[1] 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.
In addition, he wrote the lyrics for the 1984 London musical "Blockheads," which was based on the lives of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
Hackady also wrote the lyrics for the song "Kites", composed by Lee Pockriss, which was first recorded by the Rooftop Singers and became a top ten hit in Britain in 1967 for Simon Dupree and the Big Sound.