Spyros P. Skouras Memoirs (1893–1953) Compiled and Edited by Ilias Chrissochoidis Brave World Stanford, 2013 Copyright © 2013 Ilias Chrissochoidis All rights reserved  In memory of Spyros Solon Skouras (1923-2013)  Contents Foreword by a contemporary Spyros Skouras 7 Introduction 11 Acknowledgements 19 Prologue: Louis Nizer on Spyros P. Skouras 21 Critical Commentary 27 Greece (1893–1910): Growing up in Skourohorion 31 Tragedy strikes 33 Apprenticeship in Patras 35 St. Louis (1910–1929): Arrival in America 39 Early years (1910–14) 41 Early business ideas 46 Entering the theatre business 47 Olympia theatre (1914) 49 New acquisitions 53 World War I 54 Skouras Theatres Enterprises (1919) 58 Competing with Paramount (1919–20) 62 Grand Central Theatres – The Missouri Theatre 67 First National Pictures (1920s) 73 The Ambassador Building (1925) 80 The Missouri Rockettes (1925) 81 Clashing with Joe Kennedy (August 1928) 82 The First National-Stanley Company of America- Warner Bros. merger (1928) 86 Squeezed between Fox and Warner Bros. 91 6 Spyros P. Skouras New York (1929–1953): The Crash (1929–32) 99 Wesco (1932) 101 Business philosophy 103 The Twentieth Century-Fox merger (1935) 104 President of Twentieth Century-Fox (1942) 107 Archbishop Athenagoras (1931–49) 109 Greek War Relief Association (1940–46) 111 Philanthropy 120 The largest air raid in history (1944) 122 Visits to Europe and Israel (1945, 1949) 124 The Greek Civil War – Van Fleet (1948) 129 Patriarch Athenagoras (1949) 131 The end of Civil War in Greece (1949) 134 Visit to Korea (October 1952) 139 At the helm of Twentieth Century-Fox (1942–53) 144 Darryl F. Zanuck 146 Investing in technology 148 CinemaScope 151 Legacy 155 Epilogue: Tributes to Spyros P. Skouras 157  Foreword by a contemporary Spyros Skouras* I have memories starting in early childhood of people engaging with me as a Spyros Skouras. I always enjoyed this association with my Great Uncle, even when it involved Billy Wilder’s quip “the only Greek tragedy I know is Spyros Skouras.” But, judging from the frequency with which people remark on my name, it seems that in recent years my Great Uncle is remem- bered less than he once was. During two years I recently spent in the US, only two people asked me how I was related to Spyros Skouras. Furthermore, both of them are Nobel Laure- ates and each of them has the reputation of being the most knowledgeable person alive. Thanks to Ilias Chrissochoidis’ excellent research and editorial craftsmanship, we now have this book to remind us of the many reasons for which Spyros Skouras was so widely admired in his time. Based on Spyros’ autobiographical notes, this book for the first time makes widely available the history of events that I previously thought was doomed to remain unwritten family lore. The inciting incident of this incredible, yet true, story is a minor episode in the saga of pest globalization. In the early twentieth century, a North American pest with a Greek name (grape phylloxera) spread widely and eventually arrived in Greece. There it wiped out the livelihoods of many vine growers including our family’s fields. My great grandfather’s generation responded to this catastrophe by following the reverse trajec- tory of phylloxera—Spyros and two of his three brothers * Associate Professor, Athens University of Economics and Business. 8 Spyros P. Skouras immigrated to the US, determined to do good. Meanwhile, my great grandfather, being the eldest of the four brothers, enjoyed the privilege of inheriting the ruined farm (and the responsibil- ity of several sisters) that his younger brothers were forced to escape. To the several ironies above, one might add that in Greece the Skouras name is now mostly associated with a wine-maker of no relation. This was the beginning of an epic in which Spyros Skouras evolved from ruined farmer in an underdeveloped country to an outstanding figure that shaped Twentieth Century-Fox and may well have nudged the course of twenti- eth-century history. During his marathon tenure at the helm of Fox, he arguably saved the film industry at a critical juncture by positioning it to survive the arrival of television with a huge but timely gamble on a visionary investment in theater technology. On the other hand, through attention to detail, he probably also introduced several subtle but enduring aspects of the movie-going experience as we now know it, such as popcorn at theatres. More importantly, Spyros used his exceptional clout to lead an effort that may have saved millions of Greeks from starvation under the most brutal of Nazi occupations—and that is a significant fraction of all Greeks. Next, he championed an approach to fighting communism based on financial aid to governments under threat, an approach considered unortho- dox at the time and initially met with considerable political resistance in the US. The success of the US’ early experiment with this approach in Greece