As the meeting began I noticed that Charles Skouras was sitting in the front row of seats. I asked him to join me at the speaker's table. His answer was, "Thank you very much, but I prefer to sit with the small people and not with you intellectuals." I knew that he was not serious, so I thanked him and proceeded with the meeting. I spoke for a few minutes and explained the purpose of the meeting. I, then, called on Mr. Polyzoides to speak and Mr. Van Klinesmith and Mr. Spiro Skouras, each in turn. We didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Then Charles Skouras stood up, moved to the speaker's table, and asked for permission to speak. What he said was something I never expected to hear. He took everyone by surprise. Only Charles Skouras could make the following statement the way he did and pull it off.

He said, "Ladies and gentlemen. I am 55 years old. I have been in this country for about 35 years. I landed in St. Louis, Missouri and went into the nickelodeon business. I brought my brother Spiro over a few years later and likewise my brother George. We expanded our business and we are still in the theater business. I am married to a woman of German descent and we now live in Beverly Hills. I have, living with me, two daughters, a son-in-law and a mother-in-law. All these years, every time I went home, I felt like a man of no significance. Just a lowly Greek. Very little attention was ever paid to me by any of them, my mother-in-law, my wife, my children. Recently it became evident from the news that the Greek Army was driving the Fascist Legions out of Epirus. This was totally unexpected. I went home one evening, around the second or third of this month (December, 1940) and they were all standing in line, bowing to me. Due to the heroic stand of the Greek soldiers they looked at me, and all Greeks, with new respect. I am truly grateful to the Greek Army and to the Greek people. I can't help but think that every Greek-American should be grateful for what they have done to elevate the Greek name throughout the United States and the whole world. There isn't enough that we can do that would repay the Greek people. They've made the American people realize that the Greeks of today are true descendents of the Ancient Greeks."

Let me tell you, the applause nearly brought the house down. The meeting was successful. Everybody was enthused and pleased. They congratulated Charles Skouras who had stolen the show by pointing out the debt we owed to Greece.

We then went to San Diego for another meeting which also ended successfully. We returned to Los Angeles from where Mr. Spiro Skouras went to New York while I returned to San Francisco.