This Bank of America Heritage Center in Los Angeles is dedicated to highlighting the bank's critical role in supporting a fledgling film industry. Select photos of the completed center are followed by an overview sketch of the center's design and layout and copy for each wall panel and display.
Exterior View
Main Entrance
Helicopter Panel - 1
Helicopter Panel - 2
Helicopter Panel - 3
Movie Poster Wall (Left)
Did You Know Wall (Left) & Movie Poster Wall (Right)
Building Hollywood Wall
Historical Map of Los Angeles (1890)
Floorplan for panels and displays
1. Helicopter Panels Copy:
Dr. Giannini was the first banker to recognize motion-picture making as a legitimate industry. He started producers whose greatness would never have been known had it not been for his courage.
— Louis B. Mayer, The Film Daily, February 9, 1943
With early offices in both New York City and Los Angeles, Bank of America cultivated deep and lasting relationships with talented, pioneering individuals who would become leading film industry executives, producers, directors, and actors.
In 1919, A.H. “Doc” Giannini moved to New York City to manage several Bank of America-owned banks, including offices near Washington Square Park, just blocks from the city’s fledgling film district, on 41st and Broadway, in the heart of Times Square and on Wall Street. Doc quickly became the “go-to-banker” for Broadway shows and film productions.
At the time, both ventures were considered risky investments, forcing producers to rely on financing from loan sharks who charged exorbitant interest rates as high as 30%. Convinced that both Broadway productions and the burgeoning film industry were as sound as any other commodities, Doc applied the same fair lending practices Bank of America used when financing other business ventures. Doc developed novel approaches to securing the bank’s loans obtaining motion picture rights for popular Broadway shows, assigning repayments based on box-office receipts, and holding film negatives as collateral.
Throughout the 1920s, the Great Depression, World War II, and the post-war boom, Bank of America led the way in providing financial backing to the film industry and to the production of numerous critically acclaimed, award-winning movies. Though business models and lending practices have changed over the decades, more than a century later we remain a leading financial supporter.
In everything we do we are actuated by the one motive — to build our neighborhood, our community and our state. In that way, we are building a better America.
A.P. Giannini
In 1904, A.P. Giannini, founded Bank of Italy in San Francisco. From the start, Bank of Italy, which Giannini would rename Bank of America in 1930, distinguished itself from the competition. At a time when most banks catered to large businesses and the wealthy, Bank of Italy reached out to new immigrants from all walks of life, accepting small deposits and making loans for as little as twenty-five dollars. His confidence and faith in the working class would be rewarded by customers who, by 1930, would go on to make Bank of America the largest bank in California.
A true pioneer in banking, where others saw only risk, Giannini saw opportunity, investing in the new and emerging industries for which California is now famous, including citrus, wine, and film.
Our relationship with the film industry dates back to 1908, when a young man named Sol Lesser opened a nickelodeon on Fillmore Street, introducing San Franciscans to a new form of entertainment called motion pictures. To accommodate the demand of a growing audience, Lesser approached A.P. Giannini for a $500 loan to expand his theater. On a handshake, Giannini lent him the money.
In 1919, Lesser would return the favor, introducing A.P.’s brother and fellow banker A.H. "Doc" Giannini to other aspiring entrepreneurs in the budding industry. These relationships would ultimately lead to Bank of America’s pioneering role in financing the launch of numerous Hollywood studios and hundreds of films.
2. Movie Poster Wall Copy:
From its very inception, Bank of America played an instrumental role in financing the growth of the film industry. As early as 1908, we began developing relationships with legendary industry executives, producers, directors, and actors. Throughout the 1920s, the Great Depression, World War II, and the post-war boom, Bank of America led the way in providing financial backing to studios and individuals for hundreds of films, including numerous critically acclaimed, award-winning movies. Though business models and lending practices have changed over the decades, more than a century later we remain a leading financial supporter of the industry.
The Kid Wall Copy
Charlie Chaplin is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians and silent movie stars of the twentieth century. In 1919, we financed Chaplin’s first feature-length film and directorial debut, "The Kid." Alongside Chaplin, who wrote, produced, and starred in the film, was Jackie Coogan, who would become the first major child star of the film industry and who later, as an adult, would go on to play Uncle Fester in the highly successful TV show, "The Addams Family."