influenced global geopolitics for years to come and, from accounts Spyros shared with family, I know he considered his role instrumental in getting the ex-  Memoirs (1893-1953) 9 periment to happen. It will ultimately be a task for historians to analyze the context and assess the magnitude of Spyros’ impact, but the material Ilias Chrissochoidis brings us suggests this is a long overdue evaluation. In this book, we learn that Spyros thought of himself as no less than one who “should look to the future and define its meaning” (p. 148). This sense of purpose explains how— drawing few distinctions between work, family, friends, politics and religion—he deployed all his resources in pursuit of his various missions. His work in the shadows as a self-styled, self- appointed ambassador of his own values is a reminder of the tremendous, lasting impact individuals can have even when operating outside conventional positions of authority. But Spyros was also an excellent team player and this is clearly evidenced in his reference in this text to the “unit” he and his brothers formed—indeed, they even shared the same bank account through several decades of success. This suggests that Spyros’ story is part of the even larger story of the Skouras brothers of that generation. In his autobiographical notes, Spyros has steered clear of important Skouras episodes in which his equally remarkable brothers were the protagonists, presumably leaving space for their own story to be told. Hopefully, one day we will have an even more com- plete picture of Spyros’ life, but in the meantime there is certainly enough to digest in this volume. Reading through it, I am amazed that such lives do not happen only in the movies. Athens, February 2013  Introduction The existence of the “Spyros P. Skouras Papers” at Stanford University has been known to me for several years. Yet the absence of any visible intersection between a film executive’s career and my own research in music history kept me aloof to this archival source. Things changed dramatically during my 2010–11 tenure as Kluge Fellow at the Library of Congress. Accidental discov- eries of valuable documents there and at Harvard University alerted me to the neglect that Modern Greek archival studies have suffered in America. Upon completing an American Council of Learned Societies fellowship at Stanford, I resolved not to leave the campus without getting acquainted with the “Skouras Papers.” It took only the examination of Box 1 for me to realize that Spyros P. Skouras (SPS) was the most successful and influential Greek immigrant in American history. A founda- tional figure of Hollywood’s golden age, he managed to combine a brilliant 20-year career as head of Twentieth Cen- tury-Fox Film Corporation with an outstanding humanitarian record. His vision of movies as a means of spreading American values to the world made him and his company a favorite in government circles. Skouras had access to the White House under six different administrations, from FDR to Nixon. A personal friend of Eisenhower, he spent much of the 1950s and 1960s as America’s cultural ambassador to the world, flying an average of 150,000 miles per year. Endowed with supreme self-confidence, Skouras did not shy away from calling the Soviet Union “the greatest 12 Spyros P. Skouras corporation, the greatest capitalistic firm, the greatest monop- oly the world has ever known” before an amused Khrushchev in one of the few moments of levity the Cold War could afford.1 His boundless optimism was largely responsible for forcing the British to lift their blockade of Greece during World War II, thus allowing food and medical supplies to reach millions of dying and suffering Greeks. No less daring was his 1953 campaign to implement CinemaScope worldwide at the astronomical cost of $300,000,000.2 The countless initiatives he masterminded and executed ranged from the famous Roxy Theatre-New York Philharmonic “affair”—the first time a top symphonic orchestra appeared at a movie theatre3—to the monumental Century City development in Los Angeles.4 1The quotation was not part of Skouras’ official speech; see “Text of Khrushchev Debate With Skouras During the Luncheon at Film Studio,” New York Times, September 20, 1959, p. 41. 2 Within a year 11,100 theatres had installed CinemaScope equipment at an estimated cost of $83,375,000: “CinemaScope First Annual Report, September 16, 1954”: “Spyros P. Skouras Papers (1942– 1971),” M0509, Box 46:13, Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California (henceforth M0509). 3 “Mr. Skouras … said he had been ‘studying for a long time the idea of bringing great classical music to the people at a popular price level.’ … it will be the first time one of the nation’s top symphony orchestras has played a regular engagement of this kind”: New York Times, November 29, 1949, p. 32. Skouras had been elected to the orchestra’s Board of Directors early that year: New York Times, February 19, 1949, p. 10. 