Spyros Skouras - The Early Years

The Early Years

Born in Skourohorion, Greece, Skouras along with his brothers Charles Skouras and George Skouras emigrated to America in 1910. They finally settled in St. Louis, Missouri, at that time the fourth largest city in America. The sons of a poor sheep herder later rose even higher to become top movie executives in some of Hollywood's biggest studios.

Living frugally on wages as busboys and bartenders in downtown hotels, the brothers pooled their savings of US$3,500 in 1914. In partnership with two other Greeks, the Skourases constructed a modest nickelodeon at 1420 Market Street on the site of today's Kiel Opera House. This initial property, named the Olympia, was quickly followed by the acquisition of other theaters.

The brothers incorporated in 1924 with $400,000 capital stock. By then more than thirty local theaters belonged to the Skouras Brothers Co. of St. Louis. The biggest moment for the Skouras empire came when their dream of building a world-class movie palace in downtown St. Louis was grandly realized in 1926 when the $5.5 million Ambassador Theatre Building opened. In 1929, following the depression, the triumvirate sold out their interest to Warner Brothers and moved east to claim top executive places in the industry.

From 1929 to 1931, Spyros worked as a general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. During these hard years, with the depression running amok, Spyros managed to eliminate losses and eventually quadrupled the profits of the chain. Despite this success, his wish to be his own boss again, made him voluntarily leave the company. After that, and for a short while, he works as a manager in Paramount.

In 1932, the Skouras Brothers (Charles, Spyros and George) took over the management of the Fox West Coast Theater chain, with over 500 theaters. Once again, the threat of bankruptcy threatened one of Hollywood's early film studios. The three brothers did what they could to stave of a disaster.