Johnny agrees to take care of a car crash victim's dog which causes a few problems for him and around the station. Dr. Early and Dr. Brackett treat a young woman for hyperventilation. A seemingly drunk man wanders into the hospital. It turns out the man was suffering from hypoglycemia. Johnny and Roy treat a heart attack victim in the middle of a house party where his inebriated guests think he is pulling a prank on them. The paramedics treat a seriously injured hunter who has had a nasty fall in Murdock Flats in Angeles Forest requiring a rescue copter.
Character and Show Facts: Johnny lives in an apartment that does not allow pets. Roy has a dog and two kids. “With the three of them, Bonnie wouldn’t last an hour.” Dixie has a cat. The crew plays cards to decide who does dishes. Johnny refers ‘the camper’ which is a VW camper where he spends the night with Bonnie the dog outside of the station. Johnny spent 3 solid days at the station. Not conclusive if the camper is his or not because even Roy refers to it as 'the camper' instead of 'your camper.' Chet and Roy have a discussion on how 'chicks' dig Johnny, including Bonnie. Johnny's 'fatal charm' also comes up.
Facts on Bonnie: Full name is Champion Saltwater Taffy complete with pedigree, cups, and blue ribbons. Worth $8,000, conservatively, remember this show aired in 1972. Johnny is convinced that Bonnie senses when a call is going to come through. She barks just before the tones sound. Bonnie's owner, Paula Slayton, promises a pup to Johnny from Bonnie's next litter.
Botulism - Air Date: Jan 25, 1972
After being the victim of numerous practical jokes, Johnny decides to come up with a plan of revenge against the perpetrator. The station is called out for a construction accident where a man has broken his back falling off a tower. The paramedics are called out to the residence of Myron and Martha Gilmore for another fake heart attack. After giving Mrs. Gilmore “Dr. DeSoto’s elixir for reparation, renovation, and general revival of perfidious aliments” (smelling salts) she comes around and is given a lecture on the importance of paramedics being available for real emergencies. Dixie and Dr. Brackett have a disagreement over how it is her responsibility to correct the mistakes of student nurses, not his. Dr. Early's ear piece from stethoscope becomes lodged in his ear. The station responds to a call for an accident at a movie set and the victim appears to be the first case of a potential outbreak of botulism. A boy is trapped in a condemned building.
Character and Show Facts from this episode: Station address on the building is 2049 which is seen in the opening shot. Johnny is reading '1000 Practical Jokes' in the squad because it is the only place he can have any privacy at the station. Roy comments about when Johnny gets on a kick there is no stopping him. Johnny had syrup pour into his boots, cupcake taped inside his helmet; bed floured and had to roll out on a run looking like the White Knight. The highlight is when Johnny falls for his own joke at the end of the show.
Cook’s Tour - Air Date: Feb 12, 1972
John delivers his first baby under the watchful eye of an anxious father. The baby is cyanotic due to Rh disease (Johnny tries to impress a couple of nurses over his first delivery by using the term erythroblastosis fetalis). Johnny and the rest of the station crew give Roy a bad time about his cooking. Dr. Early deals with an eccentric mother whose son gets his hand stuck in a priceless vase. Johnny performs an ‘in station’ rescue on a kid in handcuffs. A teenage boy suffers a heart attack due to a combination of drugs and a fight. His older brother takes the treatment room at Rampart hostage for a few moments. The paramedics treat a man suffering from an electrical shock from repairing a washer. A high-rise rescue on a construction crane when a man changes his mind about killing himself ends up trapped on a crane.
Character and Show Facts from this Episode Roy delivered two babies, plus a third at the hospital. He has a cold during this episode. Johnny delivers his first baby. The terms Johnny uses on the kids at the station: woofle spring, reltny, crabitz, and stetso-hydraulic activator (pair of pliers), may have been made up words back in 1972. Well the word reltny (reltney) today carries a sexual meaning to it (It refers to a ‘fire hose’ being stretched so tightly that when you yell ‘help me’ it sounds like ‘reltney’). Look it up in the urban dictionary if you’re not catching the drift in our ‘definition.’ Johnny tells Roy the difference between a medic and a paramedic is ‘having Dixie fix beef bourguingnon and having Roy fix it.’ The cost of a bag of a groceries (enough to feed six hungry firefighters) was $9.03 Roy’s been practicing his dish at home for a week on his wife. Johnny states everyone on C Shift is 10 pounds overweight. Charlie Wilson moonlights as second chef at La Pavillion.
