The Bank of America. Planter’s Peanuts. Tropicana Orange Juice. Barnes & Noble bookstores. The Radio Flyer Red Wagon. The Securities and Exchange Commission. The Jacuzzi. The pilot ejector seat. The first computer microprocessor. The shopping mall. Multicultural education. And even the McDonald’s Big Mac hamburger.

What do all of these long-accepted symbols of Americana have in common? They sprang from the creative genius of Italian Americans. Since 1915, however, with the release of the short film “The Italian,” Hollywood has told — and sold — a different story.