Has any OptiBoarder made glasses for famous in the news poeple ? Now and then........

[cocoisland58]

Without violating HIPPA I'll say I have made glasses and dispensed them to quite a few Detroit sports celebs, Tigers, Lions, Pistons and my beloved Redwings (plus their current owner). My all time favorite though was Tim the Tool Man who was a regular at our store and a great guy.

[bob_f_aboc]

3 pair of Ray Bans for Vince Neil and all of George Foreman's kids (large variety of names there ).

[Chris Ryser]

Remember in Jurasic Park when the guy is eaten by the dinosaur a later they find the ringing phone and mangled pair of sunglasses in the dinosaur poop? We sold the prop department the sunglasses. Does that count?

Of course it counts, famous movie, famous poop ----------------------------------> famous poopglasses

[SharonB]

John Houseman, Helen Hayes, Margot Kidder, and Ellen Burstyn ... a long time ago, as the first two are now deceased.

[Speed]

Richard Petty and his wife. Richard and his wife would come in, he'd buy one and she 6 pairs. He came back into the lab one day. He was looking at our V-50 and we talked about how expensive equipment can be. Also Kyle Petty.

[Chris Ryser]

One repat customer in the Lausanne store was the then deposed King Farouk of Egypt. I can not remember to much details about him, but remember him as a nasty Ba..tard for whom nothing was right or good enough. Not always bought new glasses came sometimes just for adjustments and complained that the quality was not worth the price.........which also got inflated for him.

Farouk was enamored of the glamorous royal lifestyle. Although he already had thousands of acres of land, dozens of palaces, and hundreds of cars, the youthful king would often travel to Europe for grand shopping sprees, earning the ire of many of his subjects. It is said that he ate 600 oysters a week.^[4] In 1951 he bought the pear-shaped 94-carat Star of the East Diamond and a fancy colored oval cut diamond from Harry Winston. By the time of the King's overthrow in 1952, Winston had still not received payment for the two gems, but three years later an Egyptian government legal board entrusted with the disposal of the former royal assets, ruled in his favor. Nevertheless, several years of litigation were needed before he was able to reclaim the Star of the East from a safe-deposit box in Switzerland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farouk_of_Egypt

[icmor]

Just after the movie Ali came out, Mohammed Ali came in to purchase sunglasses. Knowing he loved to play practical jokes, we decided to have fun with him. When he sat down at the dispense table, we acted like we didn't know who he was, and told him, "you look just like . . . Will Smith!" Mohammed smiled and started swinging! His wife , Lonnie, laughed and said, "That was a good one!"

[rdcoach5]

Sean Connery's neighbor in spain. The wife used to play golf with Connery's wife. When I first met her I asked her address to make up a new file. She handed me a card with 4 addresses on it. Spain, London, Ohio where their 1st factory is located and I forget the other one. Some island cottage.

[opty4062]

Sorry for re-opening an old thread but I had an exciting surprise patient in the office today. In the interest of HIPPA I will just say, it was an office visit for the doc and now...
There's two less painful peepers in the world, and he's gonna be fine. Out of all the ODs in the world, I can't believe he came to mine....:)

[fjpod]

Don't recall if we actually made glasses for them, but we've examined Norman Mailer, the author. Mason Adams, who played Charlie Hume on Lou Grant. And that child actor, Glenn Scarpelli, the kid on One Day at a Time with Bonnie Franklin. Fit him with CLs. Nobody lately though...

[mdeimler]

1989, at Vision World, I made an adjustment for Jimmy Hart, the Mouth of the South. This was when he was the manager for the Macho Man Randy Savage. The WWF was in town for an event.

[SeaU2020]

Top 3...Mickey Rourke, Paul Sorvino and Tim Allen.

[manoj_verma]

Tom Cruise : Tom Ford / Hoya ID
Paris Hilton : 3 Pair Chopard Sunglasses
Boris Baker : Maui Jim Sunglasses
Shaikh Mohammed ( Prime Minister & Vice President of UAE ) : Lindberg ( 7 Pair ) / Zeiss GT2 3D ( 7 Pair ).....& He Repeats the SAME ORDER every 3-4 MOnths ( Same Prescription for more then 2 Years ).
Some Russian Parlimentrian ( Did not tell his name ) : He was the guy ,to whom I sold A Single Pair Of Eyeglass for $ 13,150 ......CARTIER -SOLID GOLD / ESSILOR VARILUX PHYSIO TRANSITION
& Countless Bollywood Stars / Cricket Stars

[AdmiralKnight]

$13,150? Holy cow.

The closest I've come is a former NHL player/coach. :P

[manoj_verma]

$13,150? Holy cow.

The closest I've come is a former NHL player/coach. :P

& you won't Believe me ,This Guy Look at me when I tried to Provide some DISCOUNT on this ( I heard him sayin -Induslting me ? in his Eyes )......Even when tried to Tell him the Price ,He Just Thrown his Card and Looked Other side.
My Heart Beats .......I tell you .

[Kara]

Closest to famous we've got has been Gene Jones. Wife of current Dallas Cowboys coach.

I'm a Redskins fan.

[AngeHamm]

When I was working for a LensCrafters on the Upper west Side of Manhattan in the late '90s, I made glasses for Garrison Keillor and Peter Jennings. The coolest thing, however, was the day I came into the office for my interview and noticed a familiar face at the counter. He waved cheerily at me and I waved back.

