- Robert L. Lippert
Robert L. Lippert (31 March 1909-10 November 1976) was a prolific film producer and cinema owner who eventually owned a chain of 118 theatres ["Variety Obituaries" 24 Nov 1976]
Biography
Born in
Alameda, California and adopted by the owner of a hardware store, Lippert became fascinated by the cinema at an early age. Young Lippert worked a variety of jobs in local theatres including projection and becoming an assistant manager. As a manager of a cinema during the Depression Lippert encouraged regular attendance with promotions such as "Dish Night" and "Book Night"Lippert went from cinema manager to owning a chain of California cinemas in 1942 during the peak years of theatre attendance. [http://mst3k.booyaka.com/episodes/directors/robert_lippert.txt]
creen Guild Productions and Lippert Pictures
Dissatisfied with sometimes exhorbitant rental charges from
major studios , Lippert formedScreen Guild Productions in 1945 with aBob Steele Western called "Wildfire" made inCinecolor .Fernett, Gene "Hollywood's Poverty Row 1930-1950"1973 Coral Reef Publications] Screen Guild also rereleased many olderB picture Westerns and made 22 pictures under the name of Screen Guild. [ibid]Screen Guild became
Lippert Pictures , Inc in 1948 utilising rental stages andCorriganville to make their films. 130 Lippert features were released between 1948 and 1955.* Lippert read a
Life Magazine article about a proposed trip to and landing on the moon that he rushed into production, though his film "Rocketship X-M " had to change it's destination toMars to avoid copyingGeorge Pal 's "Destination Moon " though it was first into the cinemas.*
Ron Ormond produced and directed several films for Lippert including many Westerns withLash LaRue .* Lippert had a reciprocal agreement with
Hammer Films to distribute each others films in their own countries.* When
screenwriter Samuel Fuller wanted to break into direction, he agreed to direct the 3 films he had been contracted to write for Lippert ("I Shot Jesse James ", "Baron of Arizona ", and "The Steel Helmet ") for no extra money. [Fuller, Samuel "A Third Face" Alfred A Knopf (2002)]*
Sid Melton was a contract actor for Lippert where he made such films as "The Lost Continent". Both the final reels of that film (green) and "Rocketship X-M" (red) usedfilm tinting .20th Century Fox and Regal Pictures
When
Darryl F. Zanuck announced hisCinemascope process, he faced hostility from many cinema owners who had gone to great expense to convert their theatres to show3-D film s that Hollywood had stopped making. Zanuck assured the cinema owners that they could have a large supply of Cinemascope product by making Cinemascope lenses available to other film companies and starting a unit led by Lippert calledRegal Pictures in 1956 to mass produceB picture s in the process. Lippert's Regal produced 180 pictures.Faced with the increasing costs of Hollywood Production, Lippert announced in 1962 that he would be making films offshore in England, Italy ("The Last Man on Earth"), and the Philippines.
Lippert maintained and expanded his chain of 118 theatres until his death. His son Robert L. Lippert, Jr followed his father into producing.
References
External links
*imdb name|0513621
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