Career
The Skouras brothers arrived in Saint Louis in 1908-1911 from Greece. 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 Company of Saint Louis.
The biggest moment for the Skouras empire came when their dream of building a world-class movie palace in downtown Saint Louis was grandly realized in 1926 when the $5.5 million Ambassador Theatre Building opened (this theater re-opened in 1939 as the New Fox Theatre). In 1929, following the depression, the triumvirate sold their ownership to Warner Brothers and moved east to claim top executive places in the industry.
Charles became president of Fox Coast West. In a late 1950s suit, Goldwyn claimed that Twentieth Century-Fox, Fox West Coast Theatres, National Theatres, Skouras, and several affiliated circuits including T & Doctorate Junior Enterprises had intentionally discriminated against independently produced films (that is, made outside of the studio production systems), and he sought compensation for years of perceived oppression.
Charles died before the trial took place.
Charlie Skouras got his wish. He went on to become the head of National Pictures and a man of his word, built the Saint Sophia church in 1952, in what was then the Greek section of Los Los Angeles