I said to the lab manager, "Is that Kevin Bacon?"

He said, "Yeah. He's a really nice guy. Always losing his glasses, though."

That turned out to be true. I made no less than three pairs of glasses for him in my year and a half there. So you all are now two degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon.

The best story, however, is from summer of 1991. This one is for Kara. I was living in Vienna, Virginia, between high school and college. I wasn't much of a sports fan, but even I knew who Joe Gibbs was when he came into my VisionWorks store. I made his glasses from start to finish, then thought, "I may as well start watching some Redskins games now that I have a personal connection." The team went on to win their first 11 games in a row on the way to a franchise-best 14-2 record and a massive victory in Super Bowl XXVI. Granted, it's been mostly downhill as a Washington football fan ever since, but I've been as devoted a fan of the team as you'll ever see. And I legitimately contributed to the team's last Super Bowl victory. I feel like I deserve a little ring.

[Johns]

This is a fun thread. We're not breaking any privacy laws, are we??

If naming names of our clients isn't a violation of their privacy, I don't know what would be. I can't imagine releasing the name(s) of any of my clients, famous, infamous, or otherwise.

[Kara]

when i was working for a lenscrafters on the upper west side of manhattan in the late '90s, i made glasses for garrison keillor and peter jennings. The coolest thing, however, was the day i came into the office for my interview and noticed a familiar face at the counter. He waved cheerily at me and i waved back.


I said to the lab manager, "is that kevin bacon?"

he said, "yeah. He's a really nice guy. Always losing his glasses, though."

that turned out to be true. I made no less than three pairs of glasses for him in my year and a half there. So you all are now two degrees of separation from kevin bacon.

The best story, however, is from summer of 1991. This one is for kara. I was living in vienna, virginia, between high school and college. I wasn't much of a sports fan, but even i knew who joe gibbs was when he came into my visionworks store. I made his glasses from start to finish, then thought, "i may as well start watching some redskins games now that i have a personal connection." the team went on to win their first 11 games in a row on the way to a franchise-best 14-2 record and a massive victory in super bowl xxvi. Granted, it's been mostly downhill as a washington football fan ever since, but i've been as devoted a fan of the team as you'll ever see. And i legitimately contributed to the team's last super bowl victory. I feel like i deserve a little ring.

sweet action!!!!!

[Jilly614]

Creator of I DREAM OF JEANIE ( who my hubby said is a genius)' creator of UNDER DOG, really cool (very old) guy!

[fjpod]

In my 2nd year as apprentice my salary was 40.00 Swiss Francs per month. On day some person came in the store with a broken gold filled frame. He asked that we deliver the finished to the Aga Kahn on the 7th floor of the Lausanne Palace Hotel
It was my job to do all the soldering on the new resistance electric machine on which I had become really good. I soldered the rims back to the bridge.. The boss told me to do the delivery and to take a pair of pliers along and collect SF 5.50 for the job.
When I got there I realized that the whole 7th floor was fully rented by the Aga kahn entourage. I was brought to his suite and he waved with his fingers for me to come close. I handed over the glasses, he put them on the nose and said adjust adjust. I was glad to have the pliers and did a good job. He never said thank you, but waved his male secretary with his fingers and commanded "pay him". I went back to the man and he gave a hundred franc note. Of course I had no change and said so. The Aga Kahn waved with one hand and said "keep it and go.".

On the way back Ibought a chocolat for 1 franc that gave me the change to pay the store the SF5.50 and had a tip of more than 2x my monthly salary. It still is the largest tip I ever received in my lifetime right up to now.

Next morning it was all over the news that the Aga Kahn had an argument with management who didnot want to follow his commands. He purchased the hotel overnight for many millions and fired the management the same day.

Chris, you win the prize. The best story.

[pseudonym]

Well, I can't top the glasses the dinosaur mangled but I did rework W. Hodding Carter III's old lenses into a new frame. You may remember him from the Carter years. We talked about how much we like Roy Blount Jr's books (he actually knows him!) I still have his business card. These days he's a professor leadership and public policy at UNC-Chapel Hill. He tipped me $10. for a $20. job! Most charming and intelligent man. I enjoyed his company very much.

[pseudonym]

If naming names of our clients isn't a violation of their privacy, I don't know what would be. I can't imagine releasing the name(s) of any of my clients, famous, infamous, or otherwise.

No violation. It's yet another reason to use a pseudonym.

[Chris Ryser]

Chris, you win the prize. The best story.

Thank you fjpod for proposing me for the Pulitzer price of OptiBoard.

I have a lot more of some funny and some sad stories of during a life time in the optical trade.

Like the one, when I had to pick up the then chairman of ESSEL (today Essilor) in 1963 at the New York harbour, arriving on the liner SS France, occupying the presidential suite, that was even equipped with a telephone, and then bringing him and his wife to the Waldorf-Astoria where they had forgotten about the reservation and put them in a double room under the slanted roof, that was not even properly made up. ..................Two days later we all drove to Montreal.

However that is a post for another time.

[GokhanSF]

1- Angelina Jolie
2- Kathrine Heigl
3- Tom Cruise
4- Jurgen Klinsmann (USA Soccer Coach)
5- Mark Hamilton (Cardinals 1st Base)
6- Nick Nolte

All I can remember for now :) And of course I got autographed pics from all as well as autographed jersey from Mark Hamilton....