squad 51

Jack Webb followed his successful Dragnet with Adam-12 and then to Emergency!.  Like the two previous shows, Emergency! focused on the lives of two civil servants, going day to day doing their job.  Unlike Webb's previous productions, Emergency focused on the lives of two paramedics, John Gage and Roy DeSoto, rather than law enforcement officers. 

I've watched all the Dragnet shows and the characters are stoic and the scripts dry and often preachy.  Even Harry Morgan's Bill Gannon's comic lines were dry and added minimal warmth to the show.  Dragnet begat Adam-12 which was a little warmer, but still a little dry and impersonal.

Emergency! came along and there was more warmth to the show.  Sure there was all the professional tech jargon and proper procedure being exhibited that Mark VII Limited productions had become known for, but the characters of Emergency were warmer and more identifiable.  As the show progressed, the viewer got to enjoy the interaction, the community of people working together at both the Rampart General  and at L.A. Fire Station 51.  This community ~ the relationships were something new for Webb to show the audience. 

I enjoyed revisiting Emergency! this past month these three decades later.  As a youth I'd  watch the show for the rescues, but found myself enjoying it for the relationships portrayed within the story.  Should I dare relate the kind of community portrayed in this show likened those memorable characters in the old John Ford movies?  I think I'll pay the show that great compliment.  Watching Emergency! again, I really wasn't pulled in by the death defying rescues, but rather enjoyed the show for a different reason. 

The show, like all other Mark VII Limited dramas were formulaic, and limited in realism.  I do believe that Jack Webb was probably the first to try to bring a type of reality television to American audiences.  Funny thing is, as much as I enjoyed Emergency!, I couldn't remember any of the episodes from my youth.  This isn't so with Dragnet.  As dry and stoic Dragnet is, I easily remembered most of episodes some four decades later. 

I remember very little about Adam-12.  I am trying to watch them, but they are not as interesting to watch as Dragnet or Emergency!.   I don't know why, I can't just seem to get into it like I did the prior and latter.  What I have noticed is that Adam-12 is the series between the two, a little warmer than Dragnet yet not nearly as warm as Emergency!.  I remember thinking when I was a kid that Webb's casting for the Emergency paramedic duo reminded me too much of the casting for the Adam-12 patrolmen duo.  At first glimpse the Adam-12 duo Pete Malloy and Jim Reed seemed almost identical to Emergency's paramedics Roy DeSoto and John Gage.  Was it just me that thought that? 

There was a cookie cutter means in which all of Jack Webb's productions were made.  They were all shot quickly and in like fashion.  I thought it humorous that Emergency! partners seemed to be clones of Adam-12's partners.  But as Emergency! developed, Roy DeSoto and John Gage took on their own identity and unique relationship.  I read where both actors, Kevin Tighe and Randolph Mantooth, in real life became life long friends from their working together for seven years together as DeSoto and Gage.

Before Emergency! I'd never heard of a paramedic or an EMT.  The show spawned national interest in the idea, rescue squads started popping up all over the place thanks to that particular show.  Another thing I liked about the show is that several of the firemen on Emergency! were actually firemen.  These moonlighters turned out to be pretty good actors.  I really didn't know if I was going to enjoy the show like I had when I was a teenager.  It took me a while to actually get around to watching Season 1, Episode 1 on Netflix.  Once I started I didn't stop.  It was fun revisiting the Emergency!

more than 86

Don Adams was a comedian who started his career doing stand-up.  He's most known for his roll as Agent 86, Maxwell Smart on Mel Brook's and Buck Henry's Get Smart. Don was a funny guy who experienced a great deal of success with his bumbling wry-voiced secret agent character, but ended up being tied to it for life.  After the show he continued to work doing stand-up, voice over, and guests appearances on television shows.  He wanted to move on to dramatic rolls but he was stuck with Smart.  I know Adams would've done great with other type rolls as other comedians have since.  Nevertheless, Don had a successful career and has a place in television history as well as our collective memories.

Here's some more about Don Adams to add to your memories. I had read a while back that Don Adams was once a United States Marine Drill Instructor. Would you believe that he saw combat on Gualdalcanal and was the lone survivor of his entire platoon?  He nearly died after contracting blackwater fever and was hospitalized for over a year.
 
It wasn't until after his ordeals that he became a Marine Corps DI.  It's hard to picture this funny fellow serving in such a serious roll in life.  It would've been interesting to know how his sense of humor played a part in his wartime experience.  I know his story is larger than he ever let on.  Don is like countless other men who volunteered to serve and sacrifice ~ who return to civilian life to pursue their happiness without saying much about their experience.

Don Adams was definitely more than Maxwell Smart.


