Commercial has fans doing a double take

HACKENSACK, N.J. -

You'll have to work hard to beat identical twins Iris Arnold and Frances Labinger, stars of a droll new Walgreens pharmacy commercial. They've been playing this game for 77 years.

"I'm older, by 19 minutes," said Arnold, a longtime Fort Lee, N.J., resident. She not only beat her identical twin sister out of the womb in 1934, she also intends to go on beating her.

"I do have the smarter kids," Arnold said. "All six of my kids went to Bronx Science."

Countered Labinger: "I got married first, had my kids first, had my grandchildren first."

This sibling rivalry - all in fun, both sisters insist - has been an ongoing sketch comedy between them for close to eight decades. But now it's suddenly reaching a wider audience, thanks to a Walgreens flu-shot commercial that's been running nationwide since Sept. 11.

In the ad, they play identically dressed twin sisters "Edith" (Labinger) and "Ellen" (Arnold):

Edith: "I was born first. I got married first. I had children first. And I'm the first to get this haircut."

Ellen: "I was the first to get a flu shot."

"They're likable personalities," said Walgreens spokesman Jim Cohn.

The look-alike sisters are now recognized everywhere they go, they said. They've received offers for other commercials, and the talk-show circuit may be next.

"We were in the doctor's office yesterday, and one of the patients said, 'Aren't you the twins from the Walgreens commercial?' " Labinger said. "You'd think she was meeting Jennifer Aniston."

Although the names in the ad were changed, anyone who knows the twosome will recognize that their sisterly sniping is drawn from life. So, too, are the identical dress and haircut. They have, Labinger said, more than 30 identical outfits.

"We're identical twins - why not?" Labinger said. "How often do you see old ladies who look alike? You don't know how many people stop us and say, 'Are you twins?' And I say, 'I don't even know her.' "