Background
Manings was born in Newark, New Jersey to a Jewish family, and was raised on Staten Island.
Manings was born in Newark, New Jersey to a Jewish family, and was raised on Staten Island.
Sarah Lawrence College.
He served in the United States Army during World World War II in the Pacific theater. After completing his military service, he went to college on the GI Bill as one of the first men to attend the newly coeducational Sarah Lawrence College. Manings felt uneasy during the McCarthyist period, during which time several friends were blacklisted, and moved to Canada until the early 1960s.
He worked as a writer and script supervisor on Rowan & Martin"s Laugh-In in the 1960s, for which he received an Emmy.
He also wrote episodes of McHale"s Navy and Leave lieutenant to Beaver. He ran unsuccessfully for president of the Guild in 1991 and was a recipient of the Morgan Cox Award for service to the Guild, which he received in 1997.
Manings was elected vice president of the Writers Guild of America, West from 1975 to 1977 and also served as a member of its Board of Directors from 1977 to 1982 and again from 1985 to 1992.