Patty Duke and Cousin Pitch Social Security

Patty Duke and her look-alike cousin from her old TV series are back, this time helping seniors apply for Social Security benefits online.

"They're cousins, identical cousins all the way," as the theme song said. "One pair of matching bookends, different as night and day." But now they're getting close to retirement.

The Social Security Administration has signed the Academy Award-winning actress to appear in a series of Web videos patterned after the old "Patty Duke Show." The videos feature the characters of Patty and Cathy Lane that she played in the hit 1960s series. The black-and-white and color videos show the now-older cousins using Social Security's new online retirement application on their home computer.

"Like millions of other Baby Boomers, I like to spend time with my grandchildren, travel or just relax with a good book, and I love the convenience of doing things online," said Duke in a statement. "Social Security has made applying for retirement benefits online easier than ever before. So when you decide to retire, apply online for Social Security benefits at www.socialsecurity.gov. It's so easy!"

The videos can be viewed at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/psa-video.html.

To paraphrase the theme song, you can lose your mind when cousins retire online.

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