 After a brief career in radio and later as a television stage manager for pioneering shows including "Studs' Place" with Studs Terkel and "Kukla, Fran & Ollie", Auerbach became the first director of "Mr. Wizard" in 1951, following a brief stint on "Zoo Parade", a live program from the Chicago Zoo with Marlin Perkins that predated the long-running "Wild Kingdom".In September 1951, Auerbach was hired to be the first director of the soap opera "Love of Life" on the CBS network.With Auerbach as the principal director, "Love of Life" was part of the early careers of actors Frances Sternhagen, Paul Michael Glaser, Christopher Reeve, Roy Scheider, Bonnie Bedelia, Jessica Walter, Nancy Marchand, Ray Wise, Jonathan Frakes, Warren Beatty and Peter Falk.