Hoping to Get Operatic Data for a Song

Donna Jackson of Kernville is interested in opera memorabilia and would like to know about clubs or similar organizations she could get attuned to. Would some of you be Godunoff to get into the act, or will Jackson just have to Lohengrin and bear it?

For her husband, Sylvia Weishaus of Studio City needs stretch jeans, the type that have some spandex added to the cotton ; his old ones are wearing out, and he will not wear any other type. Can you help without stretching the patience of Weishaus’ husband too thin, or will he feel that’s he’s being pushed against the wall, if only by the seat of his pants?

Geneva Cropper of Long Beach needs someone to repair the works in an antique German china clock ; at the moment, she cannot wind it at all. Can you help by giving her a hand before she goes cuckoo, or will Cropper get all wound up because nobody will give her the time of day?

Miriam Freed of Westwood would love to find some vanillin in powdered form for baking purposes; so far, all her efforts have turned to dust. Can you help by making at least a half-baked attempt to locate a source, or will Freed be tempted to just take a powder?

Reader-to Reader-Help Line: Sallie, who is still looking for a Model B1T85-2 (GE) electric toothbrush that goes vertically and horizontally , has a new phone number, (619) 462-5620. Now that you’ve really got her number, please don’t give her the brush-off. . . . Suzanne at (213) 938-4601 needs a Jerry Mahoney talking doll and a Bugs Bunny talking rabbit (you pull a string to make them talk). If you could pull a few strings on Suzanne’s behalf, she would undoubtedly be speechless. . . . Sue at (818) 345-9508 would like to get her hands on a JET-X car washer, or at least the glass jar that holds the liquid ; the jar she has used broke and no one seems to have a replacement. Unless you give her a chance to come clean, Sue will probably be all wet from spinning her wheels in vain. . . . Mary at (619) 858-4327 would like to find a license plate holder that says, “My Other Car Is a Firetruck.” Lest you consider this item too hot to handle, please pour some cold water on this situation before Mary does a slow burn.

Note: The Reader-to-Reader Help Line is only for one-time items or 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.

The Burbank reader who was looking for a wall safe that looks like an electrical outlet should soon feel safe again. S. Rayne of the Windsor Group says they have a few of these safes left and will sell them for $7.95 each plus $1 shipping and handling; telephone (818) 919-4855. A Studio City reader says to contact United Purchasing Exchange, (818) 897-4111. Another reader, Rosebud, says she saw them at Pic ‘n’ Save. Jill Hicks of Orange suggests contacting any locksmith. And more than a dozen readers mentioned the following mail-order source: Hanover House, Unique Merchandise Mart, Building 2, Hanover, Pa. 17333; the customer-service number is (717) 637-1600. We also have six readers who own wall safes and are willing to part with them; a stamped, self-addressed envelope from you will not drive us up the wall. And then we heard from Marvin C. Marker of Garden Grove, who said he would be happy to make a “Marker Safe” for $15 (two for $25) for any reader who calls him at (714) 892-5746. The “Marker Safe” is a book with binding nicely intact but hollowed out on the inside for depositing valuables. (Marker even provides the book.)

Here is an additional source for Dolly Riskin and other readers who need furniture and art objects restored. Walter Greenes of Southern California Craftsmen, 4321 Matilija Ave., Sherman Oaks, (818) 907-7544 or (213) 475-8786, says his firm offers full restoration service for insurance companies, offices and individuals.