September 29, 2025 • 40 mins
As I dust off the mic and line up new guests for the long-awaited reboot of Medic2Medic, I thought it’d be fun to share a little “blast from the past” to get us warmed up.
This bonus episode features Randolph Mantooth—yes, that Randolph Mantooth—who continues to hold the crown as my most-listened-to guest of all time. This conversation was Episode 30, back in the days when the podcast had no theme music, and I had plenty of nerves (you’ll probably hear them sneaking through). Spoiler: Randy carried me through like the pro he is.
Enjoy this classic episode while we get ready for fresh stories, new voices, and the next chapter of Medic2Medic. The nerves may be gone now… but sadly, the theme music still isn’t here.
Medic2Medic is back, bringing authentic voices, untold stories, and the human side of Emergency Medical Services and beyond.
This bonus episode features Randolph Mantooth—yes, that Randolph Mantooth—who continues to hold the crown as my most-listened-to guest of all time. This conversation was Episode 30, back in the days when the podcast had no theme music, and I had plenty of nerves (you’ll probably hear them sneaking through). Spoiler: Randy carried me through like the pro he is.
Enjoy this classic episode while we get ready for fresh stories, new voices, and the next chapter of Medic2Medic. The nerves may be gone now… but sadly, the theme music still isn’t here.
Medic2Medic is back, bringing authentic voices, untold stories, and the human side of Emergency Medical Services and beyond.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Medic. The medic podcast, the weekly podcast for
MS providers, leaders, medical directors, and others involved in emergency
medical services. Usually go with a very long opening, but
today I am so honored and lucky to have Randolph Mantooth.
That's right, the one and only Randolph Mantooth from the
show Emergency. Before we get to my guest, let me
(00:23):
just tell you a quick story. Those people that have
been listening to my podcasts from the beginning know that
I've talked to a bunch of people on this podcast
that have influenced my career and impacted my career. The
show Emergency, and both Randolf Mantooth as well as Kevin
Tye really influenced my career. How you might ask, is
(00:43):
that when my dad had a heart attack and I
was a freshman in college. I was having too much
fun in college. But my dad had a heart attack,
his orderly in the emergency room was an EMT and
he says to my he says to the orderly, Hey,
my son's kind of a not sure what he's doing,
but he really loved the show Emergency and he knew
(01:04):
he was an EMT. One thing that to another, and
here I am today is speaking to one of the
most influential person who impacted my career. So, mister Mantooth,
welcome to Medical Medical Podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Thank you. I appreciate you having me on as well.
Thank you, I very very much appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Most of our ems community knows you as Johnny Gage.
Did you always want to be in the acting business'
Was there a point you said you wanted to be
something else? What was your inspiration to be an actor?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
You know, I never really was one of those guys
that made that decision, Hey I want to be an actor.
I was just always acting in high school and plays
and what have you, and and I never made a
decision to do it. I would always just be It's
like when you go to war, you know, you have
fighting so much for your country as you're fighting for
(01:59):
your buddies. Well, when I was doing acting, I was
just wanting to hang around my friends. So wherever they went,
that's what I wanted to do. And so they you know,
from high school, I went to college and followed my friends.
They said, hey, you know Centta Roberts City College has
great has a great theater program. Oh great, you know,
(02:20):
I'll go with you. Then we went to New York
to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and you know,
I just followed my friends and then finally somebody when
I was in New York, after they saw me to play,
offered me a contract at Universal Studios, and so I said, oh, okay, sure.
So I never really made a decision, Hey, I'm going
(02:40):
to be an actor. It just it just happened.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Well, you had a very successful career. You were on
numerous shows before you hit emergency. You know, you were
on Adam twelve. I think you were on McCloud. You
also Marcus Welby, and I think you were on some
kind of western was it the Virginia?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Was that correct? Yeah, yeah, quite quite a few of them, actually, yeah,
but they were all too small roles, and just you know,
I was kind of getting prepped. I was. I was
barely twenty years old at the time when I when
I signed my contract at Universal, within nine months I
(03:19):
was doing a television series. So and I didn't realize
just how struck by lightning, you know, that was to me.
It was just a natural progression of things. So I
never really kind of was overjoyed that I got a
series I frankly didn't think the series was going to
last very long. And I was just taken, you know,
(03:40):
taken each day, well one day at a time. You know,
to me, it was just another job until it wasn't
another job.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Can you tell us about your first audition for one
of those shows and what was it like for you
For Emergency?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I never auditioned for Emergencies. I was just picked because
I was in the contract, so I was cheap labor.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
But they liked they liked what I did. They liked
this thing that I did, a show called The Bold
Ones I think with it was actually it was a
scene with Hal Hubrit that got me the job on Emergency.
I never knew it until I never knew that the
executive producer and the creator of the show was watching
(04:24):
at a at a screening and he sat up and said,
that's my Johnny Gage and uh, and then the rest
was history. You know, when you audition, you just go
in like everybody else, and you do your best, and
you lose way more than you ever get and uh.
And I'm always I was always surprised that I didn't
(04:46):
get the ones that I really wanted, and always got
the ones I didn't really want who hoped you.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Learn about the show the show business in general, which
is a mentor who took you under your under their wing.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
No, no, you're on your own. Okay, there's no Yeah,
there's no no mentor. I mean, you know, you'll always
get advice from from certain people, like I know, I
got advice from Hal Holbrook. I got advice you know,
as a kid from Uh. One of the guys that
I really liked a lot was burroal Lives. You know
(05:19):
because as a kid, I used to I think he's
sang the Rudolph red Nose Reindeer song and I was
like so impressed. I was, I was working with Burrol Lives.
Now people don't even know who the hell hat is,
but you know, and he gave me great, you know advice. Uh,
and you pick up advice along the way. But yeah, no,
(05:40):
nobody nobody's putting the you know you under their wing
and showing you the ropes. That's just not the way
this business is. It is it is. If you're you know,
a paramedic or an EMT or a firefighter or something
like that, Yeah, that that that's pretty common, but not
an acting an acting you're on your own you uh,
(06:01):
because half the time you're competing for that other person's job,
so they're not really going to give you a leg up.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
All right, now, enough about your early career in acting,
Let's get to you know, Emergency. Why do you think
the show was embraced and received as well as it
was and it still is today.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Well, it was a real mystery to me for a
long time. So why after all these years Emergency still
stands out as the as the hallmark of firefighter paramedic programming.
Uh There's been a lot of shows about firefighters, a
lot of shows about about paramedics and uh uh and they,
(06:43):
you know, they don't last very long. And I and
I've often thought about that. I thought, now, what was
it that Bob Senator who was our executive producer and
creator of the show. A lot of people think that
Jack Web created it. He didn't. He owned the show
and and and certainly you know, it couldn't have been
done without him because he was the powerhouse behind it.
(07:04):
But he didn't create the show, and he didn't write
the show, and he didn't exect produce it either. This
was one guy, Bob Senator. Bob's kind of been kind
of lost in the in the history of this whole thing.
But it is my duty to make sure that everybody realized,
you know, that the credit is given to the man
(07:25):
that is due that credit. But I finally finally realized
that it's the only show of its kind that never
turned it into a soap opera. You know, no, they
never went home with Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto. You
never saw Johnny Gage's family or Roy Desta's family. You know,
(07:46):
there was no drama at home where you know, Johnny
Gage's dad was drunk and was beating his mom. You know,
it's like that, you know, who cares. It was about
the job. It was always about the job and how
and how it was carried out, and and and uh
(08:09):
and the type of person it takes to be a firefighter,
to be a paramedic, in my opinion, you know, paramedics,
if you're an e MT, that that that's incredible, you know,
But to be a paramedic, that's that's almost godlike. But
to be a firefighter paramedic, that's a whole another thing.
