Sunglasses

Stephen Oppenheimer· Guest0:00

Well, I moved to California from Ohio.

Avery Trufelman· Host0:04

The year was 1973, and Dr. Oppenheimer had just moved to LA.

Stephen Oppenheimer· Guest0:10

I was in a little teeny office on Hollywood and Vine, and one day somebody came in my office and said, "Are you an eye doctor?" And I said, "Yes." He said, "Well, can you help me?"

Avery Trufelman· Host0:21

This stranger had a problem. It turned out he was a Hollywood producer, and he was working on a scene where there would be an image of a letter that was blurry and would become clear as the actor put on glasses. He figured he would go across the street and ask the local eye doctor how to do it.

Stephen Oppenheimer· Guest0:40

I said, "Well, that's really easy to do." He said, "Well, can you come over and talk to the cinematographer?" So I went across the street, I talked to the cinematographer, and I told him, "It's very simple. All you do is this, this, this, and this." So he said, "Oh, thank you so much. What's your name?"

Avery Trufelman· Host0:56

And so Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer became the eye doctor that the movie people called, and not just for camera tricks.

Stephen Oppenheimer· Guest1:03

So about six months later, I had my own office. We got a call one day. It was this guy. He said, "Oh, I've been looking for you. I got a problem. I gotta get a pair of glasses for Kate Jackson." And I said, "Who's that?" "Kate Jackson, Charlie's Angels." And Kate Jackson wanted a pair of glasses so that she could walk out and go to the grocery store and not be recognized.

Avery Trufelman· Host1:25

(laughs) But why couldn't they just go to, you know, a Sunglasses Hut?

Stephen Oppenheimer· Guest1:28

Well, y- you don't know how