South Fellini Presents Legends of Philadelphia

Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff are a songwriting and production duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre, also known as the Philly sound of the 70s. In addition to forming their own label, Philadelphia International Records, Gamble and Huff have written and produced 175 gold and platinum records, earning them a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. Today we’re going be...

The Trocadero Theatre, originally the Arch Street Opera House, was a historic theater located in Chinatown, Philadelphia. Opening in 1870, The Troc offered musical comedies, vaudeville, opera, and burlesque. The Theatre was refurbished for use as an art house cinema and fine arts theatre in the 1970s, and by the 1990s it had become an iconic venue for rock and punk concerts. Today we’re going to t...

In 1987, the NFL players went on strike for the second time in six years. What was different this time was that when the veterans walked out, the owners brought in replacement players. Random guys off the street wearing official NFL team uniforms played three games that actually counted for the regular-season. While most teams were being staffed by scabs some big name players did actually cross th...

We wanted to talk about some Philly television history so we put it out there to the audience and let our instagram followers decide between American BandStand and Captain Noah. And the Captain pulled out a resounding win with more than 60% of the vote. If you don’t know, Captain Noah and His Magical Ark was a children's television program broadcast in the Philadelphia area from 1967 to 1994. It w...

We’re in our 23rd week of the podcast which is a pretty neat achievement I think. And we thought it was time to slow things down and take 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 befor...

Unfortunately one sporting event that won’t be happening this year is the 2020 Tokyo olympics. That would have been a few weeks ago if the world wasn’t dealing with COVID-19. But this isn’t the first time the Olympics have been canceled/postponed/disrupted. In 1980, at the height of the cold war, the USA decided to skip the Moscow summer olympics. Instead the US opted to host their own olympic cer...

This week we’re going to do something a little different. We’re going to talk about a product South Fellini offers. It’s called The Palette of Philadelphia. It’s a carefully assembled list of pigments sourced from around the city and each one corresponds to a person, place, or food that is essential to Philly.  So in this episode we’re going to try to explain the inside jokes and references behind...

This week we thought it would be a good chance to talk about the importance of sanitation workers in Philadelphia. Among the many side effects of Covid has been a noticeable slow-down in our trash collection services right now. Some of the old timers are particularly nervous about the lingering piles of trash -- because they’ve seen it before. Mountains of garbage piled twenty foot high, oozing pu...

Our deep dive into the stationary vessels of the Delaware River continues this week. Today we examine the SS United States, a derelict cruise liner parked outside of Ikea, and The Hooters Boat, a long gone relic of the tacky 80's craze. The SS Untied States is famous for being the fastest liner to ever cross the Atlantic Ocean but now it doesn't go anywhere. The Hooters Boat was in service for 100...

Zito was supposed to be on a honeymoon cruise right now, but since that’s not happening, he has time to chat about the most seaworthy vessels of the Delaware river. The waterway that separates Philly from Jersey is home to tugboats, garbage scows, private yachts, oil tankers and more. So hoist the sails, shovel more coal in the furness, and grab a paddle; cause we’re gonna take a deep dive into th...

It is getting hot out there So we thought it might be fun to talk about the city’s signature fruity, frozen snack; water ice (or Italian Ice). It's an icy treat made from water, sugar and some sort of flavoring — usually fruit. It is firmer than a slushy, softer than sorbet and lighter than a snow cone. So today we’re going to try to explain what it is. And why is it so popular. Where it came from...

Welcome back to our two parter on South Street. By the 1950s, South Street was mainly a garment district, with stores for men's suits and other clothing, while the more western areas around South Street served as a cultural and commercial center for South Philadelphia's African American community. Real estate values plummeted after city planner Edmund Bacon and others proposed the Crosstown Expres...

Today we’re going to do the history of South Street, the bohemian, punk, alternative stretch of bars and shops that divides South Philly from the rest of civilization in Center City. But that wasn’t always the case, originally known as Cedar Street, it was the southernmost point of Philadelphia. It was the final frontier before settlers would find themselves treading through increasingly swampy wi...

