Who is Tom Graeff?Tom Graeff's FilmographyAbout Teenagers from Outer SpaceThe Boy From Out of This WorldContact Information & Links

Budget: $14,000 (official) On order to make the film Tom figured he'd need a budget of $20,000. He placed a classified ad in Daily Variety, looking for producers. The first investment was made by artist Gene Sterling, who fronted $9,000 for a credit of Executive Producer and the role of The Leader. British actor Bryan Pearson and his wife Ursula answered the ad a few weeks later. Bryan agreed to donate $5000 in return for the starring role of Thor and a bit part, Hilda, for his wife.

Filming dates: Teenagers began filming in fall of 1956, and continued through early 1957. In 1959, the film was sold to Warner Bros. for a mere $28,000, after a too-good-to-be-true deal with Allied Artists fell through. By then Tom had already been sued by Bryan Pearson for his share of the profit, after he had heard about the Allied deal. The courts decided Tom's expenses had exceeded the sale price, and Bryan was returned only his initial investment.

Total box-office take: $1,800,000. The film made a 650% domestic profit for distributor Warner Bros., who spent a bare minimum to promote the film at in drive-ins across American and Europe.

a film of many titles

Teenagers from Outer Space went by many titles, including: The Boy from Out of this World (original title), The Boy from Another World (working title), Killers from Outer Space (script title), The Gargon Terror (UK), Rebels from Space (Mexico), and The Gargon Invasion (France).

car tossing
In Scarlet Street Magazine's breakthrough 1993 interview with Bryan and Ursula Pearson, Ursula fondly recalls the scene where Thor, woozy from surgery and an injection, drives his car over a cliff. It was a warm day, she remembers, and the whole cast had to work together to push this wrecked car over the cliff. It was hard work, and extremely illegal, but also extremely fun.

everybody knew

Bill DeLand recalls chuckling with his castmates about Graeff and Roberts' "thing." "You wouldn't have mentioned it at the time," he smiles, "but everyone knew. I mean, it was very, very obvious."

body doubles

Only one skeleton was used for the film. It had bolts connecting all the joints, a tag attached to the skull, and a circled letter Sharpied on the rear of the pelvis.

a human voice
Sparky's bark is not actually that of a dog; one of the castmembers dubbed the vocal in post-production. "I knew there was no way that could be real," says Bill Deland, after hearing the sound dub for the first time.

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