South Fellini Presents Legends of Philadelphia

We kinda touched on the subject in our 50th anniversary episode but philly proudly boasts a long history of springtime pastries. There are a ton of great bakeries around town, some dating back to the late 1800’s, that keep these traditions alive. There’s Fasnachts on Fat Tuesday, Irish Potatoes on St Patty’s Day, Zeppoles on St Joe’s day, Easter Bread and Philadelphia Cheesecake. So today we want...

Herr's is a Pennsylvania-based brand of snack foods most notable for their variety of potato chip flavors. While their products are sold throughout the Eastern United States and Canada, the 1oz chip bags have been a staple of Philadelphia lunches for as long as anyone can remember. So today we’re going to dive into Herr’s history and try to discover the tastiest and rarest flavor chip.

I think we can all agree that the most eventful thing to happen in the year of 2020 was the launch of the South Fellini podcast: Legends Of Philadelphia. And today we’re celebrating our 50th episode. Usually we take a pause every ten episodes to look back at the previous episodes to discuss some errors and omissions. To mark the special occasion we’re going to do some Q&A as well. So settle in...

For as long as people have inhabited Philadelphia and the surrounding area, dogs have been present, too. European immigrants to the Philadelphia region valued dogs for their utility and labor. In the 20th century they became household pets and members of the family. But in the 1990s a panic over wild dogs roaming the streets grabbed headlines and caused hysteria across the city. Today we’re gonna...

Chuck Barris was a game show creator, producer, and host. Barris was known for hosting The Gong Show and creating The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game. But in the 1980’s Chuck published a book alleging he was actually a secret CIA operative fighting communists around the world. The rowdy game shows, mixing fact and fiction; many critics accuse Chuck Barris of giving birth to reality tv. So join u...

Sherman Hemsley was an American actor, best known for his role as George Jefferson on the CBS television series All in the Family and The Jeffersons. George Jefferson was frequently opinionated, rude, bigoted, prone to scheming and not particularly intelligent. But the real life Sherman was a secret hippie who’s truest passions edged closer to singing and dancing than sitcom stardom. So on today’s...

Most people make the assumption that New York City birthed graffiti. While the Big Apple certainly made it famous, the credit actually goes to a Philadelphia legend, CORNBREAD, whose unique tag resonated through the City of Brotherly Love beginning in the late '60s. Darryl McCray, better known by his tagging name "Cornbread", is the original graffiti bomber. During the late 1960s, he and a group o...

While A.I. was never able to capture an NBA Championship he did win an MVP, four scoring titles, 11 All-Star appearances, and in 2016 he was inducted into the basketball hall of fame. Maybe his greatest achievement was his mastery of merchandise. In addition to having one the most popular jerseys in history, A.I. curated a signature sneaker line at Reebok. The series makes up the second longest-ru...

Back in the 80’s the number one morning radio show in Philadelphia was hosted by whacky, walrus mustached John DeBella and his Zoo Crew. Their light hearted pranks, high energy interviews, and endlessly entertaining sound effects kept drivers occupied on the long waits in Schuylkill expressway traffic. But quick on his heels was drive-time rival Howard Stern, soon to be the most famous shock jock...

The Flyers–Red Army game was a famous international ice hockey game played on January 11, 1976, between the Philadelphia Flyers of the North America-based National Hockey League, and the Central Sports Club of the Army Moscow, also known as the "Red Army Team" of the Soviet Union. So today we’re going to talk about how south philly won the cold war.

James Joseph Croce, Jim Croce, was an American singer-songwriter from South Philadelphia. Between 1966 and 1973, Croce released five studio albums and numerous singles. In the early 1970’s he regularly charted and even had a few number one songs on Billboard. His career was just starting to succeed when he tragically died in a plane crash at 30 years old. His folk rock styling survives on FM radio...

The Fleer Corporation, originally headquartered in Olney, holds a special position in the history and development of two quintessentially American activities: bubble gum and baseball cards. Fleer continues to manufacture more than four million pieces of its Dubble Bubble--the original bubble gum--each day. As one of the top three trading card companies, along with Topps and Donruss, Fleer sells ab...