Brushfire - Air Date: Feb 19, 1972
While working a brushfire that has broken out in Las Plumas Canyon, Johnny and Roy are called out to the residence of two feuding sisters. One of the elderly sisters is suffering from a broken ankle and dehydration from a fall while out walking on the ridge to view the fire. Dixie tries to comfort a boy with a broken arm whose dog is in the fire area. She manages to cajole a promise from the paramedics to keep an eye out for the dog. Roy and Johnny meet up with the rest of the 51 crew to treat a fireman whose leg is caught under a fallen tree. A woman goes into labor two weeks early; Roy manages to deliver the baby safely while the fire looms close to the house. The paramedics rescue a man who had a motorcycle accident in the fire area who turns out to been doing some looting in the area. Character and Show Facts: This is the first brushfire Johnny has worked while Roy has worked a couple. Dr. Brackett and Dixie were planning a trip to the beach in Malibu which they cancelled because of the fire. John Conway the injured fireman has this to say about Mike Stoker’s marital status: “He’s a quite good man. I don’t care - what his wife thinks. And you can tell him I said that.” You can interpret that as either Mike is married, separated, divorced, or as a morphine induced joke. This is Roy’s third delivery. Possible contradiction with ‘Cook’s Tour' episode; if you count the baby he said he delivered at the hospital or not. Roy states he’s independently poor.
Many familiar faces in this episode including Gary Crosby (injured fireman John Conway, Ed Wells on Adam-12, Tom Wheeler on Emergency!), Bob Hastings (Man trampled by horses who played Lieutenant Elry Carpenter on McHale's Navy and is the brother of Don Hastings who plays Dr. Hughes on As The World Turns), and Tony Dow (injured looting biker, Wally Cleaver on Leave It To Beaver). Additional trivia on the Lenover sisters and their house is mentioned below the slide show.
The Lenover house is actually the Bates House from Psycho
The 'Psycho' house was used in the 65-66 TV series Laredo, 1971 Night Gallery episode “A Question of Fear,” and 1976 miniseries (restored) "Captains and the Kings," along with appearing in other movies and replicated numerous times as well. In Emergency! this was the house that the Lenover sisters fought 30 years over.
The Lenover Sisters
Out of curiosity we decided to do some digging on the two ladies that played Winifred (Lillian Bronson) and Emma (Edith Evanson). Here's some interesting things to note on the two bickering sisters. Both woman were accomplished character actors and appeared in some very well known movies and television series.
Lillian Bronson (Winifred Lenover)
Date of Birth: Oct 21, 1902 - Date of Death: August 2, 1995 at the age of 92.
She appeared in episodes of Dragnet, Adam-12, and two episodes of Emergency! (Inventions). Judge Clara Mayfield in several episodes Perry Mason. In Season Three, Episode 1 (Fonzi Moves In) of Happy Days she portrayed Mrs. Nussbaum, Fonzi's grandmother. Appeared on numerous television series in the 50's, 60's, and 70's.
Those who live in California and traveled the Hollywood Freeway regularly between 1974 and 1986 may know her as 'The Freeway Lady' or 'The Old Woman of The Freeway." Artist Kent Twitchel used her image as the basis of a mural painted on the side of building. Below is a link to his Flickr images and his story on that mural. There is a image of a replica he has created of the original mural which was painted over in 1986. The Freeway Lady (Kent Twitchell)
Photo of 'The Freeway Lady' originally from the LA Times
Edith Evanson (Emma Lenover)
Date of Birth: 28 April 1896 Date of Death: 29 November 1980 at the age 85.
It is Edith Evanson's reflection as a nurse seen in the shattered glass globe in the beginning scene of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) Another notable appearance is in the 1951 science fiction movie 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' where she plays the landlady, Mrs. Crockett. She also played housekeepers in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rope' and 'Marnie.'
First photo is from 'Citizen Kane.' Edith Evanson is the lady standing beside the boy in the second photo from 'The Day The Earth Stood Still.'