(08:30):
To me. That's that's just the upper echelon I come
from from, from the tradition that in La County. I
was raised upon this tradition that you can't be a
firefighter unless you're a paramedic, and you can't be a
paramedic unless you're a firefighter. And uh, and so when
I hear of the divisions between firefighters and paramedics nowadays,
(08:55):
it's it's it baffles me, it uses me because it's
also started out as as a firefighter paramedic and there
was there was never any real division there. Now, Uh,
there's there's a lot of division there. Firefighters for whatever
reason don't want anything to do with paramedics, and paramedics
(09:16):
don't want anything to do with firefighters. And I find
that really sad and and and I'm sort of amused
by it. I wish it wasn't that way, because in
my opinion, you are truly, truly uh a hero if
if you're a firefighter and a paramedic and an e MT.
I don't want to slight them, slight the e mts
(09:40):
l S or b ls, uh, you know, but I
hopefully that all al all b ls you know, ultimately
one day wants you know, won't want to graduate to
be an a l S. But I think that that's
what made the show as remarkable as it is and
still to this day, people still use the show sort
(10:05):
of as training films. Well, how many shows that are
out there about firefighters and have been for the past
forty years, and yet still Emergency Stands stands up to
history and it really seems to be the benchmark for
all firefighter shows. And I really believe it's because we
(10:25):
didn't make anything up. Every rescue was taken out of
a log book. It was changed and you know, to
adapt to the screen, and it changed like some of
the rescues were happening in Florida and they had to
change it to make sure it look like it was
from California and what have you that they could change.
But they didn't make anything up, and it wasn't It
(10:46):
wasn't a soap opera. Nobody cared about whether you were
getting a divorce or you're separated from your wife, you know.
And if it was ever talked about, it is mentioned
in Passing, but they never had full episodes about it.
And I think what makes the show so popular even
today is the fact that it was about the job.
(11:07):
It was really one of the very first procedural shows
on television.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I want to just touch base on the training film
comment that you made. Here at care are Ms, we
do a citizens Academy every year and it's one of
the programs that we created here and it's for the
public command to learn about emergency medical services. And I
always have the first lecture, and the first lecture starts
with a scene from Emergency Cardiac Arrest Management. It's from
(11:37):
you tour respond to a call and it was a
cardiac arrests where the couple was robbing the house and
how well you manage that cardiac arrest. I say to
our students that today, this is how we still manage
cardiac arrests. So way back when in the early seventies,
we continue to do that same type of procedures today.
So we thank you. And I love playing that clip
(11:59):
every year and we run that PROGRAMMA.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I think I remember that that was the very first year. Yeah,
you know, it's it's kind of funny even after forty years.
You know, the technology of of of you know, the
life saving equipment that we use is just you know,
grown exponentially and and uh but but protocols. You know,
(12:23):
it's funny how things really change, but things kind of
stay the same. And and that's a real testimate to
Bob Senator, Bob Senators that I want this show to
be as real as we can get away with, as
real uh and as authentic as as we can do.
And and that's why we always had a real paramedic
(12:45):
uh off duty for that week as a technical advisor
on the show. Every week he was sitting right next
to the director and he was told to, you know,
if if we did anything that will you know that
that wasn't in the protocols of of La County now, uh,
(13:05):
because even the other fire departments had different protocols. But
they said, if La County doesn't do it, you're to
whisper in the directors here, that's not the way we
we would do it. Don't you say, don't you you know,
uh cut the film or anything. You just whispered that's
not the way we would do it. And if he
doesn't change it, uh, then he'll be fired and we'll
(13:29):
get another director. They said, but you just quietly say
you know that. And so we would. Technically, we had
to be very very correct, and very little got past
these guys. And and every week they would draw straws
to see which paramedics got to got to be the
PA on the show for uh for for that week.
(13:51):
It was so so there was a lot of in
the first few years of the show. There's a lot
of scrutiny because Bob warrided, is is realistic as we
could do?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
You kind of touch a little bit on this. I
don't know if you can expand what do you think?
The characters have such an impact, you know, with the
public as well as you know, it spawned a lot
of us at my age into this career.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Well, like I said, you know, you instinctively know what
is real and what is it like if you're watching
some of these other shows, they do things that you know,
the writer, the writer always thinks that that that you know,
a Hollywood writer always thinks that he can do it better,
say it better, show it better, tell it better. And
(14:35):
you know, and our writers were no different. They were
they were frustrated when when Bob said, you know, all
these rescues have to come from out of the logbook
and you have to prove to me that came out
of the log book, and they were, you know, screaming
up and down. You know, my god, you're tying our
hands you know where we can't be creative this way,
(14:56):
blah blah blah. And after a couple of years that
writers were going, my god, we couldn't make this stuff up.
All they did was just follow the real you know,
they changed it, of course, but they just followed, you know,
the real events. And all we did was mirror that event.
It's very much like like Shakespeare when they said, you know,
(15:17):
hold a mirror up to thyself and and you can't
go wrong. And that's all we did. We just held
a mirror up to what La County really did.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
When did you know the show was a hit.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I think we were about four or five years into
the show before we realized. You know, after the first year,
we were like, man, this isn't going to go anywhere,
and so we were telling our agents, you know, you
look for another job because we don't think this is
going to be around for very long. And after about
the second year, we thought, well, this is longer than
we thought it was going to be. Then about the
(15:50):
third and fourth year we thought, well, okay, this is
getting pretty popular. See you also have to understand at
the time, we know we were all that big of
a hit. We were getting a lot of fan mail.
We knew that, but we didn't think we were all
that big of a hit because we never won our hour.
(16:10):
We were against All in the Family, and All in
the Family was the winner of that hour every year.
So you know, if you're not the winner of your hour,
it's hard for you to think that you got a
big hit on your hands. But we were. We were
solid second for seven years.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Can you tell me when you first realize or somebody
recognized you as Johnny Gage.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Oh, that happened right away, Yeah, that happened. You'd be
amazed at how many people watch television. You know what,
what one day, you're walking down the street and absolutely
nobody's looking at you, and you can go into the
you can go into the grocery store and you know,
and not be bothered. But you know, all you have
to do is be on television just once or twice
(16:56):
or three times, and there's a lot of very observant
people out there, and all of a sudden, you know,
you can't go into the And also it's very popular
with the kids. You know, adults were watching All in
the Family, but the kids were watching Emergency and I
you know when I was when we were shooting the show.
Kevin and I we we couldn't go into the supermarket
(17:17):
because the kids had follow us down the aisle going, oh, look,
John E. Gauge is buying mayonnaise, you know, And so
we kind of got run out of the run out
of the supermarkets. But we could go to the bars.
People are our own age didn't know who the hell
we were, and so we, you know, we could sit
at the bar and talk and be normal people like
everybody else. And then once it went into reruns, all
(17:40):
the kids grew up, we could go back into the supermarkets.
But now we can't go into the bars because everybody's
grown up and they all know who we are. Now.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
You mentioned Kevin. You know, partners are so important in
our business. The relationship with you and Kevin on the
show was just so dead on.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Can you tell our.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Listeners about when you met Kevin for the first time
and how you relationship was formed and how often do
you talk to him now and see him.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I just I just talked to him yesterday the day
before yesterday. He's in New York. He's in New York
shooting Law and Order. He said he wanted to go
down to WTC down to the World Trade Center and
I said, I said, hey, I said, let me I
ask some New York firefighters who can get you in?
(18:25):
And uh, I guess, I guess he was shooting your
SOHO and he was. He was texting the pictures of
Soho the fire museum and SOHO. And I was like
blown away. And I said, soho as a fire museum.
I never knew this, and and and he said, yeah,
he says, tomorrow, I'd like to go down to WTC.
