Librarian’s Link Is Purely Elementary

Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes,

Where have you been?

I’ve been to Windsor to visit the Queen.

Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes,

What did you there?

I received an emerald tie-pin,

Quite nice to wear.

So begins “The Sherlock Holmes Mother Goose,” a book by a Los Angeles city librarian that combines the lore of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective and the whimsy of Mother Goose’s rhymes.

Paula Salo, young adult librarian at the Watts branch library, compiled the book from Mother Goose-style rhymes with Sherlockian references that she had written. Initially, they were entertainment for several San Francisco Bay Area and Torrance-Santa Monica Bay area Scion Society clubs that are part of the Baker Street Irregulars, the Holmes fan groups.

Not surprisingly, the first printing of Salo’s book included 221 copies--a salute to Holmes’ London address, 221 “B” Baker St. Illustrator for the book, whose cover shows the legendary Holmes, deerstalker cap and all, aboard an in-flight Mother Goose, is Larry Marty, a Los Angeles artist.

The book, published by Vincent Brosnan’s Sherlock in L.A. Press ($10), is “selling very well,” Salo said, adding that a second edition appears imminent.

Angel’s Flight Plan

Business at Angel’s Flight, a refuge for runaway teen-agers, was up last year: 1,500 cases compared to 1,100 in 1984.

So Brother Phil Mandile, a Salesian of St. John Bosco and director of the program, and actor Joe Conley, an Angel’s Flight board member, have put together a documentary to help publicize and raise funds for continuing and expanding the service.

“We are launching a campaign to buy and open a house, a shelter, probably in the Hollywood area,” said Brother Phil, as he is known on Skid Row and among his youthful street clients.

“We are finding more homeless youngsters, as opposed to runaways, kids with no chance of going home. We are looking to expand our services, especially into a shelter.”

Current housing at St. Vincent’s Center on Skid Row probably will terminate soon, he said, since space is needed for 24-hour shelter for homeless adults. In addition to the Skid Row facility, Angel’s Flight has an office at Ivar Avenue and Yucca Street in Hollywood and a field office in North Hollywood; its outreach workers roam from downtown to MacArthur Park to the San Fernando Valley and beach areas, Mandile said.

In addition to its fund-generating potential, the documentary has an educational purpose, Conley said.

“We hope it might stop some kids from running away,” said the actor, who became interested in Angel’s Flight three years ago. Since then, in addition to the documentary, Conley has been instrumental in organizing an annual celebrity golf tournament--the celebrities in this case consisting largely of clergy, including Protestant ministers and at least one rabbi.

“We all believe in the same God,” Conley said. “Nobody asks what religion these kids are--probably most don’t have any. We just know they are throw outs, runaways.”

And Now . . . ‘Yuffies’

Word has filtered in from Orange County about a Yuppie backlash movement called “Yuffies”--young urban failures--that might just propel its backers into the Yuppie category.

Co-founders Jeff Markell and Alex Murashko, 29-year-old retired bartenders, are pushing $7 T-shirts, $5 baseball caps and a $13 Yuffie kit that includes a shirt, hat, bumper sticker and button. They also are organizing tailgate parties--beer from a can or keg, no white wine--to California Angels baseball games and a handbook on how to dress and what to drive (a recycled U.S. Mail truck).

They also are working on a song:

Forget the Brie

And come with me ...

We don’t get huffy.

We haven’t got names like Skip, Chip or Muffie ...

If all goes well, Markell and Murashko should easily be in the Yuppie tax bracket soon.

The Idea Man

N. Joseph Nader worked for a pharmaceutical firm for 25 years, contributing what his wife calls “wonderful ideas” to the company--without credit or remuneration. Finally, Ann Nader asked her husband when he was going to do something about his ideas himself.

That started a fight between the couple--and a new business.

Joe Nader’s idea was for a compact-like case to dispense daily doses of estrogen for 25 days a month and progestin for 10 to 13 days, as prescribed by physicians for osteoporosis and menopause. Federal Drug Administration rules forbid packaging the two together, often leading to confusion on the patient’s part as to how many days she has taken which medication.

Nader’s patented inventions, Pre-Gest 16/25 and Pre-Gest 13/25, provide concentric circular dispensers for the number of days the medications are to be taken. The dispensers are filled from the prescription bottles.

The dispensers have met with acclaim from patients and doctors alike, patients appreciating the convenience and physicians liking the improved compliance with their prescribed care.

“Whenever a patient is using two medications, compliance can be very difficult,” said Dr. Paul Brenner, professor and chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at USC’s School of Medicine. “I don’t care who you are, if you take medication for longer than three days you’re going to have problems. We find it for antibiotics--and what you do for patient compliance with estrogen can change very quickly.”

Manufactured by Compliance Systems Corp. of Arcadia, of which Nader is president, the devices cost $3.95, plus $1.50 for shipping and handling, or may be purchased through pharmacies.