Memoirs of Peter Boudoures Chapter 37 Spiros Skouras, Chairman of the Greek War Relief

Boudoures, Greeks, meet with President Roosevelt

I took a plane and went to New York to attend the first meeting of the Greek War Relief. Many of the persons at the meeting were well known. Present was Spiros Skouras, president of the National Theaters. He was practically unknown to the Greeks. For many years he had kept himself busy building his theater empire. He had devoted little time to the cause of the Greeks of the United States. But in this hour of need he accepted the responsibility of being the National Chairman of the Greek War Relief Drive. A number of people at the meeting asked why a better known Greek wasn't chosen. My response to them was that because of his experience and connections there wasn't a bigger or better Greek to do the job. At the meeting in New York, Spiros Skouras was elected President of the National Greek War Relief.

When the meeting was over Spiros Skouras asked me if I knew his brother, Charles, who lived in Los Angeles. I told him that I did. He then asked me to call him and ask him to help with the drive. I said that I would, but I didn't. The reason that I didn't was because I wasn't sure Charles would remember me, and I was a very sensitive person. I didn't want to telephone him and be told that he was out of the office, when nine out of ten times he was there. It wasn't until later that I got to know Charles well when I worked with him for the Greek War Relief and other projects.

Upon my return to San Francisco I immediately called for a meeting to be held at the Annunciation Church Hall. Somewhere between 600 and 700 people attended. I explained to them what had taken place up to that time, both in San Francisco and in New York. I told them that a unified drive was a good idea because it avoided a duplication of effort. It would avoid having two or three drives in every city throughout the country. Less money would go to cover expenses and more would go to help the people in need. Also, I explained that with one organization, people would not be approached by different organizations, all trying to do the same job. I told them that the people in charge were of high caliber, had given much thought to the task, and deserved to be supported.

Someone asked me why Spiros Skouras was elected Chairman since he was practically unknown to the Greek-Americans in San Francisco. My answer was that he was well known to millions of other Americans. He was the president of National Theaters and owned about 600 theaters across the country. He had connections with thousands of people in the communications industry, including newspapers, radio, and public relations. I told them that the number of associates that he had in Hollywood was so large that I didn't think that there was another Greek in the United States that could fulfill the job of chairman as well as he.

The questions were asked in good faith and the answers were all well received. Besides me, the speakers included Father Lokis, Counsel General of Greece Ilias Piheon, and a number of other Greeks from San Francisco. Everyone applauded the idea and the drive started. We started by soliciting funds and raised approximately $15,000 at that meeting.

From that day on I made it my business to go to the restaurant in the morning to do the buying, to complete the office work and handle the lunch business. About 1:30 in the afternoon, after the lunch hour was over, I would drive to the outlying towns to organize and co-ordinate the various committees. I drove anywhere from 50 to 200 miles each day to Oakland, Vallejo, Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, Fresno, Salinas, and San Jose. I would correspond with people in places more distant by mail or telegram.

In the meantime we organized an office of the Greek War Relief in San Francisco. We hired Joe O'Conner to handle the public relations for the campaign. I had known him for about 12 years. He had handled the public relations job for Dr. Angel in 1929 and later for the AHEPA in 1931. He did a marvelous job on both occasions. At this particular time, late 1940, he agreed to do the work for a flat fee of $3,000. We anticipated that within six months we would be able to bring our drive to a successful conclusion. The only other employee was a secretary who had worked with Mr. O'Conner for a number of years. All the other workers were volunteers.

The office for the Greek War Relief was located in the Orpheum Building, corner of Hyde and Market Streets, in the same building where Dr. Angel and Dr. Abramopoulos had their offices. It was only one half block from the Maison Paul.

Mrs. Tula Christopher worked every day in the office, six days a week, for no salary, as did Maraki Papageorge, Ann Apostolos and a number of other Greek women. My friend John Vellis, together with Angelo Papulias, Chris Katon, Dr. Peter Angel and many others, each spent many hours at the office working for the success of the drive.