(18:45):
So I, you know, called two or three my firefighter friends,
firefighter pair of bag friends, and said, hey, would you
guys be interested in taking Kevin down to the WTC.
He's not shooting in the morning. And uh, they picked
him up in the rig, you know, they have a
brand new rig, picked him up down there and got
(19:06):
him in. They wouldn't go in because the WT seem,
you know, it's it's very uncomfortable for firefighters to uh
go in there, so they wouldn't go in. But they
were like more than happy to get him to get
him in there. And Kevin wanted to take the guided
tour or yeah, they would go on the tour. And
he said after two hours he said, it was so emotional.
(19:28):
I couldn't do it, he said. I decided I'd go
by myself, he said, but it was just too emotional
to go on the tour. But uh, yeah, So I
just talked to him yesterday. Uh. He's my best friend.
He's my best man or one of my best men
at my wedding, and we we've we've remained closed. I mean,
(19:52):
if it weren't for the show, I don't I don't
think Kevin and I would have ever really been friends
because we're so different, and we're so you know, interested
in such totally different things. But he was the same way.
He hadn't really worked a lot before before emergency. I
think he did about the same amount that I did. Uh.
You know, he's a couple of years older than I am.
(20:14):
And and uh so, but he wasn't the kind of
guy that I I would normally pick his as my friend,
you know. But the fact that we were at work
every day for seven years, uh, you know, from from
sun up till sundown for seven years, we we it
was a it was a you know, it was a
(20:36):
bond that that was that was forged you know in
hard work. And uh and and and also having a
lot of fun. But it was it was physically a
really hard work show to do. But but we forged
that bond, and uh, that bond has survived for forty
(20:57):
years now.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Oh, I appreciate the comments about your relationship with Kevin. So,
as you just mentioned, the show was hard and difficult
to shoot at times with all the technical rescue and
the technical medical jargon. Were you able to do your
own stunts and what did the studio think about that
if you wanted to do your own stunts?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Was I ever able to do If you see our face,
we're doing the stunt. If you see if you see
my butt from a quarter of a mile away, I
guarantee you that's my stuntman, because I said to them,
I'm not going to rest my neck unless you can
see my face. If you can't see my face, I'm
(21:40):
not getting up there. And so so that's why when
you see the stunts, you'll see that it is us.
And they sort of they sort of did, they sort
of tricked us into it. It was very very cagey,
very sly the way they did it. They operated. And see,
you were in the early twenties, right, So if you
tell a twenty year old that he can't do something
(22:02):
because he you know, physically, you just can't do that.
Well that that kid's going to go, what what are
you talking about? I can do anything anybody can do.
Oh yeah, we'll prove it. And then they just rolled it.
And so, you know, it's kind of funny because Kevin
was hated heights, and heights never bothered me. I love
being up there. I hated water. Water. Water was was
(22:26):
Kevin's second home. And so whenever I was in the water,
whenever Kevin was up high with me, I was always
messing with him and always, you know, I think he
would rather shoot me than than than finish the day's
work because I was always screwing around with him. But
when we got in the water, you know, everything changed.
He then started screwing around with me in the water,
(22:48):
and then I was not comfortable in that water at all.
So it was it was a give and take, but
I think both of us and then after a while
Bob realized that at what where our talents were. And
it's just like anybody else. You know, if you're a firefighter,
you're metic. You have strong points and you have wik points,
(23:09):
and you depend on your partner to pick up the
slack where you lack, and it was the same thing.
After a while, they realized that Kevin didn't necessarily like
being up high, and I didn't necessarily like being in
the water. So after a while they got to where
you'll see Kevin in the water and me a high.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Can you give us a sense of what it was
like to be on the set on a typical day
of shooting. I think our listeners would really like to
hear some behind the scenes stories and how things were
set up and and the other part of that. Did
you guys play practical jokes on each other?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Yeah, you know, nothing really stands out. I mean, a
set is a set. It's like you know everybody once,
you know, while when you first arrive on the scene,
what's that like? You know, it's harder to be kind
of describe it to somebody that's never been on the
set before. It's it's a it's a working set. Everybody's busy,
(24:08):
everybody's working. Uh, there's a there's a lotted steak. You
got to get it right. You can only you can
only screw things you know so many times, and then
you cost the company money. So when when we're all together,
like when the whole crew is there, that's a little
(24:28):
bit more more of a kind of a camaraderie thing,
like when the Captain Stanley is is there and and
uh Tim Donnelly who played Chet, and Marco Lopez and
Mike Still when we're all there, you know, well, we're
all professional, but we do mess around. We do joke around.
I can't remember all the things we did, but uh,
(24:51):
but but this that was pretty lively. The crew was
was great. We loved the crew. Got along very well
with the crew. They were part of our families and
the course, you know, for seven years as they're part
of your family. And then when the show is over,
it's like everybody goes to other shows, other things, and
and uh there's a huge impiness there that it's really
(25:14):
hard to fill after a while.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
What was your first impression, I know how you felt
about the creator. Do you have a chance to interact
with Jim Page at all?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Oh? Yeah, Jim, Jim was Jim is instrumental. He was
our technical consultant. Uh and and he actually had control
over the technical advisors that that came on the show
once a week and and uh so when Jim Page
got on the set, Uh, the technical advisors, man, they
(25:42):
would all uh, they'd all stand a little bit taller
because the boss was there. But Jim Page was instrumental
in in that, very instrumental in making sure that that
show uh was authentic and uh and and that nothing
ever besmirched the reputation of the firefighter paramedic. And so
(26:06):
so Jim was Jim Jim. And after five years when
Jim left because he said, you know, you don't need
me anymore. You guys are on automatic pilot now. You
guys know this better than than most of the tas
that are coming in the show. And so he said,
I just hate being around where I'm not needed. So
(26:28):
he took off and he he started the paramedic program
for North Carolina, and then from and then from North
Carolina he went to New Jersey, and then from New
Jersey went up to Buffalo and started their paramedic program.
And so we we missed him a lot when he
was finally gone. I mean there were times because he
(26:50):
was always, always always on me about my hair. He
wanted me to cut my hair so bad, and so
every time Jim was on the set, I'd run high,
you know, because I said, oh god, he's going to
get on to me about my hair again, you know,
so I try to make myself scarce. But having said that,
and I would always say, you know, the only reason
why you're on me about my hairs that you have none.
(27:13):
And of course there was always that joke going on,
but I just love At first he was like a
Dutch uncle. I was afraid of it, you know, But
then after a while I realized, Man, the show is
good because Bob Senator has made him our executive producer
or our executive consultant. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I think did he penned some episodes to or get
some credit.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yeah, he didn't pin him on his name because he
wrote it during a strike. He scabbed it. But he
wrote probably one of the most popular ones that we've
ever done, and that was the snake bite. That was
his Oh really, yeah, snake bit.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
You're on the back of the fire trucks starting.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Your IV, right, yeah, starting my own IV. Which I
told him that, you know, I said, I thought we
were supposed to keep this realistic, and he said it is.
I said, I can't give myself an IVA. That's television prap,
And he said, no, it's not. And I said, you
can't give yourself an IV and he said, he said,
(28:17):
have you ever seen a drug dealer? I went, oh, oh, okay,
all right, I get it. I get it. So, uh, yeah,
he turned out to be a pretty remarkable individual. I agree.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I had the opportunity to meet and talk to him
numerous times during my career. He's been mentioned numerous times
on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah, he's really the he's really the father of firefighter paramedics.
He truly is. Uh, he deserves every credit that has
ever been given to him. He you know, he he
not only helped start the army program in North Carolina
and New Jersey and Buffalo. You know, then he became
(29:05):
a lawyer and opened up his own lawyer law firm
that that only dealt with litigation with firefighters and paramedics.