This week, with people starting to head to the jersey shore for summer vacation, we thought it might be interesting to take a look at the Jersey Devil (also known as the Leeds Devil). For almost 250 years Jerseyans have told tales of this mythical beast that stalks the Pine Barrens and terrorizes local residents. There has been an evolving folklore that surrounds the Jersey Devil and even if the m...

ECW was a Philadelphia born wrestling league unlike any other that came before it. Extreme Championship Wrestling was rough and tough, they were local guys who invented the gory, modern wrestling that WWE utilize now. Listen in as we talk about Sandman, Terry Funk, Blue Meanie, and more; legends of South Philly's most famous squared circle on Ritner and Swanson. This very special episode of Legend...

After weeks of listening to our hoagie mouth accents we thought it might be fun to talk about why we sound “dis way”. The Philly Accent (also known as Philadelphia English) is very unique, diverging from similar east coast cities in our vowel and consonant pronunciation. We’ve also got our own special words and portmanteaus that can be hard to decipher. So, today we’re going to have a little vocab...

We thought we’d do something a little different this week.  The podcast has been going for ten episodes now. Which is pretty consistent for a new side project. At the risk of patting ourselves on the back too hard; we thought today we could take a look back at our own history.  One of the great things about doing this podcast is that it’s been a great conversation starter with our friend...

Last week we talked about Philadelphia’s 1876 World’s Fair which doubled as a centennial celebration for the signing of the Declaration of Independence. There’s no easy way to put it but the 1926 sequel was not well thought of. A victim of bad luck, bad weather, and bad planning; the Sesquicentennial was destined to fail. Today we’re going to take a deep dive into the biggest party in South Philly...

Well, last week we touched briefly on the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. And that got some people asking if there had ever been a World’s Fair in Philadelphia.  The answer is yes; actually there were two international exhibitions hosted in Philadelphia; the Centennial in 1876 and the Sesqui-Centennial in 1926. They were celebrated in Fairmount and South Philly respectively.  World leaders, inventor...

Luckily it only feels like we’re trapped in South Philly but it wasn’t that long ago you could be locked up for life in South Philly’s Moyamensing Prison. Located at Passyunk Avenue and Reed Street, where the Acme Supermarket sits today; the prison was built in 1835 and operated until 1963 and wasn’t demolished until 1968. Over the years there were hundreds of executions at Moyamensing prison and...

Since we’re all trapped indoors it might be a good opportunity to talk about the great outdoors. Philadelphia is not a very woodsy place but the city is home to lots of wild creatures. Unfortunately not all of these animals are welcome, most of them don’t belong here at all. So this week we want to talk about Philly’s MOST invasive species.

With the interest of being topical we thought this might be a good chance to talk about the history of Philly Outbreaks. COVID-19 isn’t this city’s first brush with pandemics, there were even a few deadly diseases that originated in Philly. So today we want talk about the Yellow Fever Outbreak, the Spanish Flu Pandemic, and the Origins of Legionnaires Disease. Maybe by taking a look at how the cit...

This week, we’re going to tackle one of the greatest movies ever made in Philadelphia.  It’s about a talented underdog who just can’t get ahead in life, everyone thinks he’s a bum.  Then he meets the girl of his dreams and she inspires him to go the distance. That’s right, if you can’t tell already, I’m talking about the 1987 classic; Mannequin, starring Kim Cattral and Andrew McCarthy. Prepare yo...

Veteran’s stadium was home to the Philadelphia Phillies and Eagles from 1971 to 2003. The giant arena, which looked like a concrete donut, was notorious for its unwelcoming atmosphere and terrible astroturf field. The facility was labyrinthian, the seats were almost never filled to capacity and it was a filthy, filthy place. Today we’re going to explore the history of this old, ugly ballpark and u...

We’re jumping right into the outerlimits with today’s topic; The Philadelphia Experiment. This one has it all; Einstein, World War II, and alien technology. As the story goes, the government secretly develops some crazy new weapons to beat the nazis and save the world. But something goes horribly during one of their experiments and there are deadly consequences. So, our plan is to take a look at t...