On June 10th, TVLAND held one of their Ultimate Fan Search Contests in Oklahoma.  At every contest, Nick At Night would present a special celebrity guest, who would then sign autographs.  Mr. T, most famous as B.A Barracus of the A-Team, had been this celebrity guest the most often; but apparenty with the Project 51 tour having come to an end, some wonderful person took it upon him or herself to ask Randy to be the guest in Oklahoma.  Reports said he would be present from 11:30 to 4:30.  I spent 10 hours Friday, driving from South Texas to Oklahoma City, mostly in the rain.  After a good night sleep, I met up with a friend of mine who lived there, and I followed her to Quail Springs Mall.  We arrived shortly before eleven.  Aside from the contest contestant wanna-be's, a Cox cable table, and a TVLAND table, no one appeared to be around.  I asked them where they would be putting Randolph Mantooth, and she asked "who?".  I repeated myself, adding he was the celebrity being presented by Nick at Night.  She told me he would probably sign from the table she sat at right then.  I thanked her and went for a drink with my friends.  At 11:30, we hurried back, not wanting to miss his entrance.  I figured they would first bring him out on the contest stage, so we found the last two seats in the rather small audience area next to it.  A short time later, they announced that obviously not everyone would be able to be in the contest, and announced the eight names who had made it to the show part of the contest, but first he announced that Randolph Mantooth would later be signing autographs, and that he had been told he was now in the building.  However, once he gave the names of the eight, and said the show would begin at noon, ninety percent of the audience vanished.  I looked around at the nearly deserted area, and made some comments to my friend about him taking one look around, and leaving.  We now had time on our hands, so we went down to eat.  We came back up at noon, and the game began.  As it did so, people started to gather from all over the mall to watch.  Half way through the game, I happened to glance over my shoulder at the TVLAND table, and I saw a line starting to form.  I knew it had to be for you know who, but I wondered at the people in it.  They would never be able to see the stage from where they were.  By the end of the show, I looked again, and the end of the line had dissappeared from my sight.  All these people just seemed to come out of the woodwork.  The MC of the show then told us they had brought too many prizes, so she said she'd ask a question.  If you knew the answer, hold up your hand, and you could try to win a TVLAND T-shirt.  After three questions, they gave a quote from the opening of Emergency, and you had to name the show it was from.  The girl chosen to answer it, gave the answer rather quietly.  The MC then asked what character said it.  After a very long pause, she answered Randolph Mantooth, and out he came, all smiles, big applause.  A handsome beard now grew on his face.  He gave the woman MC a kiss on the cheek, apparenty saying "Good to see you," for she said, "Good to see you too."  He had a mike in his hand, but didn't remember to use it right away.   

Now, by coincidence, this same mall was having Emergency Awareness Weekend.  Well, it may not have been a coincidence for whoever put him there instead of in Atlanta, also having a contest that day, where Mr. T was making an appearance at another TVLAND contest.  (Now you know why I felt so lucky that Randy was guest in Oklahoma.)  All over the Mall were various ambulance's and squad cars.  Outside they even had an emergency helicopter. 

"Are you enjoying all of the emergency vehicles here today?" she asked.

"Yeah, I feel like I'm at home," he said still forgeting his mike.  "Feel like I'm at home," he repeated, now using it.

"Yeah you were over there checking out that helicopter (uninteligible?) very interesting.  Ah, would you like to take some questions from the audience (?)"

"Yeah (?)"

"If you have any questions you would like to ask Randolph Mantooth, raise your hand, and ah, I will come to you, and he will answer it."

"How is USAR coming along?"

"Ah, he asked me if ah, how the show USAR is coming along.  I'm developing a new show called USAR-1, which is an anacronym for Urban Search and Rescue (?) Las Angelas County Fire Department, and we're in the process of trying to sell it as we speak.  Ummm, so I just hope...hope it gets (there? drowned out by cheering).  Thank you very much.......Thank you," he said quietly, a bit embarrassed, but appearing to enjoy it.

"Anyone else have any questions that they would like to ask?  Somebody was telling me something interesting about the EMT's, that EMT's didn't  actually exist until 19....."

