Joining the Search for a Silver Lining

Michael Stolen of Pasadena has looked high and low for blue-glass liners for antique silver salt dishes. The liners he needs are odd in size and shape and may have to be custom made. Can you help before Stolen turns blue in the face, or will he be convinced someone’s rubbing salt into his wounds because he can’t dish it out?

Here’s a heady problem: Dorothy Nelson of Garden Grove is trying to locate a makeup hood with a zipper closure, to protect her hair and makeup when she pulls sweaters or dresses over her head. Can you help before Nelson is convinced that she’s way over her head, or will she end up feeling hoodwinked?

Gwen Brown of Laguna Beach is in need of nylon king-size bed sheets ; none of the stores she’s canvassed seem to have any. Can you help cotton to Brown’s bedside matters, or will she never be a sleepy-time girl?

Olive Reuschel of Los Angeles, who was looking for arch supports called Balancers, need not feel out of joint. Robert Mote, who says he used to manufacture the shoes that Reuschel bought at Robinson’s years ago, says he is semiretired in Ventura but still does some mail-order business for old customers; he can be contacted at (805) 654-1893. Another Robinson’s customer suggests calling Gayle Sabel in the women’s shoe department at their Fashion Valley store, San Diego, (619) 291-5800, for a proper balancing job. A South Bay-area reader suggests Trani’s Shoe Store on 7th Street in San Pedro. Armando at Armando’s Shoe Service, 1457 Westwood Blvd., (213) 477-7978, says he can help; but call him first, and only Wednesdays and Saturdays. And Jim Mull of Mission Viejo says the John M. Staley Co., which has specialized in hand-made foot balancers for more than 40 years, can now be reached at P.O. Box 405, Verdugo City, Calif. 91046, telephone (818) 249-6211.

For Doug Jones of Pasadena, who’s looking for Beeman’s pepsin gum (as is Bonni Weinstein of Sherman Oaks), we have something to chew on. Frank Gellman of Van Nuys says to contact the Canadian government’s Office of Tourism, but Muriel Menasco of Orange has a direct source north of the border: Welch’s Chocolate Shop, Box 1015, Banff, Alberta, Canada. Menasco says she has mail-ordered Beeman’s gum from this firm for at least five years; the price is better by the carton, she says. (Prices may fluctuate with the value of the Canadian dollar.)

Maryann Bjerke of Lakewood, who was looking for Danish dessert pudding, should soon have her fill of the stuff, which can now be bought under the name of Salada Danish Dessert Pie Glaze-Filling & Pudding (made by Kellogg). Valerie Mangapit of Newhall, Ruth Thomas of Laguna Hills and A. Raug of Thousand Oaks saw the product at Hughes Markets. Susan Wood of Temecula and S. E. Larsen of Hemet saw it at Stater Bros. And G. Kolenda of Hemet, who gave up looking for Danish dessert pudding, found a substitute: Great Glaze, available at Von’s (and perhaps other stores).

For Elizabeth Sanders, who was turning purple because she couldn’t find Mrs. Stewart’s laundry bluing, the outlook is no longer black. We have many sightings, even in some chain stores--especially in outlying areas: Some Ralph’s markets (suggests Priscilla Huston, Mary Dowd, J. Nowack); Hughes (Ruth G. Thomas); Alpha Beta (Mary Hernandez), and Boy’s (Marjorie Holland and Mrs. Donald Strait). Other locations: Westwood Ho (Charlotte Rosengrant), BCD Market on Temple Street near Downtown Los Angeles (M. E. Ruiz) and Long’s Drug Stores (Mae Walker). Doris Perrin of Alta Loma says small stores are more apt to carry the product; besides, the bottle is very small, so you have to look carefully. The product is made by Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing in Minneapolis, and according to Madge Scholl, a phone call to Eagle Marketing, (818) 799-0603, will give information on stores still carrying the bluing.

We even have a mail-order source: Bill Knight of El Monte says the Vermont Country Store, P.O. Box 3000, Manchester Center, Vt. 05255-3000, lists the bluing. Also, we have letters from a number of readers who might part with a precious bottle of the stuff; please send a stamped, self-addressed envelope for the names.

And Mrs. Glenn E. Woodward Sr. of Newhall says she uses Shimmering Light shampoo for a second washing of the hair; this eliminates yellow-looking hair, “and the grays and whites are beautiful.”