The other Mantooth action figure

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Oddly, even though i named Brick Mantooth after Randy, I'm not the world's biggest fan of Emergency! The show and the toys do have a ravenous following to this day however.

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[cjefferys]

I have to admit that I watched the show every week when I was a kid (with my parents). I remember buying a Roy figure at Zellers and while I was unimpressed with the inferior Mego-like body, I thought it was cool that his outfit had a real zipper. I didn't know that a firetruck was a part of the line until years later, otherwise I'm sure I would have been harassing my parents for it.

[MIB41]

Love the old LJN lines. I have both versions of the Emergency figures and they share space with my SWAT guys in their headquarters. Tough economy out there.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

Emergency is one of those shows that have a good place in my heart.

[samurainoir]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LJN-Emergency-John-8-Action-Figure-Mego-/251094185396?pt=US_Action_Figures&hash=item3a766135b4

12" custom head!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Randolph-Mantooth-fr-Emergency-1-6-Body-Action-Figure-/270756248389?pt=US_Action_Figures&hash=item3f0a547b45

[ScottA]

At some point I'll go after these, Rookies and SWAT.

[JediJaida]

Too bad it didn't really look like him.

[turnbolt]

I have always loved these. Still need to get the variants.

[HardyGirl]

I loved Emergency and still love it. I didn't have the figures, but I did buy a naked AJ who came w/ a standard dark blue jumpsuit and the outfit from Emergency, that I put on my then naked Superman, and they were a team for awhile.

[EmergencyIan]

Of course, I love "Emergency!" However, I was born in 1974 and wasn't aware of the figures, the Squad 51 vehicle, accessory set and play-set until the early 1990's when I discovered them in Toy Shop magazine. If I would have been aware of them when I was a little boy, I would have been crazy about them. I did, however, have the "Emergency!" Placo play-set which included a helmet, bullhorn, badge and SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) a.k.a. mask and tank. Those along with the Fisher Price medical kit had me playing "Emegency!" most afternoons with Raggedy Andy as the victim.

By the way, I just so happened to watch two episodes of "Emergency!" last night, on DVD. I still love it (as if that doesn't go without saying).

- Ian

[ddgaff1132]

Funny thing about Emergency. As a kid, I thought they were real! Maybe it was the acting. But I thought it was filmed in a real fire station and the calls were staged. Like some public service thing. The way it was filmed and the awkward acting of some of the cast just seemed to be like a documentary film rather than a TV show.

[EmergencyIan]

Funny thing about Emergency. As a kid, I thought they were real! Maybe it was the acting. But I thought it was filmed in a real fire station and the calls were staged. Like some public service thing. The way it was filmed and the awkward acting of some of the cast just seemed to be like a documentary film rather than a TV show.

You're right. In many of the scenes, when it gets to the point that they're "packaging-up" the victim, their line, to me, always seemed ad libbed. Whether or not they were, I have no idea.

At one point in Los Angeles County, California (the Los Angeles County Fire Department is where Emergency's Firefighter/Paramedics were based), officials were making some sort of announcements to kids that Johnny Gage and Roy De Soto were not real paramedics. At the time, the County Fire department was responding to a lot of false alarm calls for paramedics with kids thinking the Johnny and Roy were about to show up. If I'm not mistaken, I believe Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe were enlisted to help.

Mantooth and Tighe did some public service films during the years that they were filming "Emergency!" Additionally, in the early 1970s, some municipalities, used segments from "Emergency!" episodes to help train their "own real-life" paramedic students to become paramedics. When "Emergency!" came on the air, most people in the United States did not know what a paramedic was. When "Emergency!" came on the air in 1972 there were only 3 active paramedic programs in the United States. By 1977, there were 400 active paramedic programs in the United States, largely due to the exposure of paramedics by "Emergency!" By the way, Universal with Mark VII Productions had Jack Webb narrate a short film describing the Los Angeles County Fire Departments paramedic program which starred Mantooth and Tighe. I have that on VHS.

- Ian