As a fan of San Jose history, it was a real treat to watch “A Little Fellow: The Legacy of A.P. Giannini,” which had its premiere at the Cinequest film festival on Thursday night. The documentary explores the life of the founder of the Bank of Italy, which later became the Bank of America, and the title comes from his reputation for helping out the “little guy” that other banks would ignore.
The Hammer Theatre Center was packed for the screening, and the audience included not only current Bank of America executives and employees, but also descendants of Giannini and leaders from San Jose’s Italian-American community.
In 1904, Giannini founded the Bank of Italy, which became the Bank of America in 1930. Local history buffs know that while the bank started in San Francisco, its first branch outside that city was in San Jose (and a replica of that branch is at History Park). And one of San Jose’s most famous landmark buildings is still the Bank of Italy tower at the corner of First and Santa Clara streets.
Famously, he helped San Francisco rebuild following the 1906 earthquake and fire by providing cash loans when other banks were still closed. But the film includes a lot of history that is less well-known, such as Giannini’s financing of Walt Disney’s “Snow White” and other Disney films, his financial participation in the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and how he allowed women to open accounts without their husbands’ names on them. Frank Capra even based the character of George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life” on the community-minded banker, who died in 1949.
Raquel Gonzalez, president of Bank of America Silicon Valley, said Giannini’s legacy is one of service and innovation.
“He was the person who said whether they’re merchants or immigrants, Bank of America is going to be the bank of the little people. So he served everyone,” she said during a pre-screening reception at Scott’s Seafood in downtown San Jose. “Today, over 100 years later, our entire team lives that legacy. We still live by what he believed.”
Director Davide Fiore said he became interested in Giannini’s story when he moved to San Francisco and started work on the film in 2017 — only to be interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he hadn’t even been in contact with the Giannini family when his wife spotted A.P. Giannini’s 1933 Lincoln being driven in a San Francisco parade. She chased down the car — which is now maintained by former Bank of America Senior Vice President Randy Welch — and discovered two of Giannini’s granddaughters riding in it.
Both of them — Virginia Hammerness and Anne McWilliams (who died in 2024) — appear in the film talking about their memories of their grandfather, along with Duncan Knowles, a retired historian for Bank of America, and the late Alessandro Baccari, a friend of the Giannini family.
Architect Sal Caruso, who watched the screening with his wife, Josephine, said Gianni’s reputation in the Italian American community remained strong decades after his death, recalling that when he returned to the United States from Italy as a young man in the 1980s, his parents insisted he keep all his money with Bank of America.
Caruso designed the Museum and Cultural Center in Little Italy, which includes an area devoted to Giannini’s history. He said the group plans to have another screening of “A Little Fellow” this fall before the annual Little Italy Festival, and there are also plans in the works to have it screened at the Italian American Heritage Foundation’s Family Festa at History Park this summer.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: There are plenty more movies to see at Cinequest as it rounds into its second week in downtown San Jose. One that’ll surely have a lot of local interest is “American Agitators,” filmmaker Raymond Telles’ documentary about the life of Fred Ross, who founded the Community Service Organization in the 1940s in Los Angeles. Ross branched out to San Jose in the 1950s, where he met and mentored a young Cesar Chavez, and later met Dolores Huerta in Fresno.
With all the political upheaval around immigration, it’s certainly a timely film, and you would expect its world premiere — Sunday at 6:45 p.m. at the California Theatre — to be a full house, so arrive early. Get more information, including the full Cinequest lineup and ticket information at www.cinequest.org.
THE BARD AND A BEER: I was thrilled to see Silicon Valley Shakespeare is bringing back a free “ShakesBEERience” staged reading of “Hamlet” on March 23. And it’s great to see it’s happening at a natural place to grab a beer, Strike Brewing Co. at 2099 S. 10th St. in San Jose. The performers expected to take the stage at 6 p.m. include Drew Benjamin Jones, Valerie Castro-Singer, Doll Piccotto, Jeff Kramer and Jim Reber.
And, sure, “Hamlet” is a tragedy, but I’m sure after a couple of beers, even “To be or not to be” may draw a laugh. Go to www.svshakespeare.org for more information.
FINDING YOUR WAY IN SAN JOSE: There’s good news for those of us who find ourselves a bit turned around in downtown San Jose sometimes. The city has installed new wayfinding signs around the downtown area aimed at getting pedestrians and cyclists to places like SAP Center, the Tech Interactive, the San Jose Museum of Art and the SoFA district. You might recall signs going up about a decade ago before Super Bowl 50, but these are much better and include a QR code for more info on each destination.
Meanwhile, Urban Putt — the ultra-cool restaurant and minigolf course at the Paseo building downtown — has dramatically improved its visibility with a colorful new mural painted by Nick Sirotich surrounding its entrance on South First Street. The mural artistically renders some of the unusual holes that players will find along the course and absolutely breaks up the gray wall. Talk about a hole-in-one.
Be aware, though, that all the signs and murals aren’t going to make it a lot easier to drive around parts of downtown this week with GTC, the big Nvidia conference, taking place. Both San Carlos Street and Park Avenue will be closed between Market Street and Almaden Boulevard until March 22, and Market is closed heading south around Plaza de Cesar Chavez (one northbound lane around the park will be open for the Signia hotel).