It was actually, if I'm not mistaken, then I could be,
but but I don't think I am. He was. He
was one of the very few actual law firms that
actually dealt with litigation for firefighters and paramedics. And sadly,
(29:29):
as time went on, that that sort of service was
needed more and more. But but then after after he
did that, then he kind of retired from that, turned
that over to his partners. He then started a magazine
called GEMS Journal of Emergency Medicine. And we all know
what that. You know, Jim was a lazy bastard, sat around,
(29:51):
did nothing, didn't.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Do anything for the profession at all. He just Yeah,
you've been an advocate for the investing fire and you've
been awarded for are your extraordinary efforts. What are your
thoughts on EMS today and the future of both EMS
and firefighting.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Well, I've seen a lot of changes, but like I said,
everything changes, you know, things change, but things always stay
the same. But the one thing that I'm seeing more
and more when I write out and I still write
out with La County and when I'm speaking, you know,
every now and then they'll get a call and they'll say, hey,
you want to go because everybody wants to ride along.
(30:29):
Everybody wants to be right along with Johnny on a run.
And the thing that I that I have noticed more
and more with MTS and I speak about this very
very thing that I'm watching the younger aromatics, the younger
(30:50):
EMS get so caught up in their machinery, gets so
caught up in their twenty first century cutting edge. I
take equipment that they're beginning to lose, that touch, that
that feeling that you know, all that equipment that that
that everybody has in their rigs, and then they pull out.
And I'm talking about firefighters too. You know, you pull
(31:12):
up to a scene and you you get these you know,
seven eight hundred thousand dollars nine hundred thousand dollars rigs
with all this equipment. They're pulling all this equipment out
and everything and you know, mind you everything they use
help save his lives, There's no doubt about that. But
what what everybody's real job is, what what what you do?
(31:36):
Ninety five point five percent of the time, what your
real job is is you care for people, real people
with real problems and real feeling and and and I
you know that all that equipment that they that they
have is splayed out in front of them. You know,
there are times when you have to you know, look
(31:57):
down at the victim and and and remove all that
that equipment from your view. You know, uh that that
that equipment which provides this anonymity and look a person
in the eye and tell them that you're there to
help them, and mean it not just photonically mean that
(32:17):
you are there to help them, that they're experiencing the
worst day of their life and they're scared to death,
and you're there to help them, and you have to
convey that and mean it. You have to look them
in the eye and tell them they're going to be
okay because you're there to help. And more and more
I'm saying that that's not that's not happening, and I
(32:40):
get very discouraged and disappointed. And then when I talk
to some of the older guys, you know, when I
talk to some of the captains and some of the
chiefs and I mentioned this to them, they all say
the same thing. They're all frustrated with that very very thing.
And they say, well, it's because we don't, you know,
we don't have emergency that we can point to. Nowadays,
(33:02):
you you you see the firefighter paramedic, you know, on screen,
you know, he's bringing in his own personal baggage and
and they they're not. You know, the victim has has
turned out to be secondary kind of a plot push along,
(33:24):
rather than showing that the humanity that emergency always showed
because every night, for you know, every Saturday night, you
would watch to fictional characters running red lights and siren,
you know, jumping in and out of out of helicopters,
you know, but you would still. And everybody thinks that
(33:47):
that's what hooked them on the show. It's not what
hooked them. What hooked them was the humanity that they
saw from the show. They saw, they absorbed the human
John Gage and Roy DeSoto displayed towards their victim. And
I'm more and more even when I see an accident
(34:11):
on the street, I'll stand there and I'll watch the
guys working and it's all business. It's all business, and
I think that disappoints me.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
My guess is Randolph Man, the star of Emergency and
one of my most influential persons to ever impact my career.
I've got a couple more questions for you.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
If you've got a couple more minutes, sure, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Do you ever stop by Station one twenty seven? I
was there a few years ago, got some pictures and
they gave me a really nice tour. Do you ever
stop by just to say hi?
Speaker 2 (34:46):
I used to. I just don't get down to Carson
very often, but yeah, I've been in there. I love
that little post they have on the door of the
swinging door that goes into the kitchen area, it says
home of the show. Yeah, and they said, people stop
by from all you know, because they're great guys, and
so if you stop by, they'll they'll show you around.
(35:08):
Everybody wants to know where Johnny and Roy slept and
things like that. And you know, I think that they
knocked that part of the thing down, but it looks
similar to the way it was. So they go, yeah,
about in here, he slept right here, he slept right about.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Here, And.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
It looks pretty much exactly the same as as it
did when we were doing the show.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
When I stopped by, they said that there's a new
generation of people stopping by. And just like you said
back in the seventies with the teenagers and the children
coming and pushing you out of the supermarket. The firefighters
told me that they're seeing that same type of generation
coming and asking about where Johnny and Roy are. It's
unbelievable the show's impacts still today in twenty sixteen. Any
(35:56):
chance of a reunion.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
No, no chance. Well, you know, everybody's welcome to do
a reunion. Kevin and I made made this decision a
long time ago. Nobody wants to see two old farts
running around going. I w that would just absolutely destroy
the legacies that the show, this show has left. And
I'll tell you an example of when I made that
(36:19):
decision in my head was that I I grew up
watching the Andy Griffith Show. I loved Andy Griffith. I
thought that I wanted him to be my dad. You know.
I loved Don Not. I just love that simple, you
know whistle that he that he whistled in the very
beginning of the show. And I just I just thought
(36:40):
of the greatest and about I guess it was in
the nineties or so. They did a reunion show and
Don Now and I had worked with Don before. Don
played my father in a play with room Rue McClanahan. Uh,
so I knew Don very well. And uh and I
saw I was so excit. I you know, I told
(37:02):
my wife, I said, nothing is going to happen this night.
It's going to be the Andy Griffith reunion show, and
I'm going to watch it, you know. And I you know,
and Andy Griffith was old by that time, you know,
And there's nothing wrong with getting old. We all get old.
You know, but when we try to recapture what we
did when we were kids, it just it's it's it's
(37:25):
a kind of a sacrilege to to do that to
a show. You'll never capture lightning in a bottle again ever.
I know people would like to think that you can,
but you can't. And Don Knotts was like, you know,
looked like he was one hundred and nine and still
carrying one bullet around. And I got about halfway through
(37:45):
the show and I was so depressed that they had
ruined my memories of that show. And now I find
it hard to even watch the show. And so I
called Kevin and I said, hey, Kevin, did you see this?
And he goes, yeah, yeah, he said, I was depressing.
And I said, I said, will you and I swear
(38:07):
to one another that we will never ever do a
reunion show. He goes, I swear to you, I'll never
do it. And a lot of money was throwing at
us to do a reunion show, and we said no.
I said, you guys can do it. You know, if
everybody else wants to do it, that's fine, but Kevin
and I will not do it. We don't want the
legacy of the show to be ruined, you know, and
(38:29):
everybody says, well, can't you be like cheets now? And no,
because that's not what everybody wants to see. They want
to see at young twenty five year old twenty six
year old Johnny and Roy saving people. They don't want
to see too old farts running around, you know, telling
(38:50):
the young kids what they've done wrong. You know. God,
that to me, that's just disgusting. So I know it
disappoints a lot of people when I say it, but
that's the way I feel. And so now that will
never be a Reindian show, not with me and probably
not with Kevin. I don't want to answer for Kevin,
but certainly not with me.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
One last question, what would our listeners be surprised to
hear about you?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
I don't know. I'm always amazed what they already know
about me, So I you know, I don't think that
there's I don't really have any big top secrets that
people don't know about. I mean, one of my favorite
things to do is to throw my dog in a
(39:36):
car and go on a big, long drive. You know.
One of the greatest times in my life is when
I'm driving from coast to coast, just me and my dog,
you know. And if I want to turn left, I
turn left. If I want to turn right, I turned right.
