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Hoffman: The truth behind the Certs twins(Houston Chronicle Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 13--Here's a nifty story, with a Houston connection, about one of the most famous commercials in TV history. In 1959, the Certs mint company filmed a 60-second commercial starring a set of female twins in their early 20s. The idea was that Certs, "with a golden drop of Retsyn, the miracle breath purifier," was "two ... two ... two mints in one." The spot begins with the two women, dressed in June Cleaver-style polka-dot dresses, arguing whether Certs is a candy mint or a breath mint. The commercial ends with the twins meeting two fellows at their front door. They give the guys a big smooch and proceed on their double date. You can watch the commercial on www.youtube.com. Just type in "Certs commercial." It's the first one that pops up. But that wasn't the way the commercial was shot originally, according to Bryan Blaum, general manager of the Stafford Centre Performing Arts Theatre. "That's my mother and her twin sister in the famous Certs commercial. But few people know that commercial was not the original. They had to shoot a different ending to the first commercial," Blaum said. "In the first commercial, the twins were shown kissing boys in the back seat of a car. The camera shot them through the back window. That was shocking for 1959, and literally thousands of people wrote in saying they would never buy Certs again. "So they were forced to reshoot the final scene many months later. This time the girls give the boys a quick little kiss on their doorstep." Blaum said there was a slight difference in his mother's appearance between the two commercials. "By the time my mother was notified about doing the commercial again, she was living in France and pregnant with my eldest brother. When you see the full body shot, you can see that the twin on the right's hips are larger than my aunt on the left. If people knew that little secret back in 1959, it would have brought Certs down. "The irony is, if a controversy like that happened today, it would probably make Certs the No. 1-selling candy." Next up at the Stafford Centre: Mel Tillis on Friday and Ray Price with the Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra on Dec. 5. Tickets are available on www.ticketmaster.com. --Do we really need a Sean Hannity dating service? With the election over (how'd that turn out for you, Sean?), the Fox News talk host is promoting his Sean Hannity Presents Freedom Concert 2009, which will stop in Houston next Aug. 1 at a venue yet to be decided. The concert will feature hitmakers from yesteryear: Billy Ray Cyrus, Lee Greenwood and Charlie Daniels, plus contemporary Christian superstar Michael W. Smith. Tickets are $75 each in advance on www.hannity.com. If you order fast, each ticket will be delivered before Christmas in a gift box, complete with a calendar and coupon redeemable for a free Freedom Concert coffee mug at the show. Oliver North will be on the tour, too, hopefully as an emcee. Please, no singing, Ollie. I kid with love. The Hannity concert series helps support a scholarship fund for children of U.S. soldiers killed or disabled in service. --One of my favorite Houstonians in Hollywood has been busy lately. Daniel Lue was just an ordinary accountant working in Greenway Plaza in 2002 when he applied to be a contestant on Survivor. Next thing he knew, he was slipping off an obstacle course in a jungle in South America and getting voted out of the Tambaqui Tribe. Lue, a University of Texas grad, was a bodybuilder and black belt in wu shu kung fu. There was no excuse for the obstacle course mishap. Undaunted, Lue tossed his calculator and pocket protector, quit his accounting job and began chasing his Hollywood dream. After Survivor, he began picking up jobs as a former reality show contestant. You can make a decent living off one reality-show appearance. Six years after The Bachelorette, Trista Rehn is still on the cover of People and getting paid to christen cruise ships (seriously). In addition to playing himself in acclaimed productions like True Life: I'm a Reality TV Star and those never-ending Survivor reunion shows, Lue enrolled in a real acting school. Earlier this week, he had a pretty good guest appearance (by pretty good, I mean he was listed in the credits) in the prime-time Fox drama Bones. He's got four movies on the way. He loses the final battle against Little Hercules in 3-D, which stars Judd Nelson, John Heard, Hulk Hogan and Elliott Gould. Now there's four of a kind. That's him sitting at the poker table in the gambling drama, Player 5150. And he has parts in Shuffle, where he plays the leader of a Chinese gang, and a comedy called Ghost Raiders. --Naturally, I'll have to sue: There's a new book out called You Want Fries With That? Author Prioleau Alexander quit his job as an advertising executive and took a series of minimum wage jobs. It's a funny book and costs $24.95 in hardcover. In 2000, I put out a book called You Want Fries With That? It was supposed to be a funny book (turns out it wasn't) and now costs 25 cents in garage sales around Houston. That's 25 cents for autographed copies. Nonautographed copies are 50 cents. I will be meeting with my personal attorney Phil Sellers (the guy who lives across the street) about dealing with this horrible injustice. I'm losing 50 cents or 75 cents, possibly as much as a dollar, a year now because of Alexander's book. --Today's trivia: One of the great baseball movies of all time is Pride of the Yankees, the story of Hall of Fame first baseman Lou Gehrig. The movie was made in 1942. Gary Cooper played Gehrig. Who played Babe Ruth in Pride of the Yankees? --I'd like to register a consumer complaint about Costco. The members-only warehouse store has one of the best food bargains in town: a monster 1/4 -pound Hebrew National hot dog and large soda for $1.50. Can't beat that. I went to the snack bar last weekend and said, "Gimme the hot dog special ... plus a second hot dog." That'll be $3. "I don't want the second soda, just two hot dogs and one soda." Yeah, $3. You can't buy a hot dog a la carte. It's $1.50 with or without the soda. And it's not like the soda is free. --Trivia answer: the Bambino played himself. [email protected] Listen to the Ken Hoffman Show on AM radio station 1560 "The Game" from noon to 2 p.m. weekdays. To see more of the Houston Chronicle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.HoustonChronicle.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Houston Chronicle Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 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