Fat Albert first appeared in l967 during one of Bill Cosby’s stand-up comedy routines. The character of Fat Albert was based on Cosby’s tales about the neighborhood where he grew up in North Phillie.  He had a distinctive voice; you knew Fat Albert was around because of his distinctive baritone, “Hey Hey Hey.” All the high school kids I taught in West Phillie in the late Sixties greeted each other in the hallways with “Hey, Hey Hey”. You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing his voice.

In 1970, I...