![](/store/e.png) On eBay Now...
\"Summer of \'42\" Herman Raucher Signed FDC Dated 1949 For Sale
![\ \](img-large/g/2~gAAOSwShdhp2lT/s-l1600/-Summer-of-42-Herman-Raucher-Signed-FDC-Dated-1949.jpg)
When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
![Buy Now Buy Now](buy.gif)
\"Summer of \'42\" Herman Raucher Signed FDC Dated 1949: $139.99
Up for sale "Summer of '42" Herman Raucher Hand Signed First Day Cover Dated 1949.
ES-3204 Herman Raucher (born April 13, 1928) is an American author and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the autobiographical screenplay and novel Summer of '42, which became one of the highest-grossing films and one of the best selling novels of the 1970s, respectively. He began his writing career during the Golden Age of Television, when he moonlighted as a scriptwriter while working for a Madison Avenue advertising agency. He effectively retired from writing in the 1980s after a number of projects failed to come to fruition, though his books remain in print and a remake of one of his films, Sweet November, was produced in 2001. Raucher was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Sophie (Weinshank) and Benjamin Brooks Raucher. His father was a World War I veteran whom Raucher recalled as having a bayonet wound across his forehead. The family's financial situation fluctuated according to the success of the elder Raucher's career. During more profitable years, the family vacationed on Nantucket. During one such trip, when he was fourteen, Raucher developed a friendship with an older woman he identified as "Dorothy", a war bride whose husband was fighting in Europe, an event which formed the basis for Summer of '42. During this time, Raucher's best friend was a boy named Oscar "Oscy" Seltzer, who became a United States Army medic and who died during the Korean War while tending to a wounded soldier. After graduating from high school, Raucher attended New York University, where he studied advertising and worked as a cartoonist for $38 per week, drawing comic strips. After graduating he became an office boy at 20th Century Fox and eventually worked his way into advertising; Raucher was known for his hobby of writing plays, which several ad executives believed to be the mark of a creative genius. Raucher proved successful as an ad man, and was part of the advertising team that developed the ad campaign for the opening of Disneyland. While working as an ad executive, Raucher simultaneously pursued a writing career, and several of his plays were successfully staged on Broadway, including Harold, one of the earliest plays to feature Anthony Perkins. Raucher also wrote for television, with short plays being featured as segments on a number of variety shows. A film agent saw a preliminary draft of the script for Raucher's play Sweet November and helped Raucher negotiate a sale of the script to Warner Brothers. While working on Sweet November, Raucher befriended Anthony Newley, with whom he shared a lifelong friendship; Newley later became the godfather to Raucher's youngest daughter. Following the success of Sweet November, Raucher helped Newley co-write Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?, which became a cult film. Inspired by several of his friends who expressed liberal sentiments while retaining racist ideologies, Raucher wrote the script for Watermelon Man. He successfully sold the script and partnered with Melvin van Peebles on making the film, though he was displeased with van Peebles' desire to alter his script in order to make the picture a black power movie. Due to the two's tense relationship, Raucher novelized his original script, both to retain his original message and to prevent van Peebles from publishing his own version of the story.[2] Peebles' idea to turn Watermelon Man into the first black power picture later becameSweet Sweetback's Badass Song. For much of his early career, Raucher had attempted to sell a screenplay based on his experiences with Dorothy and Oscar Seltzer; after seven years he successfully sold the script of Summer of '42 to Robert Mulligan, who was looking to recreate the success of To Kill a Mockingbird. Although the script originally began as a tribute to Seltzer, Raucher instead found himself focusing more on Dorothy. Warner Bros., fearful that the movie would be a box office bomb, not only agreed to give Raucher a large share of the royalties in lieu of payment but also paid him to write a novelization of his script in an effort to drum up interest in the movie. Using the opportunity, Raucher focused the novel more on his relationship with Seltzer and less on Dorothy. Against expectation, Summer of '42 became a national bestseller and helped drive the movie to become one of the highest-grossing films of the 1970s. Raucher continued to write prolifically throughout the 1970s, ultimately publishing six novels and penning six screenplays throughout the decade. He effectively retired in the 1980s, when a number of planned film projects failed to materialize, notably a film adaptation of his bestselling novel There Should Have Been Castles, a period piece about 1950s artists partially inspired by his early career, which studio executives said was too lewd to successfully market. Despite this, Summer of '42 has continued to be a cultural phenomenon, with a Broadway show based on the film being produced in 2001. A planned film of Maynard's House, Raucher's sole horror novel, was trapped in development hell for much of the 1990s and 2000s, with the rights last belonging to Studio Canal, which planned to produce it under the title Ara/Froom.
![](/store/img/g/2~gAAOSwShdhp2lT/s-l225/-Summer-of-42-Herman-Raucher-Signed-FDC-Dated-1949.jpg)
"Summer of '42" Herman Raucher Signed FDC Dated 1949 $139.99
![Summer of Spider-Man KEY 1st Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel Miles cover - NM picture](/store/img/g/NOIAAOSwcZ1h6iL3/s-l225/Summer-of-Spider-Man-KEY-1st-Carol-Danvers-as-Capt.jpg)
Summer of Spider-Man KEY 1st Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel Miles cover - NM $34.99
![DISNEY SUMMER OF HEROES 1 F- 2017 CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE GIVEAWAY PROMO DISNEYLAND picture](/store/img/g/sAIAAOSwFohmbiZX/s-l225/DISNEY-SUMMER-OF-HEROES-1-F-2017-CALIFORNIA-ADVENT.jpg)
DISNEY SUMMER OF HEROES 1 F- 2017 CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE GIVEAWAY PROMO DISNEYLAND $9.99
![Pack of *5* STARBUCKS REUSABLE HOT CUPS W LIDS - Summer of 2019 Marble - 16oz picture](/store/img/g/lOcAAOSw~itmeX1d/s-l225/Pack-of-5-STARBUCKS-REUSABLE-HOT-CUPS-W-LIDS-Summe.jpg)
Pack of *5* STARBUCKS REUSABLE HOT CUPS W LIDS - Summer of 2019 Marble - 16oz $22.99
![The Summer of You (My Summer of You Vol 1) - Paperback By Furuya, Nagisa - GOOD picture](/store/img/g/XW4AAOSw0IJjwQT7/s-l225/The-Summer-of-You-My-Summer-of-You-Vol-1-Paperback.jpg)
The Summer of You (My Summer of You Vol 1) - Paperback By Furuya, Nagisa - GOOD $4.37
![The Summer With You (My Summer of You Vol 2) - Paperback - GOOD picture](/store/img/g/vBUAAOSwgxBibRbT/s-l225/The-Summer-With-You-My-Summer-of-You-Vol-2-Paperba.jpg)
The Summer With You (My Summer of You Vol 2) - Paperback - GOOD $5.20
![Disney's](/store/img/g/jdkAAOSwDG1d0Ype/s-l225/Disney-s-SUMMER-OF-THE-MONKEYS-on-VHS-15047.jpg)
Disney's "SUMMER OF THE MONKEYS" on VHS #15047 $23.54
![My Summer Of You Volume 1-2 picture](/store/img/g/77AAAOSwcatmR~3c/s-l225/My-Summer-Of-You-Volume-1-2.jpg)
My Summer Of You Volume 1-2 $25.00
|