 
 

Jack Webb Gone Wild

Jack Webb had two successful spin-offs with Dragnet; Adam-12 and Emergency!.  In 2005, during the fourth season (episode 22) of Emergency!, Jack tried to launch a new spin-off that he directed himself.  905 WILD was very much like Emergency!.  It featured an LA Animal Bureau Control officers instead.  Like all Webb productions - it was going to have the same format as his previous productions.  It's the worst episode of Emergency! and I don't know what in the world was on Jack's mind to even think that a show would go anywhere but to the birds.

Seeing this episode last night, I immediately recognized a very young Mark Hamill.  He's kind of goofy looking.  The other Animal Control officer was played by Albert Popwell.  This wasn't his best work, nor was it any other actor on this pilot.  Popwell played in all but one of Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies.  David Huddleston plays an animal doctor in this show.  He's a character actor I've seen countless times on both small and large screen.  Huddleston played supporting roles in Rio Lobo, Blazing Saddles, The Big Lebowski and on and one.  He's also been in a plethora of television shows throughout the decades.  Gary Crosby (Bing's son) also had a part in this show that just wasn't to be.  Gary had just finished a regular part on Adam-12.   Even though 905 WILD had a good cast - the acting was mediocre.  It was doomed from the start.  Not to worry, all of these show's cast members went on to bigger and better things...well...all of them except Bing's boy.

You can watch this episode on Hulu that I've linked here.  I'll warn you that this is a terrible episode.  The part where the a dying baby goat was taken to Rampart Hospital is just too silly and sappy for my liking.  As cute as it is, my heart won't bleat over an unconcious baby goat.  Sorry Jack - this show was dead on arrival.

flexible flyer

My children have missed out on sledding.  They have no idea as to what it's like to fly down a steep snowy hill, negotiating the turns, avoiding the trees, the ditches, those bare spots, feeling the chill and the thrill on a sled.  I'm sure Katie and Kelsey have seen pictures in storybooks, but doubtfully seen the real thing. 

I know they've never sanded and waxed the runners; sandpaper or steel wool, an old candle or a bar of soap. They've never chosen the perfect place to start.  They've never mounted atop a genuine sled, push off with their toes and slide quickly forward - no brakes.  They've never had to stop by pulling hard to one direction and rolling into a snowy awkward end and laughing and laughing at the foot of the hill.  I hope they get a chance while in their youth. I hope they get a chance at such a memory.
 
I still have mine.

made by Marx

The original Stony Smith by Marx

 Marx Toys made those little green army men we used to play with as kids.  When Hasbro introduced G.I. Joe in February of 1964, Marx saw the need to get in on the act. They introduced a big green army man called Stony Smith.  Now Stony wasn't the man of action that G.I. Joe was because the early design of Stony didn't have as many articulating body parts as Joe.  The legs were as stiff as a little green army man.  The elbows could articulate, the head could swivel and the hands could grasp guns and grenades.

I got a later version of Stony in which the legs could move, but could not bend at the knee.  Marx Toys just didn't know how to compete with Hasbro's hero that had nineteen pivotal contact points.  Marx kept coming up a minute late and a dollar short.  The idea behind an action figure is so the figure can pose in various positions.  Marx simply could not compete with Hasbro's soldier because of their product's limited moveable parts.

The idea behind G.I. Joe was to sell a product to accessorize with more gear and vehicles.  Stoney came with the green fatigues he was molded with as well as a lot of really cool gear.  All his equipment was as green as Stony's plastic flesh.  Joe's gear came painted for realism, but you had to buy Joe's gear separately. 

The more articulate Buddy Charlie by Marx

Marx tried to make various improvements to make their action figure more articulate, but in the meantime, Hasbro established their product as THE action figure to buy.  Marx finally came out with a more moveable action figure with a flesh color body that a kid could dress as he pleased, they called him Buddy Charlie. 

It was too late for Marx to compete with G.I. Joe.  They eventually took the Stony Smith head and stuck it on a brown cowboy body and called him Johnny West.  They did pretty good with the Western action figures. They stuck to their idea of stuffing lots of stuff in the box that came with their figures.  I had a Stony Smith, Johnny West, Captain Maddox and a Custard.  Of course I didn't play Cowboys and Indians with The Best of the West characters.  I put fatigues on them, handed them an M-I and made them fight Nazis.

Rat Patrol television characters by Marx

Besides all the extra gear that came with Stony Smith, there was another feature that I appreciated about the Marx figures.  Aside from Stony and Johnny sharing the same head sculpt, all the rest of the Marx figures had different faces.  G.I. Joe had the same facial features with different colored hair.  Marx also started marketing action figures associated with popular television shows such as The Rat Patrol, Man from Uncle, Lone Ranger and others.  Marx found their niche after trying to compete with Hasbro and losing.

Personally, I liked Stony Smith.  He was one of my favorite guys.  Even when his legs fell off, I found a way to keep him in the story by making him Captain- issuing his orders from his sleeping bag.  At one point I tried to tie his legs back on, but never got them tight enough to where he could get back on his green feet and back into action.