Writer Irving Brecher was born in the Bronx, New York on January 17, 1914. After briefly covering high school sports for a local newspaper, he worked as an usher and ticket taker at a Manhattan movie theater. While there, a critic for Variety told him that he could make money writing jokes for comedians. He moved to Hollywood in 1937 and began working on scripts for the head of production at MGM Mervyn LeRoy. He was an uncredited script doctor on The Wizard of Oz and was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay for Meet Me in St. Louis. His other film credits include Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), Du Barry Was a Lady (1942), Yolanda and the Thief (1945), and Bye Bye Birdie (1963). He was also the creator of the radio series The Life of Riley, which he also turned into a feature film and television series. He died on November 17, 2008 at the age of 94.
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