4 “$400,000,000 City to Rise on Film Studio Lot: 20th Century-Fox to Develop Huge Project Due to Overshadow Rockefeller Center,” Los Angeles Times, January 8, 1958, pp. 1–2. On December 17, 1963, Skouras reminded Darryl F. Zanuck of “the high opinion I had for  Memoirs (1893-1953) 13 His last bet in the film industry, the extravagant yet ill- managed production of Cleopatra (1963), alarmed the com- pany’s stockholders and led to his resignation. By the time his other favorite project The Sound of Music (1965) began to fill Twentieth Century-Fox’s empty coffers,5 Skouras had already been moved to the honorary Chairmanship of the Board, now pursuing a new adventure. A ship-owner for some years,6 he resolved to modernize America’s commercial fleet, introducing the first almost fully automated ships in the country. In 1965, he proposed to Lyndon Johnson’s administration a colossal $250,000,000 plan to construct 16 special freighters each carrying 50 barges that would be lifted off and on without the mother ship ever docking at the harbor, thus slashing shipping costs and time.7 The plan was shelved following strong opposi- tion from New York’s powerful ship-worker unions. Skouras’ formal retirement from Twentieth Century- Fox, in 1969, coincided with his $44,500,000 acquisition of the value of this property long before anyone else gave it any attention. We promoted it and packaged it and we finally sold it for the staggering price of $43,000,000 at the same time retaining our mineral rights”: M0509, Box 1:8. 5 “I expect wonderful results on a world-wide scale from this picture and I am not over-optimistic in saying that THE SOUND OF MUSIC will be one of the great grossing pictures. I expect this film to have a powerful box-office impact all over the world”: Skouras to Darryl F. Zanuck, March 3, 1965: M0509, Box 29:4. 6“Three Greek-Americans Join Prudential Board,” New York Times, April 14, 1954, p. 59. 7“‘Piggyback’ Fleet Planned by Skouras,” Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1965, p. B8; TIME, July 16, 1965, p. 84; 14 Spyros P. Skouras Grace Lines.8 On August 16, 1971, he suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of seventy-eight. Called by the New York Times “The Colossal Optimist,”9 Spyros P. Skouras represented and helped shape the era of American expansionism from Truman to Nixon. I leave for the end a point that for Skouras himself would have taken pride of place in an introduction to his life: However proud he was of his Greek birth and the ideals with which he grew up, Spyros P. Skouras was above all an Ameri- can. He came to this country on his own volition, he intended to stay here and become an American citizen, he embraced the American way of life, took an American wife, and was eternally grateful for the opportunity he was given to live and prosper in this country. Time and again he refused offers of an ambassa- dorship to Greece exactly because he understood the complica- tions of representing America’s interests in his homeland. Whereas he did his utmost to save his native Greece and help millions of its citizens, he did so as an American. His attitude is summarized in a 1952 address to the Mayor of Athens: “Tell the Greeks at home that we Americans, with whatever faults we may have, will shed our blood, share our resources, and bear crushing taxes, in order to help Greece to recover its stability and preserve its freedom. If they ask you why we are doing this, tell them that the answer is simple. We want to help the whole world to obtain peace and security because we know we cannot have those things for ourselves unless we help our 8 TIME, February 21, 1969, p. 81; New York Times, March 13, 1969, p. 50. 9 New York Times, June 28, 1962, p. 20.  Memoirs (1893-1953) 15 brothers everywhere and join with them in the common defense against the disturbers of peace.”10 * * * The introduction of CinemaScope in 1953 brought worldwide fame to Skouras and created strong interest in his life story. The first extant set of autobiographical notes, thirty- seven typewritten pages, dates from April 2, 1953. Parts of it were used for articles and book chapters, such as Robert Coughlan’s “Spyros Skouras and His Wonderful Cinema- scope,”11 later recast as “Spyros Skouras: Hollywood’s Extraor- dinary Ambassador,” in LIFE International’s compilation Nine who chose America;12 L. Edmond Leipold’s Founders of Fortune, Book Two;13 and Annie E. S. Beard’s Our Foreign-Born Citizens.14 The deaths of Charles P. Skouras (1889–1954) and George P. Skouras (1896–1964), the brothers with whom Spyros shared his American experience—and even bank account—for more than twenty-five years, made stronger the need for self-reflection. As early as 1961, he was receiving 10Speech read by Skouras’ son Spyros to Luncheon given by T. J. Watson in honor of C. Nikolopoulos, Mayor of Athens, May 13, 1952: M0509, Box 83:27. 