Dealer’s Wild - Air Date: Feb 26, 1972
Roy must talk a young teenager through landing a small plane after his father suffers a heart attack during flight. The chore of dishes at Station 51 is decided by playing card games. Johnny’s been stuck with dishes 15 during the last 8 shifts (15/16). The rules keep changing, so by the time Johnny figures them out, they’ve playing a different game. Roy suggests Johnny make up his own card game (Tsk tsk Roy, you should’ve known better). The paramedics are called out to an attempted suicide; the victim slashed his wrists, turned on the gas, and took some poison. He threatens to sue the hospital upon his discharge for saving him. Johnny can’t figure out why the nurse who he took out last Friday won’t give him the time of day. A tank truck driver crashes after suffering from a subarachnoid blowout. The paramedics respond to an overdose where underage teenage girl’s mother is unavailable and bystanders are reluctant to get involved. Character and Show Facts: Roy states he used to be a ‘really hot pilot,’ 20 hours flying time; almost had his license. Roy’s played all the poker games; 5 card, 7 card, strip (we were hoping Roy would add ‘strip poker’ to the list!!), but he hasn’t played 13 card(??). Johnny makes up a new card game. A bagel beats everything (like a straight, only every other card counting for example three, five, seven, nine, jack) except a super bagel which is the same thing only all the cards are the same suit. Wild cards tens, twos, fours. He loses at his own card game. During the locker room scene at the end there is no Smokey the Bear poster on the door of Johnny’s locker (just a pinup girl inside the locker).
Nurse's Wild - Air Date: 01-Mar-1972
Johnny seems determined to land a date with a pretty nurse, even after she verbally dressed him down at the conclusion of a paramedic demonstration. The paramedics are called to a treat a gunshot victim after an attempted robbery at a story. The store owner suffers a heart attack after becoming extremely agitated and anxious over shooting the robber. Dr. Early treats an alcoholic suffering from delusions. A dog causes problems for the paramedics when they are called to a residence of an unconscious young woman who used diuretics that were prescribed to a friend. Dr. Brackett comes down a little hard on the young lady for taking another person's medication. Dr. Brackett takes a softer approach after Dixie comments on ‘men's blindness’ which opens his eyes to the young woman’s need to be attractive and desirable as the motivating factor for her wanting to lose weight. Dr. Morton learns a lesson on not judging a patient by his appearance when he suspects a drug overdose that turns out to be a black widow spider bite reaction. Roy gives a few boys who stopped by the station a lesson about the Engine. When Johnny takes over the impromptu tour the kids suddenly become disinterested. The paramedics and station are called out to rescue a man trapped in at a chemical plant.
Character and Show Facts: Dixie straightened out an orderly, Dr. Morton, the gunshot/robber’s wife, and Dr. Brackett. We find out Johnny’s been a firefighter for four years. Fire engine carries 500 gallons of water. (Crown Firecoach)
Foam Unit 127 accompanies Station 51 on the call to rescue
the man trapped at the chemical plant.
Most Emergency! fans know Station 127 was the actual station used as
Station 51 on the show. Ellen Bart (Chris Forbes) ended up breaking her date with Johnny because she applied for a job as a nurse on a cruise ship and would be gone for six months. Funny thing, Ellen made appearances afterwards in Weird Wednesday, Dilemma, Hang-Up, and Crash episodes that all aired after this episode. Reference to Chet's cooking being bad.
Johnny's Math on Rampart's Available Nurses 320 Nurses at Rampart, 120 over 25, which brings it down to 210 (??? wonder what grade Johnny got in math), 12 of them are over 6 feet tall. That brings the number down and 12 of them are over 150 pounds. Half the nurses in the hospital are married. Most of the other half want to be. The ones that want to be and aren't, according to Johnny have a problem. The ones that aren't and don't want to be, Johnny thinks are weird. Which leaves very few dates for Johnny. This leaves Johnny with the possible dilemma of taking out candy-stripers.
Medical Lessons from Johnny and Chet in this episode: A fireman has 5% more carbon monoxide in his body than the average person. A survey he is reading states that for every two years a fireman is on active duty he absorbs one-half of 1% carbon monoxide in his system and it never goes away. Johnny’s been a firefighter for four years (mentioned earlier) and according to Chet he has 1% carbon monoxide in his system. Chet also mentions there are studies that prove carbon monoxide destroys a man’s sex drive.
