(3 of 3)
Paramount had paid 75 Gs for the script. Segal kicked back ten of them to the movie company. For promotion. Paramount kicked in ten more. It paid off. The scenarist scrambled 100,000 miles across country. Selling, pushing. Merchandising. He appeared on Cavett, Carson. "I'm kind of a folk hero at Yale," he liked to say. "The closest thing to a Beatle." Fraternities called him up en masse; Middle America wrote in; most important, publishing houses and film companies used Love Story as a new shibboleth. The escape hatch had been opened. Erich was in.
In addition to Love Story, Segal has written a number of scripts, including the execrable The Games and R.P.M. He can go on dropping bombs as long as he likes. "I called my accountant last week to ask him whether I was a millionaire yet," says Segal modestly. "He said yes."
Back in the Depression-haunted '30s, Hollywood was grinding out musicals; Ginger Rogers, dressed in coins, sang We're in the Money and Fred Astaire sang A Fine Romance. The '70s' Longuettes, bottoming Dow Jones, and massive strikes seem reflections of that epoch. So does Love Story, a bit of leftover tinsel that glows like gold. And who knows? A little Love Story might be good for you. As it happens, the lachrymose Giants won that game 16-0.
* Booksellers' orders were so frantic that within 24 hours a second edition of 650,000 copies was.ordered.