11LIFE, 35(3) (July 20, 1953), pp. 81–84, 86, 89–90, 92, 94 <http://books.google.com/books?id=XkIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8 1>. 12 New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1959, pp. 146–63. 13 Minneapolis: T. S. Denison & Co., 1967, pp. 55–60. 146th edition, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1968, pp. 201–10. 16 Spyros P. Skouras offers for telling the story of the Skouras brothers.15 Pressure to defend his business record was certainly an issue in the aftermath of Cleopatra (1963), whose adverse publicity and derailed budget forced him to resign from the Presidency of Twentieth Century-Fox and helped spread “insider” accounts with unflattering views of the septuagenarian movie pioneer.16 In early 1965, Skouras confided “What I have in mind is someone with whom I could sit down and talk and who could take notes of our conversations [to become the basis of a book manuscript],”17 and assured inquiring publishers “I am just now in the process of organizing my thoughts and my material.”18 Indeed, a second set of reminiscences were re- corded on tape and sent for transcription to Andrew Sarris (1928–2012), the upcoming film critic. The latter found the experience frustrating (“I never agreed to transcribe tape recordings … I am a writer, not a stenographer”) and his engagement ended in tension, when the “last batch of tapes and notes” he was supposed to return never reached Skouras.19 Although much more detailed than its counterpart from 1953, 15 On April 7, 1961, R. Smith Kiliper of G. P. Putnam’s Sons expressed interest to have a book authored by Skouras: M0509, Box 1:2. 16Walter Wanger and Joe Hyams, My Life with Cleopatra (New York: Bantam Books, 1963); Jack Brodsky and Nathan Weiss, The Cleopatra Papers: A Private Correspondence (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1963). 17 Skouras to Eugene J. Prakapas, February 1, 1965: M0509, Box 1:2. 18 Skouras to Berth Klausner, March 4, 1965: M0509, Box 1:2. 19“a great deal of my work having gone down the drain … the enclosed notes are all I have left of transcriptions”: Andrew Sarris to Skouras, June 6, 1965: M0509, Box 1:18.  Memoirs (1893-1953) 17 the 47-page surviving transcription is incomplete and ends with the opening of the Ambassador Theatre in 1925. On January 23, 1967, Skouras contracted a research assistant—an associate of Columbia University Professor Richard B. Morris—to help prepare and publish his biography by January 1969. According to Skouras’ son Spyros, the assistant was entrusted with thirteen drawers of documents covering the years before 1942. Things got messy in April 1967, when one of Skouras’ grandnephews published an unauthorized—and largely fabricated, according to Twentieth Century-Fox internal memos—biography of his famous uncle.20 Although very upset by this preemptive action, Skouras kept working on his biography21 and prepared an amended agreement with his assistant dated December 17, 1968.22 As late as May 8, 1969, he was claiming, “I am in the midst of writing my biography.”23 Skouras death in 1971 put a stop to the enterprise. His son Spyros was unable to recover the part of the archive from Skouras’ research assistant. After many years and thanks to his daughter Damaris, Spyros Solon 20 “The book is … on every page … a fabrication”: Twentieth Century-Fox memorandum, April 27, 1967; Skouras’ lawyer Louis Nizer described it as “pitiful amateurish, shoddy script, published solely in paperback for 95¢ a copy on the cheapest paper and by a publisher of no standing”: Nizer to Skouras, April 28, 1967: both in M0509, Box 1:12. 21 “I am already engaged in preparing my biography and have been working with a collaborator for some time”: Skouras to Nat Kahn, July 20, 1967: M0509, Box 1:2. 22 M0509, Box 1:1. 23 Skouras to Victor S. Johnson, Jr., May 8, 1969: M0509, Box 1:5. 18 Spyros P. Skouras donated the remaining papers (1942–71) to Stanford University in 1988. Available for more than twenty years now, the “Spyros P. Skouras Papers” have sporadically been researched or cited and only by film historians. Spending much of the academic year 2011–12 at Stanford’s Special Collections Reading Room, I was the first to examine the entire eighty-six boxes of the collection and to appreciate its historical breadth and richness. On December 18, 2011, I published excerpts on the Greek War Relief Association from Skouras’ memoirs in a leading Sunday newspaper in Greece,24 and in late summer 2012 I launched a dedicated research website: <http://www.stanford.edu/~ichriss/Skouras.htm>. The present book is by no means the long due biogra- phy that Skouras hoped (and deserved) to see published during his lifetime. It is a foundational text that will introduce Skouras to the general public, will support future research on his life and achievements, will advertise one of the most neglected archival treasures on Greek American and film history, and, hopefully, lead to its digitization and public display. Tragedy is the destiny of all things Greek. It is also the mother of heroes. Spyros P. Skouras (together with his broth- ers) transformed a family tragedy in their native Greece into a dazzling American tale of success and public service. Alas posterity has denied him the recognition his actions called for. By offering his extant memoirs to the public, I hope others, too, will join me in acclaiming him: AXIOS! 