Valley Stream couple stars in Swiffer ad

The casting agency was looking for an elderly couple, and a Valley Stream husband and wife figured they fit the bill.

"We're as old as they come," said Morty Kaufman. So he and his wife, Lee, agreed to audition for a commercial for Swiffer cleaning products. They sent photos and then shot a short test video before getting the gig.

Lee, 90, and Morty Kaufman, 91, filmed a commercial that premiered across the country last month and will stay on the air through the fall.

The couple, who have no acting experience, say they just acted naturally during the two days of filming. The unscripted commercial has them bantering back and forth as Lee struggles with traditional cleaning products before switching and using Swiffer.

They had not used the products before, so her parents' excitement was genuine, said their daughter Myra Allen of Fort Salonga.

The Kaufmans said friends who they haven't spoken with in decades have phoned them after seeing the ad.

They both still don't know how to react when the commercial comes on.

"You can't imagine," Lee said. "It is . . . "

"It's mind-boggling," Morty said, finishing her sentence.

The ad has been a success, according to Swiffer maker Procter & Gamble.

"Past advertising has been popular, but consumers . . . have really fallen in love with Morty & Lee," Swiffer said in a statement. Since the commercial started playing, the videos have received more than 5 million views on YouTube, and Twitter mentions of the brand have doubled, the statement said.

"Is this the most exciting event in our lives," Lee asked as she turned to her husband, "or was our meeting the most exciting?"

Both Lee and Morty had been widowed and were raising families as single parents when they met. Morty, a pharmacist, went to a parent-teacher conference at William Buck Elementary School, where Lee was a first-grade teacher.

His son, then 7 years old, was struggling to learn to read, but with Lee's help he learned how.

Lee and Morty married on Valentine's Day in 1969, and have been together for 44 years, raising six kids.

"They all grew up," Lee said, "and we got old."

"I don't think we got old," Morty said. "We got older."

"The bottom line is, don't die young," Lee said. "There are too many things that can happen."