"In 1971, was the very first Paramedics actually, uh, before that, there were no Paramedics, and so we all kinda..there's a whole generation of people who don't realize that in 1971, there were no paramedics so sometime we take that for, for for, granted and, maybe we shouldn't because you have to understand, this isn't our (???)  So you have to understand that all the people who train for this, ahh, all the firefighters who train to be EMT's and Paramedics, ah (?), because we, as a collective group, (?) lives, million's of lives so far, and we've been safe because of it, so we've got to keep an eye on it, make sure it's alway's there for us"

"All right, ah, do you have a question right there, do...."

"(?)"

"I...I'm sorry I didn't hear what you were say....."

"Was Jack Webb cheap, or did he just like to keep thing simple?"

Smiling big, "Was he cheap or did he keep things simple...ah...Jack Webb, he was the owner of the show, he was ah, he was an executive producer in name only.  The man who created Emergency was Robert A. Cinader, ah, it was his dream.  It was his vision.  Ah Bah, ah, Jack Webb was just, really the owner of the show, and he was a tough guy.  He ah once at one time, played ah in a movie called the DI, the Drill Instructor.  Well that's pretty much how he directed everybody too, the DI.  He  was ah, he was cheep, and yeah, I guess he was simple too." He added laughing.

"Ok, over here?"

"What was your favorite episode?"

"Oh man, there were a hundred and sixtyfour of 'em, umm and, it's it's hard to pick One of 'em out, but I guess the one that I probably had the most fun in, was, The Snakebite."

The audience applauded.  He smiled and laughed.

"I was wondering where Rampart came from?"

"Oh ah, Rampart, well, ya know...and where did the name Gage and where did the name DeSoto came from, I'll tell you exactly.  We have streets in, in Las, in Las Angelas County, in, in Las Angelas City...ahhh...and they're all downtown, and Jack Webb, as he would drive, he would look up, and we have a Gage street.  So he said, I'm going to make one of my characters John Gage.  Then there was another street called DeSoto, out in the valley.  He lived very close to that, so he named Roy Desoto.  And right downtown Las Angelas, is Rampart Street, and of course, on Rampart Street is where the ah, ahh the police headquarters is, and ah so he decided, well, instead of Harbor General, which is really the hospital we were really were (roaming?) on to, he decided to name it,  Harbor Gen...uh uh ah...Rampart General."

"Ok um, one more right here?"

He smiled, tireing a bit from trying to keep his thoughts straight.  "These are true trivia questions," he joked, referring to the Fan Search questions.

"(?Question unmiked, but obviously having to do with his "thumbs up" intro on the show.)"

"That's what's they call a bicarb," he said, setting his thumbs in the air with both hands, "Ah, ah, well at that time they did, but now now they they have alot of things they do that with," he added, popping his thumbs up.  "In fact, when I DID that, they asked me, you know, lot of the, uh, alot of the doctors and alot of the paramedics said, you know, don't do that, because uh, we, they they don't like you guys doing that, cause it's too flashy, and I said, I don't care, I'm doing it anyway.  So I did it, and now, all the sudden, all paramedics, that's all they practice," he said popping his thumbs twice, "is doing that and I I, and," he added, being interrupted by applause.  "so now, you can't stop it, cause everybody does it anyway.  But, uh, I I, I'll tell you an interesting story about uh, about a month ago I was doing a national tour with the, with the, Emergency because it was being inducted into the Smithsonian Museum of American History, and I was, I was Grand Marshall for the Preakness Parade in Baltimore Maryland, and I saw all these little kids now, and and you guys weren't even born, most of you guys weren't born when I was doing the wrap party for this show.  Ah, ah, but these little kids, 9, 10, 11 years old, they were all standing along the, the route, and they're all going like this," he said putting his thumbs in the air, and letting the mike get too far away from his mouth.  "With, with their thumbs up.  And I'm normaly kind of going like this," he said with a single hand thumbs up, mike safely back in place with his other hand.  "Sometimes going two thumbs," he added, again useing both hands, and pulling the mike away from his mouth to do it.  "And I, and I, and finaly I said..."  He, in a very animated, slow motion way, did on imitation, bicarb cap, pop off with both hands.  Then he shook his head and looked down, saying "I went, oh man, I'm teaching them bad habits early."   Applause built gradually as the audience realized he had finished the story.  He smiled big, lifted the mike and said, "Thank you very much."  He tipped the mike upside down, and let his arm drop to his side.