At a time when many banks considered the film industry to be a risky investment, Bank of America held a different opinion. Aſter "The Kid" was released in 1921, our $250,000 loan was paid back in just six weeks. In the end, this tragicomic masterpiece would gross more than $250 million and become part of the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, cited for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.
Building Hollywood Wall Copy:
Between 1918 and 1935, loans by Bank of America led to the founding of "Paramount Pictures", "Columbia Pictures", "United Artists", "Samuel Goldwyn Studio", "Hal Roach Studios", "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer", "Warner Brothers" and "20th Century-Fox."
Did You Know Wall Copy:
With financing from Bank of America in 1919, Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks founded "United Artists."
______________________________
In the late 1920s, our Hollywood Branch Advisory Board included pioneering film industry leaders, producers, and actors including D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Cecil. B. DeMille, Samuel Goldwyn, Joseph Schenck, Louis B. Mayer, Norma Talmadge, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Wallace Beery, Will Rogers, and Sid Grauman.
______________________________
Cecil B. DeMille not only sat on the board of directors but also served as a vice president in our Culver City branch. In one instance, he provided an unsecured loan to his friend Samuel Goldwyn for $200,000 to create an independent production company.
______________________________
In the 1920s, Bank of America pioneered the idea of holding up to 60% of a film’s negatives as a form of collateral for its loans to independent filmmakers.
______________________________
In 1923, Cecil B. DeMille began production on his epic silent film, "The Ten Commandments." The monumental undertaking employed 1,600 workers to build a set ten stories high with four 35-foot-tall pharaoh statues, 21 sphinxes, and 110-foot-tall gates. The film’s cast of thousands included 2,500 actors and extras and 3,000 animals. With a ballooning budget on their hands, DeMille’s financial partners threatened to back out of the film. DeMille approached A.P. Giannini for a loan to buy the partners out. Without hesitation, Giannini offered to lend DeMille $500,000 to complete thefilm, declaring, "Whatever DeMille’s financial statement says he’s worth, he’s worth twice that amount.” Giannini’s avowal alone was enough to convince DeMille’s original partners to see the classic film through to completion.
______________________________
Bank of America’s relationship with Walt Disney dates back to 1930, with the financing of several of Disney’s short films. In 1937, A.P. Giannini ignored what many critics called "Disney’s folly" and invested in the studio’s first feature-length animated film, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." At the time, the $1.7 million investment was the largest loan made by a bank for any film. In its first national showing, the film would prove its naysayers wrong, grossing $22 million.
Bank of America would go on not only to finance other Disney feature films of the 1940s and 1950s – including "Pinocchio", "Fantasia", "Dumbo", "The Reluctant Dragon", "Bambi", "Cinderella", "Peter Pan" and "Lady and the Tramp" – but also to invest in Disney’s new Burbank studio and the construction of Disneyland and Disney World.
______________________________
With the additional financing from Bank of America, Disney and his team of 570 artists finished drawing and hand-painting the movie’s 1.5 million animation celluloids.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" ranks among the top-ten highest grossing films
of all time.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" ranks among the top-ten highest grossing films
of all time.
______________________________
Bank of America’s relationship with Frank Capra dates back to the early 1930s. While working at Columbia Pictures, whose original studio was financed by the bank in 1924, Capra produced the film "American Madness" in 1932. The film’s protagonist is a socially conscious banker who manages to fight off a hostile Wall Street takeover and subsequent run on the bank. Many historians and critics believe that aspects of the story and the heroic banker were modeled aſter challenges faced and overcome by Bank of America’s founder, A.P. Giannini. Bank of America would go on to finance classic Capra productions, including the 1934 film "It Happened One Night", the first film to win in all five major Oscar categories: Best Picture; Best Director; Best Screenplay; Best Actor; and Best Actress. We also financed "Meet John Doe", 1941, and "It’s a Wonderful Life", 1946. In 1985, Frank Capra reflected that, during the Great Depression, Bank of America "revived the spirit of the whole motion picture industry. A lot of films would not have been made had it not been for the bank.”
______________________________
In the midst of production on "Gone with the Wind", producer David 0. Selznick ran out of money. In the fall of 1935, Bank of America founder A.P. Giannini paid a visit to the set and was impressed enough to authorize the $1.5 million needed to complete the film. Winner of eight 1939 0scars, "Gone with the Wind" remains the number-one box office hit in American film history.