He ranked with Hedda Hopper (with whom he shared a birthday) and Louella Parsons as the premier Hollywood gossip columnists of the first three decades of the sound picture era.

Skolsky claimed to be the person who gave the nickname "Oscar" to the Academy Award[citation needed] and was credited for the introduction of the use of the word beefcake.

He studied journalism at New York University before becoming a Broadway press agent for the theatrical impresarios Earl Carroll, Sam Harris, and George White.

[citation needed] He moved to Hollywood in 1933, where he moonlighted as a story editor for Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures.

[citation needed] His writings are part of the permanent collection at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Margaret Herrick Library.