L'Italo-Americano

vidual banks for San Francis- co, Stockton, and Los Ange- l e s . G i a n n i n i w a n t e d t o model the system after what existed in Italy, France, and Canada, where there was a c e n t r a l b a n k a n d t h e n branches. This idea was seen as un-American and against the principles of banking at the time. "What do Italians k n o w a b o u t b a n k s ? " t h e y said. "What does a farmer know?" But Giannini brought in the branch system, and as a result, his bank was one of the few that didn't fail during the 1929 crisis. What was his contribu- tion to the film industry? When he arrived in Los Angeles, he noticed the city was on the verge of expan- sion, growing from 500,000 to 2.5 million people in ten years. He was among the first to finance the film industry, granting loans to various H o l l y w o o d c o m p a n i e s , including Mary Pickford's United Artists and Charlie access to banking services, so all of his bank's brochures were printed in multiple lan- guages, so that Polish, Ital- i a n , a n d L a t i n A m e r i c a n immigrants could use them. Additionally, when the time came for women's suffrage in California in 1911, he was the only banker to give women access to their own accounts. Before that, women could only go to the bank with their husband or father. This move was not well received, and f u r t h e r m o r e , h i s b a n k ' s d e p a r t m e n t w a s r u n b y women so that they could speak to other women, spar- ing them the need to interact with men. Today, this doesn't seem like a big deal, but at the time, it was a revolution- ary step. In what other ways did he change the banking world? B y i n t r o d u c i n g b r a n c h banking in the United States, which didn't exist before. Previously, there were indi- Chaplin in 1923. When Walt Disney went over budget by $ 2 m i l l i o n w h i l e making Snow White, Gianni- ni helped him with a loan. He even created a film depart- ment with Cecil B. DeMille b e c a u s e h e b e l i e v e d t h e industry had a future. It's also worth noting that Bank of Italy existed in Los Angeles before the City Hall we see today. Giannini acquired a b a n k t h e r e , t h e B a n k o f America of Los Angeles, and decided he wanted to expand f r o m C a l i f o r n i a t o W a l l Street. This led him to change the bank's name from Bank of Italy to Bank of America. Returning to the docu- m e n t a r y , w h o d i d y o u interview to reconstruct his life? For the family aspect, we interviewed his granddaugh- ters, Virginia Hammerness and Anne McWilliams, who grew up with him. Sadly, one o f t h e m h a s s i n c e p a s s e d away. We also interviewed photographer Alessandro Baccari, who documented San Francisco from 1925 to 1980, focusing particularly on the Italian-American com- munity. He personally knew Giannini, who mentored him in his photography career. Other interviewees include h i s t o r i a n D e a n n a P a o l i Gumina, author of The Ital- ians of San Francisco 1850- 1930, the first bilingual histo- r y o f a n e t h n i c g r o u p ; Professor Sarah Quincy from Vanderbilt University, who helped us understand the economic context of the time; f o r m e r c o n s u l L o r e n z o Ortona, and Catherine Ste- fani, who currently works in the office of the Mayor of San Francisco. W h a t m e m o r i e s d i d B a c c a r i s h a r e a b o u t Giannini, having known him personally? Baccari, a family friend, shared that Giannini advised him never to lose his Italian name. Although Baccari was b o r n i n A m e r i c a a n d h i s teachers wanted to change his name from Alessandro to Alexander, Giannini told him not to do it. "Your name is important, it tells people who you are and where you come from. Keep this diversity." help them, giving them a place to safely keep their sav- ings instead of under their mattresses. Ironically, the 1906 San Francisco earth- quake marked another great turning point for him. "Gian- nini was the only banker will- i n g t o g r a n t l o a n s . O t h e r banks hoarded their money to rebuild their buildings, while Giannini gave it to peo- p l e s o t h e y c o u l d s t a r t rebuilding their lives." Upon arriving in San Francisco, Giannini gathered all the money and documents and fled to San Mateo, where he hid them in a chimney. "This was his brilliance because people began to believe in him. It's no coincidence he was nicknamed 'the People's Banker.'" G i a n n i n i ' s d e f i n i n g trait was responding to the needs of the people. H o w d i d t h i s a s p e c t evolve over time? In many ways. Giannini wanted immigrants to have T h e c i t y o f S a n Francisco owes its most famous symbol, the Gold- en Gate Bridge, to t h e I t a l i a n - A m e r i c a n Amedeo Peter Giannini. Born in San José in 1870 to G e n o e s e i m m i g r a n t s a n d known for founding the Bank of America, Giannini sup- ported and financed the pro- j e c t o f e n g i n e e r J o s e p h Strauss, who, before meeting him, had faced numerous objections and the challenges of the Great Depression. Both men shared the vision of fully serving the growth of Califor- nia, a vision celebrated by the city of San Francisco with a p l a q u e c a l l e d M e n o f V i s i o n . N o w , G i a n n i n i ' s o t h e r i n c r e d i b l e a c h i e v e - ments are recounted in a doc- umentary, A Little Fellow, which will premiere on Octo- ber 8 at the Italian Cultur- al Institute of San Fran- cisco. T h e d i r e c t o r , D a v i d e Fiore, who moved to the Bay A r e a i n 2 0 1 7 f r o m T u r i n , decided to tell the life story of the man who revolutionized the world of banking after stumbling upon the plaque dedicated to him and realiz- ing that no one had yet paid homage to his successes. "His story seems like a Hollywood script," Fiore tells us. He immediately identified with Giannini's dreamer nature. Like all dreamers, Giannini started from humble begin- nings, helping his father in agriculture. His first real opportunity came after his m a r r i a g e t o C l o r i n d a Cuneo, the daughter of a b a n k e r , w h o i n t r o d u c e d G i a n n i n i t o t h e w o r l d o f banking. "At the time, banks didn't help ordinary people. You couldn't open a bank account if you didn't own property. If you were a fisher- man, teacher, or policeman, not only could you not open an account, but you had no access to loans. This didn't sit well with Giannini." After resigning and open- ing his own bank, Giannini went door-to-door explaining to people that his bank would The Poster of A Little Fellow, the documentary by Davide Fiore dedicated to A.P. Giannini A documentary tells the story of the world's greatest banker, Italian-American A.P. Giannini SILVIA NITTOLI HERITAGE MEMORIA IDENTITÀ STORIA RADICI THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2024 www.italoamericano.org 32 L'Italo-Americano

• Cover