Film Premiere Raises Funds for Eye Clinic

SAN DIEGO â€”  It has been said that every moment contains the makings of a hot movie property, even a Saturday evening at Horton Plaza.

So try this script on for size, MGM. It’s a veritable laff riot, packed with lowbrow high jinks, a middlebrow story line, and just enough pathos to get the highbrow crowd to shell out five and a half bucks per ticket. In other words, this baby’s got something for everyone, and MGM, if you’re interested, let’s take lunch.

There’s this really famous actor, see--more than just famous, this guy is good --who has a beautiful wife. Together they share a life that is up and in in Beverly Hills. The guy stars in a lot of really successful films, like “Jaws� and “The Goodbye Girl.�

Fortune blesses the couple with a son, but the child is born with impaired vision. This couple is lucky, though, and they find a famous San Diego ophthalmologist who sets to work restoring the child’s sight.

The doctor, meanwhile, has been awarded a government grant with which to build an institute dedicated to the treatment and prevention of eye disease. The money comes with strings attached, though, in the form of a challenge that requires $500,000 to be raised from private sources.

Raising the money will not be a problem, assert the actor and his wife, who together with a developer-philanthropist and his wife decide to put on a fund-raiser that will provide its guests with close encounters of the most memorable kind. It’s a case of the carrot and the shtick: The fund-raiser not only includes a ticket to the world premiere of the actor’s latest film, but a chance to mingle with a whole LearJet full of silver screen celebs. There’s even a stereotypically obnoxious Hollywood press agent thrown in just for laughs.

About 500 patrons turn up to see the stars and the film, everyone titters, giggles and guffaws in all the right places during the screening, and the evening is a big success. Exit actors, beneficiaries, philanthropists and guests, all with smiles that would have warmed Louis B. Mayer’s heart splashed broadly across their faces.

The script just outlined is nothing more than a case of art imitating life, because just such an interesting situation unfolded Saturday at Horton Plaza. Actor Richard Dreyfuss and his wife, Jeramie, whose young son, Benjamin, is being treated by UC San Diego Medical Center ophthalmologist Dr. Stuart Brown, brought along an entourage of Hollywood pals for the world premiere of the actor’s new comedy, “Tin Men.�

The film was screened at the United Artists theater before an audience of 500, who first attended a reception at the Bishop’s Gallery that was co-sponsored by developer Ernest Hahn and his wife, Jean.

The event proceeded in true Hollywood style. While shoppers and sailors and other downtown types lined the roped-off red carpet that led from the street to the gallery, party patrons hurried inside to await the stars and to greet Brown, who explained to one and all the leaps and bounds that his ophthalmology department has taken in recent years. Rumors circulated constantly that the Dreyfusses and others--including “Tin Men� co-star Danny DeVito and his wife, actress Rhea Perlman--would be arriving any moment. Photographers and television crews kept a constant vigil at the door.

The timing of the stars’ arrival was a matter of much debate, since Hahn had sent his private jet to ferry the group from Los Angeles, and the gang therefore was able to travel at its leisure. Champagne and a tour of the gallery’s art works helped calm nerves frayed by cases of the celebrity jitters, and soon enough, the Dreyfusses and a gaggle of buddies that included Rob Reiner, Elizabeth McGovern, John Lithgow, Amy Irving, Carol Kane, Jill Eikenberry and Michael Turner strolled in to the popping of a hundred light bulbs and an obbligato of whistles and cheers.

But the mingling anticipated by the star-stricken was not to be. A real gem of a press agent--so like the charmers chronicled in the movies that one suspected him of being supplied by Central Casting--promptly shepherded the actors to a roped-off back room, where a crew from television’s “Entertainment Tonight� got the goods on “Tin Men.� An actor or two occasionally wandered out into the padlock-like area behind the rope where gallery owner John Bishop stood guard. (“Don’t ask me what’s going on, I don’t have a clue. I’m just drinking champagne like everyone else,� Bishop said.)

Whenever an actor appeared, he found himself facing the stares of 300 or 400 intent faces, which, given the rope that separated him from the crowd, must have made him feel rather like one of the inmates of the San Diego Zoo. Dreyfuss, looking grizzled and a touch like Paul Newman in his black shirt and subtly colored silk jacket, did emerge several times to chat pleasantly with fans.

DeVito and Perlman showed up rather later, which gave them the benefit of a private entrance conducted to the enthusiastic applause of their own coterie of fans. The feisty DeVito is one of those rare actors who looks the same in person as he does on screen, in this case like one of the shifty “Tin Men� (aluminum siding salesmen) who worked the dirty brick roads of Baltimore in the early 1960s.

Shortly afterward, the whole crowd waltzed upstairs to the theater, and lest one think that champagne, cheese and fruit can be considered a sufficient preamble to a film, understand that most guests headed straight for the popcorn stand. It wouldn’t have been a real Hollywood premiere without the stuff.

The actors arrived last, Reiner, Eikenberry and others themselves bearing large tubs of popcorn. Dreyfuss quickly walked to the front of the auditorium, where he gleefully invited the audience to lavish him with applause, which it gladly did.

The actor then explained his role in the fund-raiser. “We decided a few months ago to bring “Tin Men� here because at this moment, my son Benjamin is having his sight restored by Dr. Stuart Brown,� said Dreyfuss. “My wife, Jeramie, and I felt that if there was anything we could do to help him to build a better eye clinic, we would try to do it.� The film followed immediately, and all that needs be said about it here is that no one who sees it is likely ever again to trust a salesman.

Ernest Hahn arrived about a third of the way through the film, since the jet that had brought the guests down from Hollywood had then to fly to Palm Springs to retrieve the noted developer. After the screening, he and his wife led a contingent of stars and about 30 others to the U.S. Grant hotel for a private supper and celebration, an intimate moment of wine and roses that progressed with much merriment.

“Jean and I have been helping to raise the $500,000 matching grant, and we’ve invited guests who have more than an ordinary interest in Dr. Brown’s work,� Hahn said. The Hahns’ own interest has grown since Jean became one of Brown’s patients.

Brown and his wife, Isabelle, were among the supper guests. “Our research is 15 times what is was 10 years ago,� Brown said, adding that his clinic treats a patient case load that is second to none in the country. “Thanks to the Dreyfusses and the Hahns helping us along, we expect to start building our new eye institute in the fall.�

Others at the supper were UCSD Chancellor Richard Atkinson and his wife, Rita, and Don and Darlene Shiley, who soon will be announced as major eye institute benefactors. The guest list also included Audrey and Ted Geisel, Luba Johnston, Dixie and Ken Unruh, Carol and Mike Alessio, Carolyn and Jack Farris, Walter Fitch, and Maureen and Dick Balsam.