Corn She Popped in the Past Was Best

Rose Rice of Los Angeles is looking for an old-fashioned corn popper, the type that uses oil in the bottom; her husband doesn’t like the corn made with the air popper. Can you help with this somewhat corny request, or will this mom-and-pop matter heat up until the one holding the butter melts it?

Doug Jones of Pasadena is trying to locate some Beeman’s Pepsin chewing gum ; he understands it’s still being made in Canada but who sells it down here? Can you help resolve this somewhat sticky international situation, or will Jones have the gum-ption to chew out our northern neighbors for being so secretive?

Elizabeth Sanders of Los Angeles would like to buy some Mrs. Stewart’s laundry bluing; the man who cuts her hair has recommended that she add some to the rinse after shampooing. Can you help before Sanders gets herself into a lather, or will she feel washed up from having yelled herself blue in the face?

For a great-sounding strawberry pizza recipe, Maryann Bjerke of Lakewood needs Danish Dessert Pudding but nobody seems to stock it. Can you help Bjerke get her fill of the stuff, or will this be just another case of someone not getting her just deserts?

Reader-to-Reader Help Line: About four years ago, we published a request for a zipper puller. Now Phyllis at (714) 792-0641 is looking for the same item, and we wonder whether any readers still have one. And we’re not trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. . . . D. MacDonald at (818) 799-0468 is breathlessly trying to locate the top to an 18-inch-tall Smirnoff pump bottle ; the bottle top is two inches in diameter. Please help before MacDonald pops his cork.

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

The following should be music to the ears of Joan M. Ewing of Whittier, who was looking for someone to refurbish a case for a 55-year-old trombone (even though William Jackson of Los Angeles tries to make a good case against Ewing by stating that there is little difference in shape between new and old trombones). Barbara Nash of Tarzana, who sounds off that her husband is “perhaps the world’s greatest trombone player”--no harm in blowing your own horn, though--gave us the name of a North Hollywood man who might be able to help. And a Newbury Park reader has an old trombone case that she might sell; the price sounds right too. We have forwarded both addresses to Ewing.

For Vivian Green of Cerritos and other readers who have been trying to buy a Baby Tenda: The product is now sold direct from the factory; the address is 123 S. Belmont Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64123.

For the three readers who were clutching at straws in their search for match-stick bamboo curtains, we have a ray of hope. A Los Angeles reader named Denise has five of these curtains and is willing to part with them. They are 54 inches long and 45 inches wide, and they have plastic loops shaped like the top part of a coat hanger; anyone interested should contact Denise at (213) 221-1559. Ossie Montgomery of Laguna Hills had suggested Hinshaw’s but no luck there.

Elizabeth Plugge of Van Nuys, who was looking for sealing wax, might contact Borel & Frei, 315 West 5th St., Los Angeles, Calif. 90013, (213) 689-4630; Vince of Glendale says they carry stick shellac CE407, which should do the job.

West San Fernando Valley readers looking for Fuller Brush products might contact Helen McGroarty, 24127 Long Valley, Hidden Hills, Calif. 91302, (818) 340-9009. McGroarty says she even carries some items no longer made by the company; she will also mail products.

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