24 <http://www.academia.edu/1164501/>  Acknowledgements A critical stage of my research on Skouras has been supported with a grant from the Greek America Cultural Foundation <http://www.greekamerica.org/>, a public charity organiza- tion with a mission “to protect, preserve and perpetuate Greek culture, history and heritage in North America.” I am grateful to its Founder and Executive Director Gregory C. Pappas for his commitment to this project and for his extraordinary efforts to bring together the scattered marbles of the Greek Diaspora in this country. At Stanford University Libraries I have been relying on the expertise and patience of Mattie Taormina and her staff, especially Polly Armstrong and Nan Mehan. Special thanks are due to Linda P. B. Katehi, Chancel- lor at the University of California, Davis, and to Professor Katerina Lagos, Director of the Hellenic Studies Program at California State University, Sacramento, for their academic support of my Skouras research. In Greece, Spyros P. Skouras (great grandson of Skouras’ brother Demetrios) has been instrumental in my establishing contact with Fox Film Entertainment’s archives and with members of the Athens branch of the Skouras family. James N. Gianopulos has rendered a great service to my research by helping me access hitherto unreleased footage of Skouras in Fox’s Movietone film archives. I am especially thankful to Corinna Tsopei Fields for sharing with me her memories of Skouras and to Father John Bakas of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles 20 Spyros P. Skouras <http://www.stsophia.org/> for helping me get in touch with Skouras’ relatives. My final and strongest thanks have to go to the late Spyros Solon Skouras and his surviving daughter Damaris. Without their foresight to donate the “Skouras Papers” to Stanford University neither I, nor the reader, would have had access to the material that is being made public here for the first time.  Prologue Louis Nizer25 on Spyros P. Skouras Tradition has it that we stress a man’s achievements in his life’s work. It is that on which he has concentrated most of his time and aspirations. All the rest is supposed to be his personal life, which can give him no public satisfaction, and is therefore on a minor plane so far as the world is concerned. Uniquely, I believe, Spyros reversed this order of importance or, at least, he equalized them, and since he was preeminent in both, this may provide the clue to his real greatness. It is not necessary to dwell on his remarkable business career. It is inscribed in the history of the motion picture industry. How many names, if any, will glow above his? Like a giant, he bestrode three generations of its evolution. He was a pioneer beginning in the humblest role, a builder, and finally, leader and statesman of a worldwide enterprise, whose artistic, industrial and American influence was greater than many nations cast. When the technological revolution of television brought disaster to the motion picture industry, he, the old pioneer, was the youngest man on the scene, infusing his courage and foresight into a disheartened industry. Virtually alone, he forced it to adopt a new wide screen technique and more expansive productions, with which the small home box could not compete. This was a daring and Herculean feat, because it meant that a bankrupt industry had to raise and 25Louis Nizer (1902–94) was a legendary New York trial lawyer and author. As an advisor of the Motion Picture Association of America, he contributed in the creation of the motion picture rating system. 22 Spyros P. Skouras invest hundreds of millions of dollars to transform itself into a new art form, which would be competitive. Almost everybody said it was impossible to achieve. Doubts and discouragement pervaded the scene. It was not even certain that the new invention would work well, or that it would entice public acceptance. But Spyros, by personal strength of character, lifted the industry to a new and higher plateau of international success. This was only one in a long list of his business achievements. Biographies of him, and many chapters in histories of the industry will have to be written if this universal art form is to be understood. For perhaps more than even Ford, Harriman, or Carnegie in their industries, he was the formulator and inspirational driving force of the development of the motion picture enterprise throughout the world. Since the motion picture is our country’s greatest ambassador, Spyros