In episode 6 of "Emergency!", "Dealer's Wild," the storyline about a
boy played by Buddy Foster http://www.imdb.com/name/nm028 7711/ flying
a plane after his father falls ill and having to be talked down is
almost identical, word-for-word, to a short story titled "Kid at the
Stick," by Mike
Miller, with the exception that instead of a paramedic talking the kid
down it was an air traffic controller who had brought in his best
friend for a crackup. It appeared in Redbook Magazine, August 1957,
and was published in the Junior High School textbooks "Adventures for
Readers, Book One," edited by Elizabeth C. O'Daly and Egbert W. Nieman.
New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1963, and "Variations:
Ideas in Literature, Book 1," edited by Leland B. Jacobs and Shelton L.
Root, Jr. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Books, Inc., 1966.
Although these two books were by different editors and different
publishers from different years, strange to say they contain a lot of
the same stories. "Variations" was my Junior High School English
textbook, and books from the series of which "Adventures for Readers"
was one were used as high school textbooks while I was in school. I
can't be the only person in America who both had one of these books in
school, and saw this show, but I may be the only one who's interested
as I've never found anyone else who is. I even sent a photocopy of
the story to Buddy Foster (yes, the address was right--I verified it--)
with a letter saying how much I enjoyed his work, and the little
weasel never even answered.
If anyone else noticed the resemblance between these stories, or knows
any background of how this became an "Emergency!" episode, or knows of
any other E! episode segments first appearing in other forms, please
speak up! Thanks.
Cori
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