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Gina Lollobrigida

The Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida was also a patient. While she certainly was beautiful, she never became as popular in the United States as she was in Europe. Dr. Castroviejo ("Cassy") wasn't familiar with American movie stars, but he certainly knew who Gina was. He was very protective of her; when her office appointment was over, he made someone walk her out and put her in a cab. I guess he thought she'd be mobbed by fans; meanwhile most people in New York didn't have a clue who she was.

Another patient was the Duchess of Badajoz, Infanta Pilar, the sister of Juan Carlos, who, at the time was the King of Spain. One day soon after her visit, an envelope arrived at the office. It was thick, creamy, beautiful stationery, with the seal of the King of Spain. It was regarding the Duchess of Badajoz. It had nothing to do with her eyes. The letter stated that during her visit to New York, the Duchess had developed a fondness for Pillsbury Pancake mix, and could we please send some to Spain? Of course we sent her a huge box.

As I was writing a letter for Cassy to include in the package, I wondered out loud whether to adress the letter to "her royal highness"—was that the appropriate greeting for a Duchess? "Can't you just write, 'Dear Duchess'?" Cassy asked. He really didn't know. I tried to explain to him that would be like starting a letter to King Juan Carlos, "Dear King," and he just shrugged. It's a good thing he was an exquisite surgeon.

The Duchess of Badajoz; she loved Pillsbury Pancake Mix!

One fun thing about working in a doctor's office was that there was never a shortage of interesting people to meet. Since the majority of Cassy's patients were from Spain, whenever somebody asked us to recommend a fun place to go, we'd always say The Chateau Madrid, a Spanish nightclub on 48th street. I used to go there a lot with one of the other girls in the office, my friend Mercedes. It got to the point that whenever we walked in, whoever was singing would immediately work our names into the song. I guess you could say that The Chateau Madrid was like our "Cheers" bar—"where everybody knows your name." I remember one time a very handsome matador from Spain asked me for a date. When he asked me out, he made point of telling me "all the women in the office were looking at him." So when he told me to pick a place, naturally I said the Chateau Madrid. As soon as we walked in, the band played a merry tune and the bandleader started singing, "Hola, Tina!" The matador stared at me for a moment and then said grimly, "So, I guess they know you here." Ha!

I also played matchmaker in the office. One of the other secretaries there was a sweet girl named Gladys. One day a cute young man named Ralph brought his mother in for a checkup. Gladys did her best to flirt, but for whatever reason, Ralph didn't seem to be picking up her signals. When he left, Gladys was disappointed; and she knew Ralph wouldn't be back in the office with his mom for at least six months for a follow-up appointment. But I had an idea. I called Ralph and told him we forgot to give his mom some eye drops. Ralph asked if the drops were like Visine, and couldn't he just pick some up at a drugstore? (Men can be so clueless.) I told him if he came back to the office he'd get a six month supply for free. But the next day when he came back to the office and saw Gladys sitting there all dressed up and beaming at him like it was Christmas morning, he finally got the message. He asked Gladys out, and the rest is history. They are still married to this day. I went to the christening of their first grandchild last year!