became ambassador plenipotentiary, and it was natural that he should meet with presidents, princes and dictators of other nations. He charmed them all, even though he quarreled with some, like Khrushchev. No private citizen contributed more to America’s prestige in the international scene than Spyros, the immigrant boy who came penniless to the country he loved. His dedication to the industry which he had reared and nourished persisted to his last days. Only a week before I left for Europe, he brought to my office a priest who was deeply concerned with the content of recent pictures, but appreciated the rating system, which tried to protect children. Spyros and I tried to persuade him that motion pictures did not create the loosened moral standards, but only reflected them, and that,  Memoirs (1893-1953) 23 short of destructive censorship, the industry was trying to meet its responsibility towards the youth of the nation. We discussed Supreme Court rulings, their definition of obscenity, and the complex problems resulting from the collision of freedom of expression and the standards of the community. Spyros was brilliant. I shared his view that aside from any moral considera- tions, daring pictures had shrunk our audience from 100 million to 17 million people a week. He foresaw a shift to romanticism and universal family appeal. I believe again his vision was right. When he applied his waning energies to the shipping industry, he relied on Spyros Jr. to carry on the family tradition, and he was more proud of his achievements, because they were independent and imaginative, than if he had been responsible for them. In maintaining the American tradition of a merchant marine, he was motivated again by profound patriotism as well as business motives. How sad it was that the enterprise suf- fered temporary frustration from labor resistance to new techniques, which were in everyone’s ultimate interest, if only the vision which projected the venture could be shared by all. I have only touched on one side of the triangle of Spyros’ qualities. Transcending his business brilliance was his humanity. In a world in which the gap between science and humanism is the dilemma of our age, and threatens to cremate the human race; a gap which is responsible for international unrest, drugs, crime, and amoral standards and ethics, Spyros, more than any other man I know, was the symbol of man’s nobility of spirit. He was the leader of every humanitarian cause, which was presented to him. Of course, as it became known that “no” was not in his vocabulary when a worthy 24 Spyros P. Skouras project needed help, he was flooded with entreaties. He accepted them all. Chairmanship did not confer honor upon him. He lent his prestige to the title. Nor did he stipulate, like others of us, that because he was inundated, his service would be limited. On the contrary, he understood fully that money was the fuel which ran charitable engines, and he went about vigorously raising funds. Somehow he found the time, energy, and will to do the impossible in heading several drives at one time. His sincerity and goodness shamed even exhausted givers into new beneficences. He illustrated by conduct the universality of humanism. Of course he devoted himself to Greek causes, at one time saving the starving people from which he derived his greatness. But was there any cause, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Negro, medical or social, which enlisted less of his sympathy? None. He led them all, demonstrating by lack of discrimination, the true humanistic spirit, which is color-blind and sect blind. He was nothing short of magnificent in living a life of kindness toward others. One may say that no religious leader of the many religions in the world exceeded him in purity of heart and conduct. This was sensed by all who came in contact with him. Only this can explain the profound admiration which everyone had for him. It was deep, sincere, and complete. It was recipro- cal acknowledgement that in the biblical sense here was truly a good man. Less visible was the third side of the triangle of his personality. This was an overflowing love. It had many dimen- sions. His sweetness and interest even in strangers was one phase of it. One couldn’t introduce him to anyone without his asking that the name be repeated, and then commenting on its  Memoirs (1893-1953) 25 significance, as revealing the great heritage from which it stemmed. This sincere interest in the individual, even on casual meeting, pierced the shell of indifference which envelops us all. He generated instant warmth in contact with human beings. There were none too insignificant for the flow of his sentiment towards them. And no one was so important that he was awed into shedding the human approach due to all.26 26Louis Nizer to Saroula Skouras, September 30, 1971: M0509, Box 5:1. http://www.amazon.com/Spyros-P-Skouras- Memoirs-1893-1953/dp/0615769497