Searching for Best Solution to Glass Act

We have two requests from the party crowd: Joyce Richardson of Monterey Park would like to find someone who can make a top for a cut-glass decanter; if that is impossible, is there a place where she might be able to purchase a top? Gloria King of Sherman Oaks has almost the opposite problem: She has a ground-glass stopper, but she doesn’t know how to remove it from her cocktail shaker. (Someone turned it.) She has tried soap, oil, WD-40, hot water and ice, but to no avail. Can you help these two readers with their liquid liabilities, or will both of them have to start watching beer commercials?

Verna Scratch of Hollywood has been looking for all over for Argo Gloss laundry starch, which came, she says, in a brick-red, one-pound box but which seems to have disappeared from grocery-store shelves. Has it changed names? This is certainly not a problem that can be glossed over. Can you help, or will Scratch have to get hot under the collar the next time she does her laundry?

H. Bogue of Ventura is trying to replace a comb-brush combination made of hard plastic. The four rows were not bristles, but teeth, as in a comb, and the teeth were not sharp. The entire product was made of one piece of molded plastic. But where to find it? Can you help, or will Bogue just have to keep bristling because he’s convinced that he’s getting the brush-off?

Reader-to-Reader Help Line: Bill at (213) 827-7363 or (213) 641-3470, Ext. 209, is most anxious to buy a Wilson “Winsum” Willy Hoare putter , which was made around 1939 or 1940. He will take either the shaft and grip, which was unusual, or the complete putter. Please help, so that Bill won’t be teed-off to the extent that he’ll stop at the 19th hole before he even gets his starting time.

Note: The Reader-to-Reader Help Line is only for one-time items and for products that are no longer available in stores. And you must give us written permission to publish your telephone number, so that other readers may contact you directly.

Nancy George and Frances Eisenberg, who were looking for different types of Dr. Scholl’s sandals, won’t have to toe the line much longer before they get their feet wet. Dr. Scholl sold its foot-comfort shops a few years ago, but the firm still makes the Exercise Sandal and Sashay Sandal. (Several readers wrote to us about that.) The sole of the Sashay Sandal is made of polyurethane and leather and has a flexible strap; the sole of the Exercise Sandal is made of wood. Both have a small heel, and both are available at Sav-On and other drug and department stores. A Newhall reader writes that she has a pair of Dr. Scholl’s beige all-leather sandals with heavy soles and one-inch heels, size 8, and a pair of the wooden-sole exercise sandals with 1 1/2-inch heel in size 7 1/2. If interested, please send a stamped, self-addressed envelope for her address.

Pat McCloskey of Santa Barbara, who needs a bound-buttonhole guide, will soon be able to “button” down the hatches again; five readers wrote that they had the guide McCloskey was interested in. We have forwarded the names to her; if anyone else is interested, please send a stamped, self-addressed envelope.

For Barbara Morihiro of Fountain Valley, who was looking for someone to take water stains out of drapes, we have the perfect person: herself. Zelda Weiss, whose sister manages apartments, says her sister simply dips the drapes in cold water. This suggestion is augmented by Jan Reynolds, who manages a 50-unit apartment building. Reynolds also uses cold water in her washing machine, but she adds Shaklee’s Basic H and Nature Bright. Shaklee distributors are listed in the telephone book.) Then she hangs the drapes out to dry, a dryer will shrink them, she warns. The only thing her dry cleaner does is press the drapes.

Herb Hain cannot answer mail personally but will, space permitting, respond in this column to readers who have--or need--helpful information. Write (do not telephone) to You Can Help!, You section, The Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.