"All right Ladies and Gentlemen, Randolph Mantooth!"

With continued and growing applause and whooping, he again lifted the mike, and in a touchingly, mildly embarrased way, simply repeated, "Thank you!"  The smile on his face was priceless.

"And Randolph will be signing autographs..."

"I will sign autographs...for everybody that wants 'em."

"After the show, come see Randolph, he'll still answer any question you can ask and and ah, sign an autograph.  All right!  Let's hear it for Randolph Mantooth!"

With a raised arm in acknowledgement, a nod, and a smile, he left the stage.

My friend, one of her boys, his best friend, and I got in line.  A man dressed all in black, walked down the line, saying only one thing autographed per person.  TVLAND provided free pictures of him in uniform, stethescope around his neck, from Emergency!  Two large stacks sat at the table with him.   I left my friend in line to go see if I might be able to even see him, hoping to get a picture or two if I could manage to shoot between people.  When I got up to the front, I found they had it set up Very nicely.  The whole side was kept clear, just for people to take pictures.  You could get as close as you wanted, and I had a perfectly clear view.  I finished my roll of film, and just watched for a bit.  One young man laid a smoke blackened firman's helmet on the table before him.  You couldn't belive the look on Randy's face.  I think he was little stunned.  He studied it for a minute, I guess trying to figure out what to do.  Then he picked it up and held it face end down.  He told the guy if he hung it on a wall like that, he would sign here, across the now top.  The young man nodded, seemingly unable to find his voice.  It was a very touching scene, and one I'm glad I didn't miss.  After watching a little more, I decided I better get back in line.  As we got close enough to see, I noticed someone must have asked him about the possibility of a reunion show.  He was talking, rather animatedly, about not liking all the reunion shows, and never wanting to do that, and people not wanting to see a couple old guys, being paramedics.  My friend got her autograph first, spelled her name for him, and joked about having to do that or it would be wrong.  He laughed and agreed it had to be done.  About that time, McGruff came by, from all the Energency awareness stuff also going on in the mall.  The kids ran after him, asking my friend if they could have some of the candy he was passing out.  She teased them, and made a comment about not knowing if they could trust McGruff to give them good food.  Randy could not see the dog, and apparantly didn't know who, or what McGruff is.  In case you, the reader don't know, McGruff is like Smokey the Bear.  He's a mascot kind of a dog, that teaches children's safety.  After a few seconds of digesting my friend comment, he must have figured McGruffs was a restaurant, because he laughed and said, "Sounds like someone works there."  With that smile on his face, I wasn't about to explain it to him.  Now that it was my turn, I simply said, "Hi!"  He smiled and said, "Hi, how ya doing...who's it to?"  I told him and he asked how to spell it.  I spelled it for him, and he signed his autograph, while repeating the last two letters of my name aloud to himself.  While he signed, I asked whether or not he had heard from Kevin since he abandoned him.  The smile disappeared, and I thought for a moment I had made a mistake by asking, but as he spoke, his smile returned.  From what little time I was able to watch him, he takes all questions seriously, and answers them likewise, seriously and truthfully.  That was my honest impression anyway.  He told me he had called his machine the night before, and there was a message from him, he had called last night.  I asked if he was still in England, and he told me no, he was home.  I asked if he was all done, meaning did he have anymore shooting for the show, possibly stateside, but Randy said yeah, he was done.  I jokingly asked if he had done a good job, which because of the room noise, he misunderstood.  He smiled HUGE, and said THANK YOU.  I would have said something about him next, but now I didn't have to.  By mistake, he had gotten what I had really wanted to say to him, but had been a little to embarrased to.  Fate works in mysterious ways.  On that note, I was ready to leave, but my buddy reminded me that the woman in front of us had offered to take our picture with him, with her camera.  Now I was never one for that sort of thing, and would have happily let it slide if she had forgotten.  However, he heard, stood up still smiling, held out his arm, and said "Come here."  Not a problem.  MAN is he tall.  He put his around my shoulders, and my friend and the two boys moved in for the picture.  It took them a minute to get settled into places.  Then the lady took the picture.  "I said, "Thanks Alot!" to which he answered whole heartedly, "Your Welcome!"  WHAT A NICE GUY!