Publicity Hound - Air Date: 11-Mar-1972
Johnny gets a little jealous over another paramedic who seems to garnering a lot of attention in the newspaper recently. The paramedics are called out to a boating accident aboard a schooner a couple miles from shore to rescue a severely injured man caught in the ship’s rigging. Dr. Brackett butts heads with the irate and wealthy/influential father of a patient. Johnny and Roy run into Tom Wheeler who is in the middle of photo shoot in the hospital cafeteria. Dr. Early gives a demonstration to some interns how to use an ultrasonoscope to perform an echoencephalogram. Johnny really gets into a salad-tossing snit when he’s informed that Wheeler honed in on their boat rescue by giving the seasick girl some water and aspirin. The girl’s father, the owner and publisher of a high-profile ladies’ magazine, decides to do a series of articles on Wheeler. While returning from a cancelled run, Johnny and Roy help a young woman whose horse is trapped in a trench. Much to Johnny’s chagrin, he's stuck with the back end of the horse and she has a boyfriend. Dr. Early solves Dr. Brackett’s problem with a little charm, diplomacy, and warmth. Wheeler strikes again while delivering a baby in the middle of the San Diego Freeway. The paramedics are called out to a construction site where a small child has fallen into a hole and is trapped. After digging a second hole and tunneling over, Johnny rescues the child who is apparently unhurt. Wheeler has shown up at the scene to ‘assist’ and is once again caught on camera handing the child over to her grateful mother. Johnny learns how unimportant the publicity really is when it comes to their job.
Character and Show Facts:
Johnny has a tendency to get seasick. During the rescue of the young child, Johnny’s clothing goes
from dirty, to filthy dirty, to just dirty. William Bryant is credited as Captain Curtis
in this episode. (Don't confuse the name William Bryant with William Boyett, like someone around here likes to do LOL!) Gary Crosby appears as the publicity hungry paramedic Tom Wheeler.
Weird Wednesday - Air Date: 18-Mar-1972
For some reason Johnny thinks that ‘today’ is going to be one of those days. The first rescue involves a horribly rude female parachutist who landed in a tree. A man suffers a heart attack while out jogging. A feisty 80-year-old woman lands in Rampart after breaking her ankle. It’s her birthday and she can dance if she wants to. Her geriatric friends decide to bring the celebration to her and pester the staff in their pursuit to locate her at the hospital. Dr. Brackett has a patient who cannot stop hiccuping. The paramedics get a call for a man trapped in a freezer. The
young man performing the home experiment in cryogenics was hoping to stay in
there until Christmas of 1992. A female golfer is bitten by a rattlesnake. Roy breaks the key to the squad off in the ignition. A gum-cracking prostitute brings in a ‘sailor’ she met and who speaks no English to Rampart who is experiencing difficulty breathing and suffering an apparent heart attack. An inebriated man drives his car into a ravine. Johnny twists his knee rappelling down the side to rescue the man and Roy has to go down after them both. Notable Guest Stars:
Bob Hastings (Capt. Burt Ramsey of General Hospital between 1979-1986) William Katt (Greatest American Hero) plays the son whose
father suffers a heart attack while jogging. Mom in polka dots clashes with her son's striped shorts and Brackett's striped pants.
Blue-Hairs Gone Wildat Rampart!
The adorable blue-hair, Mrs. Bernadine Spalding was curtailed into celebrating her
80th birthday at Rampart. Jeanette Nolan
(1911-1998), was only 61 at the time she starred in this episode. How a spirited little blue-hair connected to the movie “Psycho”
Norman Bate's mother was voiced by Paul Jasmin, Virginia Gregg (Nurse
Wilma Jacobs/Jack Webb regular) and Jeanette Nolan. Nolan provided some of the
screams when the corpse of Mrs. Bates is discovered. The three voices were
mixed together, except for the last speech is purely Gregg's voice. Jeanette Nolan was also the voice of Widow
Tweed in Disney’s “The Fox and The Hound” (1981).
In 1935 Jeannette Nolan married actor John McIntire, of the
1960s TV series Wagon Train. They remained married for fifty-six years until
his death in 1991.
