Robert L. Lippert went for the cheaper productions and at a good time too. Hollywood was producing fewer movies overall due to television’s growing downward pull on box office receipts, as well as the population shifting to the suburbs, which left city theaters with more unfilled seats. Lippert’s movies played the drive-ins and lesser theaters and were cheap enough to turn a good profit. In 1951, Lippert released Superman and the Mole Men, the first feature film (there were the Kirk Allen serials) to star George Reeves, kicked off the successful television series. Allen regretted turning down the role for the tv series that made Reeves America’s Superman of the 1950s and 60s. Lippert became the U.S. distributor for Exclusive Films, which later became Hammer Films. He had a lucrative run up until Hammer moved the distribution to major studios. Lippert’s pressbooks were usually not many pages and contained poster art and some promotional information. Thanks to It Came From Hollywood for this copy.