We all split from the mall to find a one hour photo place, got a set of prints made, and returned to find the line was now much shorter.  We jumped in at the end.  Right after we did so, a man approached us, and asked what it was for.  I showed him a picture and just said "him."  The man all in black told him his name.  He started going on about how he used to love that show and how he'd been watching it again on TVLAND.  Needless to say, he stayed in line behind us.  On the way to the mall, we had gone through the pictures.  We saw one that made is appear just like Randy was singing.  My friend claimed that one for him to sign for her.  She told me she was going to ask him to name his favorite song, then show it to him, and tell him she was going to tell everyone he sang at this event, and tell them the song.  She told me I should have him go through the rest of the pictures, and have him choose one for himself to sign for me.  I agreed it would be interesting to see which one he would pick out, but I couldn't see him sitting there, going through them.  I picked out my favorite, and placed it on top of the stack.  When we got up to him again, sure enough, Hollie (guess I should just say her name) asked him his favorite song.  You could see the poor man's mind go completely blank.  He sat stunned for a minute, but she wasn't letting him off the hook.  I felt bad for him, so I told him just to name a song.  It was un-necessary, because he was slowly coming up with the answer.  He said, "ahhhh, Bob Seger's............Old Time Rock and Roll."  Great one I thought to myself.  Then she told him why she asked, and handed him the picture.  He laughed at it and signed it for her on request.  Then she told him to pick one out to sign for me, so I went ahead and handed him the stack.  He smiled very politely, and offered to sign the top one, which was the one I had picked out.  As he signed, he joked "What's that on his lip...oh...never mind."  I knew the beard was new, having seen pictures from the Project 51 tour, but I never would have said a word about it.  Leave it to him to do it himself!  I asked him, "what is that anyway...is that for a part?"  He said yeah, a movie, filming for six weeks in India.  He said it very slowly, like he wasn't too sure about going to India.  I was happy with the news, wanting to see him acting once more.  I asked if he knew what the name of it was going to be.  He stammered a bit, so I let him off the hook by saying for him that he couldn't reall say yet.  He said yeah, he hadn't signed yet so, then knocked on the table.  I told him good luck and he said thanks.  I got ready to leave, but I was pinned in by people talking, so I just stood there as he spoke to the last man in line who was telling him in a very excited way about how he always used to love that show, and watched it all the time.  After the man left, I was still pinned in, waiting for my friend to finish talking to some lady she was talking to.  Since he was still sitting there,  I asked if he had written the first script for USAR yet and he answerd no, they are still trying to sell it, and explained that it was a Long process.  I wanted to ask why it was he had to wait until the show is sold,  to write it, but I didn't want to be pushy or seem argumentitive; so, I just told him good luck, and that I wanted to see the show.  We took the boys downstairs to play some video games, but after a few minutes, I decided to go back upstairs to see if he was still there.  He was, but he encircled by a small group of people, and no longer seated at the table.  He had his glasses on, and was struggleing to read something very small.  I saw the cable guy who had taped the event in the circle.  Since I work in the commercial production department of a cable company myself, and had talked to him earlier, I got brave, and decided to go talk to him again.  I asked how it went, and what he was taping it for.  He said it was for proof of performance.  Someone asked if he, Randy, was ready, and he said yeah.  In a pack, they walked him through one end of the building, assumingly to some back area.  I had to laugh.  He was so much taller than everyone else, it looked like some zebra's, walking with a giraffe.

The next day, I went hiking in Turner Falls, in the Arbuckle Mountains, then drove the eight and a half hours home.  I remembered wondering if all the driving, and motel costs etc. would be worth it...It was!


Sage Rory  February 2001


Editor's note:  These pictures are not "right click" protected.  If you want to copy them, please do, but only for your own personal use.  Thanks Sage!






  
Sage Rory's encounter with Randy Mantooth