David Love (left) and Tom Graeff in Teenagers from Outer Space

Smacks of Brilliance is Jim's current book-in-progress, the first full-length biography of film maker Tom Graeff, the man behind the cult classic Teenagers from Outer Space. Low-budget auteur, gay liberation pioneer, eccentric rabble rouser, religious fanatic sent to save the world—Tom Graeff was all of these. Unknown in his own lifetime and largely forgotten today, Graeff’s fascinating, doomed journey is the ultimate Hollywood story—filled with ambition, delusion, sex, scandal, hope, and failure.

Jim's research has led to his creation of the Tom Graeff Biography Project Web site, which features rare photos, film clips, audio clips, and lots of information about the life of Tom Graeff.

For many years, Graeff's only known film was Teenagers from Outer Space. Jim Tushinski spent years tracking down prints of Graeff's other films and facilitating their deposit into the UCLA Film and Television Archives for preservation.  Visit the CineGraeffia You Tube channel for some clips from Graeff's first film, Toast to Our Brother, and other rare finds.