Dave Garroway’s glasses were one of his trademarks, but he’d worn glasses since he was diagnosed with a vision problem at age ten. In 1960, he used his status as one of America’s most famous eyeglass-wearers (as did some others, including Steve Allen) to appear in a series of ads for the Better Vision Institute, promoting the cause of professional eye exams. “Believe it or not, more than 50,000,000 Americans are vision delinquents,” the copy in one ad warned. Another ad promoted eye exams for children, pointing out that the eye exams used in schools often could not catch serious problems. (As someone whose myopia was not caught by in-school exams and wasn’t diagnosed until I saw an optometrist when I was 16, I concur. I just thought everybody had a blurry left eye.)
Take Dave’s advice, and get an eye exam if you haven’t already.