked out.

Development

The series was created by Robert Cinader and Jack Webb. Webb had previously created Dragnet, and with Cinader had jointly created Adam-12, both of which were TV series about policing. In 1971, Cinader and Webb met with Captain Jim Page  and other officers from the Los Angeles County Fire Department to discuss creating a show about firefighters. Initially they planned to focus the show on physical rescues, but felt that there would not be enough ideas for episodes. Page suggested they look to the Los Angeles County Fire Department's new paramedic program for ideas.

Cinader asked the writers to get all the rescues that were to be portrayed on the show from fire stations' logbooks. In an interview with Tom Blixa of WTVN, Mantooth said that the producer wanted them to train so that they would at least know the fundamentals and look like they knew what they were doing on camera. Mantooth mentioned that you needed to take the entire course and pass all the skills stations and final certification exam to be a paramedic, and went on to admit that "if anyone has a heart attack, I'll call 911 with the best of them." Mantooth became an advocate for firefighters and paramedics after the series ended. He continued, as of late October 2014, to give speeches and make appearances all over the country at special events.

Episodes

Setting

Interior scenes were shot on Universal's sound stages.

Station 127 was chosen 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). Station 106 in Rolling Hills Estates, California, a similar design to 127, was initially the choice, but faced north (versus south), which would make it difficult to light properly. At the time of filming Station 127 housed Engine 127 and Truck 127 (a ladder truck), whereas the fictional Station 51 had a small rescue truck instead of a ladder truck. As of 2018, Station 127 now instead houses Quint 127 and Foam 127.

When filming on location took place, Truck 127 was moved off-site and replaced with Universal's Squad 51, while Engine 127 was disguised as Engine 51. After Universal obtained a 1973 Ward LaFrance to use as Engine 51, both of Station 127's apparatus would be replaced by Universal's Engine 51 and Squad 51 for filming on location. 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. Interior scenes at Station 51 were filmed on sets at the studio, which accurately recreated the interior of Station 127.

"KMG365", which is said by the crewmember acknowledging a call for a unit at Station 51, is a real FCC call sign used by Los Angeles County Fire Department assigned to Fire Station 98 in Bellflower, and it appears on the Station Patch for Station 127.

Rampart General Hospital

In the pilot episode, Rampart General Hospital is shown (in a letter to Dr. Brackett) to be located in Carson, California. At the time of filming, Rampart General Hospital was represented by Harbor General Hospital, located in Torrance, California at 1000 West Carson Street, the intersection of Vermont Avenue and Carson Street (). 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. Not accurate was the response area of Station 51. Many examples exist. As seen in season 6 episode 5, where they responded to 4000 N. Riverton Ave. Universal City, 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.

In 2018, CrowdRx, Inc., launched their Mobile Emergency Room Trailer, naming it "Rampart" to honor Rampart General Hospital.

File:Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 20150328 (1).jpg|Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; taken Sat. March 28, 2015

File:Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 20150328 (2).jpg|Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; taken Sat. March 28, 2015

File:Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 20150328 (3).jpg|Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; taken Sat. March 28, 2015

File:Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 20150328 (4).jpg|Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; taken Sat. March 28, 2015

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Los Angeles County Fire Dispatch

thumb|Los Angeles County Fire Department Dispatcher Sam Lanier (uncredited voice of dispatcher). On the left is the Motorola Quik-Call system that created the familiar "alert tones" heard on the show.

Footage of a dispatcher used during the show appears to have been filmed at the Los Angeles County Fire Department Keith E. Klinger 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 Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher Sam Lanier, who also lent his voice as the dispatcher for the series' entire run.

The familiar tones that called Station 51 into service were initiated by dispatch using a Motorola Quik Call I unit, a radio listening on a common paging frequency for a pair of special audio tones assigned to that station. For a large incident, one could often hear many sets of tones calling many stations, but only a specific pair would sound the buzzer for Station 51.

A long scene showing the sequence of microfiche reader address lookup to quik-call dispatch appears in the season six episode "Family Ties".

Props

The creators of Emergency! tried to accurately portray the Los Angeles County Fire Department by using apparatus and equipment in current use. The extensive cooperation of the Los Angeles County Fire Department is repeatedly apparent in the program. 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. Nearly 30 years after Emergency! debuted, the Smithsonian Institution accepted Emergency! memorabilia into its National History Museum, public-service section,

Engine 51

thumb|The [[Engine 51 from Ward La France, shown in a photo shot in the 1970s.]]