To me slaloming across the country. That's one of my
favorite things to do. Every he says, well about camping, Well, yeah,
(39:58):
you know, I incorporate that and do it as well.
I don't know whether that surprises anybody. I think everybody's
known that for a long time. I you know, I
just don't think I have anything that really would shock
people or or even surprise people. So that's a that's
a tough question to answer. I know it sounds like
a great answer, right, but try try answering it yourself.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Well, I appreciate you joining me on Medic the Medic podcast.
It's been an honor. I really do appreciate you taking
the time and I wish you the best.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Thank you very much, Steven. I appreciate I appreciate what
you do and and uh and the service that you
provide with your podcast.
Welcome to Medic. The medic podcast, the weekly podcast for
MS providers, leaders, medical directors, and others involved in emergency
medical services. Usually go with a very long opening, but
today I am so honored and lucky to have Randolph Mantooth.
That's right, the one and only Randolph Mantooth from the
show Emergency. Before we get to my guest, let me
(00:23):
just tell you a quick story. Those people that have
been listening to my podcasts from the beginning know that
I've talked to a bunch of people on this podcast
that have influenced my career and impacted my career. The
show Emergency, and both Randolf Mantooth as well as Kevin
Tye really influenced my career. How you might ask, is
(00:43):
that when my dad had a heart attack and I
was a freshman in college. I was having too much
fun in college. But my dad had a heart attack,
his orderly in the emergency room was an EMT and
he says to my he says to the orderly, Hey,
my son's kind of a not sure what he's doing,
but he really loved the show Emergency and he knew
(01:04):
he was an EMT. One thing that to another, and
here I am today is speaking to one of the
most influential person who impacted my career. So, mister Mantooth,
welcome to Medical Medical Podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Thank you. I appreciate you having me on as well.
Thank you, I very very much appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Most of our ems community knows you as Johnny Gage.
Did you always want to be in the acting business'
Was there a point you said you wanted to be
something else? What was your inspiration to be an actor?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
You know, I never really was one of those guys
that made that decision, Hey I want to be an actor.
I was just always acting in high school and plays
and what have you, and and I never made a
decision to do it. I would always just be It's
like when you go to war, you know, you have
fighting so much for your country as you're fighting for
(01:59):
your buddies. Well, when I was doing acting, I was
just wanting to hang around my friends. So wherever they went,
that's what I wanted to do. And so they you know,
from high school, I went to college and followed my friends.
They said, hey, you know Centta Roberts City College has
great has a great theater program. Oh great, you know,
(02:20):
I'll go with you. Then we went to New York
to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and you know,
I just followed my friends and then finally somebody when
I was in New York, after they saw me to play,
offered me a contract at Universal Studios, and so I said, oh, okay, sure.
So I never really made a decision, Hey, I'm going
(02:40):
to be an actor. It just it just happened.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Well, you had a very successful career. You were on
numerous shows before you hit emergency. You know, you were
on Adam twelve. I think you were on McCloud. You
also Marcus Welby, and I think you were on some
kind of western was it the Virginia?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Was that correct? Yeah, yeah, quite quite a few of them, actually, yeah,
but they were all too small roles, and just you know,
I was kind of getting prepped. I was. I was
barely twenty years old at the time when I when
I signed my contract at Universal, within nine months I
(03:19):
was doing a television series. So and I didn't realize
just how struck by lightning, you know, that was to me.
It was just a natural progression of things. So I
never really kind of was overjoyed that I got a
series I frankly didn't think the series was going to
last very long. And I was just taken, you know,
(03:40):
taken each day, well one day at a time. You know,
to me, it was just another job until it wasn't
another job.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Can you tell us about your first audition for one
of those shows and what was it like for you
For Emergency?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I never auditioned for Emergencies. I was just picked because
I was in the contract, so I was cheap labor.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
But they liked they liked what I did. They liked
this thing that I did, a show called The Bold
Ones I think with it was actually it was a
scene with Hal Hubrit that got me the job on Emergency.
I never knew it until I never knew that the
executive producer and the creator of the show was watching
(04:24):
at a at a screening and he sat up and said,
that's my Johnny Gage and uh, and then the rest
was history. You know, when you audition, you just go
in like everybody else, and you do your best, and
you lose way more than you ever get and uh.
And I'm always I was always surprised that I didn't
(04:46):
get the ones that I really wanted, and always got
the ones I didn't really want who hoped you.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Learn about the show the show business in general, which
is a mentor who took you under your under their wing.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
No, no, you're on your own. Okay, there's no Yeah,
there's no no mentor. I mean, you know, you'll always
get advice from from certain people, like I know, I
got advice from Hal Holbrook. I got advice you know,
as a kid from Uh. One of the guys that
I really liked a lot was burroal Lives. You know
(05:19):
because as a kid, I used to I think he's
sang the Rudolph red Nose Reindeer song and I was
like so impressed. I was, I was working with Burrol Lives.
Now people don't even know who the hell hat is,
but you know, and he gave me great, you know advice. Uh,
and you pick up advice along the way. But yeah, no,
(05:40):
nobody nobody's putting the you know you under their wing
and showing you the ropes. That's just not the way
this business is. It is it is. If you're you know,
a paramedic or an EMT or a firefighter or something
like that, Yeah, that that that's pretty common, but not
an acting an acting you're on your own you uh,
(06:01):
because half the time you're competing for that other person's job,
so they're not really going to give you a leg up.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
All right, now, enough about your early career in acting,
Let's get to you know, Emergency. Why do you think
the show was embraced and received as well as it
was and it still is today.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Well, it was a real mystery to me for a
long time. So why after all these years Emergency still
stands out as the as the hallmark of firefighter paramedic programming.
Uh There's been a lot of shows about firefighters, a
lot of shows about about paramedics and uh uh and they,
(06:43):
you know, they don't last very long. And I and
I've often thought about that. I thought, now, what was
it that Bob Senator who was our executive producer and
creator of the show. A lot of people think that
Jack Web created it. He didn't. He owned the show
and and and certainly you know, it couldn't have been
done without him because he was the powerhouse behind it.
(07:04):
But he didn't create the show, and he didn't write
the show, and he didn't exect produce it either. This
was one guy, Bob Senator. Bob's kind of been kind
of lost in the in the history of this whole thing.
But it is my duty to make sure that everybody realized,
you know, that the credit is given to the man
(07:25):
that is due that credit. But I finally finally realized
that it's the only show of its kind that never
turned it into a soap opera. You know, no, they
never went home with Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto. You
never saw Johnny Gage's family or Roy Desta's family. You know,
(07:46):
there was no drama at home where you know, Johnny
Gage's dad was drunk and was beating his mom. You know,
it's like that, you know, who cares. It was about
the job. It was always about the job and how
and how it was carried out, and and and uh
(08:09):
and the type of person it takes to be a firefighter,
to be a paramedic, in my opinion, you know, paramedics,
if you're an e MT, that that that's incredible, you know,
But to be a paramedic, that's that's almost godlike. But
to be a firefighter paramedic, that's a whole another thing.
(08:30):
To me. That's that's just the upper echelon I come
from from, from the tradition that in La County. I
was raised upon this tradition that you can't be a
firefighter unless you're a paramedic, and you can't be a
paramedic unless you're a firefighter. And uh, and so when
I hear of the divisions between firefighters and paramedics nowadays,
(08:55):
it's it's it baffles me, it uses me because it's
also started out as as a firefighter paramedic and there
was there was never any real division there. Now, Uh,
there's there's a lot of division there. Firefighters for whatever
reason don't want anything to do with paramedics, and paramedics
(09:16):
don't want anything to do with firefighters. And I find
that really sad and and and I'm sort of amused
by it. I wish it wasn't that way, because in
my opinion, you are truly, truly uh a hero if
if you're a firefighter and a paramedic and an e MT.
