...And MORE Famous Patients...!

Merv Griffin

Working for Dr. Castroviejo (“Cassy”), celebrities in the office were a common occurrence. Some were more memorable than others. One of my favorites was the TV host Merv Griffin. I was sitting at my desk, when suddenly I looked up and saw a very familiar face smiling down at me. “Hi,” he said, his bright blue eyes twinkling. “I’m Merv Griffin.” I blurted out the first thing that came into my head. “I KNOW!”  I squealed, unable to control my delight. He was just as nice and charming in person as he seemed on his talk show.

William F. Buckley, Jr.

Another memorable patient was William F. Buckley, Jr., the famous political author and commentator and founder of the National Review. Everyone gets scared when something is wrong with their eyes and Mr. Buckley was no exception. Early one morning we received a call asking to squeeze in him. He came rushing into the office about ten minutes later. “Oh, Ramon,” he moaned. “Something is very wrong with my eyes!” He took off his coat and we were all shocked to see he was in a robe and pajamas underneath. He was so scared he didn’t bother to get dressed, he just rushed right over. (If I remember correctly, he had a minor eye infection; it wasn’t a big deal.)  To calm him down Cassy joked with him and asked him to tell him who to vote for. Buckley loved and trusted Cassy so much, he brought his mother in to have her eyes checked. I smiled when I saw her. “You look like your son,” I said.  She smiled back as she corrected me. “No dear, he looks like me,” she replied.

Ben Gazzara

Ben Gazzara was another famous patient. Cassy wasn’t one to watch American television so he had no clue who he was. “He’s very famous,” I told him. “He’s a big TV star. He has his own weekly program, Run for Your Life, on NBC.” Cassy shrugged, unimpressed. Later that afternoon when Mr. Gazzara arrived for his appointment, Cassy walked over to him and shook his hand. “I enjoy your show,” he said warmly, as if he had watched every episode. Ha.

But the only patient I was truly in awe of was the English playwright, director, actor, and singer Noel Coward. I was such a huge fan of his work, like the film Brief Encounter.  When I was seated next to him I could barely breathe. I was supposed to be paying attention to what Cassy was saying—he was telling me Mr. Coward’s eyeglass prescription and what his new one should be. A couple of minutes into the exam Cassy asked me to repeat what he said. I looked down at my pad and realized with embarrassment I hadn’t written down a single word. “Tina!” Cassy said in shock. That was the first (and only time) that ever happened.

                                                     Noel Coward
               

Fashion designer Oleg Cassini was another patient. Oleg designed clothes for many of the celebrities that walked the red carpet at the Oscars, so it was more than flattering when I saw him glance with approval at the white suit I was wearing from E.J. Korvettes, which couldn’t have cost more than twenty bucks.

Oleg Cassini dancing with Jackie Kennedy. Jackie is wearing one of the gowns Mr. Cassini designed for her.

I should mention I was the only non-Spanish speaking secretary in Cassy’s office. The other women who worked there assumed the only reason Dr. Castroviejo hired me had to be that we were fooling around; meanwhile nothing could have been further from the truth.  The rumors made their way to Cassy, who responded by coming out of his office one day with a thick pile of letters, contracts, and correspondence which I had typed up for him that needed his signature. He plopped the huge stack of papers in the middle of the secretarial area and signed each one with a flourish. When he was through, he handed me the entire stack and said loudly to no one in particular, “And not a single mistake!” I guess it never occurred to the other secretaries that I could possibly be good at my job! 

(Editor's note: No, this last photo isn't of a celebrity, it is a photo of the author of this blog, Tina Rao!  I just couldn't resist posting this photo of my mom from "back in the day." Was it any wonder the other secretaries were jealous of her?)