 Adapting Nathaniel Benchley's novel, he wrote the screenplay for, and directed "Sail A Crooked Ship" starring Ernie Kovacs and a young Robert Wagner.He received an Academy Award nomination in 1944 for his screenplay of "Meet Me in St Louis".As an aspiring young comedy writer, Brecher famously placed an ad in "Variety" looking for work, promising he could write "jokes so bad, even Milton Berle wouldn't steal them."