Joseph William Frazier was a professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. Frazier was based out of Philadelphia and developed a reputation for his strength, durability, and relentless pressure fighting style. He reigned as the undisputed heavyweight champion from 1970 to 1973, and was the first boxer to beat Muhammad Ali. So for our first episode of 2021 we’re gonna square up with the legend...

It doesn’t come up as often as it should but on Christmas night, 1776, General George Washington and his Revolutionary troops met just outside Philadelphia.  They planned to secretly cross the Delaware River so that they could surprise King George’s mercenary troops celebrating the holiday in New Jersey. So, grab some eggnog and get comfy, we’re going to talk about the Battle of Trenton.

We’re going to do something a little different this episode.  There are all these cool, Philly Christmas things we wanted to talk about but there’s not enough content to talk about any one of these subjects for 60 minutes.  So we’re lumping them together in a kind of stocking stuffer episode. One the list today we’re gonna cover Kindy’s, star cookies, and the beloved christmas lotto commercial.

Normally, this time of year, as shoppers raced to buy last-minute gifts for the holidays, Macy’s in Center City would host the annual Christmas Light Show in the Grand Court atrium. The beloved Philadelphia tradition boasts 100,000 lights intricately arranged four stories high and perched above the world’s biggest pipe organ. The show, which began in 1956, spawned a few imitators, entertained coun...

For many Italian-Americans, Christmas Eve brings with it a nostalgia-fueled celebration. This hours-long dinner consists of at least seven different types of seafood and as many family members as you can squeeze in the room. Firmly rooted in Italy’s Roman Catholic background, the Feast of Seven Fish is a delicious blend of the sacred and secular, the old world and the new.

When we talk about “thanksgiving day parades” most people think of New York, and Macy’s, and 34th street. But the truth is that the first thanksgiving day parade was right here in Philadelphia. If that wasn't enough of a contribution to the commercialization of the holiday season; the “Black Friday” tradition and name were born here too. So today we’re looking back at the history of Philly’s War o...

Robert Crumb is a dirty cartoonist whose independent comic work is known for satirizing contemporary American culture. Inspired by psychedelics and cartoons from the 1920s, Crumb published the first successful underground magazine, Zap Comix. Though his work often flirted with scatological and pornographic themes, Crumb is best known for creating counter cultural icons Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural,...

We’re in our 33rd week of the podcast which is a pretty neat achievement I think. And we’d like to slow things down for a look back at the past ten episodes.  One of the most fun things about doing Legends of Philadelphia are all the great comments, emails, and DMs we get on the social medias. Listeners clued us in when we were wrong and shared new stuff that we didn’t know before. So, today we’re...

We’ve had a lot of heavy topics the last few weeks since we were gearing up for halloween. But all that is behind us now and so we thought we’d enjoy a lil palette cleanser today.  Numerous regional variations of pizza in the United States have been developed, with many bearing only a casual resemblance to the Italian original. The thickness of the crust, the density of the cheese, the consistency...

Locals know the night before Halloween as Mischief Night. The term isn't used everywhere, and it sometimes confuses newcomers to the Philadelphia region. Mischief Night is an informal holiday on which children and teenagers engage in pranks and vandalism. In practice, this night is the “trick” part of “trick-or-treat” and not everyone agrees how it ended up that way. So we’re gonna take a look at...

With its looming, gloomy high stone walls, crumbling corridors, and stark cells that once housed thousands of hard-core criminals, Eastern State Penitentiary certainly looks haunted. Its 142-year history is full of suicide, madness, disease, murder and torture, making it easy to imagine the spirits of troubled souls left behind to roam its abandoned halls. So today we’re going to do some ghostbust...

Joseph William "Joey" Coyle was an unemployed longshoreman in Philadelphia who, in February 1981, found $1.2 million in the street, after it had fallen out of the back of an armored car, and kept it. His story was adapted into the 1993 film Money for Nothing, starring John Cusack. Today we’re going to take a look at the true story behind the disney legend.

In 1976, Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter managed to convince sitting President Gerald Ford to meet for three historic, prime time debates. Americans hadn’t witnessed such a political contest in 16 years and were eager for the face off.  Philly’s Walnut Street Theater was the location chosen for the first debate of the modern era but, unfortunately, it was a bit of a disaster. So, in today’s episode...