I don't want to slight them, slight the e mts
(09:40):
l S or b ls, uh, you know, but I
hopefully that all al all b ls you know, ultimately
one day wants you know, won't want to graduate to
be an a l S. But I think that that's
what made the show as remarkable as it is and
still to this day, people still use the show sort
(10:05):
of as training films. Well, how many shows that are
out there about firefighters and have been for the past
forty years, and yet still Emergency Stands stands up to
history and it really seems to be the benchmark for
all firefighter shows. And I really believe it's because we
(10:25):
didn't make anything up. Every rescue was taken out of
a log book. It was changed and you know, to
adapt to the screen, and it changed like some of
the rescues were happening in Florida and they had to
change it to make sure it look like it was
from California and what have you that they could change.
But they didn't make anything up, and it wasn't It
(10:46):
wasn't a soap opera. Nobody cared about whether you were
getting a divorce or you're separated from your wife, you know.
And if it was ever talked about, it is mentioned
in Passing, but they never had full episodes about it.
And I think what makes the show so popular even
today is the fact that it was about the job.
(11:07):
It was really one of the very first procedural shows
on television.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I want to just touch base on the training film
comment that you made. Here at care are Ms, we
do a citizens Academy every year and it's one of
the programs that we created here and it's for the
public command to learn about emergency medical services. And I
always have the first lecture, and the first lecture starts
with a scene from Emergency Cardiac Arrest Management. It's from
(11:37):
you tour respond to a call and it was a
cardiac arrests where the couple was robbing the house and
how well you manage that cardiac arrest. I say to
our students that today, this is how we still manage
cardiac arrests. So way back when in the early seventies,
we continue to do that same type of procedures today.
So we thank you. And I love playing that clip
(11:59):
every year and we run that PROGRAMMA.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I think I remember that that was the very first year. Yeah,
you know, it's it's kind of funny even after forty years.
You know, the technology of of of you know, the
life saving equipment that we use is just you know,
grown exponentially and and uh but but protocols. You know,
(12:23):
it's funny how things really change, but things kind of
stay the same. And and that's a real testimate to
Bob Senator, Bob Senators that I want this show to
be as real as we can get away with, as
real uh and as authentic as as we can do.
And and that's why we always had a real paramedic
(12:45):
uh off duty for that week as a technical advisor
on the show. Every week he was sitting right next
to the director and he was told to, you know,
if if we did anything that will you know that
that wasn't in the protocols of of La County now, uh,
(13:05):
because even the other fire departments had different protocols. But
they said, if La County doesn't do it, you're to
whisper in the directors here, that's not the way we
we would do it. Don't you say, don't you you know,
uh cut the film or anything. You just whispered that's
not the way we would do it. And if he
doesn't change it, uh, then he'll be fired and we'll
(13:29):
get another director. They said, but you just quietly say
you know that. And so we would. Technically, we had
to be very very correct, and very little got past
these guys. And and every week they would draw straws
to see which paramedics got to got to be the
PA on the show for uh for for that week.
(13:51):
It was so so there was a lot of in
the first few years of the show. There's a lot
of scrutiny because Bob warrided, is is realistic as we
could do?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
You kind of touch a little bit on this. I
don't know if you can expand what do you think?
The characters have such an impact, you know, with the
public as well as you know, it spawned a lot
of us at my age into this career.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Well, like I said, you know, you instinctively know what
is real and what is it like if you're watching
some of these other shows, they do things that you know,
the writer, the writer always thinks that that that you know,
a Hollywood writer always thinks that he can do it better,
say it better, show it better, tell it better. And
(14:35):
you know, and our writers were no different. They were
they were frustrated when when Bob said, you know, all
these rescues have to come from out of the logbook
and you have to prove to me that came out
of the log book, and they were, you know, screaming
up and down. You know, my god, you're tying our
hands you know where we can't be creative this way,
(14:56):
blah blah blah. And after a couple of years that
writers were going, my god, we couldn't make this stuff up.
All they did was just follow the real you know,
they changed it, of course, but they just followed, you know,
the real events. And all we did was mirror that event.
It's very much like like Shakespeare when they said, you know,
(15:17):
hold a mirror up to thyself and and you can't
go wrong. And that's all we did. We just held
a mirror up to what La County really did.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
When did you know the show was a hit.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I think we were about four or five years into
the show before we realized. You know, after the first year,
we were like, man, this isn't going to go anywhere,
and so we were telling our agents, you know, you
look for another job because we don't think this is
going to be around for very long. And after about
the second year, we thought, well, this is longer than
we thought it was going to be. Then about the
(15:50):
third and fourth year we thought, well, okay, this is
getting pretty popular. See you also have to understand at
the time, we know we were all that big of
a hit. We were getting a lot of fan mail.
We knew that, but we didn't think we were all
that big of a hit because we never won our hour.
(16:10):
We were against All in the Family, and All in
the Family was the winner of that hour every year.
So you know, if you're not the winner of your hour,
it's hard for you to think that you got a
big hit on your hands. But we were. We were
solid second for seven years.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Can you tell me when you first realize or somebody
recognized you as Johnny Gage.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Oh, that happened right away, Yeah, that happened. You'd be
amazed at how many people watch television. You know what,
what one day, you're walking down the street and absolutely
nobody's looking at you, and you can go into the
you can go into the grocery store and you know,
and not be bothered. But you know, all you have
to do is be on television just once or twice
(16:56):
or three times, and there's a lot of very observant
people out there, and all of a sudden, you know,
you can't go into the And also it's very popular
with the kids. You know, adults were watching All in
the Family, but the kids were watching Emergency and I
you know when I was when we were shooting the show.
Kevin and I we we couldn't go into the supermarket
(17:17):
because the kids had follow us down the aisle going, oh, look,
John E. Gauge is buying mayonnaise, you know, And so
we kind of got run out of the run out
of the supermarkets. But we could go to the bars.
People are our own age didn't know who the hell
we were, and so we, you know, we could sit
at the bar and talk and be normal people like
everybody else. And then once it went into reruns, all
(17:40):
the kids grew up, we could go back into the supermarkets.
But now we can't go into the bars because everybody's
grown up and they all know who we are. Now.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
You mentioned Kevin. You know, partners are so important in
our business. The relationship with you and Kevin on the
show was just so dead on.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Can you tell our.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Listeners about when you met Kevin for the first time
and how you relationship was formed and how often do
you talk to him now and see him.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I just I just talked to him yesterday the day
before yesterday. He's in New York. He's in New York
shooting Law and Order. He said he wanted to go
down to WTC down to the World Trade Center and
I said, I said, hey, I said, let me I
ask some New York firefighters who can get you in?
(18:25):
And uh, I guess, I guess he was shooting your
SOHO and he was. He was texting the pictures of
Soho the fire museum and SOHO. And I was like
blown away. And I said, soho as a fire museum.
I never knew this, and and and he said, yeah,
he says, tomorrow, I'd like to go down to WTC.
(18:45):
So I, you know, called two or three my firefighter friends,
firefighter pair of bag friends, and said, hey, would you
guys be interested in taking Kevin down to the WTC.
He's not shooting in the morning. And uh, they picked
him up in the rig, you know, they have a
brand new rig, picked him up down there and got
(19:06):
him in. They wouldn't go in because the WT seem,
you know, it's it's very uncomfortable for firefighters to uh
go in there, so they wouldn't go in. But they
were like more than happy to get him to get
him in there. And Kevin wanted to take the guided
tour or yeah, they would go on the tour. And
he said after two hours he said, it was so emotional.
(19:28):
I couldn't do it, he said. I decided I'd go
by myself, he said, but it was just too emotional
to go on the tour. But uh, yeah, So I
just talked to him yesterday. Uh. He's my best friend.
