Senior Can’t Keep Her Talent Bottled Up

For nearly 40 years, “Wild” Wilma Jean Cummins has embarrassed her husband at friendly get-togethers and family reunions with her fine-tuned talent: blowing hit songs into pop bottles.

Finally, at age 73, it paid off.

This self-described homebody from Tulsa, Okla., is busy flying coast to coast, playing her bottles on talk shows and meeting celebrities--Rosie O’Donnell tops the list.

“I don’t think my husband is embarrassed anymore,” Cummins says, her wrinkled face stretching into a wide grin. “I think he rather enjoys the traveling.”

Her favorite performance--the one that garnered so much attention--came in September, when this sweet, unassuming lady outfoxed hundreds of other senior citizens and won the ultimate geriatric gig: a chance to perform onstage at the Lawrence Welk theater.

Playing “My Favorite Things” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” into her water-filled bottles, Cummins beat out a 75-year-old tap-dancing granny and three other finalists to win the Welk Senior Showdown.

“My mother would have been proud . . . I think,” said Cummins, herself a grandma.

The contest’s aim of finding “seniors who have kept their talent bottled up for decades” opened a new chapter in the Welk legacy of finding fresh talent. Or, as theater owner Larry Welk Jr. puts it, “it was a search for mature moxie.”

Welk, son of the late accordion-playing big-band leader who made champagne music his signature style, said he was always on the lookout for new talent when his father’s television show first aired. That’s how several entertainers, including the Lennon Sisters and clarinetist Pete Fountain, were discovered.

“I would work for my dad screening hundreds of raw tapes that people would send in, or I would go to local concerts. Believe it or not, that’s how we found a lot of our stars,” Welk said.

The tradition has continued in Branson. Last year, the theater held a nationwide search for the “hottest accordion players.” One of the finalists, 23-year-old Tim Padilla, was later hired by Welk.

For the seniors’ contest, Welk was looking for something light and fun.

“The Welk Show always had such a strong senior following, we wanted to do something for them,” he said. “We knew there must be people out there with the talent and never had the chance to show anyone.”

Hundreds sent tapes and five were chosen for the semifinal round, which was performed, fittingly, in front of a sea of white-headed fans during the breakfast buffet.

George Wayne, a 66-year-old finalist and retired singer from Fresno, said he was unsure, at first, about entering.

“I had the idea that these senior citizen shows were something to make the old people seem silly. For a long time, I wouldn’t do them,” said Wayne, who belted out “Young at Heart,” much to the delight of the audience.

“I realized how uplifting this could be for these people, and I purposely chose songs to make them smile and remember when,” he said. “This is really a lot of fun.”

Cummins broke the crowd up with her one-liners: “I’m available for weddings,” she said when she ran out of breath midway through one tune. She apologized during another, “Well, my instrument doesn’t cost as much as those other guys.”

She had the judges in the palm of her hand.

“I could just see her on the Jay Leno show. She’d be perfect,” said former Welk dancer Bobby Burgess, who judged with Welk and two of the Lennon sisters.

Two days later, Cummins found herself onstage with her television heroes. She wore her favorite sparkling hot-pink dress.

“I stood between Janet and Kathy Lennon, and we all did a little kick dance as the leader sang at the end, just like how the [Welk] show used to end,” she said, beaming.

After her performance, Cummins explained how she came upon her talent.

“When my kids were little, I would find anything to entertain them. I had taught enough elementary science that I remembered the unit on sound; so I would play ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ and tunes like that for them on the bottles,” she said.

It soon became a favorite party request, one that sent her husband running out of the room in embarrassment. She is still stunned by how her unique talent has turned her golden years upside-down.

“It always surprises me how many people come up to me after my performance and are thrilled to meet me--just because I’m blowing on some pop bottles,” she says. “This ordeal has kept me young.”