• July 21, 1997
• Vol. 48
• No. 3

Gumslingers

The Doublemint Twins Retain a Sweet Tooth for Fun

IN 1959, MODELS JAYNE AND JOAN Boyd of Hammond, Ind., were tapped to bicycle, play tennis and toboggan their way through 12 TV commercials as Wrigley's high-energy Doublemint twins. One small hitch, though: the Boyds, then 21, weren't athletic. During one shoot they flew over the handlebars of a tandem bike. Another time, Joan cracked a rib while ice-skating. Still, they say, their fame made it worthwhile. "People would stop and talk to us," says Jayne. "Grandmothers, small children—they all knew us."

Their bubble burst in 1963, however, when Joan, who had wed an insurance broker, became pregnant. That, she says, automatically voided their contract (a detail Wrigley is unable to confirm). Suddenly "it was over," says Joan, who had two more daughters before divorcing in 1982. Adds Jayne, who married in 1963 and had three children: "We went right from 'double your pleasure' to changing diapers."

Within five years both women had become heavy drinkers. "It was like a death," recalls Jayne, 59, of the period following the dismissal. They've been sober for 20 years and are so health-obsessed they don't even chew gum. Once inseparable, they now lead different lives: Joan is a receptionist in Chicago, while Jayne, a homemaker, shares a house in Beverly Hills with her husband of 34 years, TV producer Al Schwartz, 65. But the women talk by phone several times a week. And they retain the sunniness that made them famous. "They're both like Lucille Ball," says Jill Schwartz, 31, Jayne's daughter. "They're a party waiting to happen."