The Professor

The previous reviewer connects Roy's mysterious admirer, Susan St. John, to an actress who was (at the time of the show) starring on MacMillan & Wife. This is incorrect. The actress who played on MacMillan & Wife was Susan Saint JAMES, not Saint John. Whether the writers of Emergency purposely used a name similar to a known actress is unknowable, but perhaps they simply thought that the name Susan Saint John sounded fancy and classy. In any case, regarding this episode of Emergency, any references to MacMillan & Wife in particular, or network synergy in general, should be disregarded.

And btw, why SHOULDN'T Roy have an admirer? Johnny's a hot-head and gets obsessed with crazy ideas. Roy is level-headed and supremely capable at his job.

This episode begins with Chet informing Roy that a girl's been trying to reach him on the phone. Naturally Johnny wants to know all and eventually Roy explains he'd helped extricate her from a wrecked automobile on Johnny's day off. Just around the midpoint of the episode - while Roy and Johnny are chatting with Dr. Early - the girl calls Rampart ER. Dr. Early hands Roy the phone telling him that Susan Saint John would like to speak to him.

After I watched on Hulu, I went back and found the scene again to be certain I hadn't misheard the name. Susan Saint John was a very popular actress in this era and was starring in another NBC series, McMillan & Wife, produced by Universal (which distributed Emergency!).

It's remotely possible that the writer just liked the name and used it but more likely Emergency! was saluting another NBC/Universal show (a subliminal reminder to viewers to tune in Sunday night for McMillan & Wife?). A third possibility that occurs to me is that Bobby Troup forgot the name of the girl and renamed her with the first female name that popped into his head.

In any case, it's an amusing bit trivia in a particularly taut and well-written episode. Set against the serious nature of the Professor's illness and the various other calls the paramedics handle, Johnny's ongoing teasing of Roy about his female admirer and lack of charisma provides a welcome leavening of humor.