And I wrote something for Leverett House ’cause they wanted it for spring weekend, see? But the professionals bought it and put it on. I wasn’t down there making the theatrical scene,” he said. “And I must emphasize, it began without my trying, you know. In a 1972 interview with The Crimson, Segal said that the success of the play was unexpected. The play, which attracted an off-Broadway producer, became an unlikely hit and served as the springboard for Segal’s playwriting career. Muse!” was performed in Leverett House dining hall to considerably more success. In 1958, as a senior completing his studies, Segal wrote his first play, a Hasty Pudding show called “The Big Fizz.”Īlthough the show received lackluster reviews, when Segal was a graduate student in May 1961, his Homeric spoof “Sing. He briefly attempted to gain a spot on The Crimson’s staff in the fall of 1955 but managed to have only two unsigned cartoons published. “I am with you, classmates, and hope we will meet in person again.”įor those who have studied and worked with Segal, it is his imagination that has imbued him with the ability to inhabit the distinct roles of both Classics professor and famous writer.ĭespite his future prominence as a writer, Segal, who was a classics concentrator, was not particularly active in any literary pursuits while he was an undergraduate. “I no longer own the impregnable mind and body that used to overcome adversity in whatever form I had to face it,” Segal wrote in a concise passage in this year’s 50th anniversary report. In addition to writing “Love Story,” Segal is known for his collaboration on the Beatles’ 1968 film “Yellow Submarine.”īut Segal-who has also held various teaching positions at Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and Princeton, among other institutions-will be absent from this year’s reunion as he battles illness at his home in London.

Segal, who graduated from the College as both class poet (an elected Class Day speaker) and Latin salutatorian (a Commencement orator based on class ranking), went on to pursue a career that straddled the line between academia and popular culture. Gordon ’58, “as you know, we are running low on”-and here, he drew a picture of a toilet paper roll-“Unless you’d like to wipe your rectum with dollar bills, you might well let me know when the next 50 cents is coming, or buy the stuff yourself.” “Gordo,” begins a hurried letter to his freshman year roommate Marvin A.

Segal ’58 penned the romantic novel “Love Story”-the iconic tale of a Harvard man and Radcliffe woman who fall for each other-he wrote notes for his roommates to express his creativity.

Erich segal novels