The 52 Weeks of Firsts Podcast

Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1920 as a holiday promotion for Gimbels department store. More than a century later, it has outlasted the retailer that created it and become a tradition for generations of families. In this episode, host Marisa Magnatta talks with 6abc’s Alicia Vitarelli about how the parade grew, how the station helped keep it alive, and what it takes to bring the annual spectacle to life today.

Before today’s endless lineup of murder mysteries and true-crime stories, there was Edgar Allan Poe. In 1841, Poe published The Murders in the Rue Morgue, a short story widely recognized as the first modern detective story, introducing readers to C. Auguste Dupin, a brilliant investigator who solves a seemingly impossible crime through observation, logic, and deduction. In this episode, host Marisa Magnatta talks with Chris, Poe scholar, author, and curator of the Poe Museum, about how Poe helped invent the detective genre, the surprising ways his work influenced generations of mystery writers, and what makes a great detective story stand the test of time. Plus, they explore Poe’s Philadelphia connections and the wonderfully weird ways his legacy lives on today.

Long before Hollywood, and before the word “movie” even existed, 1,500 Philadelphians sat in the Academy of Music and watched photographs come to life. In 1870, chemist and inventor Henry Heyl turned the crank on his phasmatrope and projected an acrobat, a talking character, and a waltzing couple onto a screen, all timed to a live orchestra. In this episode, host Marisa Magnatta talks with Sam Katz, founder of History Making Productions and executive producer of Before Hollywood: Philadelphia and the Birth of the Movies, about the inventors, filmmakers, and innovations that put Philadelphia on the cinematic map, why the region has remained a creative force, and what its future in filmmaking could look like.

Before the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps became the military institutions we know today, their stories were taking shape in Philadelphia, and one tavern became part of the legend. Tun Tavern was a bustling waterfront gathering place for sailors, merchants, Freemasons, and community organizations, and it’s best known for its connection to the founding of the Marine Corps in 1775. Though the tavern was torn down in 1781, Marine Corps veteran Pat Dailey is working to bring it back, not just as a monument to military history, but as a place for community, shared heritage, and giving back. 

When we talk about the history of Philadelphia, we often begin with William Penn. But the story of the people who lived here begins thousands of years before Penn ever arrived. Host Marisa Magnatta is joined by Jeremy Johnson, Cultural Education Director for the Delaware Tribe of Indians, to explore the history, culture and traditions of the Lenape people, from their ancestral homelands in the Delaware Valley to the generations of displacement and adaptation that followed European colonization, and the resilience, identity and cultural traditions that continue today.

What if one of America’s earliest attempts at prison reform helped create a system that would eventually become a cautionary tale about incarceration? Host Marisa Magnatta is joined by Dr. Kerry Sautner, President and CEO of Eastern State Penitentiary, to explore the story behind America’s first true penitentiary, from its radical idea of solitary confinement as a path to rehabilitation, to the problems that emerged from that system, and the questions Eastern State’s history raises about incarceration in America today.

Families were driving hundreds of miles to Philadelphia so their kids could get treated, then sleeping in hospital waiting rooms because there was nowhere else to go. This episode tells the story of the first Ronald McDonald House, which opened in West Philadelphia in 1974 and has since been copied more than 390 times around the world. Host Marisa Magnatta is joined by Susan Campbell, CEO of Ronald McDonald House Philadelphia - the original House, along with Philadelphia native Marnie Schneider, whose family was part of the Eagles community behind it, and who now serves on the board of a Ronald McDonald House in North Carolina.

How did thirteen separate colonies become the United States? Why did the name emerge when it did? And why might the most important word in the name be “United”? Host Marisa Magnatta is joined by Dr. Emma Hart, professor of American history at the University of Pennsylvania and director of Penn’s McNeil Center for Early American Studies, to explore how America got its name, why Philadelphia played such a central role, and what that name meant to the people creating a new country 250 years ago.

Twelve colonies. Seven weeks. One room. In 1774, delegates locked themselves in Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia trying to stop a revolution. They were trying to negotiate with Britain, to preserve the old system. But what they built instead became the machinery for American independence. Host Marisa Magnatta talks with Michael Norris, Executive Director of The Carpenters' Company, about the decisions, the debates, and the irony of history made inside that room.

After four months of debate, compromise, and behind-the-scenes negotiations, 39 delegates gathered in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787, to sign a document that would reshape the United States: the Constitution. But the moment was far from unanimous, and some of the biggest questions facing the new nation remained unresolved. Host Marisa Magnatta is joined by Tom Donnelly of the National Constitution Center to explore what really happened on that historic day.