He's my best man or one of my best men
at my wedding, and we we've we've remained closed. I mean,
(19:52):
if it weren't for the show, I don't I don't
think Kevin and I would have ever really been friends
because we're so different, and we're so you know, interested
in such totally different things. But he was the same way.
He hadn't really worked a lot before before emergency. I
think he did about the same amount that I did. Uh.
You know, he's a couple of years older than I am.
(20:14):
And and uh so, but he wasn't the kind of
guy that I I would normally pick his as my friend,
you know. But the fact that we were at work
every day for seven years, uh, you know, from from
sun up till sundown for seven years, we we it
was a it was a you know, it was a
(20:36):
bond that that was that was forged you know in
hard work. And uh and and and also having a
lot of fun. But it was it was physically a
really hard work show to do. But but we forged
that bond, and uh, that bond has survived for forty
(20:57):
years now.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Oh, I appreciate the comments about your relationship with Kevin. So,
as you just mentioned, the show was hard and difficult
to shoot at times with all the technical rescue and
the technical medical jargon. Were you able to do your
own stunts and what did the studio think about that
if you wanted to do your own stunts?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Was I ever able to do If you see our face,
we're doing the stunt. If you see if you see
my butt from a quarter of a mile away, I
guarantee you that's my stuntman, because I said to them,
I'm not going to rest my neck unless you can
see my face. If you can't see my face, I'm
(21:40):
not getting up there. And so so that's why when
you see the stunts, you'll see that it is us.
And they sort of they sort of did, they sort
of tricked us into it. It was very very cagey,
very sly the way they did it. They operated. And see,
you were in the early twenties, right, So if you
tell a twenty year old that he can't do something
(22:02):
because he you know, physically, you just can't do that.
Well that that kid's going to go, what what are
you talking about? I can do anything anybody can do.
Oh yeah, we'll prove it. And then they just rolled it.
And so, you know, it's kind of funny because Kevin
was hated heights, and heights never bothered me. I love
being up there. I hated water. Water. Water was was
(22:26):
Kevin's second home. And so whenever I was in the water,
whenever Kevin was up high with me, I was always
messing with him and always, you know, I think he
would rather shoot me than than than finish the day's
work because I was always screwing around with him. But
when we got in the water, you know, everything changed.
He then started screwing around with me in the water,
(22:48):
and then I was not comfortable in that water at all.
So it was it was a give and take, but
I think both of us and then after a while
Bob realized that at what where our talents were. And
it's just like anybody else. You know, if you're a firefighter,
you're metic. You have strong points and you have wik points,
(23:09):
and you depend on your partner to pick up the
slack where you lack, and it was the same thing.
After a while, they realized that Kevin didn't necessarily like
being up high, and I didn't necessarily like being in
the water. So after a while they got to where
you'll see Kevin in the water and me a high.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Can you give us a sense of what it was
like to be on the set on a typical day
of shooting. I think our listeners would really like to
hear some behind the scenes stories and how things were
set up and and the other part of that. Did
you guys play practical jokes on each other?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Yeah, you know, nothing really stands out. I mean, a
set is a set. It's like you know everybody once,
you know, while when you first arrive on the scene,
what's that like? You know, it's harder to be kind
of describe it to somebody that's never been on the
set before. It's it's a it's a working set. Everybody's busy,
(24:08):
everybody's working. Uh, there's a there's a lotted steak. You
got to get it right. You can only you can
only screw things you know so many times, and then
you cost the company money. So when when we're all together,
like when the whole crew is there, that's a little
(24:28):
bit more more of a kind of a camaraderie thing,
like when the Captain Stanley is is there and and
uh Tim Donnelly who played Chet, and Marco Lopez and
Mike Still when we're all there, you know, well, we're
all professional, but we do mess around. We do joke around.
I can't remember all the things we did, but uh,
(24:51):
but but this that was pretty lively. The crew was
was great. We loved the crew. Got along very well
with the crew. They were part of our families and
the course, you know, for seven years as they're part
of your family. And then when the show is over,
it's like everybody goes to other shows, other things, and
and uh there's a huge impiness there that it's really
(25:14):
hard to fill after a while.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
What was your first impression, I know how you felt
about the creator. Do you have a chance to interact
with Jim Page at all?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Oh? Yeah, Jim, Jim was Jim is instrumental. He was
our technical consultant. Uh and and he actually had control
over the technical advisors that that came on the show
once a week and and uh so when Jim Page
got on the set, Uh, the technical advisors, man, they
(25:42):
would all uh, they'd all stand a little bit taller
because the boss was there. But Jim Page was instrumental
in in that, very instrumental in making sure that that
show uh was authentic and uh and and that nothing
ever besmirched the reputation of the firefighter paramedic. And so
(26:06):
so Jim was Jim Jim. And after five years when
Jim left because he said, you know, you don't need
me anymore. You guys are on automatic pilot now. You
guys know this better than than most of the tas
that are coming in the show. And so he said,
I just hate being around where I'm not needed. So
(26:28):
he took off and he he started the paramedic program
for North Carolina, and then from and then from North
Carolina he went to New Jersey, and then from New
Jersey went up to Buffalo and started their paramedic program.
And so we we missed him a lot when he
was finally gone. I mean there were times because he
(26:50):
was always, always always on me about my hair. He
wanted me to cut my hair so bad, and so
every time Jim was on the set, I'd run high,
you know, because I said, oh god, he's going to
get on to me about my hair again, you know,
so I try to make myself scarce. But having said that,
and I would always say, you know, the only reason
why you're on me about my hairs that you have none.
(27:13):
And of course there was always that joke going on,
but I just love At first he was like a
Dutch uncle. I was afraid of it, you know, But
then after a while I realized, Man, the show is
good because Bob Senator has made him our executive producer
or our executive consultant. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I think did he penned some episodes to or get
some credit.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yeah, he didn't pin him on his name because he
wrote it during a strike. He scabbed it. But he
wrote probably one of the most popular ones that we've
ever done, and that was the snake bite. That was
his Oh really, yeah, snake bit.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
You're on the back of the fire trucks starting.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Your IV, right, yeah, starting my own IV. Which I
told him that, you know, I said, I thought we
were supposed to keep this realistic, and he said it is.
I said, I can't give myself an IVA. That's television prap,
And he said, no, it's not. And I said, you
can't give yourself an IV and he said, he said,
(28:17):
have you ever seen a drug dealer? I went, oh, oh, okay,
all right, I get it. I get it. So, uh, yeah,
he turned out to be a pretty remarkable individual. I agree.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I had the opportunity to meet and talk to him
numerous times during my career. He's been mentioned numerous times
on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah, he's really the he's really the father of firefighter paramedics.
He truly is. Uh, he deserves every credit that has
ever been given to him. He you know, he he
not only helped start the army program in North Carolina
and New Jersey and Buffalo. You know, then he became
(29:05):
a lawyer and opened up his own lawyer law firm
that that only dealt with litigation with firefighters and paramedics.
It was actually, if I'm not mistaken, then I could be,
but but I don't think I am. He was. He
was one of the very few actual law firms that
actually dealt with litigation for firefighters and paramedics. And sadly,
(29:29):
as time went on, that that sort of service was
needed more and more. But but then after after he
did that, then he kind of retired from that, turned
that over to his partners. He then started a magazine
called GEMS Journal of Emergency Medicine. And we all know
what that. You know, Jim was a lazy bastard, sat around,
(29:51):
did nothing, didn't.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Do anything for the profession at all. He just Yeah,
you've been an advocate for the investing fire and you've
been awarded for are your extraordinary efforts. What are your
thoughts on EMS today and the future of both EMS
and firefighting.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Well, I've seen a lot of changes, but like I said,
everything changes, you know, things change, but things always stay
the same. But the one thing that I'm seeing more
and more when I write out and I still write
out with La County and when I'm speaking, you know,
every now and then they'll get a call and they'll say, hey,
you want to go because everybody wants to ride along.
