In South Philly, a new ending for an old movie

In the black-and-white film, father and son hawk fish on a Ninth Street that is no more.

Thomas Anastasi, father, dreamer, lover, gambler. A cigarette dangling from his lips, he's tired of the long days hauling, gutting, and selling fish. He's thinking of buying that brand-new 1977 Cadillac, a $14,000 car, how he's earned it, how all his life he had nothing. He's thinking of traveling the world.

Salvatore Anastasi. Blond, shaggy-haired, easygoing 18-year-old Salvy. His thoughts are on pretty Carol, of their wedding just days away, of taking over the family business and making his way in the world.

Two generations of fish men - in a long line of fish men.

The moment comes from A Chicken in Every Pot, a fly-on-the-wall documentary made by two Temple film students, Thomas Ott and Jan Krawitz, in 1978.

Along with two other Krawitz films - including a now-iconic short film shot entirely on the Broad Street Line in 1976 - the 30-minute film will be shown Wednesday at the International House of Philadelphia as part of its historical film series, Archive Fever.

"The idea is to offer a glimpse of Philly as it was - to go looking back in time," said Len Guercio, manager of Temple's digital cinema lab and host of the event.

The film offers a portal into a bygone Philadelphia, a bygone Italian Market.

Here is the Italian grocer, proper in his necktie and apron: "If I stop work, they will have to call the undertaker."

Here is the cheese salesman who speaks with the cadences of an opera singer, declaring his Abruzzese cheese "delizioso!"

But it is also a glimpse into the generational workings of a Philadelphia family - a family of fish men. Of father and son - and teenage sweethearts. Of Thomas and Sal and Carol.

Here is Thomas bringing Ninth Street to an excited halt as he proudly pulls up in his brand-new Cadillac, the color of which is lost in the black and white. His son, he predicts, will "have a much better life than mine."

Here is Sal dreaming of a home in the suburbs.

Here is Carol telling of her dreams: "Just to be happy, that's all. To be with my husband, my children. That's it. That's what I want."

And there are Sal and Carol, just 18 and 17, on their wedding night, strolling down Ninth Street, yelling, "Good night!"

That's where the film ends - with no ending. With two kids waving in the night with all their unrealized dreams ahead of them.

"A mint-green 1977 Cadillac Seville," Carol Anastasi said Monday, as clear as if her father-in-law had pulled up yesterday.

Thomas Anastasi never got to travel the world. He retired from the fish shop and ran numbers. He saw a little of Florida and a lot of the casinos in Atlantic City.

He lent Sal and Carol his Cadillac for their wedding.

"Our limousine," Sal said.

Thomas Anastasi died eight years after the film was made, taking ill suddenly in a bar.

In his way, he lived a wonderful life, Sal said.

Sal and Carol never left for the suburbs. In the end, they never wanted to.

"We got married and had a beautiful life," Sal said.

"We really did," Carol said.

Sal expanded the fish shop into the Anastasi Seafood restaurant, which he runs with his sister Janet. He and Carol raised two children in a home just a block from the market.

Thomas, a chef named after his grandfather, owns a restaurant in Bala Cynwyd. Mia recently opened the Anastasi Raw Bar restaurant in Manayunk.

On Easter, Sal and Carol celebrated 39 years of marriage.

Every year, on their anniversary, Carol wears her wedding nightgown.

"It's called a peignoir," she said. "It's a really special nightgown and I have the slippers and it's just as beautiful as the day I got it."

"We are very traditional," she said, with a laugh.

With the kids gone, they sold their house last year and moved into an apartment. They want to travel more.

They will be there Wednesday to see the movie, knowing, at last, the ending. A happy one this time.

mnewall@phillynews.com

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