John McIntire replaced the late Ward Bond in the popular television series Wagon Train, playing trailmaster Chris Hale in 1961. Emergency’s Robert Fuller joined the series in
1963 as scout Cooper Smith. (Six degrees
of Emergency going on here!)
Jeanette Nolan, John McIntyre with Henry Thomas in the movie 'Cloak and Dagger'
Dilemma - Air Date: 25-Mar-1972
The station is called out to an old hotel where a cardiac victim is trapped in an elevator. While at the scene the elevator plummets 3 ½ floors. Most of the other occupants suffer minor scrapes and bruises except one elder gentleman who suffered a broken leg from protecting his neighbor Annie (heart attack victim) from the fall. Student nurse Sharon Walters gets all scatterbrained and suffers from severe clumsiness whenever Dr. Brackett is in the vicinity. Dixie refers to it as the ‘Brackett Syndrome’ or ‘Brackettitis.’ Johnny tries to pawn off an admirer who he describes as a ‘Fireman Buff’ that seems to have an interest in him. Obviously, according to Johnny-logic, something is wrong with her if she’s chasing him (not the other way around) after he helped her change a flat tire. The paramedics are called out to a ‘junk’ yard where a recycling-type environmentalist who had a small explosion occur in his ‘little Garden of Eden.’ Seems pocket of methane gas built up underground from burying his garbage on his property and he accidentally set the gas on fire. The station is called out to a run at an industrial accident at a railroad yard. One worker has been exposed to trichloroethylene fumes and another is missing, presumably inside one of the tanks. Student nurse Sharon comes through with flying colors after a patient suffers complications from a pulmonary embolism due to a broken leg. Chet takes a shift off, but drops by the station to pick up the keys to Mike’s dune buggy with none other than ' Fireman Buff' Cynthia. Johnny agrees with Roy’s assessment that he is totally out of his mind. Character and Show Facts: Mike Stoker has a dune buggy.
About Nursing Caps: Those of us may remember nurses used to wear caps until the late 70s - early 80s. After noticing student nurses had no stripes on their cap and Dixie had two, while nurses like Nurse Bart had one, a little Googling was done on the topic. In this case, a student nurse doesn't get a stripe until she graduates (no stripe - student nurse). A single strip represents a staff nurse and two stripes a head nurse. The meaning or what the stripes represent is not consistent. In some cases, the color could be the color of the school the nurse attended. No definitive answer, but a variety of them are out there.
Many believe the black stripe on a head nurse’s cap was a sign of mourning for Florence Nightingale.
Notable Guest Stars: Benny Rubin (1899-1986) plays Sam Crank, the older man devoted to his kindly neighbor Annie. Veteran comedian/character actor had a career that spanned over 70 years. Autobiography ‘Come Backstage with Me’ published in 1980. Seymour Cassel plays Bluebell Hunter, the environmentalist who lives on the world’s largest compost heap. Mr. Cassel was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as the hippie swinger Chet in John Cassavetes' Faces. Marilyn Hassett who plays Cynthia also played Jill Kinmont (Olympic-hopeful skier who became a quadriplegic after striking a tree) in the movie ‘The Other Side of The Mountain’ and its sequel (1975 and 1978). Ms. Hassett suffered some severe injuries herself after getting stepped on by an elephant while filming a commercial in 1969 that left her bedridden for five months. She also appears uncredited as a nurse the episode ‘Dealer’s Wild' who dated Johnny a week earlier but refuses to talk to him each time they run into each other at Rampart.
Hang-Up - Air Date: 08-Apr-12
While in the middle of watching Adam-12 the station gets called out on a run where a burglar gets caught in an air duct. Apparently he spent some of his prior ‘earnings’ eating rather well until he ate himself out of his current profession. Johnny drives Roy and the rest of the station crazy with his obsession on how the interrupted Adam-12 episode ends. Two brawling bar fighters end up at Rampart and decide to continue their fight. An obnoxious man with a broken leg comes in demanding service. Turns out he broke his leg ten days ago and decided to go surfing, cast and all (*roll eyes* not too bright and rude to boot). A 'frequent flyer' comes in and it turns out this time she may be suffering from a berry aneurysm. The station is called out to an industrial fire involving radioactive materials. While rescuing a doctor trapped in the lab, Johnny gets a little too much exposure and earns a stay at Rampart, and his obsession with Adam-12 seems to have passed.