(30:29):
Everybody wants to be right along with Johnny on a run.
And the thing that I that I have noticed more
and more with MTS and I speak about this very
very thing that I'm watching the younger aromatics, the younger
(30:50):
EMS get so caught up in their machinery, gets so
caught up in their twenty first century cutting edge. I
take equipment that they're beginning to lose, that touch, that
that feeling that you know, all that equipment that that
that everybody has in their rigs, and then they pull out.
And I'm talking about firefighters too. You know, you pull
(31:12):
up to a scene and you you get these you know,
seven eight hundred thousand dollars nine hundred thousand dollars rigs
with all this equipment. They're pulling all this equipment out
and everything and you know, mind you everything they use
help save his lives, There's no doubt about that. But
what what everybody's real job is, what what what you do?
(31:36):
Ninety five point five percent of the time, what your
real job is is you care for people, real people
with real problems and real feeling and and and I
you know that all that equipment that they that they
have is splayed out in front of them. You know,
there are times when you have to you know, look
(31:57):
down at the victim and and and remove all that
that equipment from your view. You know, uh that that
that equipment which provides this anonymity and look a person
in the eye and tell them that you're there to
help them, and mean it not just photonically mean that
(32:17):
you are there to help them, that they're experiencing the
worst day of their life and they're scared to death,
and you're there to help them, and you have to
convey that and mean it. You have to look them
in the eye and tell them they're going to be
okay because you're there to help. And more and more
I'm saying that that's not that's not happening, and I
(32:40):
get very discouraged and disappointed. And then when I talk
to some of the older guys, you know, when I
talk to some of the captains and some of the
chiefs and I mentioned this to them, they all say
the same thing. They're all frustrated with that very very thing.
And they say, well, it's because we don't, you know,
we don't have emergency that we can point to. Nowadays,
(33:02):
you you you see the firefighter paramedic, you know, on screen,
you know, he's bringing in his own personal baggage and
and they they're not. You know, the victim has has
turned out to be secondary kind of a plot push along,
(33:24):
rather than showing that the humanity that emergency always showed
because every night, for you know, every Saturday night, you
would watch to fictional characters running red lights and siren,
you know, jumping in and out of out of helicopters,
you know, but you would still. And everybody thinks that
(33:47):
that's what hooked them on the show. It's not what
hooked them. What hooked them was the humanity that they
saw from the show. They saw, they absorbed the human
John Gage and Roy DeSoto displayed towards their victim. And
I'm more and more even when I see an accident
(34:11):
on the street, I'll stand there and I'll watch the
guys working and it's all business. It's all business, and
I think that disappoints me.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
My guess is Randolph Man, the star of Emergency and
one of my most influential persons to ever impact my career.
I've got a couple more questions for you.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
If you've got a couple more minutes, sure, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Do you ever stop by Station one twenty seven? I
was there a few years ago, got some pictures and
they gave me a really nice tour. Do you ever
stop by just to say hi?
Speaker 2 (34:46):
I used to. I just don't get down to Carson
very often, but yeah, I've been in there. I love
that little post they have on the door of the
swinging door that goes into the kitchen area, it says
home of the show. Yeah, and they said, people stop
by from all you know, because they're great guys, and
so if you stop by, they'll they'll show you around.
(35:08):
Everybody wants to know where Johnny and Roy slept and
things like that. And you know, I think that they
knocked that part of the thing down, but it looks
similar to the way it was. So they go, yeah,
about in here, he slept right here, he slept right about.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Here, And.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
It looks pretty much exactly the same as as it
did when we were doing the show.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
When I stopped by, they said that there's a new
generation of people stopping by. And just like you said
back in the seventies with the teenagers and the children
coming and pushing you out of the supermarket. The firefighters
told me that they're seeing that same type of generation
coming and asking about where Johnny and Roy are. It's
unbelievable the show's impacts still today in twenty sixteen. Any
(35:56):
chance of a reunion.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
No, no chance. Well, you know, everybody's welcome to do
a reunion. Kevin and I made made this decision a
long time ago. Nobody wants to see two old farts
running around going. I w that would just absolutely destroy
the legacies that the show, this show has left. And
I'll tell you an example of when I made that
(36:19):
decision in my head was that I I grew up
watching the Andy Griffith Show. I loved Andy Griffith. I
thought that I wanted him to be my dad. You know.
I loved Don Not. I just love that simple, you
know whistle that he that he whistled in the very
beginning of the show. And I just I just thought
(36:40):
of the greatest and about I guess it was in
the nineties or so. They did a reunion show and
Don Now and I had worked with Don before. Don
played my father in a play with room Rue McClanahan. Uh,
so I knew Don very well. And uh and I
saw I was so excit. I you know, I told
(37:02):
my wife, I said, nothing is going to happen this night.
It's going to be the Andy Griffith reunion show, and
I'm going to watch it, you know. And I you know,
and Andy Griffith was old by that time, you know,
And there's nothing wrong with getting old. We all get old.
You know, but when we try to recapture what we
did when we were kids, it just it's it's it's
(37:25):
a kind of a sacrilege to to do that to
a show. You'll never capture lightning in a bottle again ever.
I know people would like to think that you can,
but you can't. And Don Knotts was like, you know,
looked like he was one hundred and nine and still
carrying one bullet around. And I got about halfway through
(37:45):
the show and I was so depressed that they had
ruined my memories of that show. And now I find
it hard to even watch the show. And so I
called Kevin and I said, hey, Kevin, did you see this?
And he goes, yeah, yeah, he said, I was depressing.
And I said, I said, will you and I swear
(38:07):
to one another that we will never ever do a
reunion show. He goes, I swear to you, I'll never
do it. And a lot of money was throwing at
us to do a reunion show, and we said no.
I said, you guys can do it. You know, if
everybody else wants to do it, that's fine, but Kevin
and I will not do it. We don't want the
legacy of the show to be ruined, you know, and
(38:29):
everybody says, well, can't you be like cheets now? And no,
because that's not what everybody wants to see. They want
to see at young twenty five year old twenty six
year old Johnny and Roy saving people. They don't want
to see too old farts running around, you know, telling
(38:50):
the young kids what they've done wrong. You know. God,
that to me, that's just disgusting. So I know it
disappoints a lot of people when I say it, but
that's the way I feel. And so now that will
never be a Reindian show, not with me and probably
not with Kevin. I don't want to answer for Kevin,
but certainly not with me.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
One last question, what would our listeners be surprised to
hear about you?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
I don't know. I'm always amazed what they already know
about me, So I you know, I don't think that
there's I don't really have any big top secrets that
people don't know about. I mean, one of my favorite
things to do is to throw my dog in a
(39:36):
car and go on a big, long drive. You know.
One of the greatest times in my life is when
I'm driving from coast to coast, just me and my dog,
you know. And if I want to turn left, I
turn left. If I want to turn right, I turned right.
To me slaloming across the country. That's one of my
favorite things to do. Every he says, well about camping, Well, yeah,
(39:58):
you know, I incorporate that and do it as well.
I don't know whether that surprises anybody. I think everybody's
known that for a long time. I you know, I
just don't think I have anything that really would shock
people or or even surprise people. So that's a that's
a tough question to answer. I know it sounds like
a great answer, right, but try try answering it yourself.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Well, I appreciate you joining me on Medic the Medic podcast.
It's been an honor. I really do appreciate you taking
the time and I wish you the best.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Thank you very much, Steven. I appreciate I appreciate what
you do and and uh and the service that you
provide with your podcast.
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