In a Lather About an Elusive Soap Bar
Michael Hull of Whittier would love to get his hands on some Fels Naptha soap bars-- and, we might assume, also get some Fels Naptha soap on his hands--but can’t find it anyplace. Can you help Hull save face, or will his inability to come clean bar him forever from becoming a bar-tender?
Transplanted New Englander Carolyne Williams of Ventura is longing for some Spruce Gum , which she says is hard as a rock until it is chewed; then it becomes soft. She’s never seen the product out here. Can you help by giving Williams something to chew on, or is she going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place?
Fitted Sheets
Mrs. David Hummel of San Luis Obispo is not lying down on the job when she claims she’s unable to find fitted bottom sheets that will stay on an overstuffed mattress . Her mattress is heavily quilted and her new sheets barely slide over the corners. Can you help cover up the bare spots in Hummel’s night life, or will she have to realize that if the sheet won’t fit, she might wear it?
For her three children, Mary L. Petty of Los Angeles needs work and dress shoes in these sizes: girls 8 1/2EEEEE and boys 13 1/2EEEEE and 14EEEEE. This solution is by no means a shoo-in, so can you help Petty’s brood to put their best feet forward before they are all caught flat-footed?
Reader-to-Reader Help Line: Julia at (714) 739-1814 needs a new rubber gasket for her old Mirro four-quart aluminum pressure cooker. Please help before Julia succumbs to the pressure in her kitchen and blows a gasket. . . . Ruth at (714) 364-1239 has a 28 1/2-inch-tall 1928 Mae Star doll that at one time had a voice box in her back in which you could insert small records to make the doll talk; that voice box is missing, and Ruth would like to replace it and, if possible, obtain at least one record, so that the doll will talk again. Instead of making small talk, please be a doll and help Ruth out, in which case, I guarantee you, she--and no longer the doll--will be speechless.
Note: The Reader-to-Reader Help Line is only for one-time items and for products no longer available in stores. And you must give us written permission to publish your telephone number, so that others may contact you directly.
For Ruth Donaldson of Glendale and Edna Lenahan of La Mirada, both of whom were looking for leg makeup, we have so many sources that they’d better start shaking a leg before the tanning season is over. About a dozen people mentioned Dermablend, which seems to be available in any number of stores, according to Pattie Smith of Long Beach, Pamela Powell of Rancho Palos Verdes and Susanna K. Owens of Westlake Village. Specific outlets that carry Dermablend include Nordstrom (from a Long Beach reader), the West Side Pharmacy in Brentwood (from A.B.J.) and May Co. (from Sally Mench of Fallbrook, Frances De Vincent of Lawndale and Mrs. R. Gouge of Highland Park). A mail order source that carries Dermablend ($11.50) in various colors is Comfortably Yours, 52 W. Hunter Ave., Maywood, N.J. 07607 (from Shirley Brough of Irvine and June Gage of Thousand Oaks).
Other leggy products: Judy Sims tells of Bronze Gel by Clinique (apply with a little water for even coverage); Marcella Cantwell of Glendora likes Secret Cover Leg Film by Elizabeth Arden; and Dixie Guthrie of La Mirada raves about Rubigo, a powder that you mix with water and that is available at most Gemco and Thrifty stores. Another item available at Thrifty’s (and perhaps other chains) is Coppertone’s Sudden Tan Bronzing Lotion (from Barbara Barth of La Quinta and Mildred Reed of Los Angeles).
Other Suggestions
Also, a reader named Harriet recommends Bonne Bell Bronzing Gel, available at Penney’s (first apply Vaseline, she says). And if you really want to get a leg on, Dorothy Melville mentions something called No. 7 Barely There Waterproof Stocking Cream, which she saw in Australia and which she says is also available in England and possibly Canada.
A few months ago, when we mentioned Bainin yarn, all our sources were overseas. Now Arthur Luneau tells us that the yarn is also available from the Kilkenny Shop, Ghirardelli Square, 900 North Point St., San Francisco, Calif. 94109.