AllMovie

German-born Rudolph Flothow was in Hollywood as early as 1929, when he co-directed the George Jessel feature Lucky Boy. He didn't emerge in a very visible way, however, until 1943 when he joined Columbia Pictures' B-movie unit as a producer. Over the next eight years, he oversaw the production of movies in the Crime Doctor, Boston Blackie, and Lone Wolf series of films as well as the serials Batman and The Phantom (both in 1943), which, if not distinguished as cinematic art, were all profitable, as were virtually all of the three dozen films for which Flothow was credited. After leaving Columbia in 1951, Flothow applied his expertise at low-budget production to television by producing the jungle adventure series Ramar of the Jungle starring Jon Hall and Ray Montgomery, episodes of which were later recut for theatrical release. The scripts and production values of the series closely resembled that of the serial The Phantom, which Flothow had produced a decade earlier. Flothow was also involved in the production of the 1957 series The New Adventures of Charlie Chan, starring J. Carrol Naish, but it was Ramar of the Jungle, rerun for decades on television, that made him one of the best known producers in television among eager young baby-boomer viewers.