ntertainment

z ever

'

U_J

z

C.r)

LLJ

F-

0
Cc

LL,

is Lawn-A-Palooza week on "Live
with Regis and Kathie Lee," and
Mrs. Greenthumbs, the show's
flamboyant gardening expert, is
filled with planting and cultivat-
ing tips.
ALICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
On Thursday, she prances through Reg-
is and Joy Philbin's rambling yard in Con-
necticut, pulling weeds and advising how On the advice of Barry Manilow, who was Bill Murray and other terrific talent."
to help with their deer problem. And, yes, a neighbor of Danz's brother, she took
By the mid-1980s, Danz had moved into
she makes a quick detour to their kitchen, part-time jobs waitressing at comedy a home in Upstate New York, still keep-
stopping to raid the refrigerator. "They clubs.
ing her apartment in Manhattan's Green-
"I waited tables at both the Improv and wich Village. She continued to perfect her
won't mind," she says with a smile, while
swallowing a couple of grapes. "Garden- Catch a Rising Star, but I was such a bad green thumb while acting in several tele-
ing makes me very hungry."
waitress at Catch A Rising Star that the vision commercials and pursuing her com-
On Friday, she treks through the bush- owner, Rick Newman, came up to me and edy career.
es at producer Michael Gelman's Bridge- advised me to give up waitressing. He put
"I was in a comedy troupe called the
hampton, Long Island, home, making me on coat check, and I did some standup High-Heeled Women, but it didn't pay
further recommendations for his thriving on the side."
very well. So I wrote a one-woman show
Meanwhile, Second City in Chicago of- called An Evening with Mrs. Greenthumbs
organic vegetable garden. Of course, when
he's not looking, she stuffs a red, plump fered Danz a coveted spot in its company. and took a single booking, with the full
tomato into her mouth, while hiding an- "It was 1973, but I had recently married support of my group. It was a very funny
other one in her blouse.
Walter (an executive at Metro North Com- show about gardening, and no one had
Who is this Mrs. Greenthumbs, the muter Railway), so I only lasted six done that before."
plant and flower expert who has millions months; it was too hard being away from
There was a literary agent in the audi-
of viewers tuning in to catch her garden- my husband," recalls Danz. "But it was a ence who approached Danz about turning
ing tips and clever antics? She is Cassan- great experience and tremendous train- her routine into a book. Mrs. Green-
dra Danz, and her popularity has soared. ing ground. I worked with Betty Thomas, thumbs: How I Turned a Boring Yard into
While it may seem hard to
believe that the wittily spon- g
taneous Danz is anything ET
like her TV persona, she is in-
deed as natural and funny off ;13
camera as she is on.
"Maybe I'm a little nuttier
on 'Live with Regis and
Kathie Lee,' but basically,
what you see is what you
get," says Danz, while sitting
on the couch in the Green
Room at the "Live" studio.
And, she is quick to point out,
she is very devoted to culti-
vating the lawns of America.
Danz's blossoming career
is an offshoot of her garden-
ing-hobby. Born in Brooklyn
WM,
and raised in Long Island,
N.Y., Danz has loved to put-
ter in the garden ever since
adolescence.
"When I would put a plant
in a pot, my mother would
say, 'Be careful darling,
there's dirt in there!' " laughs
Danz, whose father was an
artist.
When it came time to at-
tend college, Danz entered
Long Island University and
chose speech and theater as
a major, since acting and
comedy were other passions. Cassandra Danz (Mrs. Greenthumbs) digs the dirt with Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford.

Mrs. Greenthumbs is in the hothouse on "Live with
Regis and Kathie Lee."

a Glorious Garden and How You Can,
Too, was published by Crown in 1993.
As a result of promoting her book, Danz
became a garden celebrity. She wrote a
column for Country Living Gardener mag-
azine, hosted a half-hour local radio show
in Upstate New York called "Mrs. Green-
thumbs" and was asked to do various TV
spots. When the executives of the FX Net-
work was looking for a garden expert for
one of its cable shows, they hired Danz.
At the time, Laurie Hibberd, girlfriend
of "Live's" producer Michael Gelman, was
hosting FX's cable show 'Breakfast Time"
and came to see Danz's comedy act.
"Laurie brought Michael with her to see
my show. He liked what he saw, and
asked me to appear on "Live with Regis
and Kathie Lee."
At first, Danz made an occasional ap-
pearance, but when it became clear the
audience embraced her, she became one
of the show's select regulars. "I love it
here," says Danz. "It's not at all nerve-
wracking."
And then, there are her famous sight
gags, like running through the hills imi-
tating Julie Andrews in The Sound of Mu-
sic, or dancing the Macarena
with the Love Chef. "I am
used to doing improvisation-
al stage. Everything I do
looks like a mistake, so who
can tell if I really make one,"
chuckles Danz.
When she is not preparing
for her TV segments, Danz
is busy puttering in her own
garden. Although she is Jew-
ish, her religion does not im-
pact her daily life.
"I call myself a New York
secular Jew. Although I was
raised Jewish, we were not
very religious," says Danz,
who has an 18-year-old son
who is a college freshman, an
older brother who is a den-
tist in Upstate New York and
a mother who lives on Long
Island. "Each year I have a
Passover seder at my house.
It's a time when my whole
family can get together — al-
though our family isn't that
big. As secular Jews, we have
a low birthrate!"
For now, Danz is at a very
satisfying place in her life.
Next spring she has a new
book coming out, published
by Crown, titled Mrs. Green-

thumbs Plows Ahead. ❑