Hal Hackady

Harold Clayton MacHackady (February 10, 1922 – October 12, 2015), best known as Hal Hackady, and sometimes credited as Hal Hackaday, was an American lyricist, librettist and screenwriter.

Life

He was born in Middletown, Connecticut in 1922. He studied at Wesleyan University, before starting work in New York City in the 1950s.

He began his career writing teleplays for early anthology series General Electric Theater and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He graduated to feature films as the screenwriter of B-movies capitalizing on the rock and roll craze, including Let's Rock, Senior Prom (both with music by Don Gohman), and Hey, Let's Twist, which earned him a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Written Musical.

Hackady's theatrical career began with the 1955 Broadway revue Almost Crazy starring Kay Medford, for which he wrote sketches and lyrics. Additional Broadway credits include Minnie's Boys, Goodtime Charley, Ambassador, and Teddy & Alice. He also wrote lyrics for Divorce, of course! with Angela Paton and Robert Goldsby writing the book, and Lee Pockriss writing the music. It was originally translated from the French play, Divorcons, by Victorien Sardou and Émile de Najac.