Fabian at the Box Office

A brief overview of the box office success of Fabian films...

In 1957, the 14 year old Fabian was sitting on the doorstep of his South Philadelphia home by Bob Marcucci. As described by the New York Times, "to Marcucci, he looked a bit like Elvis Presley or Ricky Nelson, but with the down-to-earth-quality of a boy next door". Despite Fabian's insistence he could not sing, Marcucci began to call regularly at the house to get him to try it. "Ma, that crazy guy's here again," Fabian supposedly called out one night.

Eventually Fabian relented and sang along to a Ricky Nelson record. He could obviously not sing, so Marcucci sent him to a voice teacher, who sent him back with a note: "Don't waste your money". A second teacher said the same thing, so Marcucci sent him to a third teacher, saying "Don't tell me not to waste my money. Just work on the kid for a few months and try to teach him to sing a little."Apparently the teacher managed to open up Fabian's voice slightly, though was unable to inaculate any sense of pitch.

Fabian and Marcucci cut a single - which bombed. But then he began appearing on Bandstand.
His second record sold a quarter of a million copies. Then "Turn Me Loose" reached the top ten. He began appearing on The Perry Como Show and The Ed Sullivan Show.

"It is his physical attraction rather than his voice which has carried him up so fast," said the NY Times. "Part of this attraction may lie in the fact that he is the opposite of the stereotyped conception of the rock'n'roll singer. He does not wiggle. He simply stands up and tries to sing and, in the view of his fans, 'projects a kind of joy of living'. He dresses neatly but informally and he is well-mannered."

There was a backlash: Alan Drake, a comedian, withdrew from a scheduled appearance on a bill which included Fabian because he did not wish to be associated with the singer. "A gifted singer takes literally years of painstaking work to become a polished entertainer," said Drake. "While someone like Fabian comes along with a gimmick in place of true talent and is immediately foisted on the public for purely monetary gain, offering nothing in the way of constructive entertainment in return. I feel it is an insult to the public to pass these wonderless wonders off as artists and I refuse to have any part of Fabian or his ilk."

Fabian was signed to a film contract by 20th Century Fox, who had enjoyed success with films for Elvis Presley and Pat Boone. In July 1958 he began filming his debut. He moved into a Hollywood apartment with Marcucci, Marcucci's mother and her sister. In the apartment below was another Marcucci client, Frankie Avalon.

Hound Dog Man was given a $1.045 million budget, a skilled director in Don Siegel, and several Fox contract players, including Carol Lynley and Stuart Whitman. However, the film performed poorly at the box office, not making the list of top grossing films of the year.

Fox did not lose heart; they thought Fabian might have some use in support of an older actor, and so it proved when the John Wayne vehicle North to Alaska pulled in $5 million (cost $3.8 million).

Fabian was mentioned in Congressional "payola" hearings by the House Committee on Congressional Oversight. Noted DJ Dick Clark came under attack from various politicians. Representative Steven B Derounian cross examined Clark on the topic of Fabian, quoting an article which said the young man was "Apollo-like in stature, with curly hair and a seductive eye" but who could hardly sing at all.

The Congressman suggested to Clark that "you get a big hunk of young man with a lot of cheesecake to appear on your program. It's his appearance that counts, not his voice." Clark denied this, saying that was "an unkind thing to say".

Fox kept busy with Fabian. The put him, along with youngsters Richard Beymer and Tuesday Weld, in support of Bing Crosby in High Time, which earned $2.5 million on its $2.815 million budget. Supporting James Stewart in the $4.1 million Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962) resulted in another hit, earning $4 million.

The formula wasn’t infallible, though, as proved when Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962) earned only $1.2 million on a cost of $2.34 million. Fabian played a small role in The Longest Day, which earned $17.5 million on its $7.75 million budget.

Fabian’s best known performance for Fox was in an episode of the TV series Bus Stop. In “A Lion Walks Amongst Us” the singer played a psychopath. Jack Gould in the Times called the episode "a disgraceful and contemptible flaunting of decency, an indescribably coarse glorification of vulgarity to win an easy rating." Around 25 affiliate stations are said to have refused to run it. The timing of the episode was bad: shortly after airing, in Jan 1962 ABC's president, Oliver Treyz, was brought before a Senate Subcommittee investigating juvenile delinquency and the impact of television crime and sex shows on teenagers. Treyz said he admitted considering cancelling the show but had decided not to for fear of offending creative talent. Questions were raised in Congress and the show was thought to have led to Treyz's resignation of ABC’s president.

Columbia borrowed Fabian for Ride the Wild Surf (1964). His original co-stars were to be Jan and Dean, but they were fired after it turned out Dean (unknowingly) leant money to an old friend who used it to help fund his kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jnr. They were replaced by Tab Hunter and Peter Brown. Most of filming took place on location in Hawaii.

Brown remembers Fabian struggled with surfing. "I really liked Fabian as a person but he couldn't comb his hair and walk at the same time. He was the most uncoordinated guy. I think he went through about five rental cars while we were over there."

Despite the pleasing locations, production was troublesome - the director, Art Napoleon, ended up being fired and replaced by Don Taylor. The film ended up earning $1.074 million, considered somewhat of a diappointment, though it has a reputation today as one of the best surf movies (it certainly treats surfing more seriously than the beach party movies of the time).

Fabian’s contract with Fox ended with Dear Brigitte (1965), where he supported James Stewart. The film earned $2.2 million on a cost of $2.47 million (other figures say it earned $2.92 million but required $4.5 million to break even).

AIP had wanted to sign Fabian for its Beach Party series but been unable due to the Fox contract. Now the actor was available AIP promptly teamed him with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello in Fireball 500 (1966), which earned $2 million – then a further $1.5 million when it was re-released the following year. He made some more films for that studio: another stock car drama, Thunder Alley (1967) earned $1.25 million, while the tormented drug drama Maryjane (1968) $1 million.

Fabian played two depression era gangster films, A Bullet for a Pretty Boy (1970) and Little Laura and Big John (1973) Neither set the world on fire and Fabian drifted into support roles.