[2] Raucher 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.
During one such trip, when he was fourteen, Raucher developed a friendship with an older woman he identified as "Dorothy", 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.
[6] 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.
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.
[2] Van Peebles' idea to turn Watermelon Man into the first black power picture later became Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.