Odd Samaritans:A friend of ours had a...

Odd Samaritans:

A friend of ours had a serious bicycle accident in Venice the other evening and, to his amazement, was comforted by two scary-looking, stick-wielding street people. They helped him to his feet and walked him over to a nearby bench.

When our friend repeated the story to a Westside physician, the latter was reminded of a good Samaritan tale of his own.

One day, a strangely dressed woman sought emergency treatment for a boy who had broken his arm. She was not his mother. The boy’s parents, who were in the movie business, were in another city.

The woman, a neighbor, offered to fill out a consent form, and the physician, seeing that the parents couldn’t be reached, finally agreed. But he noticed that she signed the form with just a first name.

“You have to sign your last name as well,” the doctor said.

The woman replied that that was her full legal name. The doctor looked at her signature again.

It said: “Cher.”

A BARGAIN AT HALF THE PRICE: Sal Garcia of Pico Rivera spotted an ad for a money-making software product--money-making for everyone, apparently, except the former owner.

HONEY, I THINK THE TURKEY’S STILL MOVING: Doug Miller of Glendora noticed a real fast-food Thanksgiving recipe in a local newspaper. It recommended cooking a turkey in “a preheated 400-degree oven for 20 minutes, then reduce oven to 325 degrees. Roast for another hour until turkey is done.”

This cooking tip complements a dessert boo-boo we once came across, a pumpkin cheesecake recipe that omitted the pumpkin entirely. (The correction helpfully said: “1 cup pumpkin should be added.”)

For an after-dinner snafu, we also have a newspaper’s recipe for a Rob Roy cocktail that called for 11 ounces of Scotch and one ounce of sweet vermouth. The subsequent correction admitted (a bit late, we’re afraid) that the drink actually “consists of 1 1/2 ounces of Scotch and 1/2 ounce of sweet vermouth.”

The newspaper blamed a “typesetting error,” raising the possibility that the typesetter might have been doing some imbibing himself.

SKIN SPECIALIST: Benjamin Bohr of Beverly Hills reports that the “Physicians & Surgeons” section of a Westside telephone directory includes Diane’s Bikinis of Santa Monica.

BING’S WING: We don’t mean “wing” in a Thanksgiving sense. We’re referring to a museum in honor of Bing Crosby (1901-1977) at Gonzaga University of Spokane, Wash., where he studied pre-law before taking the road to Hollywood.

The Crosby Student Center has a Crosbyana Room, with more than 150 items related to his career, including a pipe that was recently donated. The center even assisted the TV show “Jeopardy” with a question about Bing’s brief stint as a mailman in Gonzaga.

Never let it be said that Only in L.A. doesn’t give you plenty of interesting stuff to bring up at dull holiday parties.

THE WEATHER GUY WAS REALLY CAUGHT OFF GUARD: Rick Rofman of Van Nuys points out that an incredible siege of rough weather hit CBS the other night, what with “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” (8 p.m.), airing an episode in which “a deadly storm approaches,” followed by “Early Edition” (9 p.m.), in which “Gary saves a family from a tornado,” followed by “Walker, Texas Ranger” (10 p.m.), in which kidnappers seize a school bus “as a cyclone approaches.”

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One last note for fast-food Thanksgiving fans. Michael Immel of North Hollywood found a McDonald’s that has a drive-through lane but, judging from a sign there, the service takes a while.