It’s no surprise that in Hollywood, looks are everything.  The right designer clothes, the “it” bag, the brand-name sunglasses. They’re all critical to fitting in with the right crowd.  No matter how much money the stars have, how many cars, homes and clothing lines they have, they cannot stop time.  They can’t do anything about the fact that they need reading glasses.

At no time is this more obvious than at red carpet events.  Take the Academy Awards, for example.  Stars spend hours upon hours choosing the right dress or suit, having their hair and makeup done, having hundreds of pictures taken of them, all in preparation for the biggest event of the season.  They sit in their seats with baited breath, waiting for their names to be called, but “happy just to be nominated”. (Sure.)  Then the high point of their acting careers are realized when they finally win, and what do they do?  They get to the podium and pull out their reading glasses to read their acceptance speeches.  Sometimes you’ll even hear them joke that they forgot their glasses so they have to wing it.

 It’s comforting to know that we have something in common with aging Hollywood.