The original Engine 51 was a 1965 open-cab Crown Firecoach, and was represented by Los Angeles County Fire Department Engine 127's 1965 Crown in stock footage at the fire station (in reality Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 127), and by Los Angeles County Fire Department Engine 60's 1965 Crown (the unit assigned to Universal Studios) for filming on the grounds of the studio. In a few instances in the first and second seasons, the regular apparatus borrowed from Los Angeles County Fire Department 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. As a condition of providing a Dept pumper for filming the Los Angeles County Fire Department required one of its own qualified Engineers be used to operate it, active Firefighter Engineer (later Specialist) Mike Stoker, who already possessed a Screen Actors Guild card, was cast in the series. The mixing of stock station and response footage with footage filmed for specific storylines created continuity errors by mixing these apparatus.

Early in the third season, Engine 51 was represented by a 1973 closed-cab Ward LaFrance P80 Ambassador triple-combination pumper. Los Angeles County Fire Department was purchasing numerous P80s at the time, and Ward LaFrance, through their local distributor, Albro Fire Equipment Co. of Los Angeles, donated a P80 unit to Universal Studios specifically for use in the series as product placement. The Ward LaFrance Engine 51 was thus not a disguised unit and did not require the use of Los Angeles County Fire Department resources for filming.

Engine 127's 1965 Crown, one of the two originally used for the series, 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 collision. Damaged beyond repair in the collision, 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 it was marked as Engine 110. The Ward remained at Universal Studios as a prop following the conclusion of the series, and made brief appearances such as in the film The China Syndrome (1979) and a short educational film produced by the National Fire Protection Association in 1984.

As the fire department for the concession area was private (and not state or federal), the engine had the California personalized (vanity) license plate YCS E51. It served continuously as YNP Fire's Engine 7 until it was 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. In 2012, the museum finished a complete restoration of the Ward to its original appearance in the show.

Both of Station 51's vehicles have also been immortalized as Hot Wheels diecast vehicles Emergency Squad (1998) and Fire-Eater (1977) respectively.

Antique Dennis fire engine

An antique fire engine was the subject of three episodes of the show. In the third season, episode 2, entitled, "The Old Engine", Gage and DeSoto see a derelict fire engine in a scrap yard during a fire. They purchase the vehicle for $80 according to the script and attempt to restore it. The script says it is a 1932 Dennis fire engine, but the vehicle is a Dennis Ace model, manufactured from 1934 to 1939 and sold to the British market, including Australia, New Zealand, and India. Records indicate this model was not sold in the US.

In Season 4, Episode 13, "The Parade", the two paramedics have finished their restoration of the Dennis Ace fire engine for the California Firefighters Parade, though having to replace a part that just broke. En route to the parade, wearing antique uniforms, the two spot an apartment fire and respond in the engine using its antiquated equipment to rescue two people trapped in the building before Los Angeles County Fire Department arrives. The Dennis Ace is heavily damaged when the structure collapses onto it. In Season 5, Episode 2, "The Old Engine Cram" the main characters are informed by Nurse McCall that a man is looking to buy that same model of fire engine. Unfortunately, the engine is mistakenly referred to in the script as a 1923 Paige when it is actually a Dennis.

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.

thumb|left|Old Pal Tackle Box PF-3300: AKA Drug Box, Emergency!

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 $2,000. 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. With the monitor docked, it can read and display an EKG through the defibrillator paddles; this function is shown several times during the series, and anticipates the development of the automated external defibrillator, only a few years later. The paramedics also carried some medical equipment in a black model PF-3300 Old Pal tackle box, commonly used by the fire department at the time. There were instances when the actors encountered difficulty in pronouncing medical terms correctly, 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.

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 fire department issue at the time.

[[File:Biophone by BioCom Inc.jpg|thumb|Possibly the actual Biophone used in the show.

This is the unit on display at the Los Angeles County Fire Department fire museum.

This unit has a connection port in the front that can be seen on screen. The above model does not.]]

The badges used in the series were authentic fire department badges. At the end of filming each day, they were collected, stored for safekeeping and then reissued the next day.