Character and Show Facts: Roy has a son named Chris.
Trivia: Marco Lopez and Ron Pinkard starred in the episode of Adam-12 (Ambush) Johnny got hung-up on. Marco played a Sherriff’s deputy and Ron played Officer Barrett, a police photographer. Johnny, Roy, and the Captain each have different face masks. John Smith is credited as playing Captain Hammer, but that’s not the name we see on the back of his turnout, which is Van Orden. John Smith also played Slim Sherman with Emergency’s Robert Fuller (Jess Harper) in the television series Laramie (1959-1963). John Smith’s real name is Robert Errol Van Orden.
Goofs: The scene where they get called out to the industrial fire involving radioactive materials; when the call comes in the lights come on in the dorm and then it shows the guys pulling on their turnout pants. Ladies, we were gypped those legs didn't belong to the men of Station 51. THAT was from the pilot movie and you’ll see a shot of the foot of a bed with a rail and the blanket on the bed is blue. The beds at Station 51 had no rails, plus the blankets on the beds at Station 51 are a dark-beige color. The men who are shown pulling up their turnout pants was part of the opening scene of the Wedsworth-Townsend Act. The other telling sign wall behind the men is the red brick found in the dorm at Station 51 is absent.
Crash - Air Date: 15-Apr-1972
The anxious parents of a teenage football player await the results of Dr. Brackett’s examination. Luckily, the young quarterback only suffers a concussion after being on the receiving end of hard tackle. Johnny and Roy are called out to a residence of an apparent heart attack victim. Turns out the heart attack victim and his ‘wife’ were a couple of thieves preparing to rob the house. Johnny is giving Roy the colder shoulder, but refuses to fill him in on what he may have said or done that upset him. Turns out the ‘deathly’ illness of the wife was a bad case of gas when Dr. Early treats a hypochondriac couple who are regulars at Rampart. A quick acting babysitter brings in the young boy she’s sitting who has apparently taken some Pentobarbital from the family medicine cabinet. Dixie handles the distraught babysitter wonderfully, telling her what she did right and assists in calling the child’s parents. Roy finds out that Johnny is upset because he called him a nut (Ummmm, Roy has directly questioned Johnny on his mental status a couple of times in Season 1 to his face and NOW he’s upset). The paramedics are called out to the Bald Mountain area for a downed aircraft and are joined by the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team and the paramedics from 110.
Character and Show Facts: Roy mentions he has two kids. Roy tells Johnny he’s a friendly kind of nut. Student Nurse Sharon Walters was a Pom-Pom girl at Washington Junior High. Chet and Johnny went on a double-date together.
Notable Guests Stars: Gary Crosby as paramedic Tom Wheeler (Publicity Hound).
Legendary actress Cicely Tyson stars as Joanne Johnson the mother of the injured quarterback. Most of us remember her from her title role in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman” playing a 110 former slave. She was nominated for a Leading Actress Oscar for the movie "Sounder" (1972 along with Diana Ross that year for “Lady Sings The Blues”).
Eric Laneuville stars as the injured teenage quarterback Tim. He had a supporting role in the movie “The Omega Man” under his belt before guest starring on Emergency! He had a regular starring role on the television series “Room 222” as Larry. He also played Luther Hawkins on the 80s medical series “St. Elsewhere” along with Jennifer Savage (Nurse Lucy Papandrao) who just happens to be married to Emergency’s Robert Fuller (the six degrees of Emergency again, or should I say six degrees of Dr. Brackett).
Jeff Donnell plays the part of Katie Anderson the female half of the hypochondriac couple. She may be recognized by many as the Quatermain housekeeper Stella Fields (1979 until her death in 1988). She also played Tony Curtis’ secretary in the movie “The Sweet Smell of Success” which also starred a young Martin Milner.
Ronne Troup plays the babysitter. Ronne is the daughter of Bobby Troup and stepdaughter of Julie London. She was also known for her role of Polly Williams Douglas on the television show “My Three Sons.”
Francine York is listed as Betty Remson in the credits (the female thief). One of her notable appearances is as man-hating female warrior alien Niolani in the Lost in Space episode "The Colonists" and as Lydia Limpet on a couple of episodes of "Batman."