Robert L. Lippert Biography

Fast Facts

• Owned a large chain of theaters in California and Oregon by the mid-1940s
• First became involved in theater by working odd jobs in local movie houses and worked up to running the projectors
• Quote: "I don't worry about what the critics say․ I make pictures people want to see․"
• Most of his prolific westerns and crime thrillers proved profitable and a few, including 1951's "Little Big Born" and 1953s "The Tall Texan" are remembered as classics
• Started making movies to show in his theater chains in 1948, and from that time through the mid-1950s he produced and released hundreds of films
• His theaters, which would often screen older films continuously for a quarter a seat, became favorite hangout spots for shift workers and night owls, and sometimes cheap accommodations for servicemen on leave
• Some of the improvements and developments he made on projectors were put on display at the Alameda County museum