Jack Blum, on the “Meatballs” (1980) SE DVD claims that film pioneered the use of tape on nerd glasses.
Is he correct?
Hardly. Anybody who ever broke a temple, needed the specs, and didn’t have a repair kit or optometrist’s office handy has used tape at one time or another. The flexible ones have been a great boon, let me tell you.
The guy is full of himself. Kids had a choice of black plastic glasses or black plastic glasses when I was in the lower grades. Kids broke the glasses and the parents couldn’t afford to replace them, or the new ones took a month to come from the doctor. The things were already ugly, so add the tape and you have even more teasability. What do kids call kids when teasing? Nerd for one thing.