Irving Brecher
Irving Brecher (born January 17, 1914 in New York City , † November 17, 2008 in Los Angeles ) was an American screenwriter .
Life
Brecher, who was born in the Bronx , was already joking as a teenager for Ed Sullivan and others . At 19 he worked as a gag author for comedian Milton Berle , and later for Jackie Gleason and George Burns . After moving to Hollywood , he first worked as one of the countless unnamed writers on The Wizard of Oz . During the filming he met Groucho Marx . He then wrote the scripts for two Marx Brothers films , At the Circus (1939) and Go West (1940). The script for At the Circus contains "Achoo!" the only word that was ever said by Harpo Marx in one of their films together. The following year he wrote one of the sequels to The Thin Man , The Thin Man's Shadow, and Du Barry Was a Lady, starring Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly . His and Fred F. Finklehoffe's script for Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland , was nominated for an Oscar in 1945 .
The radio series The Life of Riley , conceived by Brecher, was later adapted into a feature film and a television series and was the first sitcom on US television in 1949 .
Brecher was married twice, after the death of his first wife in 1981, he remarried in 1983.
Filmography (selection)
- script
- 1938: Madame rang the bell? (Fools for Scandal)
- 1939: The Marx Brothers in the circus (At the Circus)
- 1940: Go West
- 1941: The Shadow of the Thin Man (Shadow of the Thin Man)
- 1942: Ship ahoy! (Ship Ahoy)
- 1944: Homesick for St. Louis (Meet Me in St. Louis)
- 1944: Broadway Melody 1950 (Ziegfeld Follies)
- 1945: Yolanda and the Thief (Yolanda and the Thief)
- 1949: The Life of Riley (TV series)
- 1960: A house in Yokoshimi (Cry for Happy)
- 1963: Bye Bye Birdie
- Director
- 1961: Sail a crooked Ship
Awards
- 1945: Oscar nomination for homesickness for St. Louis
Web links
- Irving Brecher in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Obituary the LA Times (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ In his autobiography Groucho and Me , Groucho Irving Brecher - also called "Delaney" there - devotes almost an entire chapter ( Go Fish ), in which he describes in an absurdly humorous way a joint fishing trip with obstacles.
- ↑ Obituary of the Telegraph (English)
- ↑ Obituary at jewishjournal.com ( Memento from January 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Breaker, Irving |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American screenwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 17, 1914 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 17, 2008 |
| Place of death | los Angeles |