Reader Tries to Avoid a Cane Mutiny

Mrs. J. Rosemond of San Juan Capistrano is looking for a cane seat, the type the British use at Ascot and other races. The handle opens to form a seat. Rosemond’s husband doesn’t like the ones available over here, which are made of canvas or metal. Are you able to help the Rosemonds with this cane problem, or will the horse laugh really be on them?

Anita Staggs of Inglewood needs to find a hand-held, battery-operated mixer. Her husband is on a liquid diet and has to mix powdered food with water. Can you help with this already watered-down request, or will Staggs have to take a powder and keep looking some more?

Jean Preish of San Clemente is looking for an old-fashioned flour sifter, one with a handle that you turn around and around to force the flour through the mesh. The new ones, which you have to squeeze and shake, drive her up the wall, she says. Can you help with this off-the-wall problem, or will Preish’s baking chores no longer be a piece of cake?

Reader-to-Reader Help Line: Sara at (213) 452-0404 desperately needs pillowcases in a discontinued Wamsutta pattern: Jay Yang’s Growing Puppies. Even Wamsutta is completely out, she says. Please help Sara get a good night’s sleep again and steer her away from growing poppies. . . . Lloyd at (714) 926-2587 is trying to find an owner’s manual for a Yashica Flex camera with Yashimar lens and Copal shutter. The camera is about 40 years old, and Yashica no longer has the manual. Please help, so that Lloyd can once again consider himself in the picture. . . . Michael at (818) 244-4482 is looking for parts and service for an out-of-date Remington Rollelectric Auto-Home 12-V and 120-V Model BAA electric shaver. Please help Michael get off the razor’s edge.

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

Sandra Munoz of Fountain Valley, who was looking for Secret of Venus body oil, was soon joined in her search by Betty Woodmansee of Westchester and O. Briggs of Los Angeles. In the meantime, we have heard of more sources than we can publish. Here are a few: Bullocks Wilshire (sent in by Jean McBride), Bullock’s Northridge (by A. Moran), Broadway Fashion Island (Mrs. Carl Runge), Farmer’s Market Pharmacy (by Norman Terry and B. Douglass), Perfumes of Lido, Rancho Mirage (by Heather Fisher and Mrs. Perry Miller) and some Fedco stores (Norma Kennedy). Mail-order sources include Jean-Michelle, P. O. Box 489001, 6045 W. Howard Ave., Niles, Ill. 60648, (800) 621-1342 (by Norma Kennedy). And according to Donna Hurst, the American distributor for Venus body oil is Parfums Weil, located in New York City, (212) 867-5151.

For Mery Davidian of Beverly Hills, who was trying to locate some fuller’s earth, we have earthshaking news: The product is quite common and is available at swimming pool supply and chemical-supply houses (so says Lloyd Overacre of Downey). According to R. E. Neu of North Hollywood, most Sav-On stores carry it also. And Pat Emerson of Whittier writes that she ordered the item through her Rexall Pharmacy until she found out that Longs Drug Stores charge less and also ordered larger quantities (in either white or natural). By the way, the product is distributed, according to Emerson, by Whiteworth Inc. of Gardena.

Bonnie’s of Encinitas, whom we mentioned recently as a division of Pendleton (in connection with a request for good-quality clothing in the larger sizes) informs us that, though the establishment sometimes carries clothes by Pendleton, it is owned and operated by Bonnie Scoffin. Also, the store is no longer at 123-F N. El Camino Real, but at 127-J.

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